RedScrubs
The Resource for Medical Professionals

According to the report from the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Foundations 2008 report, adult obesity rates have increased in 37 states this past year. Rates rose in 24 states for two consecutive years and for a third consecutive year in 19 states. No state saw a decrease.

This report shows that the preventive programs that are being adopted are either not being utilized, implemented properly or are just plain not working. The report calls for the federal government to partner with state and local governments, businesses, communities and schools to create and implement a realistic comprehensive National Strategy to Combat Obesity.

A recent study shows that the health benefits of probiotics may extend beyond the gastrointestinal system (G.I) to the entire body. Data from this study indicate that the anti-inflammatory and pathogen protection benefits of the probiotic Bifidobacterium infantis 35624 may have multi-faceted benefits.

Inflammatory responses are key parts of the immune system’s battle against invaders. The normal response to infection is rapid and effective; however the immune response may cause damage to healthy tissues, occasionally resulting in organ failure according to the study.

You would think that anyone could have guessed that children who play video games that involve jogging, swinging, and kickboxing would burn more calories than those children who played games while seated. Well, it took a real-life research study to prove that those active video games that require kids to move around help them to exercise and to burn calories.
In this study, lead researcher Alison M. McManus from the University of Hong Kong’s Institute of Human Performance counted the calories burned by kids playing a variety of video games, and found that kids can burn up to 451 percent more calories per minute playing action and running games. That’s a significant amount of calories that would not have been expended had the child sat in front of the television screen. In addition, playing video games while seated also gives children the opportunity to snack on greasy chips and drink sugar-laden soda. That’s hard to do when you’re jumping around.
Despite these findings, parents need to have rules about how many hours a day children can play video games and watch television. Just because you give a kid an active video game set-up, he or she still needs to socialize, to do homework, to read, to go to public events, to eat healthful foods, and to sleep in order to grow into a positive contributor to our society.

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is caused by pauses in breathing while sleeping. Although obesity can be a complication with OSA, about 40% of people with sleep apnea are not obese. It has been thought, and previous studies have shown, that OSA will get better if people who are obese lose weight.

A recent study published in the Journal of Sleep Medicine states that OSA often persists even after surgery for weight loss, or bariatric surgery. Bariatric surgery, often reserved for morbidly obese individuals, has been used to help treat OSA. This study looked at 24 severely obese adults with OSA before surgery and one year later. The weight loss surgery trimmed down the study group from an average of a 51 BMI to an average of a 32 BMI. Even with this reduction in weight, symptoms still persisted and only one of the patients no longer had OSA.

Pharmacogenomics is the study of how an individual’s genetic makeup (genotype) affects how the body responds to medication. Everyone is different. Pharmacogenomics looks at the ways these variations can be used to determine if a patient will or will not respond to a drug.

Considerable public interest has been shown in the use of pharmacogenomic testing to predict a patient’s response to warfarin, most commonly marketed as Coumadin and used as an anticoagulant. The anticoagulant effect of coumadin is measured by the use of prothrombin time (PT) and the International Normalized Ratio (INR). Using these methods the ratio of the patient’s PT to the mean PT for a group of normal individuals is calculated.

Coumadin is most commonly used in patients with mechanical heart valves, post- cerebrovascular events and other indications as determined by the health care provider.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) released their 2008 breastfeeding report card recently and it was not impressive. The report suggested that standard procedures at many birthing facilities are not supporting a woman’s chances for a successful breastfeeding experience with their newborn infants.

The CDC survey, completed by over 2500 hospitals and birth centers in the U.S., examined such practices as labor and delivery, breastfeeding assistance, mother-newborn contact and breastfeeding support after discharge. The participating facilities were scored based on a 100 point score card system. The national average was 63, but there was a wide range of scores. For example Arkansas scored a mere 48 points.

The supplementation of omega-3 fatty acids in heart failure patients has shown improved morbidity and mortality whereas statins failed to show the same beneficial effect in the group of patients being studied. The long term administration of 1 g omega-3 fatty acids reduced all-cause mortality and admission to the hospital for cardiovascular reasons whereas there was no effect on these parameters with 10 mg rosuvastatin, a statin drug.

The study, called the GISSI-HF trial, showed a 9% reduction in all cause mortality with omega-3 fatty acids. Investigators reported “Although this moderate benefit was smaller than expected, it should be noted that these results were obtained in a population already treated with recommended therapies, was consistent across all of the predefined subgroups and was further supported by the findings of the per-protocol analysis.”

New AHA obesity statement forces physicians to think about prevention
At last! The American Heart Association has fessed up! A recent statement on obesity has forced the AHA to think about its motives. It’s time we get past the prescription addiction and realized that exercise and diet can achieve the same benefits that many common prescription medications do.

It never fails. The weekend hits and people try to make up for lost time. Some binge drink, some lose themselves in home improvement projects, and some exercise like they have never exercised before. These weekend warriors are at risk for exercise-related injuries. In fact, the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons says 150,000 people between ages 45 and 64 visit the emergency room each year for treatment of exercise-related injuries.