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Sleep
Medication Unlocks Eating Disorder
A sleep disorder
may drive people to use sleeping pills on a regular basis. Even
though all efforts are made to minimize harmful side effects, emerging
medical case studies are uncovering disturbing findings with the
use of the sleeping pill Ambien (zolpidem). While many users report
no incident with the use of this medication, others are developing
a sleep -related eating disorder. They rummage through their fridges
and indiscriminately consume calories ranging into the thousands.
The night eaters have no recollection of their nocturnal foraging,
but thy will find telltale signs of food leftovers and snacks on
counters and even in their beds. Dr. Mark Mahowald, director of
the Minnesota Regional Sleep Disorders Center in Minneapolis is
one of the sleep experts researching the problem. He and his team
are not the only ones. Researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester,
Minn. have made similar findings. Sanofi-Adventis, the French company
that makes the drug, has defended its safety in 13 years of use
in the U.S. A company spokesperson however has conceded that the
package insert for Ambien carries a warning about a sleep-related
eating disorder that could occur. Several sleep specialist and a
number of patients tell a more specific story. Sleep-eating is one
of the varieties of unusual reactions to the drug. Other reactions
range from fairly benign incidents of sleepwalking to hallucinations,
violent outbursts, and the most troubling one of all driving while
asleep.
Dr. Carlos H. Schenck, a sleep disorders expert in Minneapolis believes,
that two basic instincts, sleeping and eating- become linked and
two instinctive behaviors become intertwined in the sleep stage.
NY Time Digest,
Tuesday, March14, 2006, page 5
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Back Pain
Improves With Acupressure
Lower back pain
can be a frustrating condition for patients. It also is a major
cause for disability and a source of depression. For the physician
it becomes a vexing problem to find successful therapies. Pain medications
and their side effects are often not acceptable for long-term use,
and surgery very frequently will not be an option at all.
Additional therapies, which have been frequently used, are chiropractic
treatment, massage therapy and physiotherapy. The results can vary
a great deal depending on the condition. Acupuncture has gained
a solid position in the therapeutic approach of back pain, however
the modality of acupressure treatment has not received much attention
in conservative circles.
If so far conservative voices could dispute the efficacy of acupressure
due to a lack of research data, new studies are now available coming
from the National Taiwan University in Taipeh. Under the leadership
of Professor Tony Hsiu-His Chen and a team of specialists, a randomized
controlled trial with 129 patients suffering of chronic low back
pain has been conducted. The patients received physiotherapy or
acupressure for one month as a modality of treatment. At the end
of treatment, the group treated with acupressure showed significantly
less disability than the group treated with physiotherapy. The improvement
in the disability score of patients treated with acupressure remained
at six-month follow up examinations. Pain scores also remained reduced
after treatment and at 6-month follow-up in the acupressure group.
These results point to the use of acupressure treatment as a very
promising therapy for patients suffering of chronic low back pain.
BMJ 2006;
332:696-700 (25 March, 2006)
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Protein
Found To Fight Infections
A group of researchers
from the Monash Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne, Australia
under Dr. Jennifer Fenner have identified a protein that plays a
role in the body's defence system. Protein SOCS1 is an endogenous
protein that can improve the body's ability to fight viral infections.
The study, which has been published in Nature Immunology reports
that SOCS1 acts like a switch, that tells the body when to inhibit
interferon, a protein produced as part of the body's immune response.
The discovery means that the relationship between SOCS1 and interferon
can be manipulated and eventually specific diseases can be targeted.
As a result resistance to infection can be improved, complications
of inflammatory diseases can be reduced and vaccinations can be
improved. Dr. Paul Hertzog of the institute's center for Functional
Genomics and Disease said that the discovery might have positive
implications on a wide range of incurable diseases. Drugs available
as a result from this research are still a decade away, but work
on potential therapies and a vaccination is in progress. As most
cells in the body produce SOCS1 it has the potential to become a
generic treatment for a range of infectious and inflammatory diseases.
The Medical
Post, March 14, 2006, page 51
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Sexually Transmitted Disease Up In Middle Age
Physicians are
warning that people in middle age should be vigilant about risky
sexual behavior. So far it was assumed that sexually transmitted
diseases are largely affecting teens and young adults, but Dr. Colm
O'Mahony from Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Trust in the U.K.
warned at a conference of the Women's Health Education and Research
Society that STD's are not reserved for the young population. The
rising divorce rate has resulted in a second wave of sexually transmitted
diseases in the population over 40.
It is also a
fallacy to believe that only men are affected. Women are part of
the patient crowd. Often people are asymptomatic, and as a result
long-term physical damage can be the result, if disease goes undetected.
The most common STD remains chlamydia, but other STD's like gonorrhea,
syphilis, genital warts, herpes and HIV show relentless increases.
It is also noteworthy that the newly single middle-age population
finds it harder to handle STD's. They are embarrassed to go to a
sexual health clinic, and there is the false belief that they are
not the ones at risk. Targeted screening is the answer, especially
if a person is in a new relationship. Preaching chastity has been
shown not to work, reported doctors. What is needed is education
that empowers people to build good relationships and self-esteem
and to make sensible decisions. Sex education and condoms are not
just for teenagers.
The Medical
Post, March 14, 2006, page 53
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Vitamin
D Deficiency Affects Asthma
New findings
from an observational study point to the intake of vitamin D during
pregnancy as a way to curb childhood asthma.
Dr. Carlos Camargo at Harvard Medical School and his colleagues
followed more than 2000 pregnant women and their children, and data
on 1,194 subjects over the span of three years are now available.
Risk factors for asthma in the children at age 3 showed an inverse
relationship with the women's consumption of vitamin D. The lowest
intake of vitamin D was 356 IU; the highest was at 724 IU.
The children of mothers who consumed the highest amount of vitamin
D were half as likely to have wheezing in the first three years
of life compared to those whose moms had the lowest vitamin D intake.
The children's
vitamin intake did not have any effects on the result, suggesting
that it is within pregnancy vitamin D supplementation is of importance.
A study of investigators
in London going back to 2005 reaffirms the fact, that vitamin d
has a positive impact on respiratory health. Vitamin D was given
to steroid-resistant asthmatics. Authors of the study suggested
that the therapeutic response to glucocorticoids was increased in
this group. Further epidemiological investigations are needed to
study the benefits of vitamin D as an inexpensive prenatal supplement
to prevent childhood asthma.
The Medical
Post, March 21, 2006, page 1 and 60
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