Newmark's Door

U.S. health care saves one young British woman

Lovely story: 19-year-old Meg Jones learned she had a malignant brain tumor. Her British neurosurgeon refused to operate. Her mom searched the Net looking for a surgeon who would. She found one who used an advanced procedure at Boston's Brigham and Woman's Hospital. Meg and her family and friends raised 50,000 pounds to pay for the surgery. Her surgery two years ago seems to have been successful; scans show no remaining cancer cells. (Also note that after an eight-hour brain surgery, she was out of the hospital in three days.)

An observation and a lesson.

The British surgeon's decision was debatable. Much more disturbing than his unwillingness to operate was that he apparently didn't know about the advanced procedure in Boston. And given what Meg's mom found on the Net, he apparently didn't think to search for options, either.

Technology is empowering. More and more people will be able to help themselves when they get bad medical news.

Finally, there will be a large, randomized study of both Vitamin D and fish oil

20,000 subjects--healthy in that they won't have had heart attacks, strokes, or "major" cancer--will be followed for five years in a $20 million study funded by NCI and other agencies.

"Vitamin D is one of the last major nutrients to be put to a rigorous test."

It's a start.

"High Blood Pressure Could Be Caused By A Common Virus"

From Science Daily, 5/16:

A new study suggests for the first time that cytomegalovirus (CMV), a common viral infection affecting between 60 and 99 percent of adults worldwide, is a cause of high blood pressure . . .

"You, Decoded"

Stanford Magazine on personal DNA scans.

A link to Lou Gehrig's disease in lake water?

From the Manchester, NH Union Leader (6/7):

The risk of developing a fatal neurodegenerative disease is 25 times higher than the norm for people who live around Mascoma Lake, according to researchers studying the possibility of a link between lake bacteria and neurological illness.

Over a recent six-month period, three people residing on the north shore of Mascoma Lake were diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease. So far, nine cases of the disease have been confirmed near the lake.

Doctors and scientists at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon say there is strong evidence that suggests cyanobacteria, single-celled organisms that form on lakes and ponds and release harmful toxins, are an environmental trigger for the development of ALS in people who are genetically predisposed to the illness. 

(Some) asthma sufferers versus environmentalists

Long but balanced and interesting article on the phase-out of CFC inhalers for asthma. Link via MetaFilter, where the extreme envrionmentalists evince their profound empathy and remarkable kindness.

Not.

"Wearable Patch Will Count Calories Burned And Consumed"

Bring it on!

A wearable patch that you replace once a week monitors heart rate, respiration, body temperature, and other indicators to calculate your calorie consumption and burning rates. Then a cell phone or PC can get the information via Bluetooth and advise you about whether you need to eat less or exercise more.

Scott Adams on why pets make (some) people healthier

His hypothesis has testable implications, too.

Maybe good news for coffee drinkers

It might not have some of the bad health effects once thought.

Coffee drinkers, rejoice! The heavenly brew, once deemed harmful to health, is turning out to be, if not quite a health food, at least a low-risk drink, and in many ways a beneficial one. It could protect against diabetes, liver cancer, cirrhosis and Parkinson's disease.

What happened? Lots of new research, and the recognition that older, negative studies often failed to tease apart the effects of coffee and those of smoking because so many coffee drinkers were also smokers.

Maybe very good news about an eventual cure for Alzheimer's

Maybe.

It works in mice, and mice, as bitter experience has proved, aren't perfect models for people.