Death rates for heart and pneumonia patients at critical-access hospitals are rising nationally, study finds

Death rates are rising at rural critical-access hospitals for Medicare patients who have heart attacks, heart failure and pneumonia, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Hospitals designated as critical-access get slightly higher Medicsare and Medicaid reimbursements in exchange for limiting their size, procedures and patient stays. In 2002, they had a death rate of 12.8 percent for such ailments, under the 13 percent rate at other hospitals. But from 2002 to 2010, mortality rates at critical-access hospitals increased 0.1 percent each year, to 13.3 percent, while the rates at other hospitals fell 0.2 percent each year, to 11.4 percent.

There are 1,331 hospitals in the critical access program, Jordan Rau reports for USA Today. "Congress started the critical access program in 1997 to stave off hospital closures in places where patients had no good alternative because the next hospital was at least 35 miles away by regular roads or 15 miles by secondary roads. To qualify hospitals need 25 or fewer beds."
 
The authors of the study "suggested that the hospitals' care may suffer because they don't have the latest sophisticated technology or specialists to treat the increasingly elderly and frail rural populations," Rau reports. "Since hospitals are not required to submit performance evaluations to Medicare, the government may not realize that facilities could need additional assistance in caring for sicker patients."

Brock Slabach of the National Rural Health Association told Rau that the statistics don't always tell the complete story and that "The association's own research has found that rural hospitals do better in patient satisfaction surveys than do urban hospitals," Rau writes.

Study suggesting that coal is a cause of health problems in E. Ky. is disputed by industry and politicians, defended by researcher

By Molly Burchett
Kentucky Health News

A heated debate centers on new research showing that residents in Floyd County, where coal is stripped from the tops of mountains and ridges, report more health problems than those in two nearby communities without such mines, Elliott and Rowan.

The study, published in the online Journal of Rural Health, is the latest by Dr. Michael Hendryx of West Virginia University to suggest that residents of mining areas have poorer health conditions and experience more serious illness. It is available to readers of Kentucky Health News by clicking here.

Unlike some of his West Virginia research, Hendryx does not say there is a correlation between mining and poorer health outcomes in Eastern Kentucky. He does suggest the possibility of a connection by showing residents' self-reported health problems like asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder and hypertension are more common in mining areas. And in an interview, he said he believes there is a connection.

Stonecrest Golf Course at Prestonsburg in Floyd County,
built on a reclaimed mountaintop-removal coal mine.

The study and its critics highlight the challenges and pitfalls of discussing and reporting such research. The study's underlying motives and methodology are contested. The president of the Kentucky Coal Association, Bill Bissett, said Hendryx has reached a conclusion and is seeking evidence to support it.

"Bissett's accusation is completely false," Hendryx replied. "On the contrary, he is obviously the one with the biased perspective and has a strong financial motivation to try to discredit this work."

Bissett questions the study's use of self-reported health measures that did not consider medical history. Self-reporting is susceptible to bias, which can be reduced by using other sources of data/. This study only included data collected from interviews conducted by volunteers, which may have introduced more bias, Bissett said.

Hendryx replied, "We used undergraduate students from Christian colleges who were trained to be fair and objective in the survey procedures, and to use the same procedures in both the mining and non-mining communities." He said Peter Illyn, who runs the Christian organization Restoring Eden, approached him to do the survey because Illyn "wanted to give the students this experience, and he wanted to replicate the survey that we had done the previous year in West Virginia, this time in Kentucky."

The volunteers interviewed 544 participants lived in Floyd County and 351 in Rowan and Elliot counties, where coal is not mined. It used standard statistical devices to control for factors that might influence health status: age, sex, education, marital status, work as a coal miner, weight and tobacco habits. However, there was no consideration of health behaviors such as drug and alcohol use, wellness measures, exercise or other healthy lifestyle habits that could have positive influences.

"The survey had to be brief with the time and resources we had," said Hendryx. "We did measure overweight and obesity, which is a reflection of diet and exercise. We measured tobacco use. We did not measure alcohol use in this survey but in other studies we have found that heavy alcohol use is not common and is not an explanation for the findings."

Kentucky House Speaker Greg Stumbo, who is from Floyd County, said he disagreed with the use of Rowan County, home of Morehead State University, as a control group due to the higher rates of education attainment and per capita income, reported Ronnie Ellis of Community Newspaper Holdings Inc.

Stumbo told Ellis, “Everybody in the world knows that you can take a population that is less well educated and that has a lower per capita income and you’ll see their health habits are (worse) and hence their rates of diseases are attributable to those two things.” Rowan has a much better health status than surrounding counties, according to the latest national County Health Rankings.

Hendryx defended his research controls and the process of relying on self-reported medical histories. He said the health problems may be caused by tiny particles of dust from coal mining, which have been linked to health problems, can penetrate the lungs to cause health impacts, reported James Bruggers of The Courier-Journal. Hendryx said there are also concerns about polluted water and soil.

The study's data only hint at a connection between surface coal mining and poor health. Hendryx said he can’t prove that mountaintop removal is causing people to get sick, but he believes it is. What is needed, he told Bruggers, is a more thorough and expensive “gold standard” study of air and water quality near residences, and samples of blood, hair and toenails that can reveal exposure to pollutants.

Kentucky Health News is an independent news service of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues at the University of Kentucky, with support from the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky.

Common beliefs about obesity and weight loss found to be myths

Think going to gym class drives weight loss, or that breastfeeding protects a child from obesity? Think again, because these are among seven popular myths about obesity myths, according to an international team of researchers.

The seven popular but largely inaccurate beliefs, which lead to poor policy decisions, inaccurate public-health recommendations and wasted resources, were identified by the team led by David Allison, associate dean for science in the School of Public Health at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Here are the seven myths:

• Myth 1: Small, sustained changes in how many calories we take in or burn will accumulate to produce large weight changes over the long term.
Fact: Small changes in calorie intake or expenditure do not accumulate indefinitely. Changes in body mass eventually cancel out the change in calorie intake or burning.

• Myth 2: Setting realistic goals in obesity treatment is important. Otherwise, patients become frustrated and lose less weight.
Fact: Some data suggest that people do better with more ambitious goals.

• Myth 3: Gradually losing weight is better than quickly losing pounds. Quick weight losses are more likely to be regained.
Fact: People who lose more weight rapidly are more likely to weigh less, even after several years.

• Myth 4: Patients who feel “ready” to lose weight are more likely to make the required lifestyle changes, do health-care professionals need to measure each patient’s diet readiness.
Fact: Among those who seek weight-loss treatment, evidence suggests that assessing readiness neither predicts weight loss nor helps to make it happen.

• Myth 5: Physical-education classes, in their current form, play an important role in reducing and preventing childhood obesity.
Fact: Physical education, as typically provided, does not appear to counter obesity.

• Myth 6: Breastfeeding protects children against future obesity.
Fact: Breastfeeding has many benefits for mother and child, but the data do not show that it protects against obesity.

• Myth 7: One episode of sex can burn up to 300 Kcals per person.
Fact: It may be closer to one-twentieth of that on average, and not much more than sitting on the couch.

The research team also defined six “presumptions" that are generally held to be true even though more studies are needed before conclusions can be drawn, such as the idea that regularly eating versus skipping breakfast contributes to weight loss. Studies show it has no effect.

The same goes for the idea that eating vegetables by itself brings about weight loss, or that snacking packs on the pounds. According to Allison and colleagues, these hypotheses have not been shown to be true, and some data suggest they may be false.

The researchers also identified nine research-proven facts about weight loss. For example, weight-loss programs for overweight children that involve parents and the child’s home achieve better results than programs that take place solely in schools or other settings.

Also, many studies show that while genetic factors play a large role in obesity, “Heritability is not destiny.” Realistic changes to lifestyle and environment can, on average, bring about as much weight loss as treatment with the most effective weight-loss drugs on the market. (Read more)

Poor, rural mothers-to-be have high levels of stress, and few resources to help them handle it, small-scale study concludes

Low-income pregnant women in rural areas experience high levels of stress, but lack the appropriate means to manage their emotional well-being, according to a small-scale study at the University of Missouri. The authors suggest that rural doctors should link these women with resources to help manage stress, Medical Xpress reports.

"Many people think of rural life as being idyllic and peaceful, but in truth, there are a lot of health disparities for residents of rural communities," Mizzou nursing professor Tina Bloom told Medical Xpress. "Chronic, long-term stress is hard on pregnant women's health and on their babies' health. Stress is associated with increased risks for adverse health outcomes, such as low birth weights or pre-terms deliveries, and those outcomes can kill babies."

Researchers studied about 25 rural pregnant women. Through interviews, researchers discovered that financial problems were one of the biggest stressers for them. Financial stress was exacerbated by the women's lack of employment, reliable transportation and affordable housing. The women also said that small-town gossip, isolation and interdependence of their lives with extended family members also increased stress. Almost two out of three women showed symptoms of depression, and one in four displayed symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. (Read more)

Poll shows depth of prescription drug abuse in Kentucky

By Molly Burchett and Al Cross
Kentucky Health News

One-third of Kentucky adults have friends or relatives who have experienced problems from abusing prescription pain relievers, and 8 percent have used pain medicine when it wasn't prescribed or for the feeling it caused, according to a statewide poll conducted last fall.

The Kentucky Health Issues Poll found that in Eastern Kentucky, 45 percent reported that prescription drug abuse have caused problems for friends or family members. In the 17-county Bluegrass Area Development District, which includes some Appalachian counties, the figure was 37 percent. It was 32 percent in Northern Kentucky, 31 percent in the seven-county Louisville area and 25 percent in Western Kentucky.

The poll found that young adults are more likely to have the problem. Among those 18 to 29 years old, 13 percent said they had used pain medicine when it wasn't prescribed or for the feeling it caused, and 49 percent said they had a friend or relative who had been affected.

The Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky, which co-sponsored the poll, noted that drug-overdose deaths in Kentucky correspond to a steep increase in the sales of opioid prescription pain relievers, which include OxyContin, Vicodin, Percocet and codeine. More than half of Kentucky adults in the poll reported being prescribed such drugs.

“While these types of medications are important for controlling pain in patients who need them, opioids also carry the potential for abuse,” said Dr. Susan Zepeda, President and CEO of the foundation. “Our state ranks sixth in the nation for prescription pain reliever overdose deaths, and these data provide a window on how many Kentuckians are impacted – directly or indirectly – by prescription misuse.” (Read more)

The poll was conducted for the foundation and The Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati from Sept. 20 through Oct. 14 by the Institute for Policy Research at the University of Cincinnati. A random sample of 1,680 adults throughout Kentucky was interviewed by landline and cell telephones. The poll's margin of error is plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.

Kentucky Health News is an independent service of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues at the University of Kentucky, with support from the Foundation for a Health Kentucky.

Childhood obesity is linked to more immediate health problems than doctors formerly realized

While a plethora of research on childhood obesity has linked it to long-term health problems, a new UCLA study focuses on the condition's more proximate consequences, showing that obese children are at a greater risk for immediate health problems than previously thought. That's important for Kentucky, which ranks poorly in many health measures and is third highest in child obesity. (Photo by Tara Kaprowy)

"This study paints a comprehensive picture of childhood obesity, and we were surprised to see just how many conditions were associated with childhood obesity," said lead author Dr. Neal Halfon, a professor of pediatrics, public health and public policy at UCLA.

Compared to kids who are not overweight, the study found that obese children have nearly twice the risk of having three or more reported medical, mental or developmental conditions. Specific medical conditions included bone, joint and muscle problems; asthma; allergies; headaches; and ear infections. Obese children also reported a greater tendency toward emotional and behavioral problems, higher rates of grade repetition, missed school days and other school problems, ADHD, conduct disorder, depression, learning disabilities, and developmental delays.

The study provides the first comprehensive national profile of associations between weight status and a broad set of associated health conditions, a UCLA release said. Halfon said these findings should serve as a wake-up call to physicians, parents and teachers, who should be better informed of the risk for health conditions associated with childhood obesity. (Read more)

Report: Electronic health records haven't cut health costs

The conversion to electronic health records isn't producing savings in health-care costs predicted by a 2005 report, and it's had mixed results in improving efficiency and patient care, according to a RAND Corporation report. The company's 2005 predictions helped drive growth in the EHR industry and encourage billions of dollars in subsidies from the federal government to hospitals and doctors to implement such systems, Reed Abelson and Julie Creswell of The New York Times report.

The 2005 report predicted that widespread use of EHRs could save the U.S. health care system at least $81 billion a year. "But evidence of significant savings is scant, and there is increasing concern that electronic records have actually added to costs by making it easier to bill more for some services," Abelson and Creswell write. Health care costs have risen $800 billion since the 2005 report, according to federal data.

Authors of the new report, published in this month's issue of Health Affairs, said they didn't attach dollar amounts to how much electronic record keeping has helped or hurt efforts to reduce costs. "But the firm's acknowledgement that its earlier analysis was overly optimistic adds to a chorus of concern about the cost of the new systems and the haste with which they have been adopted," Abelson and Creswell report.

There are several factors why the switch has not created significant savings, report authors said. Those factors include use of commercial record systems, slow rates of system adoption, and the fact that electronic records "do not address the fact that doctors and hospitals reap the benefits of high volumes of care," Abelson and Creswell report. (Read more)

Painkiller epidemic was driven in part by drug makers' financial relationships with researchers who discounted the risks

For almost a decade, medical officials and experts claimed OxyContin rarely posed problems of addiction for patients. The drug's label, which was approved by the Food and Drug Administration, said addiction risks were small. Research published in the New England Journal of Medicine also said OxyContin wasn't addictive; so did a study in another journal, which OxyContin manufacturer Purdue Pharma reprinted 10,000 times. Since the drug first hit the market, it has fueled a large-scale swath of prescription pain killer addiction, beginning in Central Appalachia, that has grown into a national epidemic, especially in rural areas.

The epidemic was driven in no small part by doctors' lack of knowledge about OxyContin, which was perpetuated by the drug's manufacturer through false claims that became scientific consensus. But now, "Many in the medical profession have rediscovered the destructive power of opiates," and are calling that consensus into question, Peter Whoriskey of The Washington Post reports. "A closer look at the opioid painkiller binge, in which retail prescriptions have roughly tripled in the past 20 years, shows that the rising sales and addictions were catalyzed by a massive effort by pharmaceutical companies to shape medical opinion and practice."

Doctors were wary of prescribing painkillers to any patient except those with cancer for years. But manufacturers and some pain specialists "helped create a body of scientific research assuaging the long-standing worries about opioids and pushed to expand the use of the drugs in people with chronic pain: bad backs, arthritis, sore knees," Whoriskey reports.

Through an examination of key scientific papers, court documents and FDA records, the Post found that many of the studies claiming OxyContin wasn't addictive were supported by Purdue Pharma. The conclusions those studies reached were sometimes not supported by data, and when the FDA needed to develop an opioid policy, it turned to a panel of doctors who had financial relationships with Purdue Pharma and other drug makers. (Read more)

Deaths from drug overdoses in Kentucky hit new high in 2010; more than half involved prescription drugs

Deaths from drug overdoses in Kentucky jumped to a new high in 2010, and "rose a staggering 296 percent from 2000 to 2010," Bill Estep of the Lexington Herald-Leader reports. "A tidal wave of prescription-drug abuse drove the steep increase," with just over half of the deaths involving prescription drugs, according to a study by researchers at the University of Kentucky.

As usual, the problem is worst in Appalachian Kentucky, as illustrated by this Herald-Leader map:

"The increase in deaths might have been even greater because information was not available for Kentucky residents treated in neighboring states, and because some death certificates might not have listed an overdose as the cause of a person's death when in fact it was," Estep reports. "The report did not measure the impact of changes Kentucky lawmakers made this year aimed at confronting the prescription-drug problem, though it will provide a way to help measure the impact of the law."

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2012/12/20/2451315/drug-overdose-deaths-up-296-percent.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2012/12/20/2451315/drug-overdose-deaths-up-296-percent.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2012/12/20/2451315/drug-overdose-deaths-up-296-percent.html#storylink=cpy

U.S. teens' cigarette use drops to a new low, but use of alcohol goes up a bit and more 12th graders are smoking marijuana

Teenagers' cigarette smoking dropped to a record low this year but alcohol use rose slightly after seven years of decline, according to a survey of 45,000 eighth-, 10th- and 12th- graders for the National Institute of Drug Abuse.

The survey also found that the use of illicit drugs dropped slightly among eighth-graders but rose slightly among 12th-graders. Among them, 36.4 percent reported using marijuana in the past year, up from 34.8 percent in 2010, and the share who saw great risk in smoking marijuana occasionally dropped significantly, to 20.6 percent, from 24.5 percent in 2010.

Among all three age groups, only 10.6 percent said they had smoked cigarettes in the past 30 days, down from 11.7 percent in 2010. The University of Michigan researchers who did the survey said the decline was significant, and may have been driven by a big increase in the federal tobacco tax in 2009.

"A 1-percentage-point decline may not sound like a lot, but it represents about a 9 percent reduction in a single year in the number of teens currently smoking," principal researcher Lloyd Johnston said in a news release. Among eighth-graders, the decline was about 20 percent. For other results of the survey, click here; for a PDF version, here. For the full survey report, go here.

"Teen attitudes toward smoking also continued to become more negative. For example, 80 percent of teens said they preferred to date nonsmokers in 2012," Steve Gorman reports for Reuters. "But anti-tobacco advocates said their battle to stamp out teen smoking was far from over, noting that 17 percent of high school seniors still graduate as smokers." And the figure is higher in many rural areas.

Kentucky ranks at or near the top in youth smoking. In 2010, the last year for which state figures are available, 16 percent of Kentucky children aged 12 to 17 (a slightly younger group than the one above) reported smoking a cigarette in the past month. The national rate for that age group was 10 percent, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Health care decisions by and for Medicare patients differ widely by place; Lexington big in back surgery, low in mastectomy

All medicine involves decisions and, according to a new series of nine reports published by the Dartmouth Atlas Project, those decisions differ drastically by location for Medicare patients. In the East South Central region -- Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi), the variation between how things are diagnosed and treated can change when one crosses county lines.

An example, with numbers but without explanation: The total knee replacement rate in Harlan is 3.3 per 1,000 Medicare beneficaries; in Bardstown, it's 13.8. As the report goes on to note: "If you have heart disease and live in Huntsville, Ala., you are half as likely to undergo balloon angioplasty than if you live in Hattiesburg, Miss., and twice as likely to undergo back surgery if you live in Lexington, Ky." The greatest variation in the region was seen in mastectomy, ranging from a low of 0.3 percent per 1,000 female Medicare beneficiaries in Lexington to 2.1 per 1,000 in Tupelo, Miss.

The point, researchers say, is that providers and patients need to work together to determine care. The report looked at rates for early-stage breast cancer, stable angina, low back pain, arthritis of the knee or hip, carotid artery disease, gallstones, enlarged prostate, and early-stage prostate cancer. Read the report here.

Children with TVs in their bedrooms are twice as likely to have extra fat, three times greater risk of heart disease and diabetes

Kids who have TVs in their bedrooms are twice as likely to be fat and nearly three times as likely to be at risk for heart disease and diabetes as those who don’t, according to a new study that elevates concerns about health and screen time. The research, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, studied 369 children, 5 to 18, who have TVs in their rooms and watched more than five hours of television a day. They showed dramatic evidence of extra belly fat, bigger waists, greater risk of heart disease and diabetes and elevated triglycerides, or fat in their bloodstream, said Amanda Staiano, a scientist with the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, La. (Getty Images photo)

A 2010 study cited by Staiano indicated that 70 percent of American children have a TV in their bedroom. In the Pennington study, 66 percent of the kids had a TV in the room and the precise relationship between TV and health, as measured by height, weight, waist measurements, blood pressures, fat deposits and other exams, revealed the stark disparity between the groups with and without their own TV. (Read more)

Colorful fruits and vegetables linked to lower breast cancer risk

Come to find out, pink isn't the most important color when it comes to breast cancer. According to researchers in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, women loading up on carotenoids, the  micro-nutrients found in red, yellow and deeply colored fruits and vegetables such as carrots, sweet potatoes spinach and kale, showed lower rates of breast cancer than those who didn’t eat as many of them.

Alexandra Sifferlin at Healthland Time magazine explains that Dr. Heather Eliassen, an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, led an analysis of data collected in various studies about the carotenoids and their effect on blood and breast cancer rates. The studies included 3,000 participants and nearly 4,000 controls. Women with carotenoid levels in the the top 20 percent of measured ranges had a 15-20 percent reduced risk of breast cancer compared to those with carotenoid levels in the lowest category. “It looks like it is a linear relationship,” says Eliassen. ”The higher you go, the [lower] your risk is."

Why carotenoids work against breast cancer isn't clear. They may metabolize into retinol, which regulates cell growth. Or they may improve cell communication and enhance immune system function. Eliassen urged caution. Other research carotenoids, in the form of beta-carotene supplements, are linked to an increased risk for lung cancer. (Read more) 

The Kentucky Fruit and Vegetable Conference will be held Jan. 7-8 at the Embassy Suites in Lexington. Deadline for preregistration is Dec. 19. The block of rooms for the conference will be held until Jan. 4. Program and registration information are available here or through John Strang at (859) 257-5685 or jstrang@uky.edu, or Tim Coolong at (859) 257-3374 or timcoolong@uky.edu.

UK team gets $1.5 million NIH grant to continue success with cell-level study of Alzheimer's disease factor

University of Kentucky researchers have provided the first direct evidence that activated astrocytes could play a harmful role in Alzheimer's disease.

A UK news release explains, "The astrocyte is a very abundant non-neuronal cell type that performs absolutely critical functions for maintaining healthy nervous tissue. However, in neurodegenerative diseases, like Alzheimer’s disease, many astrocytes exhibit clear physical changes often referred to as 'astrocyte activation.' The appearance of activated astrocytes at very early stages of Alzheimer's has led to the idea that astrocytes contribute to the emergence and/or maintenance of other pathological markers of the disease."

UK researchers gave mice gene therapy at a very young age and assessed them 10 months later. The astrocyte activation improved brain function and preserved cognitive function. The research, published recently in the Journal of Neuroscience, has led to a five-year, $1.5 million National Institutes of Health funding grant to the researchers and the UK Sanders-Brown Center on Aging to further this line of study. Chris Norris, an associate professor in the UK College of Medicine Department of Molecular and Biomedical Pharmacology, is the senior author of the study. (Read more)
 

Hey, fans! Lower your voice and protect your ears; your hearing might be at stake

Ray Hull (Wichita State Univ. photo)

December is the cruelest month, basketball fans -- in more ways than one. Witness this news out of Kansas.  Yes, Kansas: Loud basketball games can often generate deafening noise that result in real hearing loss. So says Wichita State University audiologist Ray Hull, who found that gymnasiums and arenas are built like reverberating echo chambers that can wreak havoc on ears by amplifying noise to dangerous levels.

Hull says the intensity level at some basketball games -- even at middle and high school games -- can reach 115 decibels. "We can stand that noise without permanent damage to our hearing for approximately seven and half minutes," he explained. "Those who are most susceptible to damage to their hearing are those who are sitting, for example, near the pep band or, of course for those in the pep band, because intensity levels can reach 125 to 130 decibels. At that intensity level, you are susceptible to permanent damage to your hearing after about a minute and a half of exposure."

Noise-reducing plugs, available in most grocery or sporting goods stores, would provide the protection necessary to prevent this kind of injury. (Read more)

Merry Christmas: Mistletoe extract being used for colorectal cancer treatment in Europe, could be a great boon for Kentucky

Kentucky has one of the highest rates of colorectal cancers in the nation, with about 50 of every 100,000 Kentuckians being diagnosed with the disease each year. The state also ranks among the worst in colorectal cancer deaths, with 18-20 deaths per 100,000 annually. So perhaps Kentuckians should care more about some research that was announced as seasonal fare: using mistletoe extract in chemotherapy. (Wikipedia image)

At the University of Adelaide, scientists found that an extract from mistletoe grown on ash trees was found to be highly effective against colon-cancer cells in cell cultures and was gentler on healthy intestinal cells compared with chemotherapy. In fact, the extract was found to be more potent against cancer cells than the chemotherapy drug. It has been authorized for use by sufferers of colon cancer in Europe, but has not been allowed yet in some countries such as Australia and the United States due to a lack of scientific testing. (Read more)

We should note that the leaves and berries of some mistletoe species are mildly toxic. The plant is parasitic, growing on trees and forming green clumps that are highly visible this time of year and popular as Christmas decorations, especially at the top of doorways, where tradition calls for anyone standing under the mistletoe to be kissed.

Study: Raising cigarette taxes does curb even heavy smoking

The more you raise cigarette taxes, the less people smoke. That presumption was confirmed this week in a study by the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. This has some resonance in Kentucky, where just last week the state’s Blue Ribbon Commission on Tax Reform told Gov. Beshear the state should raise taxes on tobacco, to $1 per pack from 60 cents. Other forms of tobacco would get a corresponding tax hike, reports Beth Musgrave of the Lexington Herald-Leader. The changes would raise an estimated $120 million in revenue and, if the research is right, cut down on long-term health care costs.

The researchers are the most adamant about the last point. “Most clinicians and researchers thought these very heavy smokers would be the most resistant to price increases,” says study author Patricia A. Cavazos-Rehg, PhD. “But our study points out that, in fact, change can occur. And that’s very good news.” In fact, in states where taxes on tobacco products rose by at least 35 percent, heavy smokers -- who averaged 40 cigarettes a day or more -- lowered their daily smoking by 14 cigarettes, on average.  In real numbers, the price for a pack of cigarettes increased from an average of $3.96 in 2001 to $4.41 in 2004. (Read more)

In Kentucky last year, almost 30 percent of residents said they were smokers, the highest in the nation. The state also has the highest rates of diabetes and lung cancer, reports Jim Malewitz of Stateline News. Kentucky’s cigarette tax is also among the country's lowest.

UK study: Old, perhaps obsolete heart drug increases deaths in patients with atrial fibrillation

A drug widely used against heart disease can increase the possibility of death when used by patients with atrial fibrillation, a common heart rhythm problem, according to a study by University of Kentucky researchers. Digoxin, a derivative of the foxglove plant, is an old yet controversial heart drug. Though considered obsolete by some, it is still widely used.

The study, published in European Heart Journal, analyzed data from 4,060 atrial-fibrillation patients. It was led by Dr. Samy Claude Elayi, associate professor of medicine at UK HealthCare's Gill Heart Institute. The results of the study indicate that further review by the Food and Drug Administration is warranted to determine if stronger warnings about its use should be required. (Read more)

Two Kentucky moms participate in Duke study that found potentially toxic and unnecessary chemicals in most couches

Two Central Kentucky mothers participated in a Duke University-led study published today that shows that a vast majority of U.S. couches contain potentially toxic flame retardants that pose risks to humans. Wendy Koch of USA Today reports that the risks occur when the chemicals migrate from furniture foam into house dust.

The closely watched study revealed that more than 40 percent of the foam in the 102 couches tested contained the carcinogen chlorinated Tris, a substance that was ordered removed from children's pajamas 35 years ago. Another 17 percent of the couches contained pentaBDE, a globally banned substance. More than 85 percent were treated with a potentially toxic flame retardant, which researchers and experts say amounted to more than a pound of chemicals per couch. Flame retardants have been linked to hormone disruption, cancer and neurological toxicity in hundreds of animal and human studies. A fire specialist told Koch that the chemicals are not effective in suppressing fires.

The two Kentuckians, both women concerned about their family's health, sent samples from their couches to be analyzed and both expressed horror at the findings. Dr. David A. Atwood, a chemist at the University of Kentucky, said a systematic shift in chemical regulation is necessary to protect public health. “We have made an enormous mistake assuming that a chemical should be used freely until it is determined to have adverse health effects, rather than taking the position that all chemicals should be avoided unless it is absolutely certain that the chemical is safe." In New York, legislation is already in motion that would ban chlorinated Tris. According to the Kentucky Environmental Foundation, efforts will begin next year to restrict the toxic chemical. (Read more)

Experimental concentrated breast cancer radiation therapy offers new options for women who live far away from treatment facilities

A study at the University of Louisville James Graham Brown Cancer Center designed to make  radiation treatment more accessible to women who face obstacles such as distance, transportation problems and time constraints is proving promising. The idea is to cut daily trips to the cancer center to once a week, says Dr. Anthony Dragon, a radiation oncologist at U of L. It also has the added benefit of cutting treatment costs by better than half.

Laura Ungar of The Courier-Journal in Louisville reports that Dragun led a previous study that found that "about a third of Kentucky women with early-stage breast cancer didn’t get recommended radiation treatments after lumpectomy surgery. Among those least likely to get radiation were rural Kentuckians, the elderly, African Americans and women in the Appalachian region of the state. Women who did not get recommended radiation were 60 percent more likely to die during the time they were studied."

Dragun told Ungar that the folks at U of L were not satisfied with just gathering those numbers, they wanted solutions to the problem. Dragun said the new experimental regimen is yielding good results, with women who get weekly radiation reporting similar levels of side effects as those getting radiation every day. Ungar notes that some outside experts say the approach does seems promising, but one critic was concerned about breast appearance results after the once-a-week treatments.

According the National Cancer Institute, more than 3,070 new cases of breast cancer were diagnosed in Kentucky in 2009 and was responsible for 614 deaths.  (Read more)