Alcoholism is not something that is funny nor should it be joked about. It’s a serious problem that requires serious interventions. But who in their right mind doesn’t know or hasn’t figured out that the longer you abuse alcohol, the more alcohol you end up using?

According to an Ohio State University press release about a study that looked at alcoholics and alcohol use,

The findings suggest that older problem drinkers may have developed a tolerance for alcohol and need to drink even more than younger abusers to achieve the effects they seek.

Really?

To be fair though, the study also did find that binge drinking, something usually thought to be associated with young adults, particularly students, is actually quite high among older drinkers.

The researchers looked at people who drank, how much they drank, and activities after drinking, such as driving while intoxicated.

Although it was found that older drinkers are actually fewer than younger ones, they had, not only more binge episodes (five or more drinks per day for men, four for women), they drank more over a week overall.

While this wasn’t mentioned in the study, it is likely that binge drinking or too much alcohol overall would be particularly alarming among seniors, considering the high number of them who take medications, many of which should never be mixed with alcohol.

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What caused this uproar? The same requirement was not place on women who were American citizens.

Granted, the United States has the right to make its own rules regarding what vaccinations people must have if they want to live within the U.S. borders. But, this isn’t a case of someone who may bring in a disease or someone living in a less prosperous country who may not have had the vaccines that we take for granted in North America. In the eyes of many, this was a case of discrimination.

At first glance, it does appear that it could be discrimination. But at closer look, the HPV vaccine requirement is really the result of the vaccine being placed on the Centers for Disease Control recommended vaccine list. And, in the mid 1990s, American immigration laws began to include that anyone seeking to be a permanent resident in the U.S. had to get all of the recommended vaccines.Now, the government bureaucrats seem to have taken a step back and, according news reports, and the HPV vaccine will no longer be required for women seeking permanent status in the U.S.

This is good news in many respects. Unlike childhood diseases or diseases like tetanus or hepatits, HPV is not a major health risk. It is risky if you get it, but that’s not the same thing as being out in public and catching an illness through someone coughing in your face, cutting yourself with a sharp object that is dirty.

There is still a lot of controversy swirling around the HPV vaccines. There doesn’t seem to be any other vaccine that was so pushed for a certain group, particularly in teen girls. While many objected to its very rapid FDA approval and rush to market, others objected to the idea that their daughters were being pushed to have a vaccine that was related to sexual behavior.

What do you think? Was this vaccine pushed too hard, too fast? Or should the government have continued to require women coming to the country to receive it?

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Seriously though, this is so much a concern that one of the Santa groups, the Amalgamated Order of Read Bearded Santas, addressed the issue, urging its Santas to use plenty of hand sanitizers during their Santa days. Adding vitamins to their diet is also recommended.

According to this USA Today article, Better not cough: Santas lobby for swine flu shots, rather than washing their suits weekly, Santas who spend their time with sick children in particular will be washing them daily. Also, by not wearing gloves, they may wash their hands frequently. Other Santas will be wearing gloves, but changing them frequently throughout their shifts or appearances.

So, do you think they should be considered a priority group for the H1N1 vaccine?

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Some Egyptians Who Died and Were Mummified Had Heart Disease, Just Like Us in the Year 2009.

Too long, huh?

Researchers don’t only research current issues, such as finding cures for cancer or ways to make body parts regrow, they also look back in an attempt to understand what happened in earlier times.

In this particular study, researchers were looking for signs of atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries, in mummies. We tend to think of heart disease as a modern problem, but the earlier discovery of the Pharaoh Merenptah (c. 1213-1203 BC), who was 60 years old at his death, having had atherosclerosis, arthritis and dental decay led researchers to study other mummies to see if this was common.

The results of their study will appear tomorrow in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

According to a co-principal investigator, UC Irvine clinical professor of cardiology Dr. Gregory Thomas, although atherosclerosis is everywhere around us these days, it was also quite common in the years BC, despite major differences in lifestyle.

It seems that the higher classes in ancient Egypt had just as high a risk as we do now. This means that there may be problems that we blame on modern times, but that may actually have their roots in other things.

For this study, researchers studied 20 mummies that were at the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities. These mummies were subjected to computed tomography scanning (CT scans) so researchers could see inside the bodies.

The researchers were looking for changes in the cardiovascular system. They were able to detect arteries or hearts in 16 of the mummies. Of those 16, the researchers found that nine had either the beginning of hardening of the arteries (or something similar) or worse.

Some of the study findings included:

Of the mummies who had died when they were older than 45, 7 of 8 had calcification and thus atherosclerosis while only 2 of 8 of those dying at an earlier age had calcification. Atherosclerosis did not spare women; vascular calcifications were observed in both male and female mummies.

The study included Lady Rai, who died sometime in her thirties. She was nursemaid to Queen Ahmose Nefertiri. To put this in context, Lady Rai lived about 300 years prior to the time of Moses and 200 prior to King Tutankhamun (Tut).

Eating a high fat diet, with a lot of red meat, is considered a high risk factor for heart disease in today’s society. And, while they may not have eaten a lot of red meat in the ancient Egyptian times, researchers do know that the higher status Egyptians did eat significant amounts of ducks and geese, as well as beef.

Of course, we can’t tell if the atherosclerosis was the cause of death among these mummies, but the fact that it existed shows us that there is still a lot to learn about the disease.

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But now, the target is women. Women do experience sexual dysfunction. Many women would love to have satisfying sex lives but don’t because of various issues. While some researchers are actively working on medications to help women with their sexual desire, some discover a treatment by accident, as did researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine

The researchers were looking at a medication called flibanserin, an antidepressant. But what the researchers found by pooling information from three separate trials, was that flibanserin also helped boost sexual libido in women who were living with acquired hypoactive sexual desire disorder. In fact, the medication turned out to be a lousy antidepressant, but an effective libido-enhancing one.

Women who have difficulty with sex drive often live in silence. Their inability to enjoy sex isn’t quite as obvious as a man who can’t develop or maintain an erection. But the inability or the lack of desire to have sex in women can be just as devastating as erectile dysfunction is in many men.

According to this article, Viagra for women? Drug developed as antidepressant effective in treating low libido, between 9% to 26% of women, depending on age and menopausal status, have hypoactive sexual disorder (low sex drive).  The article says, “The researchers concluded that treatment with 100 milligrams of flibanserin once a day was associated with significant improvements versus placebo in the number of satisfying sexual events.”

What do you think? Would you take a medication to increase your sex drive?

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Actually, if you really read the study, it’s not the faithfulness that was the issue, it was how much the woman was exposed to the father’s semen. You know how I caution people to read studies carefully and not take news at face value? Here is yet another case. The news that came out of this study shows you how headlines can blow things out of proportion.

These “news” sources published exactly the same thing, which means they were using a press release:

• Faithful mothers have healthier babies (PhysOrg.com)
• Faithful mothers have healthier babies (Science News)
• Faithful Mothers Have Healthier Babies (Medical News Today)

On the other hand, the real information is here:

Duration of sexual relationship and its effect on preeclampsia and small for gestational age perinatal outcome. (PubMed)

Do you see the difference in the titles? Nowhere does it say fidelity or faithfulness – it says duration of sexual relationship. There’s a HUGE difference between the two. There are several reasons why a woman may not be exposed to the father’s semen after pregnancy. I can think of a few right off the top of my head:

• Father is away on deployment or other work-related issues right after conception
• Mother is away on work-related issues
• Mother (or father) doesn’t want to have sex
• Couple breaks up
• Father is unable to have sexual relation for some reason after conception
• Baby was conceived through methods other than sexual relations

Ok, here’s the real story:

Researchers followed 2507 women who were pregnant for the first time and were carrying only one child (meaning no twins or more). The women were asked about how long they had been with the father of the child, because the shorter the relationship, the less the woman was exposed to his semen.

The goal of the study was to see if women who had shorter sexual relationships with the biological father of the child had a higher risk of having a condition called pre-eclampsia – high blood pressure due to pregnancy – and/or smaller babies.

Briefly, what the researchers found was this was true. Women in longer sexual relationships had a lower risk of developing pre-eclampsia than women in shorter relationships.

There were 1,462 uncomplicated pregnancies within the group of mothers. Among the rest, 131 did develop pre-eclampsia and 263 had babies small for gestational age.

The researchers found that women who were in the shorter relationships did have a higher rate of pre-eclampsia, but this wasn’t found absolutely for babies of small gestational age.

Interestingly, at the 20 week ultrasound, doctors did find a problem with the uterine artery, the blood vessel that provides blood to the uterus, in 58 women and more of those women were the ones in the shorter relationship group.

So – now that you know what the study really said, what do you think?

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Researchers from Schepens Eye Research Institute performed a small study (24 people) to see how hemianopia affected driving. Their results were published in the most recent issue of Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science.

According to a press release from the institute,

More than a million people suffer from hemianopia, a condition in which one half of the visual field in both eyes is blinded, usually the result of a stroke or head injury. People with hemianopia often do not know what they can’t see and frequently bump into and trip over objects while walking. Driving is a whole other challenge.

As a result, at least 22 states in the United States don’t allow people with this disorder to drive, as do many other countries.

For the study, researchers took 12 people with hemianopia and 12 people without. The two groups were tested on a driving simulator for 2 hours. Their test drive took them along city roads and rural highways. To test their reflexes, “pedestrians” randomly appeared out of nowhere. The drivers were to honk each time they saw a pedestrian.

Not surprisingly, drivers with hemianopia did not see the pedestrians as often as the control group, without the the visual problem – only about 45% of the time. Again, not surprisingly, they had the most difficulty seeing the pedestrians who appeared on the drivers’ blind sides. However, this did vary considerably, from 6% to 100%. The older the driver, the worse the results.

Now, this was a very small study and small studies have their problems, but I did find this quote from the press release a bit puzzling:

Although overall most subjects with hemianopia had detection rates that seem incompatible with safe driving, [Dr. Eli] Bowers [principal investigator of the study and senior scientist at Schepens Eye Research Institute] cautions that “the relationship of our simulator detection performance measures to on-road performance has yet to be established, another reason to treat each person with hemianopia individually as they seek approval to get back on the road.”

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Roman Catholics who enter a church usually dip their fingers into a small bowl filled with Holy Water. They make the sign of the cross and then proceed to enter the main part of the church. Many repeat this motion when they leave the church.

Because of the H1N1 fears, many churches have removed their holy water, leaving some Catholics upset, unable to perform this important tradition or ritual. No matter, because an Italian inventor has come to the rescue with an automatic holy water dispenser.

The set up is designed like touchless liquid soap dispensers. Church-goers just wave their hand underneath the device and a preset amount of holy water. This allows the person to perform the ritual without dipping their hand into a communal bowl. According to this news report, the church-goers are pleased with the invention. And the inventor? He may be reaping the benefit of a good idea and good timing.

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The funny thing is that now, such rebuilding is possible in some ways. We have great technology that is being applied to artificial limbs, cochlear implants that can help some people hear – there is a lot of research going on to help people live their lives as they did before they were injured. And now, we may have a regrowing penis. Seriously.

Ok, it’s a while away yet. Research is still on rabbits. Imagine choosing rabbits to help treat fertility problems. Have you ever heard of an infertile rabbit?

Researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in North Carolina used tissue engineering techniques to construct a penis for rabbits. This penis was so functional that the rabbits were then able to mate, producing offspring.

So now, the question is, will they be able to reproduce (sorry for the pun) this in humans?

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Take for example a press release from the American Academy of Dental Implants. In August, its members came out in favor of using dental (tooth) implants earlier in dental treatments, stating that root canals and other tooth-saving procedures may be a waste of time and money when people are going to end up losing the tooth in the end anyway.

In all fairness, this is quite possible true in many cases. But, what caught my eye was the wording of the press release:

Minichetti noted that a recent study published in the Journal of Oral Implantology showed that single-tooth dental implants are 98.5 percent successful after seven years and there was no discernable bone loss in almost all the implant sites. First-time root canals fail 5 percent of the time, according to the Academy of General Dentistry, and at much higher rates in repeat procedures. Further, endodontic surgical re-treatments, according to published studies, have success rates ranging from 37 to 87 percent.

Look at the wording. When talking about how good implants are, they use a positive, 98.5% success rate. When comparing it to traditional treatment, they use the more negative term “fail.” But the 5% failure rate the cite is really a 95% success rate. Not that much lower than their 98.5% success rate, is it?

Furthermore, in their comment that success rates range from 37 to 87% for re-treatments is also misleading. Re-treatments can be anything and by definition, if there’s a re-treatment, then there was something wrong, the patient fell into the 5% failure category.

Not unusual

Sadly, it’s not unusual to read pieces written in this way. The writer hopes that the reader reads through the piece so quickly that all that stands out is the failure rate versus the success rate. Those words and numbers are powerful and stick with you.

Stories that are really press releases

Another thing that readers need to keep in mind these days is that many press releases are being written as “stories” and are being used as such. Some on-line news sources reprint the press release in its entirety, presenting it as news.

It used to be that press releases were very obvious. They followed an upside down triangle type of format. They were identified as press releases right off the top, with the name of the contact person and the organization issuing the release.

The formula for the release was like this:

A press release is usually quite short, rarely longer than one page (250 to 500 words)

First paragraph: Big announcement, includes company name, product name, etc. (the who, what, where, when and why)

Second paragraph usually includes a quote from an expert or someone who has something to do with the product or issue.

Third paragraph backs up information and wraps things up.

Fourth paragraph gives the conclusion.

What’s happening now though, is that these so-called press releases are being written in article format, supposedly to make it easier for editors who are stretched thin. Who needs to hire a writer if the companies or associations are already writing the articles for them?

How can you tell?

Sometimes you can’t, but if the news “source” you’re reading is scrupulous, they’ll list a source at the bottom of their “article.” What I do then is go back to that source and check their media archives and press releases. Almost always, I’ll find what I just read, word for word.

Moral of the story?

Don’t believe everything you read. Watch how things are worded and if you’re really interested in the topic, research it a bit more.

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