Pomegranate Juice Is Packed With Antioxidants
It’s time to start ordering pometinis at girls’ night out (or making your own pome-ritas at home). A new University of California, Los Angeles, study ranked 10 beverages by their levels of disease-fighting antioxidants—and pomegranate juice came out on top. Here, the healthiest beverage powerhouses:
1. Pomegranate juice
2. Red wine
3. Concord grape juice
4. Blueberry juice
5. Black cherry juice
6. Açaí juice
7. Cranberry juice
8. Orange juice
9. Tea
10. Apple juice
Blacks at Greater Risk of Precancerous Colon Polyps
USN
Difference is most pronounced among black women, study finds
TUESDAY, Sept. 23 (HealthDay News) — Black people undergoing colon cancer screening are more likely to have large precancerous polyps than are whites.
Black men had a 16 percent increased risk of polyps more than 9 millimeters (mm) in size than white men. And the difference in women was even more striking with black women having 62 percent higher odds of a 9 mm or larger polyp, according to new research.
“We’ve known for a long time that colon cancer is more common in blacks than in whites, and that blacks are more likely to die from colon cancer than whites,” said the study’s lead author, Dr. David A. Lieberman, a professor of medicine and chief of gastroenterology at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland.
“Previous studies have suggested these differences may be from a lack of access to health care, or a failure of doctors to recommend screening, or a failure of the patients to follow through on screening. But, since we took a look at patients who were already getting screening exams, access and adherence weren’t an issue, and we found that black men and women had more serious polyps,” Lieberman said.
The good news, he added, is that “many colon cancers can be prevented with screening,” and this study shows that blacks may stand to benefit even more from colon cancer screening than whites.
Results of the study were published in the Sept. 24 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
The death rates for colon cancer are about 40 percent higher in blacks than in whites, according to background information in the study. And, the disease incidence rate is between 15 percent and 23 percent higher for blacks.
The new study included 5,464 blacks and 80,061 whites who had undergone screening colonoscopy in 67 different centers across the United States. Of that group, the researchers found 422 blacks (7.7 percent) had one or more polyps that were larger than 9 mm. Among whites, almost 5,000 (6.2 percent) had one or more polyps of that size. Removing large colon polyps is important, because they are likely to turn into colon cancer.
The researchers also found that the differences persisted across different age groups. And, black women had a “strikingly” higher incidence of polyps, according to Lieberman.
“This study confirms the possibility that genetic and biological factors are playing a role in colon cancer,” said Lieberman.
But, not everyone’s convinced by these findings.
Dr. Otis Brawley, chief medical officer at the American Cancer Society, said the study didn’t control, or compensate, for previous screening tests or socioeconomic status of the participants — two factors he said could seriously influence the study’s conclusions.
“Black women in the U.S. are more likely to have [a particular type of breast cancer called] triple-negative breast cancer than white women, and many experts have written about it and wondered if it’s biology. But, if you go to Scotland, where there are few blacks, researchers wonder why poor white women are more likely to have triple-negative breast cancer,” said Brawley, who added, “We tend to let our racial lens interfere with being scientific.”
“It may be that colon cancer is more aggressive in blacks than in whites,” he said, but the issue definitely needs more study.
No matter what your color, one thing both experts agree on is the need to have colon cancer screening beginning at age 50 for those with an average risk of the disease.
“With colon cancer screening, we have the unique opportunity to actually prevent cancer,” Lieberman said.
The ‘why’ behind new abortion stats
Abortion rates in the United States have declined to their lowest levels since 1974, according to a report released today. However, Latina and black women obtain abortions at rates three and five times higher, respectively, than white women — a reflection of income, according to the authors of the report from the Guttmacher Institute, an organization that conducts research, policy analysis and public education of sexual and reproductive health issues.
A major factor influencing abortion rates, said the authors of the report, is access to affordable contraception and improved contraceptive technology.
“Behind virtually every abortion is an unintended pregnancy. And because women of color are much more likely to experience unintended pregnancies than any other group, they are also more likely to seek and obtain abortions,” said Rachel Jones, senior research associate at the Guttmacher Institute. “Previous Guttmacher research has found that unintended pregnancy and abortion rates are also increasing among poor and low-income women.”
Nationwide abortion rates have fallen 33% from a peak of 29 abortions per 1,000 women in 1980 to 20 per 1,000 in 2004. Abortions have also declined significantly in teenagers. The authors of the report state that teen abortion rates began falling “long before abstinence-only sex education programs began receiving federal funding” and is attributable to increased use of contraceptives and better contraceptive methods.
The report comes at a time when reproductive healthcare is a topic of debate in Washington. Some educators have attacked the Bush administration’s funding of abstinence-only sex education in schools, citing studies that show the approach doesn’t work. On another front, reproductive-health experts are battling a proposal that would require any healthcare entity that receives federal financing to certify that none of its employees are required to assist in any medical service they find objectionable. This could mean abortion, emergency contraception, sterilization and contraceptives.
You can access the report at the Guttmacher website.
Study: Hormones not for all prostate cancer patients
Hormone therapy, which blocks the production of the testosterone that feeds prostate tumors, is a mainstay of treatment for men with advanced disease. Studies show it also improves survival in patients with aggressive tumors that are still limited to the prostate.
Doctors also sometimes use hormones in men with early prostate cancer to shrink a tumor, making it easier to kill with radioactive seeds.
There’s no evidence to show that hormones help patients with slow-growing or “low-risk” tumors, says lead author Amy Dosoretz, who presented the paper at a meeting of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology in Boston on Tuesday.
And in the past two years, studies have suggested that hormone therapy increases the risks of heart attacks and diabetes.
Now, in a study of 1,707 prostate cancer patients, Dosoretz found that men over age 70 given hormones before their seed implants had a 20% higher risk of death than patients who treated only with the implants. After five years, 19.1% of those who took hormones died, compared to 16.6% of those who didn’t get hormones.
Hormones did not increase the risk of death in men under 70, says Dosoretz, a resident in the Harvard Radiation Oncology Program.
Men received hormone therapy for a median of 3½ months. Doctors did not randomly assign patients to one treatment or another, but simply observed how men given each type of treatment fared.
Two earlier studies in this type of patient have had mixed results, Dosoretz says. While one study found that hormonal treatment increased the risk of death, another study did not.
Michael Zelefsky, a professor of radiation oncology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, says it’s striking that taking hormones for such a short time could increase the risk of death. He notes that other studies presented at the conference have not shown an increased risk of death.
Grace Lu-Yao, an associate professor at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Jersey, says doctors and patients need to weigh the risks and benefits of therapy very carefully. Among men with early tumors, the elderly and those with other health problems — such as heart disease — may be more hurt than helped by hormones, she says.
Widely used inhaler could increase risks, study claims
Using a widely prescribed type of inhaler for a month or more could raise the risk of heart attack and death from cardiovascular disease for people with chronic lung disease, a study has found.
It’s the latest research to raise questions about the safety of anticholinergic inhalers such as Spiriva and Atrovent, which help people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, to breathe more easily.
The odds of the inhalers causing problems were about one in 40 for cardiac death and one in 175 for heart attack.
But that needs to be weighed against significant quality-of-life improvements for patients who use these drugs, said Dr. Sonal Singh of Wake Forest University, lead author of the study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
The study analyzed the results of 17 previous clinical trials involving more than 14,000 patients with COPD, which includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema. None of the trials was designed to evaluate heart risks from inhalers. But the researchers found that long-term use of either the drug tiotropium, sold under the brand name Spiriva, or ipratropium, sold as Atrovent, raised the risk of cardiac death by 80 percent and of heart attack by 53 percent.
A study from Hines Veterans Affairs Hospital near Maywood, released earlier this month, had found that men who used ipratropium inhalers died more often from heart disease. The federal Food and Drug Administration had issued a notice in March of a possible increased risk of stroke with tiotropium
But the makers of Spiriva — Boehringer Ingelheim and Pfizer Inc., — said concerns about strokes and heart disease weren’t backed up by their own analysis of several long-term clinical trials. “We strongly disagree with the conclusion” of the JAMA study, a written statement from the companies said.
The new study is “concerning” but incomplete, said Dr. Ravi Kalhan, director of the COPD program at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, who was not involved in the research.
“Understanding the mechanisms behind this would certainly make the findings that much more believable,” Kalhan said.
Give us a break! Some say David Blaine’s feat deserves asterisk
David Blaine catches up on current events while upside down on Tuesday.
David Blaine’s upside-down stunt doesn’t end until Wednesday night, but some folks are already saying his achievement should be marked with an asterisk.
The magician takes 10-minute breaks every hour – standing on his own two feet to drink water, urinate, have his vitals checked by a doctor and keep his blood circulating.
That didn’t sit well with some of the 8,000 gawkers who came by Central Park’s Wollman Rink to see Blaine hang from a bar in the air by gravity boots.
Some observers are not impressed with the fact that Blaine stands on his own feet for 10 minutes every hour to drink water, urinate and have his vitals checked. (writer's note: but I am impressed to see him readingthe news upside down ROFL...idiot)
“It’s cheating,” said Chris Pirri, 24, ofCommack, L.I. “I’ve been here 10 minutes and already saw him take a break.”
Blaine dismissed the detractors.
“I’m not going to pee all over myself to satisfy those people,” he said as he dangled like a bat Tuesday night. “It’s pretty hard-core, worse than I thought.”
In a pre-stunt interview, Blaine had said he would use a catheter to urinate and would restore blood flow with upside-down situps and by moving his legs.
But Blaine’s spokesman Pat Smith said he “found he couldn’t drink upside down and relieve himself upside down” – so he hops onto a cherry-picker platform every hour.
Blaine’s latest endurance test concludes with an ABC special from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Wednesday night.
Clay Aiken to reveal he is gay
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – After years of dodging questions, former “American Idol” singer Clay Aiken will acknowledge he is a gay man in an interview with People magazine set to run on its Web site Wednesday, according to media reports.
Celebrity site Perezhilton.com on Tuesday published a photo of the cover of People magazine’s upcoming issue on which Aiken cradles his new son, Parker Foster Aiken, in his arms.
The caption reads “Yes, I’m Gay,” and underneath is a quote from Aiken on his decision to come out of the closet that says: “I cannot raise a child to lie or to hide things.”
In August this year, Aiken’s friend, music producer Jaymes Foster, gave birth to the baby fathered by Aiken.
A spokeswoman for People would neither confirm nor deny that Aiken told the magazine he is gay. But the magazine issued a statement saying, “We can confirm that Clay Aiken and his son appear on the next cover of People. For the complete story, visit people.com at 7 a.m. (EDT Wednesday) (1100 GMT) morning.”
Aiken, 29, gained fame as a contestant on the No. 1-rated U.S. TV talent show “American Idol” in 2003. He was the runner-up that season but went on to build a solid singing career on his own. He currently appears on Broadway in “Monty Python’s SPAMALOT.”
For years, Aiken has dodged questions about whether he is homosexual despite persistent rumors on the subject. He has said, generally, that his sexuality was nobody’s business but his own.
In 2006, ABC television’s Diane Sawyer asked Aiken and he shot back that it was a “really rude” question. He also dodged it in a previous interview with People magazine saying that readers “are going to believe what they want.”
LHC downed until after Xmas – Boo
Atomsmash off season delays Higgs-Hawking deathmatch
Proton-punishing boffins at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) have confirmed that a recent technical mishap will down the colossal particle-masher until well into next year. The various treats promised once the LHC began living up to its name will not, now, arrive in time for Christmas.
Physicists had hoped that the tremendous circular hadron motorway – which is arranged rather as though the M25 was set up with the opposing streams of traffic having to drive through each other every so often – would by now be spraying sub-particulate roadkill wreckage like zillionfold femto-entrail hail into vast detector collectors. These would pass their data to tremendous hypercomputer arrays, which would sift the riven hadron guts for auguries into the very essence of the cosmos.
It was expected, once the LHC seriously got running, that the Nobel people would eventually be compelled to install some kind of automated prize-dispensing machine in the CERN cafeteria; on busy days, this would give the appearance of a fruit machine paying out a jackpot.
Aficionados of heavyweight tag-team ultimate brain fighting were also hoping to see theHiggs-Hawking grudge deathmatch resolved. Those with still more sensationalist tastes were eagerly anticipating the possibility that foolish CERN boffins – perhaps giving a chinese burn to a colleague operating the LHC’s controls – might cause the Earth and human race to be catapulted through a runaway exponential-growth collapsar portal, nonexistence-bubble shift horizon etc into some kind of colourfully hostile parallel reality.
There will even have been some curmudgeons, condemned to Xmas with the in-laws, hoping for oblivion to intervene in the form of an apocalyptic strangelet soup or monopole trifle conversion event.
Sadly, it now appears certain that none of these people’s desires can be satisfied. By the time the LHC’s duff magno-cannon segment can be fixed, the midwinter price of ‘leccy will be too high to turn the LHC on and the boffins will all be off on hols, inventing the next world wide web or similar.
Fans yearning for the proper hadron death-race action will now have to wait until spring.
Google’s First Phone: The iPhone With More Buttons
If the HTC’s new G1 cellphone, featuring Google’s Android software, were introduced two years ago, jaws would drop. But Apple’s iPhone already won the wows that go to the first small phone that is truly good at Web browsing. So the G1 offers some interesting evolution, but not a revolution in the concept.
After playing with the G1 for 20 minutes, my initial take is that the G1 is the PC to the iPhone’s Macintosh.
The G1, which is initially being offered exclusively through T-Mobile in the United States and Europe, has many more buttons on the front and many more options on the screens inside. That means that it takes longer to do the things you want to do most frequently, but you also have many more options at hand. For example, when you take a photo, the software asks you whether you want to keep it or delete it. The iPhone just saves all your pictures and you have to go back and delete the ones you don’t want later. (There may be a way to change that setting on the G1, but I didn’t get around to looking at the configuration options. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are a lot of them. It’s that sort of device.)
Physically, it is a little narrower than the iPhone, but thicker. That means the screen is a little smaller. I also found that the plastic case feels a little cheap. The biggest differentiator is the G1’s slide-out keyboard, some might find easier to type on than the iPhone’s virtual keyboard.
Some of the software in I played with seemed nice, like the mapping software, which is built on Google Maps and very clearly displayed travel directions. But the phone doesn’t yet give turn-by-turn directions the way a car GPS device does, which is also a well-noted flaw of the iPhone. Neither does the phone record video, another feature some people miss on Apple’s smartphone.
One area where the G1 falls far short of the iPhone is streaming media. The software supports neither Adobe’s Flash — the standard for Web video — nor Apple’s QuickTime. Google did write a special interface so the phone can play videos from Google’s YouTube service. The issue with both Flash and QuickTime appears to be royalties. Neither Google, nor HTC, nor T-Mobile want to pay for this software. If Adobe or Apple wants to release a video player for the phone, they are welcome to, a T-Mobile spokesman said.
It is a bit hard to evaluate the true capabilities of the phone because so much of its potential is what it offers to third-party application developers. In six months, we may see if people can make the G1 do things that no other phone can.
For now, it seems like a very interesting phone for people who really want to type on a little keyboard. But until the value of Android’s slightly clunky flexibility proves out, I suspect many people will prefer the polished simplicity of the iPhone.
Poll: Obama has 4-point Mich. lead
WASHINGTON – A poll of four battleground states released this morning shows Democrat Barack Obama with a lead over Republican John McCain.
Among them is Michigan, where the Quinnipiac University Poll shows Obama with a lead of 48% to 44% — greater than the poll’s margin of error of 2.7 percentage points.
“Sen. Obama’s lead in Michigan is built upon two key changes since the last Quinnipiac University Poll,” said Peter Brown, assistant director of the university’s polling institute. “He has consolidated the Democratic base to the same degree that Sen. McCain has coalesced the Republican vote, and his lead among those who see the economy as the most important issue has doubled – from 50%-39% to 55%-35%.”
All of Quinnipiac’s battleground state polls showed Obama leading. In Colorado – a state that could be key if Obama could swing it away from its tradition of going for the Republican candidate – Obama leads 49-45, compared with 47 for McCain and 46 for Obama in August. In Minnesota, Obama leads 47-45, and in Wisconsin, Obama leads 49-42.
“With a lousy economy, an unpopular war and an even less popular Republican president, it’s difficult to find voters who don’t want change,” Brown said in a release.
In Michigan, Obama’s lead is the same as it was in July – 4 percentage points – although both nominees have built a bit on their numbers. In July, Obama led McCain 46-42. That, however was down from a 6-percentage-point lead in June for Obama.
The Quinnipiac polls were done for a week beginning Sept. 14 and lasting for a week. In each state, more than 1,300 likely voters were surveyed and the margin of error was 2.7 percentage points.
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