Environmental Medicine News

The News Review:

- Diabetes drug raises heart attack risk, report concludes
- Freebirth Movement
- Scratch No More: Gene For Itch Sensation Discovered
- The Capital Times :: FRONT :: A1
- Pumpkin Seed Oil - The Natural Workout Boost
- Wall Street Sell-Off Continues; NASA Addresses Problems with Astronaut…
- Cure for health woes

Diabetes drug raises heart attack risk, report concludes
St. Petersburg Times - Jul 27, 2007
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Patients who take Avandia, a popular diabetes medicine, face an increased risk of heart attacks while those who take Actos, a similar drug, do not, federal drug reviewers conclude in a new report. Avandia, made by GlaxoSmithKline, is particularly dangerous to patients who take insulin, the review found, a risk not found with Actos, made by Takeda. The drugs, which increase the body's sensitivity to insulin, were each taken by about 1-million patients last year. The Food and Drug Administration should issue strict warnings about Avandia's heart attack risk, the reviewers concluded. On Monday, the agency is planning to ask an independent panel of experts whether they agree with stronger warnings or want the drug removed from the market… The gene, called the gastrin-releasing peptide receptor gene, or GRPR, helps transmit the itch signal up the spinal cord to the brain. It may be partially responsible for chronic itching in people with diseases such as eczema or itching caused by some drugs. The discovery, reported in the online version of Nature, could be good news for people who are chronically itchy, but "I don't think it's going to solve all itching," said Dr. Gil Yosipovitch, an itch researcher at Wake Forest University. New microbe found in Yellowstone springYellowstone National Park's hot springs have yielded a new marvel - an unusual bacterium that converts light to energy. Plants use photosynthesis to turn light into energy and so do other bacteria, but this bacterium has "a new kind of photosynthesis," says researcher David Ward. [Last modified July 27, 2007, 01:40:44] Share your thoughts on this story.

Freebirth Movement
Washington Post - Jul 27, 2007
: I don’t have a dog in this fight, but one thing puzzles me. For as long as there have been people, childbirth has been one of the leading causes of death for women and children up until comparatively recently (the last 100 years or so). Why are these families so keen to go back to something so — forgive me — primitive? Backwards, even?Saying that modern medicine has nothing to offer the perinatal mother or newborn is simply nonsense upon stilts. Laura Shanley: If you truly research this you will find that throughout history, women and babies in healthy tribal cultures have NOT routinely died in childbirth. Anthropologists that observed healthy tribal cultures a hundred years ago often reported that they rarely saw a death or complication in childbirth. For women in the cities, however, it was different. Poor city women were often overworked and underfed… : Something that occurred this weekend to a dear friend has left me even more inclined to unassisted birth than I have ever been, when I am finally ready to have a child:DF’s doctors, after 10 weeks of near normal blood pressure, insisted she not carry past the date of July 27, though the baby still had not dropped, he was a good size and healthy, but not too big, and this was two weeks before her original due date. She went in on Thursday to be induced, had two rounds through Saturday morning, and was told Saturday afternoon, since the baby had not dropped, they couldn’t break the water, and all other interventions were not working, that she could either try round 3 of Pitocin, or go home! In the end, after I’m sure a lot of anger and resentment, she had what is now being determined as an elective C-section. My blood just boils thinking about this — this baby just wasn’t ready to be born yet! Why can’t the medical establishment just let mothers be, and let nature take it’s course — we have been reproducing for 1000s of years, if everyone is healthy, why arbitrarily force something so natural and beautiful as birth? She probably would have gone after the full moon on Sunday anyway — it’s just one more example of how Western medicine treats pregnancy as a disease, instead of a natural part of life. Laura Shanley: Absolutely. One of the main causes of infant death in childbirth in industrialized countries is premature birth. According to Midwifery Today magazine, the biggest cause of premature birth is induction of labor! These babies are simply not ready to be born. Mothers are rarely asked if they feel they are ready to give birth.

Scratch No More: Gene For Itch Sensation Discovered
Medical News Today - Jul 27, 2007
, found that laboratory mice that lacked this gene scratched much less than their normal cage-mates when given itchy stimuli. The laboratory experiments confirmed the connection between GRPR and itching, offering the first evidence of a receptor specific for the itch sensation in the central nervous system. The findings are reported this week in Nature through advance online publication. Chronic itching is a widespread problem. It can be caused by skin disorders like eczema, or it can stem from a deeper problem such as kidney failure or liver disease. It can be a serious side effect of cancer therapies or powerful painkillers like morphine. For some people, chronic itching can be very disruptive, interfering with sleep or giving rise to scratching that leads to scarring… Washington University School of Medicine’s full-time and volunteer faculty physicians also are the medical staff of Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children’s hospitals. The School of Medicine is one of the leading medical research, teaching and patient care institutions in the nation, currently ranked fourth in the nation by U. News & World Report. Through its affiliations with Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children’s hospitals, the School of Medicine is linked to BJC HealthCare.

The Capital Times :: FRONT :: A1
madison.com - Jul 27, 2007
Department of Corrections Medical Director David Burnett says past medical board discipline plays a factor in hiring, and officials carefully consider the infractions before hiring. But they also consider the doctors’ professional conduct since the disciplinary action, references, board certification and the interview process. "We will look at somebody’s record, take that into account - How long a period of time has it been? What was the nature of the action? - and make what we consider an informed decision on whether we want to hire that person," he says. Burnett says the current staff of prison doctors is actually a "higher caliber over past years," with 70 percent of them board-certified in a specialty - most in family or internal medicine - compared with 30 percent in 2001. Among those who were hired despite past disciplinary actions by the Medical Board is Thomas Williams, who oversees medical care at the prison system’s infirmary, located at Dodge Correctional Institution in Waupun. In Thursday’s edition, The Capital Times documented a litany of complaints about his patient care from nurses, inmates and outside observers. An online check on the Department of Regulation and Licensing’s Web site shows that in 1989 Williams, who was hired by corrections in 2004, was disciplined twice by the state Medical Examining Board for providing inadequate medical care to two patients in 1979 and 1980, when Williams was working in a private practice… But they also consider the doctors’ professional conduct since the disciplinary action, references, board certification and the interview process. "We will look at somebody’s record, take that into account - How long a period of time has it been? What was the nature of the action? - and make what we consider an informed decision on whether we want to hire that person," he says. Burnett says the current staff of prison doctors is actually a "higher caliber over past years," with 70 percent of them board-certified in a specialty - most in family or internal medicine - compared with 30 percent in 2001. Among those who were hired despite past disciplinary actions by the Medical Board is Thomas Williams, who oversees medical care at the prison system’s infirmary, located at Dodge Correctional Institution in Waupun. In Thursday’s edition, The Capital Times documented a litany of complaints about his patient care from nurses, inmates and outside observers. An online check on the Department of Regulation and Licensing’s Web site shows that in 1989 Williams, who was hired by corrections in 2004, was disciplined twice by the state Medical Examining Board for providing inadequate medical care to two patients in 1979 and 1980, when Williams was working in a private practice. The board sent Williams back to school for instruction on patient care, conducting exams, obtaining patients’ medical histories and maintaining records to address his shortcomings.

Pumpkin Seed Oil - The Natural Workout Boost
Easier - Jul 27, 2007
The delicious oil contains citruline to prevent muscle fatigue, vitamins A and E to strengthen muscles, phosphorous for energy boosts, omegas 3 and 6 to enhance muscle growth and metabolic rate, calcium to maintain weight loss, and potassium to eliminate toxins from the body. Grown in the Slovenian regions of Styria and Prekmurje, the pumpkin seeds produce a versatile oil that is perfect as a salad dressing and flavour enhancer for vegetable, fish and meat dishes. It contains the highest amount of vitamin A of all edible oils and has been traditionally used as a nutritional medicine in the region for years. More recent medical research has identified a link between pumpkin seed oil consumption and the treatment and even prevention of some conditions such as prostate diseases, bladder and urinary tract infections, cardiovascular diseases, arthritis and cholesterol levels. Kate Arnold, a qualified British nutritionist said: “Whereas many oils we use are only rich in omegas 3 or 6, pumpkin seed oil is rich in omegas 3, 6 and 9, and most importantly are a high source of zinc, which so many of us are lacking. I would recommend it as another way of incorporating these essential fats, vitamins and minerals into the diet”. Michael Patton, chairman of Porter Foods, which is the sole distributor of Gea Pumpkin Seed Oil in the UK, said: “Unlike the pumpkin flesh, which is around for such a short time, Gea Pumpkin Seed Oil can be stored for up to 12 months.

Wall Street Sell-Off Continues; NASA Addresses Problems with Astronaut…
CNN International - Jul 27, 2007
director of the agency’s chief health and medical officer, Dr. Richard Williams, to conduct a review of the medical and behavioral health services available to NASA’s astronauts at the Johnson Space Center. The review committee, chaired by Air Force Colonel Richard Bachmann, commander of the U. Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine, was comprised of eight representatives of other federal agencies. Let me take a moment to acknowledge the important work done on such short notice with great dedication and time commitment by members of the Astronaut Health Care System Review Committee. You’ll hear from Colonel Bachmann in just a minute… After the review is completed, it is our intention to share the findings of this review with the American public to the maximum extent possible. One final thought: much of the information contained in this report is or comes from anecdotal material. Whatever specific information the Astronaut Health Care System Review Committee obtained in the course of its study, if it is of a health nature, it is subject to rules of medical record privacy. Therefore, the review committee has stated it cannot disclose this information. Having said that, we do intend to apply the lessons learned from this exercise and to use this as an opportunity to move our culture closer to the optimism in responsiveness, care, professionalism and performance integrity that we all expect. With that, I thank you, and I would like to turn it over to Dr. Bachmann for his remarks.

Cure for health woes
Stuff.co.nz - Jul 27, 2007
The failings of Christchurch Hospital are not strictly those of the managers, medical staff, nor the board of the CDHB. The failure is in the philosophy of seeing Christchurch Hospital as only one of a number of institutions within the portfolio of the CDHB. By its very nature, Christchurch Hospital is too important to be treated as such and needs its own board of governance, with the board reporting to the Minister of Health, not the CDHB. Management of the hospital should not be solely in the hands of a manager without medical training, nor should it be solely in the hands of a doctor without management and financial expertise. A joint chief executive position needs to be created and shared by two persons, one competent in medicine, the other in management and finance, who work together but report independently to the hospital board. There also needs to be closer liaison between all medical and surgical hospitals in the city, just as was called for in the 1950s yet, half a century later, largely remains an unachieved goal. There are solutions to the problems at Christchurch Hospital but such solutions do not require more reviews and panels of inquiry… By its very nature, Christchurch Hospital is too important to be treated as such and needs its own board of governance, with the board reporting to the Minister of Health, not the CDHB. Management of the hospital should not be solely in the hands of a manager without medical training, nor should it be solely in the hands of a doctor without management and financial expertise. A joint chief executive position needs to be created and shared by two persons, one competent in medicine, the other in management and finance, who work together but report independently to the hospital board. There also needs to be closer liaison between all medical and surgical hospitals in the city, just as was called for in the 1950s yet, half a century later, largely remains an unachieved goal. There are solutions to the problems at Christchurch Hospital but such solutions do not require more reviews and panels of inquiry. We need visionaries, such as the charity hospital’s founders, Philip Bagshaw and Randall Allardyce, but also people with management and financial expertise, as well as the political will of the Government, to resolve the challenges now confronting Christchurch Hospital. * Michael Gousmett is a charity manager from Christchurch who is completing a doctorate in taxation matters.