Mercury mmm-mmm good

Marvin Gaye sang about "fish full of mercury" ages ago, but the debate about the safety of eating fish goes on.

The newest wrinkle: The type of mercury found in fish is less toxic than other types, according to a paper published in today’s issue of Science.

Researchers tested swordfish, orange roughy and sand sole and found methylmercury cysteine, not methylmercury chloride -- the type assumed when governments have warned pregnant women and children against eating too much fish.

But before you sigh with relief and head for the sushi bar, realize that the basis for thinking this type of mercury is safer is based, not on human studies, but on a study of zebra fish larvae.

Mercy, mercy me.

Got an hour a week to get healthier?

Lowering your blood pressure may be easier than you think. A study in the August issue of the American Journal of Hypertension indicates that spending only 60 to 90 minutes a week exercising is enough to have a significant effect.

"The investigators found a person does not have to spend great amounts of time working out,” says Dr. Michael A. Weber, an editor of the journal.

The researchers evaluated the dose-response to aerobic exercise in 207
people with high blood pressure. Read more.

Weird science is one click away

Driving back to the office today, I listened to one of my favorite radio shows, "Fresh Air." Host Terry Gross interviewed Gretchen Worden, director of the Mutter Museum in Philadelphia. The museum explores the oddly fascinating realm of human deformities.

Conjoined twins is the topic of a special exhibit running now. At the museum's web site, you can take a virtual tour and buy post cards in the gift shop. (You’ve got to see the card depicting a wax model of a woman with a six-inch horn growing out of her forehead.)

Study: Low-dose estrogen fights bone loss

Low doses of estrogen increased bone density in women older than 65, according to a study published in the Aug. 27 Journal of the American Medical Association.

The double-blinded, randomized, placebo-control study included 167 women.

Chat with pharmacists Thursday

Do you have questions about prescription drugs, their side effects, or negative medication interactions? Do you need ideas about how to afford the medicines you take?

I'll moderate a live online chat Thursday at noon Pacific time with two pharmacists whose expertise covers senior citizen issues, diabetes, depression and other topics.

Brian Gates, a clinical assistant professor of pharmacotherapy at Washington State University Spokane, and Linda Garrelts MacLean, co-owner of Jones Pharmacy in Spokane and also a clinical assistant professor of pharmacotherapy at WSU Spokane, will be our experts.

Submit a question now, then return to the same link Thursday at noon to take part in the chat.

Quelles sont les nouvelles?

Steve Martin once said, "Boy, those French! They have a different word for everything!"

Turns out they have a different way of eating, too -- which may explain why they stay so thin.

A study published in the September issue of Psychological Science reports that mean portion size in French restaurants was 9.8 ounces compared with 12.2 ounces in Philadelphia.

For example, Philadelphia's Chinese restaurants served 72 percent more than Chinese restaurants in Paris. A supermarket soft drink in America was 52 percent larger, a hotdog 63 percent larger and a carton of yogurt 82 percent larger. Read more about it. A la croute!

Your tax dollars at work

Here’s a link where you can view or order free publications from the National Institutes on Health. Topics include airborne allergens, Alzheimer’s disease, the DASH diet for hypertension, narcolepsy, bladder control and helping students with diabetes.

Depressed bypass patients at greater risk

Depressed patients are twice as likely to die in the years following heart bypass surgery than other bypass patients, according to research published in the Aug. 23 issue of Lancet.

Duke University Medical Center researchers analyzed the medical records of more than 800 patients in the study. Read more.

Natural highs can be dangerous

Last November, 12 boys and two girls went to an Ohio emergency room with dilated pupils, hallucinations, urinary retention and rapid heartbeat. Trying to get high, they had eaten seeds from Datura inoxia, a type of moonflower plant.

The story is reported in the current issue of MMWR from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The kids' fate could have been worse. "Central toxic effects (of Datura inoxia) include confusion, agitation, anxiety, hallucinations, seizures, and coma," the report says. Read more.

Quick calculations for fast-food fanatics

The Washington Post’s web site has a cool fast-food calorie counter that adds up the calories and fat content of your favorite meals from Burger King, KFC, McDonald’s, Subway, Taco Bell and Wendy’s.

You click on menu items and watch the numbers climb. Then by swapping items, you can see the impact of substituting, say, a small fries for a large fries.

Of greenbacks and purple pills ...

Gardiner Harris writes with intelligence about the heartburn drug wars in today’s New York Times. Read it, especially if you take Prilosec, Nexium, Prevacid, Protonix or Aciphex.

What's in a name?

To levitate means to float in the air. The Levites were priests' assistants. Levi’s once was synonymous with blue jeans.

Those were my thoughts upon hearing today's big news: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Levitra, the first prescription competition for the anti-impotence pill Viagra.

Sales of Viagra hit $1.7 billion last year and its maker, Pfizer, has filed suit for patent infringement. Levitra is a product of Bayer and GlaxoSmithKline. Read more.

Research trumps conventional wisdom

Most people who die of heart disease or who experience a non-fatal heart attack
have one of four major risk factors: smoking, high cholesterol, high blood pressure or diabetes. That's the finding of a study in the Aug. 20th Journal of the American Medical Association.

Northwestern University researchers analyzed hundreds of thousands of cases from three large studies. Their finding contradicts conventional wisdom that at least half the people with heart disease have no risk factors. Read the study.

AIDS group wants three-in-one pill pulled

In a letter sent today, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation officially asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to withdraw approval of GlaxoSmithKline’s AIDS pill, Trizivir.

Trizivir combines three HIV drugs into a twice-a-day pill, but its effectiveness fell into question in March. That's when a National Institutes of Health study found that patients taking Trizivir alone saw their viral loads climb.

The NIH is conducting a two-year study on various AIDS drug combinations.

By this afternoon, Reuters news service was reporting that the FDA will review the request.

For an overview of FDA-approved AIDS drugs, click here.

Donations everyone can afford

There's a new Web-based way to let your family know you want to donate your organs and tissue after death. It's the Living Legacy Registry. You fill out a form and sign a card. In the event of your death, your family will be informed of your decision to help patients awaiting transplants.

The online registry is for Washington and Montana residents, and was made possible by new laws enacted by the two states' legislatures last spring.

Study projects steep rise in Alzheimer's

Researchers project that 13.2 million older American will have Alzheimer’s disease by 2050 unless new prevention strategies are found. There are now an estimated 4.5 million older Americans with Alzheimer’s.

The projection, based in part on U.S. Census Bureau age projections, appears in the August issue of the Archives of Neurology. Read more.

In related news, the National Institute on Aging seeks 1,000 families with more than one family member with Alzheimer’s for a genetics study. Click here for more information.

New research on smallpox immunity

U.S. preparedness for a smallpox terrorist attack may be greater than we thought. Researchers at Oregon Health & Science University have found that 90 percent of those vaccinated 25 to 75 years ago maintain a substantial level of immunity. The researchers conclude that repeat vaccinations do not result in a higher level of disease protection.

The study of 332 participants is the largest ever conducted on the topic. It’s published in September's Nature Medicine.

Of regional interest, principal researcher Mark Slifka, a scientist at the OHSU Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute, is a Cougar. He got his undergraduate degree in microbiology from Washington State University.

Caution on painkillers during pregnancy

Using certain painkillers in early pregnancy may be linked to a higher risk of miscarriage, according to a study of 1,055 California women published in the current issue of BMJ.

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs -- such as ibuprofen and aspirin -- were associated with a higher risk of miscarriage. Acetaminophen (Tylenol), however, was not linked with miscarriage. Read the study.

FDA adds new warning for asthma drug

Asthma patients and others taking medications containing salmeterol should talk to their doctors about new safety information released today.

A U.S. safety study found a small, but significant increased risk of asthma-related deaths in patients, particularly African Americans, using the drug.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is adding a new warning to the following GlaxoSmithKline products: Serevent Inhalation Aerosol, Serevent Diskus and Advair Diskus.

Read more from the FDA.

Open your mouth and say, 'Aha!'

The annual physical may be obsolete, writes Gina Kolata in today's New York Times. Checkups for well people cost the health-care system $7 billion a year, yet there’s little evidence that many routine tests increase survival.

What does work? Here’s a link to a personal health guide that's based on the latest evidence. It’s from the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

Should children use mosquito repellent?

Use of mosquito repellents containing DEET is now considered safe for children older than 2 months – reassuring news for parents concerned about West Nile virus. Listen to a National Public Radio story on the topic during today’s "All Things Considered."

Read DEET guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Chat with MS expert on Friday

The Inland Northwest has one of the highest rates of multiple sclerosis in the world. Dr. Roy A. Kanter, the new medical director of Spokane's Holy Family Hospital's Multiple Sclerosis Center, will answer your questions online on Friday, Aug. 15, at 1:30 p.m.

You can submit a question now or during the chat. Look for the link to the chat Friday from The Spokesman-Review's home page.

Kanter is a board-certified neurologist whose mother was diagnosed with MS in 1984.

Still more news on HRT and heart attacks

The findings from the federal Women’s Health Initiative study of hormone replacement therapy are beginning to sound all-too-familiar. Last year, preliminary findings showed a higher risk of heart attack among women taking Prempro, a combination of estrogen and progestin prescribed for menopausal symptoms. Today’s New England Journal of Medicine reports the risk is highest in the first year women take the pills -- which ought to add further caution to women and doctors considering HRT, even for short-term use.

The overall risk is six more heart attacks annually per 10,000 women. To read more, click here.

Summertime safety: The reality show

The teenage boy I live with came home the other day with serious road rash, that is, large skinless areas on his elbow and back. His injuries came from freeboarding, which he tells me is "snowboarding on asphalt."

He fell "toe side," which can be better or worse than falling "heel side." A heel side fall you usually can break with your hands. If you don't break your fall, though, you've got road rash face.

I'm not recommending any of this. I do recommend using moments like this as an opportunity to talk about infection and the importance of wound care. And don't forget the Helmet Lecture, which goes something like this:

"It would be me spoonfeeding you and changing your diapers, so I get to demand you wear a helmet."

It was all so 'West Wing'

Tom Scully, the nation’s top administrator for Medicare and Medicaid, visited Spokane today on the invitation of Republican Rep. George Nethercutt. Scully probably felt like the morning would never end.

He started the day getting blasted by a General Accounting Office report, which said his retaliation against a university contractor "undermined the integrity of the procurement process." While in Spokane, he met with doctors and hospital executives, who gave him an earful on Medicare rules and reimbursements.

Scully was poised under pressure, and he’s doubtlessly seen a lot worse. To the hospital leaders, gathered around a long table in the Deaconess Medical Center’s executive offices, Scully downplayed his actions against a University of Wisconsin researcher, the pointed e-mails that drew the GAO report. He joked that with former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson as his boss, acting against the university wouldn’t have been very smart.

Okay, no more politics in this blog for at least a month. I promise.

What to wear in Paris this year ...

Tourists and residents are pestering the mayor of Paris for copies of a new series of posters depicting the city’s architectural landmarks encased in condoms, according to a story by Matthew Rose in the July 31 New York Times.

The Paris ad agency Lowe Alice conceived the posters for an AIDS-prevention campaign.

The agency would like to work with other cities. Jet Tilley, public affairs director of Planned Parenthood of the Inland Northwest, says: "Can you imagine what they might do with the Clock Tower or the Space Needle?"

Confessions of 'a recently reformed hope pusher'

Journalists are paid to be skeptics. All journalists, it seems, except health writers, who tend to get all breathless and dewy over every new medical "breakthrough." Science writer Shannon Brownlee -- who admits to being "a recently reformed hope pusher" -- says it better in "Health, Hope and Hype" in the Sunday Washington Post Outlook section.

Better than a terrorism futures market ...

Retired Spokane teacher Frank Yuse doesn't type, so he spent one week hand-printing his 20-page contest entry with a pen.

His is one of 108 entries vying for a $10,000 first prize in Kathleen O'Connor's contest. Earlier this year, she challenged people to write proposals for fixing the U.S. health-care system.

O'Connor, who put up the first-prize money from her own purse, is a Seattle health-care writer and consultant. She mails her newsletter, the O'Connor Report, to 2,000 people. She soon will post summaries of the entries on her web site.

Most of the contestants who met the July 1 deadline are regular folks like the 75-year-old Yuse. Winners will be announced Oct. 24. O'Connor told me she's learned "the American public is vastly smarter than anyone gives them credit for."

Breastfeeding man ad yanked

"Some felt it was clever, some have felt it was too clever, some have said it was weird and some said it was concerning," said Dr. Karen Poutasi of the New Zealand Ministry of Health, explaining why an advertisement depicting a man breastfeeding a baby was pulled. The ad promoted breastfeeding in the workplace.