Archive for October, 2009

Dennis Hopper being treated for prostate cancer

Director, actor, producer, writer and artist Dennis Hopper is reportedly being treated for prostate cancer.

Hopper, 73, is seeking medical treatment at the University of Southern California. According to his manager, Sam Maydew, the actor will be treated in a “special program”.

Hopper has just finished filming the second season of the Starz series “Crash”, which is based on the 2004 Oscar-winning movie about racial and social tensions in Los Angeles. He has also canceled all his travel plans and bookings in order to accommodate for his treatment.

During his long Hollywood career, Hopper has been nominated for one Best Supporting Actor Academy Award (Hoosiers, 1987). He has acted in more than 100 films, making his first movie appearance in 1955.

Hopper was briefly hospitalized for dehydration late last month in New York after experiencing flu-like symptoms and stomach pains.

Prostate cancer is the second-most prevalent cancer, behind skin cancer, for men. The American Cancer Society estimates that at least 2 million men still live with the disease, although around 27,000 may die from it this year alone.

Halloween face paint may be dangerous

According to an October 27, 2009 press release, the safety of face paints for Halloween now has the attention of the Food and Dug Administration (FDA). According to “Campaign for Safe Cosmetics”, 10 out of 10 children’s face paints the organization tested contained lead.

“Campaign for Safe Cosmetics” had 10 commonly accessible face paints tested in independent labs. Brands included Alex, Ben Nye, Don Post, Rubie’s, Snazaroo, Mehron, Wolfe Bros, and Jovi. A full 36-page report is available online.

“Unfortunately we found lead in all 10 of the products we sent to the lab and six of them contained heavy metals that are allergens and that included nickel, chromium and cobalt,” said Mia Davis of Campaign for Safe Cosmetics.

They also discovered 6 out of 10 children’s face paints contained nickel, cobalt and/or chromium, which are top allergens in children. The metals were reported at amounts ranging from 1.6 to 120 ppm, a large number of them far exceeding industry safety recommendations of 1 ppm.

The findings, issued by the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, is titled: Pretty Scary: Could Halloween Face Paint Cause Lifelong Health Problems? The research team tested 10 face paint products, a commonly used variety available via the Internet or in craft or Halloween stores.

The ingredients were not listed on Halloween face paints because they are not primary ingredients and the FDA does not ask the manufactures to label “contaminants.” That does not mean they could not cause damage, or that parents would not prefer to know about them prior to picking out costume makeup for use on their children’s face.

Anti-psychotic drugs may cause serious weight gain in kids

Weight gain is a recognized potential side effect of some anti-psychotic drugs that are prescribed for many different behavioral problems. According to new research, older children and teens who take these drugs may be more susceptible to weight gain than adults.

The report was published in The Journal of the American Medical Association, which focused  on atypical antipsychotics being linked to weight gain in adults.

“The weight gain is much larger than we thought,” said Christoph Correll, lead author of the study who is a psychiatrist and a scientist at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research in Manhasset, New York.

The four drugs involved in the research, the most popular anti-psychotic medications, are serious industry money earners, with combined sales of $12.7 billion last year. While all four caused weight gain, there were differences in the extent of the side effects. Johnson & Johnson’s (JNJ.N) Risperdal or risperidone, Eli Lilly’s (LLY.N) Zyprexa or olanzapine, Bristol-Myers Squibb’s (BMY.N) Abilify or aripiprazole and AstraZeneca’s(AZN.L) Seroquel or quetiapine.

Though the evidence from this report needs to be repeated over a longer period, the results still raise disturbing questions about anti-psychotic drugs that often benefit kids who have schizophrenia, autism, tics, severe bipolar disorder or aggressive behavior.

“Finally, in view of poor physical health outcomes and suboptimal metabolic monitoring in the severely mentally ill, the benefits of second-generation antipsychotic medications must be balanced against their cardiometabolic risks through a careful assessment of the indications for their use, consideration of lower-risk alternatives, and proactive adverse effect monitoring and management,” the authors write.

UPDATE: Andrew Lloyd Webber has prostate cancer

World-renowned composer Andrew Lloyd Webber is reportedly battling prostate cancer. Webber, 61, vows to beat the disease.

A representative for Webber says the prostate cancer was caught in the early stages. “Andrew is now undergoing treatment and expects to be fully at work before the end of the year.”

At this time, it is not known what type of medical treatment is being used to treat the prostate cancer, or what hospital Webber is staying at.

Prostate cancer is the most common type of cancer in men in the UK, with 35,000 being diagnosed in the country each year, with most men 50 years of age and older. Approximately 10,000 will die in the UK due to prostate cancer this year alone.

Webber is set for a very active 2010, with a BBC TV series looking for cast members for a new production of ‘The Wizard of Oz’, and his new musical ‘Love Never Dies’, the continuation to his hit ‘Phantom of the Opera’.

“Love Never Dies” is set in Coney Island in New York, 10 years after the story of “Phantom,” as the title character moves from the Paris Opera House to the fairgrounds of Coney Island. The London production will star Ramin Karimloo as the Phantom and Sierra Boggess as Christine. Lloyd Webber said that although the story carries on where “Phantom” left off, he does not consider it as a sequel, “it’s a standalone piece.” However, Lloyd Webber said he was inspired to write the musical because “there’s unfinished business.”

Andrew Lloyd Webber fighting prostate cancer

According to reports, the world famous composer Andrew Lloyd Webber has been diagnosed with prostate cancer.

A representative for Webber stated that he has started medical treatment for the cancer and that it was detected in an early stage, making the prognosis positive. He is likely to spend the rest of the year focusing on treatment and recovery.

There was no indication of what type of medical treatment Lloyd Webber has taken, surgery, radiation or other options – at the unidentified hospital where he was admitted Saturday evening.

Prostate cancer strikes approximately 35,000 men in the United Kingdom annually of those, more than 10,000, just over a third die as a result of the disease this year alone.

The disease is the most common cancer in British men, reporting for a quarter of all new cases.

Lloyd Webber, 61, is the Oscar-winning composer of hit musicals including Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Cats, Evita and The Phantom of the Opera. Rehearsals for his new musical, “Love Never Dies,” a continuation to “The Phantom of the Opera,” are to start in January, with performances scheduled to begin in London at the Adelphi Theater on Feb. 20, and on Broadway in November 2010.

Gene therapy used to improve vision

A team of doctors in the U.S. treated 12 patients who have a rare genetic eye disorder by using gene therapy which significantly improved vision.

Younger patients seemed to react better to the gene therapy, which involves injecting the eye with genetic material on a virus, the research team reported. Six of the 12 patients had so much of their sight restored, that they may no longer be classified as legally blind.

“All 12 patients given gene therapy in one eye showed improvement in retinal function. The effect was stable during follow-up. The results support our hypothesis that the response to subretinal gene therapy depends on the extent of retinal degeneration and, therefore, the age of the patient,” wrote Dr. Jean Bennett, of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia, and colleagues.

More research needs to be conducted that will test the safety of the treatment, its durability and other factors. However, so far, improvement in vision has remained as long as two years after a single treatment without evidence of major harmful side effects.

Among the most serious forms of inherited retinal degeneration is Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA), which is a group of diseases that are caused by mutations in any one of at least 13 genes. Patients with LCA have severe loss of vision and abnormal eye movements in early infancy and during early childhood.

A number of companies are developing gene therapies and 320 trials are under way or cleared to begin by U.S. regulators

The full report can be found in the latest online edition of The Lancet.

Cheerleader only walks backwards after flu shot: No hoax

A single dose of a seasonal flu shot has changed a cheerleader’s life forever. Ten days after receiving the shot, Desiree Jennings, 25, came down with a painful debilitating neurological disorder.

Prior to getting the flu shot in August, Desiree’s health was good. However, 10 days afterward she contracted flu-like symptoms. Matters only got worse from there, and she was put in the hospital for seizures on two occasions before being diagnosed with a condition known as Dystonia. Medical experts only speculated that the flu shot was the cause.

Walking is agonizing for Jennings whose muscle cramps means she twists and jerks before collapsing. When standing still or sitting she is overwhelmed by incapacitating muscle spasms which stop her walking or talking properly. However, the symptoms disappear when she runs or walks backwards.

“It’s been unreal. I didn’t think anyone would even care about my story. People are sitting there crying and I can’t understand why.” Jennings said. “This has ruined my life … running is all I have left now.”

With the advent of the new H1N1 vaccine, a large number of people are questioning both the seasonal and H1N1 vaccines. Still, the Center for control of disease and prevention, getting a flu vaccination is the single best way to help prevent influenza.

A needle a day to treat obesity

According to a new study, the diabetes drug, liraglutide can help people without diabetes lose weight.

The study found the injection curbed patient’s hunger and had better weight loss results than the leading obesity drug orlistat. Liraglutide contains a satiety hormone and helps lower risk factors for diabetes.

The study involved 564 people and found just five months of liraglutide injections cut between 10.5 and 15.8 pounds on average depending on the dosage; the orlistat volunteers had lost 9.0 pounds and the placebo group 6.1 pounds.

The study, published in the science journal The Lancet, also said that liraglutide lovered the prevalence of pre-diabetes - poor blood glucose control not yet bad enough to qualify as diabetes - by 84%-96%.

The needle, given once each day works by intensifying the ‘full’ feeling patients get after eating, and by reducing the speed at which their stomach empties.

Side effects were nausea as well as vomiting however, no major adverse events were reported.

“Overall, the results of this study indicate the potential benefit of liraglutide, in conjunction with an energy-deficit diet, in the treatment of obesity and associated risk factors,” said the researchers from the University of Copenhagen. “Liraglutide offers a new mode of action for the treatment of obesity and improved efficacy compared with currently available therapies.”

Future research is needed to establish the long-term risk benefit ratio as this trial on 564 patients ran for just 20 weeks.

UPDATE: Outbreak of Mumps in New Jersey

Approximately 30 individuals in Lakewood, New Jersey, nearly all between the ages of 17 and 20, have come down with the mumps in the last two weeks.

New York health officials report that the outbreak originated in a child who traveled to Britain and then attended summer camp in upper New York State, transmitting the disease to other campers. The children then brought the mumps virus back with them to Brooklyn. Most of the victims have been between the ages of 10 and 15, although a one-year-old child and a 42-year-old have been infected as well.

Surprisingly, 75% of the victims had the normal two doses of mumps vaccine, which is supposed to protect against the illness 90% of the time.

The primary sign of mumps is swollen salivary glands that cause the cheeks to puff out. If you think you have the mumps, stay home for five days. Mumps generally runs its course in approximately 10 days. Complications can lead to deafness or even death and was a childhood scourge until vaccinations mostly ended the disease in developed nations. Mumps takes place around the world and there are still outbreaks in the U.S. Humans are the only known host to mumps.

Health officials are currently working to find all the cases in New Jersey. The Ocean County Health Department states the cases have been mainly contained to one section of the town.

American Cancer Society changes stance on cancer screenings…again

Yesterday the top health headlines read, “Cancer screenings do not save lives.” However today the headlines have changed. The controversy comes from a statement made by Dr. Otis Brawley, chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society (ACS). Brawley made the statement in an interview with the New York Times about a Journal of the American Medical Association analysis of breast and prostate cancer screening

Top medical officials with the ACS said the benefits of breast cancer and prostate cancer screening are being oversold, which turned into a firestorm of controversy, though leading cancer doctors have raised doubts about the routine screening.

The idea that screening saves lives is not as simple as it sounds, and the advantages of screening have been “exaggerated,” Dr. Otis Brawley, chief medical officer at the American Cancer Society. Scientists determined that prostate cancer screening and breast cancer screening are finding cancers that do not need to be discovered because they would never spread and kill or even be detected if left alone. This fact alone has led to a large increase in cancer diagnoses because, without screening, those innocuous cancers would go undetected.

“While the advantages of screening for some cancers have been overstated, there are advantages, especially in the case of breast, colon and cervical cancers. Mammography is effective – mammograms work and women should continue to get them. The American Cancer Society stands by its recommendation that women age 40 and over should receive annual mammography, and women at high risk should talk with their doctors about when screening should begin based on their family history”, Brawley shared.

Therefore, despite yesterday’s health headlines, The American Cancer Society has no plans to change its breast cancer screening recommendations. It is not known if the clarifying statement from ACS will quiet the situation, however it is clear that such a statement might have been needed.