medicine and health

FRIDAY, Oct. 19 (HealthDay News) -- A new French study supports the use of radiation therapy after prostate cancer surgery to help prevent recurrence in high-risk patients.

Surgery to remove the prostate (radical prostatectomy) is one of the main treatments for prostate cancer. Experts, however, say the risk of recurrence can be 10 percent to 50 percent in patients whose cancer has already spread beyond the prostate, so post-surgery radiation therapy is commonly prescribed for these men.

The new study included more than 1,000 high-risk prostate cancer patients who had surgery and were followed for more than 10 years. Some of them had immediate radiation therapy (given within four months of surgery) while others were simply monitored for signs of cancer recurrence (watchful waiting).

After 10 years, 61 percent of men who received immediate radiation therapy remained cancer-free, compared with 38 percent of those in the watchful waiting group, according to the study, which was published online Oct. 18 in the journal The Lancet.

"These long-term results reassure us of the continued benefit and safety of radiation therapy after prostatectomy for a large proportion of men with locally advanced or high-risk prostate cancer," study leader Michel Bolla, a professor at the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire A Michallon, in France, said in a journal news release.

Bolla also noted that factors such as patient age or tumor status could play into decisions around whether to use radiotherapy. Younger patients, or those whose biopsy shows evidence of cancer's spread, may gain from post-surgical radiation treatments, whereas the therapy might cause more harm than benefit for patients aged 70 or older.

Two specialists in the field said the findings come as little surprise.

"This study confirms what radiation oncologists have known for many years -- namely that certain adverse risk factors seen on final [laboratory results] after a prostatectomy warrant immediate postoperative radiation," said Dr. Jonathan Haas, chief of radiation oncology at Winthrop University Hospital in Mineola, N.Y.

Dr. Louis Potters, chairman of radiation medicine at North Shore-LIJ Health System in New Hyde Park, N.Y., agreed.

"In certain men who have surgery for localized prostate cancer, post-operative radiation therapy is a powerful tool that can improve cancer outcomes," he said. Beyond offering certain patients "a second chance at a cure," post-op radiation treatment "also decreases the chances of needing future hormone therapy, which can have an array of unwanted side effects," Potters said.

But Haas stressed that teamwork is key to the proper care of any patient with prostate cancer.

"This study underscores the need for close interdisciplinary cooperation between the urologist, radiation oncologist and pathologist to come up with a tailored treatment plan to maximize outcome for a given patient," he said.

-- Robert Preidt Copyright © 2012 HealthDay. All rights reserved. SOURCES: Jonathan Haas, M.D., chief, radiation oncology, Winthrop University Hospital, Mineola, N.Y.; Louis Potters, M.D., chairman, radiation medicine, North Shore-LIJ Health System, New Hyde Park, N.Y.; The Lancet, news release, Oct. 18, 2012

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Diet, Exercise May Boost 'Good' Cholesterol, Study Suggests

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THURSDAY, Oct. 11 (HealthDay News) -- For overweight people with diabetes, intensive exercise and dieting not only aids weight loss, it can also help train their fat cells to produce a hormone believed to boost production of "good" cholesterol, according to a new study.

And this so-called "good" cholesterol, or HDL cholesterol, has been linked to positive effects for cardiovascular health.

The new study, from researchers at The Methodist Hospital in Houston, included data on overweight and obese people with type 2 diabetes who were taking part in a multicenter clinical trial examining how increased physical activity and reduced calorie intake affected their risk for cardiovascular disease.

The participants were randomly assigned to either an intensive diet and exercise program (the "lifestyle intervention" group) or a program that offered only diabetes support and education and no lifestyle changes (the "control" group).

After one year, the lifestyle intervention group had achieved significant improvements in a measure of total fat called "adiposity," fitness, blood sugar levels and fat levels, the investigators found.

In addition, while levels of "bad" LDL cholesterol did not change, levels of the fat hormone adiponectin and HDL cholesterol did increase: Total adiponectin produced by fat cells increased about 12 percent and HDL cholesterol increased nearly 10 percent in the people who made lifestyle changes, compared to those in the control group, the research showed.

It's well established that adiponectin plays a role in fat burning and sugar storage. This study suggests that the hormone also encourages the liver to produce HDL cholesterol, the study authors pointed out in a hospital news release.

"What we're learning is that even overweight people who are physically active and eating a healthy diet are getting benefits from the lifestyle change," principal investigator Dr. Christie Ballantyne, director of the Center for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention, part of the Methodist DeBakey Heart and Vascular Center at The Methodist Hospital in Houston, said in the news release.

"When you exercise and diet, you're improving the function of your adipose tissue, your heart and vascular systems, and even muscle performance. You're getting a lot of benefits that you may not see by just looking at the weight on a scale," he added.

The study was released online in advance of publication in an upcoming print issue of the Journal of Lipid Research.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Social Media Could Boost Condom Use, Study Suggests

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THURSDAY, Oct. 11 (HealthDay News) -- Social media can be used to help convince young adults to use condoms to prevent sexually transmitted diseases, a new study finds.

Researchers enrolled online networks of friends who were randomly assigned to an intervention group or a "control" group.

The 942 participants in the intervention group signed up to "like" and receive news from Just/Us, a Facebook community created to promote sexual health. The site featured weekly discussions about topics such as condom use, talking with partners about sexual history, and how to get tested for sexually transmitted diseases. In addition, there were daily updates in the form of video links, quizzes, blogs and discussion threads.

The 636 people in the control group, called 18-24 News, shared general news of interest to 18- to 24-year-olds.

Two months after taking part in the social networking groups, 68 percent of those in the Just/Us group reported using a condom the last time they had sex, compared with 56 percent of those in the 18-24 News group. The rate of condom use during sex in the previous two months was 63 percent in the Just/Us group and 57 percent in the 18-24 News group, the investigators found.

However, the effects seen in the Just/Us group faded over time and there were no differences between the two groups at the six-month follow-up, according to the report published in the November issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

"The use of social media to influence sexual risk behavior in the short term is novel. It is a first step in considering how to reach the overwhelming numbers of youth online, and how to maximize approaches to technology-based interventions," lead investigator Sheana Bull, of the Colorado School of Public Health's University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, said in a journal news release.

The author of an accompanying commentary, Dr. Nathan Cobb, from the Schroeder Institute for Tobacco Research and Policy Studies at the American Legacy Foundation in Washington D.C., agreed that this use of social media was a step in the right direction. "For health-behavior change intervention designers, Facebook offers something unprecedented -- direct access to an individual's social network, in real time, and without the need for tedious network enumeration by participants," he wrote.

"However, such approaches require multidisciplinary teams that include social media specialists, marketers, and software developers as equal partners in design and intervention development. Building such teams will undoubtedly require changes to traditional funding and development models, but the potential is too large to be ignored or minimized," Cobb added.

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Pre-Test Jitters Might Boost Scores: Study

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FRIDAY, Oct. 12 (HealthDay News) -- For students with a good memory, feeling anxious before taking an exam might actually lead to a higher test score, researchers have found.

In the new study, researchers in England used computer tests to assess levels of anxiety and working memory in 96 students, aged 12 to 14. Good working memory is generally associated with better school performance.

The students were then tested on their general thinking and math skills.

The researchers found that in students with a good working memory, anxiety was associated with higher test scores. In students with a poor working memory, anxiety led to lower test results, according to the report published Oct. 12 in the British Journal of Psychology.

"The research is exciting because it enhances our knowledge of when, specifically, anxiety can have a negative impact on taking tests. The findings also suggest that there are times when a little bit of anxiety can actually motivate you to succeed," study author Matthew Owens, a researcher at the University of Cambridge, said in a news release from the British Psychological Society. Owens was at the University of Southampton when the study took place.

The findings could improve understanding of the impact that anxiety has on students, the researchers said. They estimated that between 10 percent and 40 percent of children have anxiety when taking tests, and suggested that those who are more likely to do poorly on tests could be given priority for receiving extra help in school.

While the study found an association between anxiety levels and test scores, it did not prove a cause-and-effect relationship.