Health Tip: Exercise for Teens

(HealthDay News) - A daily trip to the gym isn't a popular pastime for some teens. So the Nemours Foundation offers these ideas for fun and different ways for teens to get exercise:

• Go for a walk with friends, ride a bike, or take the dog for a walk.
• Clean your room, mow the lawn with a push mower, or wash the car.
• Play video games that force you to move around.
• Turn on the music, close the door, and dance in your room to your favorite songs.
• Try a new sport or a new type of exercise -- and get a friend to try it with you.

Advanced Therapy Aids Stroke Patients

(HealthDay News) -- Therapies that attack blood clots directly in the brain may benefit ischemic stroke patients who don't respond to the standard treatment using clot-busting drugs.

So says a U.S. study that was to have been presented Tuesday at the 20th annual International Symposium on Endovascular Therapy, in Hollywood, Fla.

Ischemic strokes -- which account for about 83 percent of strokes -- occur when a small clot blocks an artery in the brain and halts blood flow, according to the American Stroke Association. If the clot isn't cleared and blood flow restored, the patient will suffer permanent brain damage or death.

"Often patients who fail to improve with standard intravenous (IV) stroke therapy aren't given the chance to succeed with more advanced intra-arterial (IA) therapy, because it's thought that it won't work if IV therapy didn't, and that it will increase the risk of bleeding in the brain," study author Dr. Christopher Zylak, director of neurointerventional radiology at Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane, Wash., said in a prepared statement. "Our data suggest that IA therapy can be highly successful even when IV therapy doesn't work, and that the risk of bleeding is no different between the two therapies."

In IV therapy, clot-busting drugs are delivered through an intravenous device in the patient's arm. IV treatment must begin within three hours of the onset of stroke, which means patients must get to the hospital at the first signs of stroke.

IA therapy involves placing a catheter through a small incision in the patient's groin and moving the catheter through an artery all the way to the site of the blockage in the patient's brain. This enables direct delivery of clot-busting drugs to the area. Doctors also can use the catheter to insert a tiny corkscrew-like device to remove the clot.

In this study, the researchers compared 80 patients who received IV therapy and 43 patients who received IA therapy at Sacred Heart from 2004 through 2007. Some of the patients who received IA therapy had not responded to IV therapy.

Success rates of IA therapy (defined as opening up of the blocked blood vessel) were 85.7 percent in 2006 and 83.3 percent in 2007. Death rates among patients who received IA therapy were 30.8 percent in 2006 and 27.8 percent in 2007. That's half the 50 percent to 80 percent death rates published in the "natural history outcomes" of large-vessel strokes, the study authors said.

"Without any question, we definitely were able to help patients who failed IV therapy by providing IA therapy," Zylak said. "In the future, for large-vessel clots, IA therapy may well be the best direct therapy, bypassing IV therapy."

He noted that many stroke victims don't receive any treatment, because they don't recognize the signs (such as vision and speech problems, paralysis, and memory difficulties) and don't seek medical care. The sooner a stroke is treated, the more likely treatment will be successful.

"Overall, we are under-treating stroke. There are many patients who could benefit from stroke treatment who aren't getting it for various reasons," Zylak said. "Treatment therapies today are getting dramatic results. If a medical center doesn't offer the more advanced IA therapy, the patient can be taken by helicopter to a center that performs the therapy, even if IV therapy wasn't successful."

Stroke is the third leading cause of death in the United States, killing about 160,000 people a year, according to the National Stroke Association. About 750,000 people suffer from stroke annually.

More information

The Washington University School of Medicine has more about ischemic stroke.

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FDA Warns Clot Risk Higher in Birth Control Patch Than Pill

(HealthDay News) -- A birth control skin patch used by many American women carries a risk of serious blood clots that is higher than the risk already recognized for the birth control pill, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned late Friday.

Based on the results of a new study that discovered the increased danger, the agency said it has approved changes to the labeling for the Ortho Evra Contraceptive Transdermal Patch, to better warn women and their doctors of the potential risk.

"For women that choose to use contraceptives, it is important that they thoroughly discuss with their health-care providers the risks and benefits involved," Dr. Janet Woodcock, deputy commissioner for scientific and medical programs at the FDA, said in a statement.

The warning followed reports out of Canada last week of two deaths, one heart attack and 16 cases of blood clots since 2004 among women who used the patch.

Approved by the FDA in 2001, the patch is sold by prescription and releases ethinyl estradiol (a type of estrogen), and a progestin called norelgestromin via the skin into the bloodstream. But the FDA noted that the body processes hormones delivered in this way differently than hormones delivered in pill form, so that "women using the product will be exposed to about 60 percent more estrogen than if they were using typical birth control pills."

Blood clots called venous thromboembolisms (VTEs) -- which can travel to the lungs as life-threatening pulmonary embolisms -- have long been known to be a rare but potential side effect of the birth control pill, and for the patch as well. In fact, the FDA had already revised the Ortho Evra label once in 2006, after a study found it doubled women's odds for VTE. Another study found use of the birth control patch boosted women's odds for the clots by about the same amount as did the Pill.

However, an epidemiological study just conducted by the Boston Collaborative Drug Surveillance Program, on behalf of drug maker Johnson & Johnson -- has found the patch may carry an even higher clotting risk than the Pill does. According to the FDA, that study looked at women aged 15 to 44 and "found that users of the birth control patch were at higher risk of developing serious blood clots than women using birth control pills."

The patch does have a checkered past. In November 2006, a group of 43 women sued the product's New Jersey-based maker, Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical Co. (a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson), and San Francisco-based distributor McKesson Corp, alleging that they suffered blood clots and other health woes after being placed on Ortho-Evra.

"This product should not be on the market," Shawn Khorrami, an attorney for the plaintiffs, told the Associated Press at the time. "When you put out a product that gives women more hormones than they need, then you're increasing their risk of developing those ailments."

Similar worries have surfaced in Canada. But Janssen-Ortho, the patch's Canadian distributor, defended the product. "The risk of serious adverse events is small in healthy women, but increases significantly if associated with the presence of other risk factors, such as obesity or smoking," the company said in a statement.

The FDA is also stressing proper use of the Ortho Evra patch. In its statement issued Friday, the agency said it believes the product "is a safe and effective method of contraception when used according to the labeling, which recommends that women with concerns or risk factors for serious blood clots talk with their health-care provider about using Ortho Evra versus other contraceptive options."

Sidney Wolfe, director of the Washington, D.C.-based consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, told Toronto's The Globe and Mail newspaper that women "shouldn't use [the patch]. It shouldn't be used because it's a new product with no unique advantage."

One gynecologist begged to differ, however. "When you look at any estrogen-containing contraceptive product available on the market, whether it's the Pill or the Evra patch or NuvaRing, the vaginal ring, all of them slightly increase the risk of blood clot," Dr. Melissa Mirosh, former fellow of the contraceptive advice, research and education fellowship program at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, told the Canadian Press.

More information
There's more on reproductive health at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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Gay Men More Likely to Contract 'Superbug'

(HealthDay News) -- Sexually active gay men are much more likely than others to be infected by a highly resistant strain of staph bacteria, warns a study led by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).

The scientists analyzed patient medical charts and found that sexually active gay men in San Francisco are about 13 time more likely to be infected with multidrug-resistant, community-associated MRSA bacteria than people in the general population.

Overall, about one in 3,800 people in San Francisco is infected with this very potent strain of MRSA.

The findings were published in the Jan. 14 early online edition of the Annals of Internal Medicine.

"These multi-drug resistant infections often affect gay men at body sites in which skin-to-skin contact occurs during sexual activities," lead author Binh Diep, a UCSF postdoctoral scientist at San Francisco General Hospital Medical Center, said in a prepared statement.

"But because the bacteria can be spread by more casual contact, we are also very concerned about a potential spread of this strain into the general population," Diep said.

MRSA invades skin and tissue beneath the skin, causing abscesses and ulcerations that can turn into life-threatening infections. In people who become infected, prompt diagnosis and treatment are crucial.

Diep said a thorough scrubbing with soap and water may be the most effective way to prevent skin-to-skin transmission, especially after sex.

More information
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more about MRSA.

Industrial Solvent May Increase Risk for Parkinsonism

(HealthDay News) -- Exposure to a common industrial solvent known as trichloroethylene may raise the risk for developing parkinsonism, a group of nervous system disorders with symptoms similar to Parkinson's disease, new research suggests.

Although the study focused on people working close to a source of trichloroethylene (TCE), the solvent has been found in drinking water, surface water and soil near sites where it's used, the researchers noted.

In the study, University of Kentucky researchers initially assessed three Parkinson's disease patients who'd been exposed to TCE at work for at least 25 years. Questionnaires were then sent to 134 of their factory co-workers.

The researchers found that 14 former workers who worked close to the TCE source exhibited signs of parkinsonism. This included having significantly slower fine motor hand movements than people the same age who hadn't been exposed to TCE.

Another 13 former workers who worked in the same area or slightly farther from the TCE source reported no signs of parkinsonism. However, their fine motor movements were still significantly slower than people of a similar age who were not exposed to TCE.

In additional studies with rats, the researchers found that TCE exposure inhibited mitochondrial function in the substantia nigra, an area of the brain that produces dopamine, a chemical that sends signals that control movement.

The findings were published online recently in the Annals of Neurology.

More information
The American Academy of Family Physicians has more about Parkinson's disease.

Almost Half of 10-Year-Olds Have Tasted Alcohol

(HealthDay News) -- Two out of five American children between the ages of 8 and 10 have already taken a few sips of alcohol, a new study shows.

However, one in three parents whose child reported having tasted alcohol was unaware that their youngster had done so, the researchers noted.

The number of 8-to-10-year-olds who've downed a whole drink are much lower, however.

"Nearly 40 percent of children aged 8 to 10 have sipped or tasted alcohol, whereas only 6 percent have ever had a drink of alcohol," corresponding author John E. Donovan, an associate professor of psychiatry and epidemiology at the University of Pittsburgh, said in a prepared statement.

Previous research on alcohol use among children has focused on older children involved in heavier drinking than just a taste or sip, the researchers noted. Surveys tend to ask when a child has taken "more than a few sips," thereby excluding children who have only sampled, they said.

In their study, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Michigan conducted a phone survey with a random sample of 452 children (214 boys, 238 girls), aged 8 or 10, and their families. The researchers asked the children about their experiences sipping or tasting alcohol and their perspective on their parents' behavior and beliefs about alcohol. The researchers then interviewed the parents separately.

"If one only asked about drinks, one would have the impression that few children at these ages have had experience with alcohol, whereas the reality is that nearly seven times as many have had some experience," Donovan said. "Second, alcohol is most often sipped by children in the family context or during religious services, and almost never with friends or when alone. Third, children in families in which the parents drink are at greater risk for having sipped or tasted alcohol as young as age eight or 10."

Children do seem to follow by example, the study author added. "Children whose parents drink more frequently are at higher risk of having had a sip or taste of alcohol," Donovan said.

"Surprisingly, it appears that much of this greater risk is not due to parents having offered the children alcohol: A third of the mothers and half of the fathers whose children have sipped alcohol are not aware of it."

The researchers said the results imply that children's drinking behavior is learned from their observation of their parents drinking, although Donovan pointed out that beer commercials, alcohol ads and TV characters who drink may also play a role.

The researchers also noted that sipping or tasting alcohol at a young age is not correlated with other problem behaviors.

Writing in the January issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, the researchers stated that this is the first in a series of studies planned for this group of families, with the intent of exploring the way in which family attitudes and drinking behavior may affect children's choices.

More information
To learn more about alcohol abuse, visit the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

Research Yields Clues to Recurrent Prostate Cancer

(HealthDay News) -- Cancer researchers have identified a link between a cellular signaling protein and the hormone androgen that could play a role in hormone-resistant prostate cancer.

According to researchers at Thomas Jefferson University's Kimmel Cancer Center in Philadelphia, the protein Stat5 is turned on in almost all recurrent prostate cancers that are resistant to hormone therapy.

Writing in the January issue of Cancer Research, the researchers also reported that Stat5 could work with cellular receptors for the hormone androgen in cases of recurrent prostate cancer.

"These findings validate Stat5 as a potential drug target in prostate cancer, and in particular, in a form of prostate cancer for which there are no effective therapies," Dr. Marja Nevalainen, associate professor of cancer biology, said in a prepared statement.

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in the United States. About 219,000 men are diagnosed with the disease every year, according to the U.S. National Cancer Institute. The majority are over the age of 65. About 27,000 men die from the cancer annually.

Men with prostate cancer are often first treated with either surgery or radiation. Hormone therapy is used for subsequent disease. However, when prostate cancer returns years later, it is often more aggressive and tends to resist hormone treatment.

The researchers have previously shown that when Stat5 is turned on, men have a significantly increased risk of recurring cancer.

The research team analyzed prostate cancer cells from 198 patients with prostate cancer recurrence. Stat5 was active in three out of four (74 percent) of the recurrent prostate cancers, they found, and, of those patients, 127 had been treated with androgen deprivation therapy, a hormone therapy. Stat5 was active in 95 percent of the hormone-resistant tumors.

According to the researchers, Stat5 is more likely to be active if patients are treated with androgen deprivation therapy. The protein interacts with the hormone receptors and keeps them active.

The researchers plan to test the dynamic between Stat5 and androgen receptors using animal models to find out if the relationship produces androgen-independent prostate tumor growth.

More information
There's much more on prostate cancer at the U.S. National Cancer institute.