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High Calcium Level In Arteries May Signal Serious Heart Attack Risk
Researchers may be able to predict future severe cardiac events in patients with known, stable coronary artery disease (CAD) using coronary calcium scoring, according to a study published in the online edition of Radiology.
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New York Times Examines Trend Of Posting Childbirth Videos On YouTube
The New York Times on Thursday examined how thousands of women have posted videos on YouTube showing themselves giving birth. According to the Times, the women believe the videos help "demystify" childbirth by candidly presenting the process in a manner that pregnant women and their partners otherwise might not see. Along with YouTube, Web sites like Internet chat rooms and pregnancy blogs are helping to shift dynamics between pregnant women and their care providers, the Times reports. Eileen Ehudin Beard, an adviser for the American College of Nurse-Midwives, said, "The more information you have, the more s you have, the more informed you are, the better questions you ask." However, she added that the videos could have negative effects, particularly if they make women more fearful of childbirth. The childbirth videos are relatively controversial because of their graphic nature, which has challenged some of YouTube"s rules and raised issues of propriety. Victoria Grand, the head of policy for YouTube, said that nudity generally is banned from YouTube but that the site "make[s] exceptions for videos that are educational, documentary or scientific." Most childbirth videos on YouTube are age restricted to ages 18 and older. A majority of them show home births because most U.S. hospitals prohibit patients from recording births due to liability concerns, the Times reports. Although childbirth education classes have shown edited videos of births since the 1970s, the Internet and YouTube could change the way such classes are taught, according to Jeanette Schwartz, president of the International Childbirth Education Association. She noted that most videos currently used in childbirth classes are heavily edited and out of date, adding that the YouTube videos "create a wonderful opportunity to show free, real life, candid videos in a classroom setting." Eugene Declercq, a professor at the Boston University School of Public Health, said, "A hundred and fifty years ago, women viewed birth on a pretty regular basis -- they saw their sisters of neighbors give birth." He said that changed with a trend toward hospital births beginning in the late 19th century. "But now, with YouTube, we"ve come back around and women have this opportunity to view births again," Declercq said (Wollan, New York Times, 6/11).
News of the day
Comparative Effectiveness Research Underway At 28 Research Centers
"You hear the pitch in drug ads all the time: "Ask your doctor if this medication is right for you,"" reports MSNBC. However, evidence to show whether a treatment is appropriate for a given patient is often scarce. Matching therapies to patients is further complicated by vast difference in how people respond to medicines. However, a national push for so-called comparative effectiveness research could make that job easier. The economic stimulus package includes $1 billion to support the research.
Sexual Health

Prostate Tumor Growth May Be Slowed By Carbohydrate Restriction

Restricting carbohydrates, regardless of weight loss, appears to slow the growth of prostate tumors, according to an animal study being published this week by researchers in the Duke Prostate Center. "Previous work here and elsewhere has shown that a diet light in carbohydrates could slow tumor growth, but the animals in those studies also lost weight, and because we know that weight loss can restrict the amount of energy feeding tumors, we weren"t able to tell just how big an impact the pure carbohydrate restriction was having, until now," said Stephen Freedland, M.D., a urologist in the Duke Prostate Center and lead investigator on this study. The researchers believe that insulin and insulin-like growth factor contribute to the growth and proliferation of prostate cancer, and that a diet devoid of carbohydrates lowers serum insulin levels in the bodies of the mice, thereby slowing tumor growth, Freedland said. The findings appear in the May 26, 2009 online edition of the journal Cancer Prevention Research. Funding was provided by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Defense Prostate Cancer Research Program; the American Urological Association/ Foundation Astellas Rising Star in Urology Award, and the Robert C. Atkins Foundation. Animals in the study were fed one of three diets: a very high fat/ no carbohydrate diet; a low-fat/ high carbohydrate diet; and a high fat/ moderate-carbohydrate diet, which is most similar to the "Western" diet most Americans eat, Freedland said. They were then injected with prostate tumors at the same time. "The mice that were fed a no-carbohydrate diet experienced a 40 to 50 percent prolonged survival over the other mice," Freedland said. Mice on the no-carbohydrate diet consumed more calories in order to keep body weights consistent with mice on the other study arms. "We found that carbohydrate restriction without energy restriction - or weight loss - does indeed result in tumor growth delay," he said. The researchers plan to begin recruiting patients at two sites - Duke and the University of California - Los Angeles - for a clinical trial to determine if restricting carbohydrate intake in patients with prostate cancer can similarly slow tumor growth. The trial should begin within a few weeks. "It"s very exciting - this is a potential new mechanism to fight prostate cancer growth and help patients live longer with their disease," Freedland said. Other researchers involved in this study include John Mavropoulos, William Buschmeyer, Alok Tewari, Dmitriy Rohkfeld, Phillip Febbo, Gayathri Devi, Eric Westman, Bercedis Peterson and Salvatore Pizzo of Duke; Michael Pollak and Yunhua Zhao of McGill University; Pinchas Cohen and David Hwang of UCLA and Wendy Demark-Wahnefried of the University of Texas - M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. The Atkins Foundation supported this study but had no additional input or influence on the results. Lauren Shaftel Williams Duke University Medical Center


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