Non-human molecule absorbed by red-meat eaters

Eating red meat and milk products causes tissues to absorb a non-human, molecular sugar called N-glycolylneuraminic acid (Neu5Gc), according to a study by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine.

The study will be published online later this week by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and is scheduled for print on Oct. 14.

Saturated fats are usually blamed for the association between eating red meat and cancer and heart disease. The researchers suggest more work on the role Neu5Gc may play in health.

Neu5Gc occurs naturally in lamb, pork and beef. For more information and a chart showing levels of the molecule in various foods, click here.

Welcome to my fifteen minutes

It's not the cover of the Rolling Stone, but I'm still gonna buy five copies for my mother. Your Humble (??) Blogger makes an appearance in today's New York Times. See where I make this blog happen.

How to avoid a C-section

Ancient wisdom wins again. Women in childbirth who receive supportive care (from a trained advocate who is not part of the hospital staff) are less likely to require Cesaerean sections or other medical intervention.

That’s the conclusion of a Cochrane Collaboration review of 15 randomized, controlled studies that included at total of 12,791 women.

The Cochrane group is building a library of evidence-based medicine. Read the report. Or read a news story about the report.

Crunching numbers for fun and science

I think Internet health calculators are fun. Almost as much fun as magazine quizzes that purport to tell your personality by the shape of your used lipstick.

Here’s a calculator that figures your relative risk of having a heart attack vs. getting the human version of mad cow disease based on your hamburger consumption. The Mad Cow Calculator is on the Dr. Zebra web site.

Raised on Ritalin

This morning, National Public Radio’s Snigda Prakash offered a smart explanation of the stunning rise during the 1990s of children medicated for attention deficit disorder. Her report is part of a series on mental illness and children. You can listen to it online.

Eight years ago, colleague Susan Drumheller and I wrote a series of articles that we called "Raised on Ritalin."

Here's one of the sidebars I wrote, titled: "A SPLIT DIAGNOSIS FROM A HOUSE DIVIDED ... GIRL'S DIVORCED PARENTS DISAGREE OVER CAUSE, CURE OF THEIR GIRL'S PROBLEMS"

Sarah Shapori's mother doesn't believe children should do their own laundry. Her father does. Her mother believes Sarah should take Ritalin. Her father doesn't.

Pingponging from parent to parent since their divorce eight years ago, 10-year-old Sarah has plenty of reasons to be confused.

But does she have Attention Deficit Disorder? And are daily doses of stimulants the best way to get her back on track at school and at home?

One school day last spring, Sarah worked at a computer with two other ponytailed classmates. Except she wasn't working.

She was mesmerized by the girls' contrasting ponytails - one black, one brown. She played with one girl's black hair, then the other girl's brown hair. Then she mixed their hair together. She jumped up to ask her teacher a question unrelated to their computer work: "Mr. Berard, is auburn red or brown?"

This kind of impulsive, distracted behavior caused teacher Chris Berard to suggest last winter to Sarah's father and stepmother that Sarah might do better in school if she took Ritalin.

Four or five other children in his classroom at Greenacres Elementary took the stimulant. Berard thought the drug helped those students pay attention and stay out of trouble.

"I don't believe in medication," the teacher said. "In a sense it's a copout. But what am I supposed to do with these kids? Yeah, I could probably get these kids off medication - if I had only 10 kids in my classroom."

Instead, he had 29.

Sarah's father and stepmother talked to their doctor who agreed to try Ritalin. Sarah had been on it before - when she lived with her mother. But when Mark Shapori took custody last year, he and his new wife, Kim Plese, decided to wean Sarah from the drug.

All at once last fall, Sarah had a new house, a new neighborhood, a new school, a new parental attitude emphasizing homework and chores. And no Ritalin.

By winter, Mark Shapori was struggling with Sarah's behavior at home. When the teacher suggested Ritalin, he decided to try it again. After two 30-day prescriptions, he dropped it, not seeing any big change in her behavior.

Shapori now thinks the teacher was too quick to recommend drugs.

"I don't believe in the stuff at all," he said. "I think if parents did their jobs, a lot of this would be eliminated. And if parents aren't doing their jobs, how do you know whether Attention Deficit Disorder is real or just an excuse?"

Now he has a system for making sure Sarah gets her homework done. She has a strict after-school regime with a chore, a walk, a shower and homework scheduled each day. When she completes an assignment, she puts it on her father's desk for his initials.

While some parents try to limit the quantity of homework schools give their ADD children, Shapori buys educational workbooks to give Sarah extra practice. He's considering a private school for his daughter this fall.

"Sarah responds better to a straight line than to a fuzzy line," he said.

Sarah spends some weekends with her mother, Julie Shapori, where she has more freedom.

"At dad's she is so confined, so monitored, so kept," said Julie Shapori, who believes she herself has the disorder.

"Mark's ashamed of the Attention Deficit. I'm just a big blemish."

Sarah may have Attention Deficit Disorder, but until her father can rule out her disrupted home life as a cause for her problems he'd rather she not take Ritalin.

He's disappointed that the doctor and the teacher reached for the medicine bottle instead of the parenting handbook.

"Before you make a call like that I think you have to ask what's going on at home."

Fire retardant found in breast milk

The Environmental Working Group, a non-profit research group in Washington, D.C., reported some alarming news yesterday. A small study found toxic fire retardant chemicals in the breast milk of all 20 new mothers tested.

The bromine-based chemicals are used in cars, furniture and computers. They build up in the body over a lifetime.

The organization continues to recommend breastfeeding, while calling for phasing out the chemicals. Read the report.

Doing our best on deadline

The newsroom here is buzzing today. We're at work on follow-up stories to yesterday's news: A Spokane student brought a gun to school, talked to police briefly, then drew his gun. The boy is now in critical condition in a Spokane hospital, having been shot multiple times by police.

Today, the chief of police declared it to be a clear case of attempted "suicide by cops." The boy left a lengthy suicide note.

Now we as journalists face a dilemma: How to write about teenage suicide without glamorizing the event and possibly provoking copycats. Fortunately, there are guidelines. Click here to read recommendations for the news media put together by several organizations.

We're doing our best. But it's tough.

Remember: It's satire

The satirical newspaper The Onion has fun with the placebo effect.

West Nile test finds infected donor blood

A new test for West Nile virus in blood donations turned up 600 infected units of blood, which were pulled from the national blood supply, Dr. Julie Gerberding of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control said at a press conference yesterday.

On a related note, we’ll be chatting on Monday at noon Pacific time with Dr. Kim Thorburn, Spokane’s chief public health doctor. Thorburn is recovering from Guillain-Barre Syndrome, brought on, she thinks, by a bout of West Nile virus. Thorburn believes she contracted West Nile in June when she was bit by a mosquito in Ohio.

To post a question for Thorburn, click here. On Monday at noon, join us for the live online chat.

Rationing health care? In America?

The Wall Street Journal takes on the topic of rationing expensive medical treatments in this article by Antonio Regalado.

From the article:

"Lilly's campaign for Xigris reflects the unique way in which health care is rationed in America. In other countries, for better or worse, government bureaucracies set guidelines for what drugs cost and who gets them. But in the U.S., these decisions are made every day by a vast array of gatekeepers, from doctors, to government employees to insurance officials. And all of these people are targets for a big company that wants to influence the process."

Be kind to your spine

I don’t often endorse books, but one just crossed my desk that is beautiful, informative and reasonably priced ($19.95). It’s "The Good Back Book" by practicing physiotherapist Renita Fehrsen-Du Toit. Illustrated with photos and drawings, the book includes advice for easing and preventing back pain through posture, massage and exercise.

Magnets: They work if you believe

Every year, Americans spend $500 million on therapeutic magnets, despite little scientific evidence that magnets work. A study in the Sept. 17 Journal of the American Medical Association shows magnetic shoe inserts worked to fight pain, but only just as well as sham shoe inserts with no magnetic properties.

The study involved 101 adults with plantar heel pain. Some got magnets in their shoes; others got the sham inserts. By the end of the study, about one-third of both groups, those who got real magnets and those who didn’t, reported they were all or mostly better.

In a related article, researchers found a large number of Internet sites pitching herbal remedies with unsubstantiated health claims in violation of federal law. And an editorial called for more regulation of herbal remedies.

Could music be a happy accident?

"It could be that the brain perceives music with the same circuits it uses to hear and analyze human speech, and that it thrills to its cadences with centers designed to mediate other kinds of pleasure."

-- Nicholas Wade writing in today’s New York Times about evolution and music

New respect for research on meditation

Coinciding with the Dalai Lama's visit to the U.S., a story in Sunday’s New York Times details what researchers are learning about the brain by studying Buddhist meditation practices. The field of study is gaining new, if grudging, respect.

Warning issued on star anise tea

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration advised Wednesday against drinking tea brewed from star anise. In the last two years, about 40 people, including 15 infants, have gotten sick after consuming star anise. Symptoms include seizures, vomiting, jitteriness and rapid eye movement.

Chinese star anise is generally recognized to be safe. Japanese star anise, however, is toxic. Some products may contain both, and not be labeled specifically. Chinese star anise is used as a herbal remedy for cough, bronchitis, cholic and cramps.

There's help when you and your health plan can't agree

Here’s an online tool you don’t want to have to use. Consumers Union provides a state-by-state guide to your rights when you have a dispute with your health plan about coverage. Here's the link.

Tanning booths popular among girls

Almost a third of white teenage girls have used tanning booths several times, according to a study in the September issue of the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.

The statistic comes from a 1996 survey of 6,900 teenagers. Slightly more than 11 percent of the boys reported using indoor tanning facilities at least once.

Repeated exposure to ultraviolet rays in indoor tanning can cause skin cancer and premature aging, said the study’s author, a Case Western Reserve University researcher. Read more.

New pill allows women to skip periods

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a new birth control pill that allows women to reduce the number of menstrual periods they have to four a year. The pill, manufactured by Barr Laboratories, is called Seasonale.

But who needs a new pill? Women have been skipping periods for years by skipping the placebo bills on their regular birth control pills and going on to the next package. Read more

Explosive news from Down Under

If you can get an emergency room worker talking, you’re likely to hear some interesting tales involving items lodged in people’s rectums. This one may top them all: A 26-year-old Australian man suffered a horrible fate when a firecracker exploded between the cheeks of his buttocks. More details.

Playing politics with Rx drug costs

I know I promised no politics for a while. But you've got to read this New York Times story about how drug company execs were pressured in 2000 to make maximum campaign contributions to George W. Bush. The payoff is coming in the Medicare reform bill, the story says.

CDC: Rate of multiple births causes concern about infertility treatments

The rising number of twins, triplets and other multiple births associated with infertility treatments is "an increasingly important public health problem nationally," according to a new report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Babies born in multiples are at risk for prematurity, low birth weight and permanent disability. Read the report.

Ginkgo study: She may not remember last night, but she enjoyed it

Last summer, a small study showed that the herbal extract ginkgo biloba – promoted as a memory aid – failed to improve memory or concentration in elderly adults.

Now a University of Texas researcher is testing gingko as a treatment for women who experience sexual problems as a side effect of taking anti-depressants.

The study, federally funded through the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, is recruiting participants in the Austin, Texas, area.

The scientific reasoning behind the study is that ginkgo increases peripheral blood flow and relaxes smooth muscle tissue. Results won’t be known until next year.

'Man bites dog' still makes best news story

"Public understanding of scientific risk remains a major health communications barrier. In just June and July of this year, there were 2,091 major news stories about West Nile virus, which had killed 10 Americans to that point. But there were only 478 news stories about food poisoning, which annually kills about 5,000."

-- From the Center for the Advancement of Health's "Good Behavior!" newsletter.

Two new favorite sites on Rx drugs

Last week, I moderated an online chat with two pharmacy experts from Washington State University Spokane. They gave us two helpful online resources that I’ve decided to add to my favorite links.

RxAssist.org gives information on finding low-cost prescription drugs for people who qualify because of need. Volunteers in Health Care, a non-profit group, runs the service.

DrugDigest.org provides details about thousands of prescription drugs. Its Drug Interaction Checker is especially helpful. That site is run by Express Scripts, a national pharmacy benefits manager.