Your health a regular column of health news

AAP General News (Australia)
04-14-2000
Your health a regular column of health news

Compiled by Rada Rouse, National Medical Correspondent



REDHEADS

BRISBANE, AAP - Redheads usually know they need to be shy of sun exposure, but Queensland
researchers have discovered those most at risk of developing skin cancers might not necessarily
have the palest skin.

What determines susceptibility is the number of variations in the gene, known as Melanocortin-1
Receptor, or MCIR.

"People think they tan better than they do," said Dr Rick Sturm (Sturm) from the Institute
of Molecular Bioscience.

The current definition of skin types - such as fair, olive etc - is just too simplistic
to give people an accurate picture of their risk.

Dr Sturm's team has devised a genetic test to identify variations to MCIR which theoretically
could be administered at birth.

"Although every person is at risk of skin cancer, the danger is higher for people with
a variant of the MCIR regardless of their skin type," he said.

"We have found three or four variants of the gene is higher in people with melanoma."

The IMB genetic test, if accompanied by counselling, had the potential to reduce the
number of skin cancers in Australia - which has the world's highest incidence.

AAP rr





POLLUTION

BRISBANE, AAP - Lung damage caused by the ultrafine particles which pollute our cities
needs as much emphasis as smoking, a conference in Melbourne was told this week.

Professor Michael Abramson, from Monash Medical School, said lung cancer was declining
in men and had plateaued in women, largely due to a reduction in smoking.

However, people were occasionally presenting with lung cancer who had never smoked
or been exposed to asbestos or any other environmental trigger other than living in an
urban area.

"We also have evidence that particularly common lung diseases, such as emphysema and
chronic bronchitis, are more common in city dwellers than country dwellers," he said.

Prof Abramson told the annual scientific meeting of the Thoracic Society of Australia
and New Zealand that while Australia had environmental protection measures covering outdoor
quality, the issue of ultrafine particles had not yet been addressed.

There was enough evidence to suggest these particles, which include road dust and vehicle
exhausts, were a health hazard needing legislative curbs, he said.

The environment ministers' council should give top priority to developing a measure
for ultrafine particles and move to reduce vehicle emissions, he said.

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RESPIRATORY

BRISBANE, AAP - General practitioners will provide free vaccines against pneumonia
and the flu for indigenous people in a bid to curb rates of respiratory disease which
rival the Third World.

Dr John Aloizos, president of the Queensland Divisions of General Practice, said some
Aboriginal communities have the highest rates of pneumococcal infection in the world.

"Hospitalisation rates for respiratory disease are 20 times those for the overall population,"

he said.

GPs will be encouraged to display Aboriginal and Islander flags or logos in their waiting
rooms to welcome indigenous patients.

The National Indigenous Pneumococcal and Influenza Immunisation Program aims to vaccinate
at-risk people to reduce the growing number of deaths from respiratory disease, now the
third-highest cause of mortality among Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders.

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CHOLESTEROL

BRISBANE, AAP - The so-called third generation of statin drugs to lower cholesterol
are being promoted in Australia now, offering patients reduced side-effects, doctors say.

Cerivastatin, marketed as Lipobay, is a new low-dose cholesterol-lowering medication
which has just been approved.

Visiting expert Professor Evan Stein from the Metabolic and Atherosclerosis Research
Centre in Cincinnati in the United States said it is particularly useful for elderly people.

The drug reduces LDL, or "bad" cholesterol, and also lowers elevated triglycerides,
another blood fat which is often raised in people with diabetes.

Professor Leon Simons, who heads Sydney's St Vincents Hospital cholesterol clinic,
said people with only modestly- raised cholesterol could benefit from reducing high blood
pressure, quitting smoking, improving diet and if necessary using medication.

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DENTAL

DALLAS, KRT - A dentist can detect the warning signs of cavities, gum disease and -
perhaps - a stroke or heart attack.

Researchers last week reported evidence that panoramic dental X-rays - which encircle
the jaw - might reveal whether carotid arteries are dangerously clogged.

The carotids, found on each side of the neck, carry blood to the brain. When they are
blocked, people can have strokes; but people can have narrowed arteries without feeling
sick.

Evidence is growing, however, that dentists can see the build-up in the parts of arteries
caught on a routine panoramic X-ray.

The latest research, presented at a meeting of the International Association for Dental
Research, was conducted on 818 Pima Indians in Arizona beginning in 1983.

The tribe has a very high incidence of type 2 diabetes, which brings a high risk of
cardiovascular disease.

Researchers from the University of Buffalo School of Dental Medicine reported that
about 7.5 per cent of the study group had clogged arteries visible on dental X-rays at
the start of the study.

By 1998, those with blockages were almost twice as likely to have died from heart attacks
or strokes.

KRT





WORMS

DALLAS, KRT - Scientists have figured out what it takes for laboratory-grown worms
to develop resistance to a widely-used drug.

The findings could help researchers spot emerging resistance in worms that infect farm
animals, or people in underdeveloped nations.

Many parasitic worm infections are treated with a drug called ivermectin. The drug
kills worms by paralysing their muscle and nerve cells.

Ivermectin is used widely in livestock, and also to treat river blindness, a widespread
disease in parts of Africa.

But resistance to ivermectin is increasing in worms that infect livestock.

In a recent issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, scientists
from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Centre at Dallas describe how the worm
C. elegans develops resistance to ivermectin.

C. elegans lives in the soil but is related to species that live as parasites.

The scientists found that abnormalities in three distinct genes must arise for a C.

elegans worm to be resistant to ivermectin. Now that the genes have been identified in
C. elegans, scientists can search for them in parasitic species.

If studies show that one or two of the genes have already acquired an abnormality,
it could be an early-warning system that resistance to ivermectin was imminent.

KRT





SHOULDER

CHICAGO, KRT - Smoking contributes to a host of medical problems that even extend to
shoulder afflictions, a new study concludes.

Reporting at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, researchers
said that smokers are less likely to benefit fully from rotator cuff tear repair surgery
than non-smokers.

Researchers looked at the cases of 235 surgery patients.

"The majority of non-smokers - 84 per cent - had good to excellent results from their
surgery," said Dr Gary Misamore of the Methodist Sports Medicine Centre in Indianapolis.

"In contrast, 35 per cent of smokers had good to excellent results. Cigarette smoking
has a detrimental effect on the healing of soft tissues and bone."

The study also found that smokers experienced more pain than non-smokers both before
and after surgery.

KRT





SUPPLEMENTS

CHICAGO, KRT - Taking vitamins E and C as supplements may provide some protection against
loss of mental abilities later in life, a study published in the journal Neurology suggests.

The study followed nearly 3,400 Japanese-American men above the age of 70 who participated
in a heart health program at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu.

Researchers found that men who regularly took the vitamin supplements scored higher
on mental acuity tests.

"We believe antioxidants like vitamin E and C may protect against vascular dementia
by limiting the amount of brain damage that persists after a stroke," said Dr Kamal Masaki,
the study author.

"The supplements may also play a role in providing protection against brain cell and
membrane injury involved in many ageing-related diseases, thus resulting in significantly
higher scores on mental performance tests in later life."

KRT





SPA

CHICAGO, KRT - Going to an endodontist for root canal treatment is less painful if
the patient is given spa-like relaxation aids, a dentist reported to the annual meeting
of the American Association of Endodontists.

Dr Andre Mickel of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland divided 200 volunteers
into groups that received relaxation aids such as a warm eye mask and a massaging pillow
compared to a group that got no special help in relaxing.

The relaxed patients consistently reported less pain than the control group, Mickel reported.

"We found some important physiological changes in people using these techniques," he
said. "There is a direct correlation between anxiety and pain threshold."

KRT

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