Some people are allergic to other peoples’ cats and dogs but not their own, creating a long-standing medical puzzle that may now be solved.
People who sneeze and wheeze around other peoples’ pets may be allergic to the pets’ fleas and not animal dander, said entomologist Richard J. Brenner of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. USDA researchers found that proteins in flea feces, shells, skin and other debris can cause allergic reactions.
“Breathing in flea debris from someone else’s pet can cause you to have an allergic reaction,” he said. “Then you go home where the pets and rooms are free of fleas or flea debris and you have no reaction.”
BASICS OF EMERGENCY: CHECK, CALL, CARE
At some point almost everyone asks themselves what they would do in a life-threatening medical emergency. Unfortunately, many people don’t know what to do, resulting in the unnecessary loss of tens of thousands of lives annually, according to the American Red Cross.
To help remedy the problem, the Red Cross has prepared a 16-page booklet, “Til Help Arrives,” which explains steps that can be taken to save lives in heart attacks, accidents and other emergencies.
The basic three steps-check, call, care-tell a relative, friend or bystander to check the victim and scene of an emergency, call for help without delay, and provide care until help arrives.
By making it simple, the Red Cross hopes that “check, call, care” will remove the confusion, panic and uncertainty that often keeps bystanders from responding.
Free copies of the booklet can be obtained by contacting local Red Cross chapters.
NEW DRUG HELPS SCHIZOPHRENIC PATIENTS
A drug used to treat schizophrenic patients, who did not respond to any other treatment, dramatically improved their quality of life and lowered their cost for care, according to a Case Western Reserve University study.
The two-year study of 96 treatment-resistant patients showed that hospitalization dramatically declined for patients taking clozapine, and their average cost dropped from $71,779 to $25,905, said Dr. Herbert Y. Meltzer.
“This study shows that clozapine is very effective in stabilizing people with schizophrenia to the point where they are able to leave costly in-patient treatment facilities and improve their quality of life,” he reported in the American Journal of Psychiatry.
SMOKING, NOT ALCOHOL, AFFECTS WEIGHT-STUDY
A study of nearly 4,000 identical twins shows that drinking alcohol does not appear to affect weight but smoking cigarettes does.
Even when one twin was a non-drinker and the other drank up to five drinks a day, there was no difference in their weight, said Dr. Seth Eisen of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
But the twins that smoked were 6 to 8 pounds lighter than their non-smoking siblings, he reported in the Archives of Internal Medicine. The message is that quitters who start gaining weight should consider joining a weight-reduction program, Eisen said.
ANTIHYPERTENSIVE DRUG MAY AID CERTAIN DIABETICS
For diabetics with kidney disease, an antihypertensive drug may reduce by 50 percent their risk of death, according to an international study.
The findings may significantly improve the treatment of tens of thousands of diabetics worldwide, said Dr. Edmund J. Lewis of Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center. Lewis, who headed the study of captopril, reported the results in New England Journal of Medicine.
ALZHEIMER’S GROUP LISTS 10 WARNING SIGNS
Everyone has problems remembering things sometimes. Forgetting where you put your car keys is normal. Forgetting that your keys start the car is abnormal and may be a sign of Alzheimer’s disease.
To help people recognize signs that may indicate the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, the Alzheimer’s Association has developed 10 warning signs:
Recent memory loss that affects job performance, difficulty performing familiar tasks, problems with language, disorientation of time and place, poor or decreased judgment, problems with abstract thinking, misplacing things, changes in mood or behavior, changes in personality, and loss of initiative.
For information on physician referral, caregiver support and other issues, the association has a toll-free hot line, 800-272-3900.
ESTROGEN REPLACEMENT THERAPY’S NEW FINDINGS
Besides easing menopausal symptoms, estrogen replacement therapy may reduce women’s risk of heart disease and stroke, according to a study of nearly 3,000 women aged 65 years and older.
“These findings suggest that postmenopausal estrogen use may be associated with lower risk of cardiovascular disease in women well into the eighth decade of life,” said Dr. Teri A. Manolio of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.
Measuring the buildup of fatty plaques in the carotid arteries, which feed blood to the brain, researchers found that women taking estrogen had fewer deposits, she reported in the November issue of Circulation, a publication of the American Heart Association.
NEW MATERIAL MAY OFFER MERCURY FILLING SUBSTITUTE
Although mercury fillings have not been linked to any health problems, enough concern has been generated that scientists are looking for substitutes.
At the head of the race is a compound developed by David Lashmore of the National Institute of Dental Research and Moshe Dariel, a guest scientist from the David Ben-Gurion University, Beer-Sheva, Israel.
The new material is made from coated tin and silver powders. The compound is mixed with a liquid and placed into a cavity where it quickly hardens. The filling material could be available within three years, Lashmore said.
LUNG CANCER AFFLICTS 2 BLACKS FOR EACH WHITE
Blacks are about twice as prone to develop lung cancer as whites, a study published in the International Journal of Epidemiology reports.
The study, which included about 8,000 people, also found that a higher percentage of black men smoke than do white men, but they smoke fewer cigarettes each day on average.
“The white smoker is smoking more cigarettes per day than the average African-American smoker, but the African-American has a higher relative risk of lung cancer,” said one of the study authors, Randall Harris of Ohio State University.
The study didn’t address the causes behind these trends.
