Glucosamine And Chondroitin Less Effective In Treating Arthritis Pain

A new study has revealed that the supplements glucosamine and chondroitin are not much help when it comes to improving hip and knee osteoarthritis, according to a new analysis of 10 studies.

There have been previous studies that claimed there is not much effectiveness in these supplements, such as government-funded Glucosamine/chondroitin Arthritis Intervention Trial (GAIT), which found that these supplements did not provide any relief for knee OA pain.

In the new study that was conducted, involving 3,803 subjects, the data only reinforced that glucosamine, chondroitin, or a mixture of both worked no better than a placebo in treating those who suffer from arthritis. However, the study did show that taking the supplements would do no harm.

"We see no harm in having patients continue these preparations as long as they perceive a benefit and cover the cost of treatment themselves," write the researchers, who were led by Peter Jüni of the University of Bern in Switzerland.

Via : rttnews

Australia Holds Flu Vaccine Responsible for Convulsions in Children

While the vaccination against influenza has started with a momentum in US, the Australian vaccine is proving harmful for many children.

As confirmed by Australia, its flu vaccine named Fluvax manufactured by Australian firm CSL led to convulsions in 99 children, but no fatal results had been reported and the children had recovered.

The Epidemiologists are warning that the effectiveness of the vaccine is not much as compared to its side-effects and thus, they are urging for improved inspections to rectify the problems being faced.

The cases of fever and convulsions after receiving flu vaccines came pouring in, in early April. The flu vaccination was thus halted for children under 5 by the Australian government. The vaccination was restarted in July but the vaccines employed were from other vaccine makers and not from CSL.

The Australian Department of Health and Ageing reported last week that the flu vaccine had caused fever and convulsions in 99 Australian children this year. Fluvax was given to 66 of them and CSL is stating that they are examining the problem.

Also, Heath Kelly, head of epidemiology at the state infectious diseases laboratory in Melbourne reported in the journal Eurosurveillance that Fluvax vaccine affects two or three cases with convulsions as against one case of prevention from flu.

But the findings were criticized by David Isaacs, Professor of paediatric infectious diseases at the University of Sydney.

Via : topnews

Nice could ration IVF embryos

Doctors have become increasingly worried about the number of multiple births following in-vitro fertilisation (IVF).

Of almost 14,000 babies born thanks to IVF in Britain every year, one in four is a twin or a triplet.

As foetuses they are more likely to die during pregnancy, while those that survive are more likely to be premature, underweight or disabled.

Mothers of multiple-birth children are also more likely to suffer from pregnancy complications like pre-eclampsia.

Current rules from the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (Nice), drawn up in 2004, say that "no more than two embryos should be transferred" during any one IVF cycle "to balance the chance of a live birth and the risk of multiple pregnancy and its consequences".

But that could be tightened under a review looking at certain aspects of fertility treatment.

Nice and the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) have recently started to recommend that women at high risk of multiple births - those under 37 with good quality embryos - should elect for 'single embryo transfer' (SET).

However, Nice could go further by taking away the choice, a move already undertaken in Sweden.

Since 2002, women there have only been able to have single embryo transfer unless the risk of twins is small. SET rates have subsequently risen from 15 to 70 per cent.

Studies have shown a "significant fall in neonatal illness" according to Tony Rutherford, chair of the British Fertility Society, which he said "validated the policy of single embryo transfer".

However, women undergoing IVF could feel such a step would limit their options and unnecessarily force them to have more physically and mentally exhausting IVF cycles.

Susan Seenan, of Infertility Network UK, nonetheless gave the idea a cautious welcome.

She said: "We are supportive of SET for the right women, but it has got to come with full NHS funding."

All health authorities should fund three full cycles, she said, which included transplantation of a fresh embryo or embryos and - if needed - also frozen embryos at a later date.

She commented: "Without that, it's unfair to ask patients to elect for SET."

Mr Rutherford added: "A blanket ban [on multiple embryo transfer] would be wrong.

"The general shift in IVF is to try to create 'one baby at a time' but to do that we need a commitment from government to give us the money."

At present most IVF patients only received one cycle on the NHS, he said.

A shift to SET and what he termed a "milder" IVF approach could achieve the same pregnancy rate as conventional methods, he added, but this would require a "leap of faith" to fund three cycles.

In the end it was cheaper because the reduction in multiple-births saved more than the extra spent on additional cycles, he said a Dutch study showed.

The Nice review will also examine a number of other issues, but the principle of three full cycles will remain untouched.

It will ask whether women should be offered tests of their ovarian (egg) reserves, which give an indication of remaining fertility.

It will also look at when intrauterine (IUI) insemination should be available on the NHS.

Although this is currently recommended for mild male infertility, such as when a man has poorly-swimming sperm, success rates vary widely.

Nice could also recommend that clinicians wait for five to six days after fertilisation before implanting embryos - or blastocysts as embryos of that age are called - as new evidence shows this results in higher success rates. However, the method is more costly than implanting in two or three-day old embryos.

The final updated guideline is not expected to be published before 2012.

Via : telegraph

Russian Orthodox Church and test tube babies: Blessed or cursed?

A Vatican spokesman criticized the awarding of the Nobel Prize for medicine to the British scientist Robert Edwards, the creator of the method of in vitro fertilization. Pravda.ru talked to Father Dimitry (Pershin), a teacher of bioethics, to find out whether this method was acceptable for the Orthodox and whether IVF brings happiness to infertile couples.

- Father Dimitry, based on the criteria of orthodox morality, it is OK or not to resort to IVF?

"From the viewpoint of "Basic Social Concept of the Russian Orthodox Church," the highest value is human life and soul, but the main principle is the Hippocratic covenant "do no harm," under which medical procedures should not violate the commandments.

Three moments are presented here as absolutely unacceptable. The first is the creation and destruction of spare embryos. Because the effectiveness of IVF is small, in four out of five cases, it has to be repeated. In order to avoid the risks associated with hormonal stimulation, it is often recommended to immediately create spare embryos and freeze them in the event of failure of the first implantation. But if the implantation goes well, these embryos are destined for destruction, which is unacceptable.

The second moment is carrying a child through surrogacy, which is an affront to human dignity of the hired mother and causes great injury to a child detached from her. And the third is the use of donor cells. Marriage is a mystery of the two, in which there is no place for a third party.

"Basic Social Concept" is not opposed to IVF which involves only two parents and there is no third party, no experiments with the choice of the appearance of the child, when all the embryos are implanted.
However, the main problem of IVF remains an increased likelihood of pathology, diseases of the child, genetic defects. This is not news, it is known to medicine.

There is also the problem of experimentation on human beings without their consent. It is obvious that such an experiment is not acceptable; it is basic, fundamental rules for European bioethics. And in the case of IVF life is the result of some experiment, despite the fact that consent of a child cannot be obtained in principle.

Can I assume that the desire to get a child is sufficient to warrant that its health is at stake? That is the question everyone is responsible for.

There is a similar situation, where parents who have some hereditary disease - such as hemophilia - decide to still have children, and babies are born sick. The Church does not forbid the conception in this case, but believes that it would be better to refrain from having children. In this case, it is better to adopt. In the case of IVF, since the probability of an affected child is high, this issue is also acute.

- Some people accuse Catholic and Orthodox Church of cruelty: IVF is able to give childless couples the joy of fatherhood and motherhood, while Christians prohibit it.

"IVF can be conducted under the conditions that "extra" embryos are not destroyed and donor cells are not used. This is done in Italy. They create only three embryos, the cells for them are taken only from the parents and all three embryos are implanted. No experiments on embryos, no destruction. According to the "Basic Social Concept of the Russian Orthodox Church," such an approach is acceptable as a method of overcoming infertility.

- What advice would you give to couples that are medically unable to conceive a child alone and ponder whether they should go for IVF?

"A visit to their nearest orphanage."

- These days many couples do not want to wait for conception. If pregnancy does not occur in the shortest possible time, they hasten to do IVF.

"All risks and all the problems that are caused by this artificial intervention in the reproductive functions of the body are shifted to children. Risk of having an affected child increases significantly, it will suffer. There is a question whether this is the price that we pay for wanting to have our own child."

Via : english.pravda.ru

New Method Could Improve in Vitro Fertilization Outcomes

A noninvasive imaging approach for predicting which embryos will reach the blastocyst phase could be useful in assessing the potential of embryos during assisted reproduction, according to research published online Oct. 3 in Nature Biotechnology.

Connie C. Wong, Ph.D., of Stanford University in California, and colleagues discuss their experiments using 242 in vitro fertilization embryos cryopreserved 12 to 18 hours after fertilization at the two-pronucleate stage.

The researchers found that progression to the blastocyst stage can be predicted with more than 93 percent sensitivity and specificity by three noninvasive imaging parameters: first cytokinesis of zero to 33 minutes, time between first and second mitosis of 7.8 to 14.3 hours, and time between second and third mitosis of zero to 5.8 hours. Their work also suggested that the success or failure of embryo development is determined to a large degree before embryonic genome activation.

"Given that embryo developmental potential can be assessed with a combination of cytokinetic and mitotic parameters in the first two cleavage divisions, it may be feasible to translate these basic studies to clinical applications," the authors conclude. "A method to predict blastocyst formation at day two could improve in vitro fertilization outcomes by increasing pregnancy rates while reducing the risk of multiple gestations. This question will be evaluated in future clinical studies."

One author is now (though not at the time the research was completed) an employee of Auxogyn Inc., which has licensed intellectual property resulting from this research. Several authors own stock in Auxogyn.

Via : modernmedicine

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Via : seerpress

Obesity: how food has taken over Gen Y

In the United States, there are 32,000 McDonald's. 10,000 Wendy's. 36,000 Kentucky Fried Chickens, Taco Bells, Pizza Huts and Long John Silvers combined. Fast food in America combines with laziness to make obesity a major concern for Generation Y.

Millennials are tempted to indulge in a Big Mac for lunch, or fried chicken and french fries for dinner.

"Back in the day, our parents and grandparents ate more roast beef and corn, and they worked all day," Dr. Joseph A. Kuhn, bariatric surgeon at Baylor University Medical Center, said.

Fried food alone begins to explain why this generation struggles with being overweight, as opposed to generations past. It is more popular now than ever before, and most consumers fail to realize how dangerous it can be to their health.

Sitting in a desk for class and doing homework in the library for hours on end is leading this generation to cellulite and double chins at a rapid rate, with many students struggling to find a way out of the cycle. However, there are a few solutions Millennials can try to help offset fast food, exercise being one of them.

A sedentary lifestyle can be combated by finding an hour a day, morning or night, to work out. Run, walk, jump, hike, bike or swim. Virtually any physical activity will aid Generation Y in fighting this uphill battle with obesity, said Dr. Kuhn.

Processed foods also pose a problem. Being taught in high school health that vegetables and fruits are good and sweets are bad simply isn't enough. Millenials must realize that virtually all foods are processed, with the exception of fresh foods, meaning foods that don't contain additives. Kuhn suggests that fresh fruit, fresh vegetables and fresh meats should be implemented into today's diets, as they were in generations past.

Preservatives are dangerous as well. If food will keep in your fridge or freezer for more than a week, there is something in it that is preserving it. Millennials should be wary of foods they don't have to consume quickly. Sure, it's convenient for that frozen pizza to sit for a week or two until the time is right to eat it, but buying the dough, pizza sauce, and pepperonis to make it yourself is great for your cooking skills as well as your health.

When asked to list the main problems in eating habits today, Kuhn was quick to respond.

"Corn syrup is in everything," Kuhn said. "It increases the density of our foods and makes them harder to break down."

Members of Generation Y should make an effort to read the labels on the products they buy.

"If high-fructose corn syrup is in it, put it back," Dr. Jacquelyn Duke, lecturer for biology, said.

Technology has also affected this generation more than ever before. With digital video recorders, Facebook, YouTube and many other modern-day conveniences, members of Generation Y can be consumed by technology.

Previous generations spent their free time working or playing outdoors. Bowling, roller skating, and putt putt golf were things that previous generations did for enjoyment. The popular activity has since then morphed into sitting on the couch munching on popcorn watching the newest episode of "The Hills" or "Entourage."

While technology has advanced greatly throughout Generation Y's lifetime, so have divorce rates. Divorce affects not only the two involved, but often the children as well.

In a study performed by "Obesity: A Research Journal," a "significant" association was found between parents' divorce and childhood obesity. Divorce can directly affect eating habits, leading to such disorders as binge eating. Children often have to seek help later on to break the poor eating habits picked up during the hard times.

On the other hand, divorce can often motivate the now-single mom or dad to lose weight. Dating again and looking for that physical appeal and attraction to others is often more motivation that going to an obesity clinic for advice.

Dr. Fred Cummings, OBGYN at Presbyterian Hospital of Denton, has one simple recommendation to his patients.

With women coming in to see him daily, many ask him how they should go about losing weight.

"Fall in love," Cummings said.

The physical evaluation of oneself brought about by falling in love with someone is more motivation than you can find in a Zumba video or Hip Hop Abs. Wanting to look good for that special someone can encourage healthy eating habits as well as exercise.

"It's all about self-motivation," Starke, Fla. graduate student Elizabeth Johnson said.

Having lost nearly 100 pounds in the last two years, Johnson has much advice to give to the people of Generation Y interested in dropping anywhere from a few pounds to a few dozen pounds.

"How I lost weight was basically diet, exercise and portion control," Johnson said.

Starting out, an hour of cardio a day in combination with a well-restricted diet, the weight began to fall off.

Johnson weighed 237-pounds as a junior at Stetson University. When her boyfriend was headed to basic training, she wanted to lose a few pounds.

"My whole family is obese, and I could tell Jeremy was concerned about my health," Johnson said.

With Type-II diabetes and heart disease running in her family, she decided to be the generation to change the pattern.

Now approximately 100 pounds lighter, Johnson said she feels better than ever. Having an improved opera voice for singing, energy, and a more attractive body than before, Johnson said she maintains her weight now by calorie counting and 30-minute workouts every other night.

"I eat what I want within reason," Johnson said.

If millenials are willing to put forth the effort, these simple tips could help Generation Y's health.

Via : baylor.edu

Child Nutrition Bill denial disappoints obesity campaigners

The bill proposed that six cents would be added to every child’s lunchtime meal for the first time in 30 years, which would cover the cost of providing children with fresher, healthier foods. In turn this would have meant that unhealthy junk food options would have been removed from the lunchtime menu, and replaced with more nutritious alternatives. Consequently, this would help children to lose weight, reducing childhood obesity rates.

Experts have warned that by declining the proposed bill congress have cost every child ten years of their life. It will also hike up family health bills as children will need treatment and medication for the health conditions that unhealthy cafeteria lunches have contributed towards when they get older.

It seems that by declining the bill - which would work out at only a tiny amount per plate - congress has showed how little they care about the future health of thousands of young Americans.

British TV chef, Jamie Oliver has launched the ‘Food Revolution Petition’ to drum up support for better school lunches. Over 600,000 people have signed the petition so far over the worry of what their children are eating at school.

On a typical day children are being fed chocolate milk, soda and pizza for breakfast and burgers with fries for lunch. Tomato ketchup has even been classified as a vegetable by officials in a bid to meet basic nutritional standards and slash costs.

As congress are choosing to overlook making the much needed changes to children’s lunches, Jamie is crying out to parents to sit up and take notice of what their children are eating. He is urging parents to go and eat lunch with their offspring to see firsthand exactly what goes into their mouths.

If they’re disgusted by what’s on offer he’s pleading for them to ‘make noise’ by sending emails directly to the head teachers and school boards. He's called for them to rally up other parents who feel the same way and demand change, so that the message gets heard.

Congress is meeting in November to discuss the bill again, and if they still overrule it, it will be another five years of your children eating pizza for breakfast accompanied with soda and chocolate milk. Jamie says: "five years is too long... your children deserve better".

Via : atlanticdrugs