Doctors are exploring ways to reduce the amount of radiation exposure from medical imaging tests in light of renewed concerns about the cancer risk, according to research presented at a radiology conference this week.
Medical radiation from exams such as CTs, or computed tomography, causes 29,000 new cancers a year, a report in the Archives of Internal Medicine showed in December. An accompanying article found that the scans may expose people to four times as much radiation as previously estimated. The Food and Drug Administration is considering safeguards for CT scanners and other imaging machines.
"It's a very serious issue," says radiologist Sobhi Abadi of McGill University in Montreal, who presented his research Tuesday at a meeting of the American Roentgen Ray Society in San Diego.
Radiologists have been working for several years to reduce unnecessary radiation exposure in children, whose growing bodies are more sensitive to radiation than adults', says Richard Morin, chairman of the American College of Radiology's Safety Committee. Later this year, he says, radiologists will expand the effort to adults.
But Morin says other doctors also need to do more to protect patients, such as referring them for imaging tests only when they're really necessary. Studies show that one-third of CT scans aren't medically needed but are performed because of fear of lawsuits, among other reasons.
Health & Wellness
Green space is important for mental health
There is growing evidence that combining activities such as walking or cycling with nature boosts well-being.
In the latest analysis, UK researchers looked at evidence from 1,250 people in 10 studies and found fast improvements in mood and self-esteem.
A longitudinal cohort study of more than 150 U.S. children conducted over 7 years associates prenatal exposure to higher concentrations of polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) flame retardants with lower scores on tests of neurodevelopment [EHP 118:712 - 719; Herbstman et al.]. This is the second recent epidemiologic study to link PBDEs with evidence of adverse effects on brain development, although differences in methodology between this and the other study [EHP 117:1953 - 1958; Roze et al.] make direct comparisons difficult.
PBDE flame retardants have been used for decades in a wide variety of goods, including automobile and airplane components, electronics, and home and office furnishings. The toxicologic evidence linking PBDEs to adverse health effects led the European Union to use the precautionary principle as the basis for banning all three PBDE formulations (penta, octa, and deca). In the United States, manufacturers voluntarily discontinued the penta and octa formulations in 2004 and have agreed to phase out deca by the end of 2012.
PBDE flame retardants have been used for decades in a wide variety of goods, including automobile and airplane components, electronics, and home and office furnishings. The toxicologic evidence linking PBDEs to adverse health effects led the European Union to use the precautionary principle as the basis for banning all three PBDE formulations (penta, octa, and deca). In the United States, manufacturers voluntarily discontinued the penta and octa formulations in 2004 and have agreed to phase out deca by the end of 2012.
That is, of course, an outright lie.
This video features myself (the Health Ranger) talking with Jeffrey Smith about the health dangers of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) at the recent Health Freedom Expo. Natural News staff filmed the segment, and we used intro music legally licensed from a music production company. There was no violation of the YouTube terms of agreement.
Mayo Clinic researchers have found that the kidneys of healthy adults show signs of chronic mild injury that increase with age. This damage is present even though the adults showed no clinical signs of kidney disease.
The findings are reported in the current issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.
"This was a surprise," says Andrew Rule, M.D., M.Sc., a Mayo Clinic nephrologist and epidemiologist who led the study. "These patients' kidneys are functioning normally, and this damage doesn't show up on the tests doctors routinely use to assess kidney health. It means we need to come up with new tests to detect mild kidney injury more accurately."
The medical records of 1,203 people who donated kidneys at Mayo Clinic from 1999 to 2009 were used for the cross-sectional study. The donor kidneys were examined with a needle biopsy once they were transplanted into the recipient as part of a routine procedure to gather baseline information about the new kidney.
The findings are reported in the current issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.
"This was a surprise," says Andrew Rule, M.D., M.Sc., a Mayo Clinic nephrologist and epidemiologist who led the study. "These patients' kidneys are functioning normally, and this damage doesn't show up on the tests doctors routinely use to assess kidney health. It means we need to come up with new tests to detect mild kidney injury more accurately."
The medical records of 1,203 people who donated kidneys at Mayo Clinic from 1999 to 2009 were used for the cross-sectional study. The donor kidneys were examined with a needle biopsy once they were transplanted into the recipient as part of a routine procedure to gather baseline information about the new kidney.
© womenshealthmag
Other studies have shown a relationship between sleep and weight issues, particularly in young children. However, this is one of the first studies to document an association between sleep duration and weight in adolescents, even after controlling for calorie intake, activity level and depressive symptoms.
In research led by Leslie A. Lytle, PhD, from the Center for Child Health, Behavior and Development at Seattle Children's Research Institute, study investigators collected data on 723 adolescents (mean age 14.7 years) about how long they slept on weeknights and weekends, and how frequently they experienced sleep problems. On three separate occasions, researchers also asked the youths about the foods and beverages they had consumed the prior day to determine how many calories they consumed.
© PhysOrg
A composite brain of the selected study participants shows areas of brain activation during tasks that required effortful perception.
A composite brain of the selected study participants shows areas of brain activation during tasks that required effortful perception.
Reported in advance online in Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, and scheduled for print in the June issue, the study could serve as a foundation for the direction of study in the emerging field of cultural neuroscience.
"Our data suggest that some categories of individuals, based on their natural traits, are less influenced by their cultural context than others," says Dr. Aron. He adds that the study is the first to analyze how a basic temperament/personality trait, called sensory processing sensitivity (SPS), interacts with culture and neural responses.
SPS is characterized by sensitivity to both internal and external stimuli, including social and emotional cues. Scientists estimate that something like high sensitivity is found in approximately 20 percent of more than 100 species, from fruit flies and fish to canines and primates and has evolved as a particular survival strategy that differs from the majority. The standard measure in humans is the Highly Sensitive Person (HSP) Scale, previously developed by Dr. Aron and his wife, Dr. Elaine Aron. An example of one item on the HSP scale is "do you seem to be aware of subtleties in your environment."
© Swanson Vitamins
New research shows chokeberries have unusually high levels of substances called anthocyanins (from the Greek words antho and kyanos meaning dark blue) that are powerful antioxidants. These natural phytochemicals may protect the body from exposure to pollution and metabolically-derived free radicals. What's more, chokeberry anthocyanins appear to have potent anti-inflammatory properties that improve blood sugar and the function of insulin and also halt excessive weight gain.
Those are the conclusions of Drs. Bolin Qin and Richard Anderson from the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Beltsville, Maryland, who studied prediabetic rats that were fed chokeberry extract for an extended period of time. Their research findings were recently presented at the Experimental Biology 2010 meeting held in Anaheim, California, in April as part of the scientific program of the American Society for Nutrition.
New York - Sixty-five years ago today, officials added fluoride chemicals into Newburgh, NY's public water supply making residents guinea pigs in a failed experiment to discover whether fluoride could safely reduce tooth decay. It didn't. But political pressure declared it a success. Any high school biology student can find the flaws in this "study." Fluoride researchers are still using our bodies and tax dollars for their own benefit.
Ten years later, 1955, researchers reported that newly fluoridated Newburgh children had more bone defects, anemia and earlier female menstruation than never-fluoridated Kingston children, according to the March 1956 Journal of the American Dental Association. Adults weren't even examined.
This is the first and only comprehensive U.S. research into fluoridation's effects to the human body and not just the teeth.
Newburgh's children were given complete physicals and x-rays, over the course of the study, from birth to age nine in the first year and up to age eighteen in the final year. "(R)outine laboratory studies were omitted in the control group during most of the study, they were included in the final examination," report Schlesinger and colleagues, in "Newburgh-Kingston caries-fluorine study XIII. Pediatric findings after ten years."
Ten years later, 1955, researchers reported that newly fluoridated Newburgh children had more bone defects, anemia and earlier female menstruation than never-fluoridated Kingston children, according to the March 1956 Journal of the American Dental Association. Adults weren't even examined.
This is the first and only comprehensive U.S. research into fluoridation's effects to the human body and not just the teeth.
Newburgh's children were given complete physicals and x-rays, over the course of the study, from birth to age nine in the first year and up to age eighteen in the final year. "(R)outine laboratory studies were omitted in the control group during most of the study, they were included in the final examination," report Schlesinger and colleagues, in "Newburgh-Kingston caries-fluorine study XIII. Pediatric findings after ten years."
© Superfood Marine Phytoplankton
Raw Frankincense
Raw Frankincense
Jeremy Howell, a reporter at the BBC, recently set out on a trek to learn more about frankincense and to find out whether or not the time-honored substance truly has anti-cancer characteristics. After an 11-hour drive from Oman's capital, Muscat, Howell arrived in the country's "Land of Frankincense" where he quickly discovered some fascinating things about frankincense.
Frankincense is sap derived from a tree called Boswellia sacra that grows in the Dhofar region of Oman. The warm winters and rainy summers there create perfect conditions for the tree, which grows wild all over the region.
