Quick Tips – Smoking Ban
Researchers in the United Kingdom found that following the indoor smoking ban instituted in 2006, hospital admission rates for asthma in children dropped 18 percent per year.
Quick Tips – Mistletoe
Despite the fun and stolen kisses that mistletoe can provide during the holiday season, keep in mind it can be a contact allergy for some allergic individuals. Contact with the skin can lead to a poison-ivy-type rash.
More autism research continues to show no connection to childhood immunizations
The medical journal Pediatrics just published research done by the Institute of Medicine to see if any relationship between vaccination and autism could be found. The researchers at the Centers for Disease Control studied more than 1,000 children and matched controls. They found no evidence for increased risk for autism due to the preservative thimerosal used in some vaccines, or to vaccines themselves. Special attention was paid to the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine and, again, no association with autism was found. In…
Celiac disease and gluten may not be good combo
A recent article in the Journal of Pediatric Medicine has this interesting title: “The Complexity of Celiac Disease”. The reason for the title surfaced when the researchers were testing the validity of the standard approach to diagnosing celiac disease. The current gold standard for diagnosis consists of having a positive blood test and having an intestinal biopsy that shows villous atrophy (shortening of the absorptive “cilia” in the gut). This study was conducted in Finland where this disease is quite…
Asthma Research: Steps to New Treatment
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) just finished a study on poorly controlled asthmatics. Asthma by its very nature is a condition that tends to wax and wane. When asthma worsens the standard medical approach is called step therapy; that is, whatever the current therapy is, additional steps are taken to regain control. These steps involve the addition of extra controller medicines. Over the past few years a common step that’s been taken is to add a long-acting bronchodilator (LABA)…
Virus Research: New Protein Worth More Experimentation
New Research from the Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England – home of 14 Nobel Prizes – give hope for better treatment of viruses. Viruses are still mankind’s biggest killers, responsible for twice as many deaths as cancer. The main reason for this lethality is that once viruses slip inside human cells, they effectively hide from the immune system which would try to destroy them. The Cambridge group discovered a new cellular protein called TRIM 21. If it attaches…
Autisim study ruled out drug
Researchers in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of California studied the incidence of autism in California from 2001 to 2007. They started the study in 2001 because increasing concerns about ethylmercury led to the removal of thimerosal from vaccines between 1999 and 2001. The researchers wanted to determine if the removal of thimerosal led to a decrease in autism. California has a very accurate autism registry as part of the California Department of Developmental Services. They found that…