JUNK FOOD ADS DURING KIDS TV HOURS [AAP, April 19, 2007] Two thirds of food ads during popular children's television programs promote junk food, and a new study says they could be making children fat. The University of Sydney researchers say their findings are further evidence that laws governing acceptable viewing for children should be tightened to reduce their exposure to junk food marketing. The study measured the number of advertisements for high-fat and high-sugar foods during programs popular with children aged five to 12 and teenagers aged 13 to 17, and compared it to adult viewing hours. The team found the number of junk food commercials was much higher during times when children were watching. Junk food ads made up 66.8 per cent of food ads when teenagers were watching and 65.9 when children were watching, compared with just 39 per cent during adult viewing hours, the team found. Overall, about a quarter of commercial television advertisements were for food. Children were exposed to an average nine junk food ads an hour, which at a "very conservative" estimate based on one hour's viewing a day amounted to 63 a week. But research dietician Bridget Kelly said Australian children were estimated to watch an average 2.1 hours of television a week, so the actual exposure could be a lot higher. "Considering past research about the relationship between advertising exposure and patterns of food consumption, it is likely that the levels of advertising of high-fat/high-sugar foods, and the targeting of these during high-ratings periods, are contributing to excess energy consumption and overweight and obesity among Australian children," the report found. The research team made the findings after monitoring Sydney's three commercial channels from 6am until 11pm for a week in May last year. Ms Kelly, from the Australian Centre for Health Promotion, said children were found to be watching up to 10pm and during traditional "adult" viewing hours, including Big Brother, The Simpsons and Neighbours. Children's television standards do not apply after 8.30pm. "The current regulations aren't covering the times when children are actually watching television," Ms Kelly said. Federal Health Minister Tony Abbott has so far resisted calls to ban junk food ads, but the Government has announced a review of the children's television standards. The researchers want junk food commercials limited to 14 per cent of food ads, in line with the maximum recommended intake of junk food compared to total food energy intake each day.

BIGGER BOOBS THE "NATURAL" WAY [The Australian, AAP, The Times, February 12, 2007] Women may be able to undergo a "natural" form of breast enlargement using their own stem cells and fat. The technique, pioneered in Japan, results in breasts that look and feel smoother than conventional cosmetic surgery using implants. Stem cells, which have the potential to change into any cells in the body, are found in embryos, but the most plentiful supply in adults is from body fat. When body fat is transferred to the breasts, the stem cells enable the fat to grow its own blood supply, thus becoming an integral part of the breast rather than a foreign object. Dozens of women in Japan have received the enlargements during trials. This month, German authorities gave approval to the process. Under EU rules, this means that the procedure is now legal throughout Europe, including Britain. But Australian women may have to wait for the procedure to become widely available because of litigation concerns. Michael Zacharia, president of the Australasian College of Cosmetic Surgery, said the technique could make the detection of subsequent breast cancer more difficult. While the procedure "gives a very nice natural result", he said it could be hard to determine whether changes occurring in a breast were as a result of cancer or the fat transfer. "Medical insurance companies just refuse to cover it," he said. In a separate development, scientists have unearthed a genetic mutation that gives one in four women a small shield against breast cancer. This is the first concrete discovery of a common gene linked to the disease, and is the biggest breast cancer find since two rare and high-risk genes were identified a decade ago. Australian researchers contributed to the international study which found a genetic variation that gives some women a 10 per cent reduced risk of breast cancer. Everyone has the gene, called Caspase 8, but 25 per cent of women of European descent have a mutated variation which gives them a little protection. And 2 per cent have two variations, giving them twice the defence. Leader of the Australian research arm, Georgia Chenevix-Trench from the Queensland Institute of Medical Research, said confirmation of a low-risk gene for breast cancer was significant. It has no immediate implications for women already diagnosed with breast cancer, but Dr Chenevix-Trench said researchers expected to unearth similar genes which women could eventually be screened for. "After that we can start to think about testing protocols to see whether it's worth identifying women who have multiple variants," Dr Chenevix-Trench said. The results are published in the journal Nature Genetics.

PARACETAMOL -- MOST COMMON CAUSE OF LIVER FAILURE IN AUSTRALIA

[The Sunday Telegraph, April 8, 2007] Paracetamol, the drug commonly found in headache tablets, has surpassed hepatitis and alcohol to become the most common cause of liver failure in Australia. Doctors are being urged to exercise caution when prescribing paracetamol following cases of patients suffering accidental poisoning after taking only the recommended dose of the pain killer, often sold under the brand Panadol. A report published in The Medical Journal of Australia found people who didn't eat enough, drank a lot of alcohol or took certain medications were vulnerable to toxic effects from paracetamol. Elderly people with kidney or heart and lung problems may also be at increased risk. "Accidental paracetamol poisoning should be suspected in any patient with acute liver failure," the report said. "Clinicians should be cautious about prescribing regular doses of paracetamol for pain control in malnourished or fasting patients, and need to counsel patients who are regular users of the drug." Healthy people are usually able to metabolise paracetamol, most of which is excreted from the body in urine. But the drug can accumulate in people with risk factors, rendering even a normal dose toxic. The Accidental Paracetamol Poisoning report, compiled by experts from Austin Health in Victoria, describes the case of a 45-year-old Australian woman who died from liver failure. She was taking paracetamol for abdominal pain after having a hysterectomy and suffering complications. Her eating had been poor because of pain, vomiting and treatment. "The patient ... was noted to be displaying odd behaviour," the record states. "The following morning she became increasingly confused and drowsy. She was admitted to the intensive-care unit, where her conscious state deteriorated rapidly and she required intubation." The woman was transferred to a liver transplant unit but died before a donor organ became available. A post-mortem examination found a toxic level of paracetamol in her body. Hepatitis and alcoholism are other major causes of acute liver failure. Parents are warned not to give children pain killers unless they have high fever or severe pain. Dr David Thomas, pediatric spokesman for the Australian Medical Association, said: "Paracetamol and ibuprofen are drugs -- they aren't without risks or side-effects.”

WORLD-FIRST HEART SURGERY IN ADELAIDE

[Australian Associated Press, February 12, 2007] A World-first operation performed by a University of Adelaide cardiologist has saved the life of a woman with a tear in her heart. Patricia Warwick, 70, of Adelaide, had suffered severe heart muscle and tissue damage since she contracted rheumatic heart disease as a child. Mrs Warwick had undergone previous surgery to repair her heart valves but her heart had degenerated so much a tear had developed that could have caused her to bleed to death within seconds. Professor Stephen Worthley, of the University's department of medicine and cardiovascular research centre, used a groundbreaking combination of catheters and a butterfly-shaped plug to repair the tear. "Her heart muscles were severely degenerated, making sewing of the valves difficult and the tear impossible to repair," Prof Worthley said. "The tear created an unstable hernia with blood and clots ready to burst any time, essentially leading to sudden death from internal bleeding. It is extremely rare to see such a patient as they have normally died before we are aware of the problem. Mrs Warwick displayed incredible strength of character and enthusiasm prior to and after the operation." The operation was performed on February 8 at the Royal Adelaide Hospital. It involved inserting the plug, attached to a catheter, into Mrs Warwick's heart to act as a barrier to blood pooling in the area and contain it within a thin membrane, Prof Worthley said.

CANNABIS IS HARMFUL AND ADDICTIVE, REPORT FINDS [The Daily Telegraph , December 22, 2006] IMAGINE watching your cannabis-smoking son stab himself three times in the stomach right in front of you -- and later having to deal with his suicide. Imagine watching your beautiful daughter become a schizophrenic after using drugs and having to take over the job of caring for her baby. Imagine realising you had a mental health problem and were seeking help, only to be turned away because the mental health service classified your problem as drug-related. For years the parents of cannabis users have seen a link between their child's use of cannabis and mental illness. Now evidence is emerging that they are right. A major report into the links between cannabis use and mental illness, which was released last week, should cause a serious rethink about the reputation of cannabis as a safe, non-addictive and harmless illicit drug. And it demands an urgent overhaul of school-based drug education programs, with new evidence showing that cannabis use is starting much earlier in high school, at a time when young brains are undergoing massive changes. The third most-used drug in this country after alcohol and cigarettes, it is often claimed that cannabis is less harmful to your health. However, a review of major health studies by the Mental Health Council of Australia has debunked this view, finding that cannabis can increase the risk of mental illness in a small number of people and is addictive. * The study concludes that cannabis use can bring on schizophrenia in people who have a family history of mental illness. * And people who use cannabis have a two to three times greater incidence of psychotic symptoms. * Mentally ill people suffer relapses and worsened condition when they use cannabis. * One in seven cannabis users experience strange and unpleasant experiences, such as hearing voices, or becoming convinced that someone is going to harm them. And one in 10 cannabis users becomes addicted to the drug. In Australia that is 700,000 people! One in every three Australians will try cannabis over their lifetime and, although its use is declining due to the rise of ecstasy and ice, teenagers are trying it at a younger age. The average age of those who have their first experience of the drug is now just 14.9 years. The Mental Health Council's report says this means a major school-based drug education program is behind the times. Under the program, children are discussing cannabis use in Year 9, while many of them start using the drug in Year 8. In light of the evidence of the damage cannabis is causing, the Mental Health Council is calling for funding for more programs to help those who have a drug problem, as well as a mental illness. Too often young people are turned away from mental health centres because they are told they have a drug problem, the report found. The Federal Government has been pushing the states to get tough on cannabis, demanding earlier this year that they introduce new nationally consistent laws on the trafficking and use of cannabis. Parliamentary Secretary for Health Christopher Pyne wants the law to treat cannabis in the same way as heroin. However, state and territory laws currently deal with cannabis offences by imposing fines and diverting users into treatment programs. A cannabis hotline has been set up as part of mental health reforms to provide information on the risks of smoking cannabis. And $21 million has been earmarked over the next four years for a public awareness campaign to alert people to the link between illicit drugs and mental illness. However, the Mental Health Council's report calls for a much more comprehensive approach to tackling the mental health problems that are linked to cannabis. It wants a thorough evaluation of the effect of existing school-based drug education programs and public awareness programs. Evidence to date suggests that these school-based programs prevent only between 3 and 20 per cent of those who were planning to try cannabis from doing so. Teachers are given insufficient support to deliver the programs – and they often modify the programs they are given to suit their own values, or because they feel uncomfortable with advocating a harm minimisation approach to their students. The effects of these programs fade over time and more needs to be done to refresh the messages at key points throughout adolescence, the report says. The report is keen not to overstate the risks of cannabis – for the vast majority of people who try it, there will be no long-term effects. But no one knows if they have a predisposition for mental illness that is likely to be triggered by cannabis use. Reading the tragic stories in this report of cannabis users whose mental illness was triggered or made worse by this drug is a sobering exercise. This report should be compulsory reading for every parent and every 13-year-old considering whether to experiment with drugs.

YOU ALREADY KNEW IT, BUT NOW IT'S OFFICIAL

[Kaisernetwork.org, February 13, 2007] Medical marijuana might reduce the pain of peripheral neuropathy, a type of nerve damage, among people living with HIV/AIDS, according to a study published in the February 13 issue of the journal Neurology, the Washington Post reports. Donald Abrams of the University of California-San Francisco and colleagues examined the effects of smoking medicinal marijuana among people living with HIV/AIDS during a two-year period beginning in May 2003, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Researchers enrolled 50 HIV-positive participants who reported severe foot pain caused either by HIV/AIDS or their medications, according to the Post. The participants each spent a week at a secure laboratory at San Francisco General Hospital and were required to stop marijuana use before the start of the study. The researchers measured baseline pain among the participants by asking them to rank their pain on a scale of one to 100 and by administering two standardized tests involving a small hot iron applied to the skin and hot chili pepper cream. Twenty-five participants were randomly chosen to receive active marijuana cigarettes with 3.5% THC, the drug's active ingredient, and 25 received a placebo. The participants smoked three times daily -- at 8 a.m., 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. -- for five days. The study found that after the first cigarette on the first day, at least 50% of participants who received active marijuana reported a 72% reduction in pain. The researchers recorded a 15% reduction in pain among those who received the placebo cigarette. Over five days, the median reduction in pain reported by the active marijuana smokers was 34%, compared with 17% in the placebo group, the study found. The researchers took steps to ensure that the marijuana in the study -- which was grown on the government's official marijuana farm in Mississippi and stored in a locked freezer -- was not used for recreational purposes, according to the Post. Comments, Reaction The results are "evidence, using the gold standard for clinical research, that cannabis has some medical benefits for a condition that can be severely debilitating," Abrams said . He added, "I think that there are people out there who say there is no evidence that marijuana is medicine, that this is all just a smoke screen." David Murray, chief scientist for the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, said the physical pain of people living with HIV/AIDS is an issue of great concern. However, "this particular study is not terribly convincing" because of methodological problems, Murray said. He added, "People who smoke marijuana are subject to bacterial infections in the lungs. Is this really what a physician who is treating someone with a compromised immune system wants to prescribe?" Barbara Roberts -- former interim associate deputy director in the Office of National Drug Control Policy and now with Americans for Safe Access -- said, "This should be a wake-up call for Congress to hold hearings to investigate the therapeutic use of cannabis and to encourage more research." Igor Grant -- director of the University of California Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research, which funded the study -- said that although the study's finding are "very promising," they are not definitive. The study is available online HERE

FIRST WOMAN TO HAVE DOUBLE HAND TRANSPLANT [BBC, December 27, 2006] A woman who became the first in the world to receive a double hand transplant has left hospital. A team of surgeons at Hospital La Fe in Valencia (Spain) carried out the pioneering operation. Alba Lucia, 47, originally from Colombia, who had the 10-hour operation on November 30, said she was "very happy and enormously satisfied." Both her original hands were amputated after an explosion in her student chemistry lab nearly 30 years ago. Her new limbs came from a woman who was declared brain dead following an accident. The donor's arms were removed from above the elbow, and the severed limbs were cooled and transported to Hospital La Fe in less than five hours. A team of more than 10 medical professionals, including surgeons and anaesthetists, then worked to attach them to Alba's arms. Both transplants were carried out simultaneously. First, Alba's forearms had to be adjusted to match the size of the donor limbs. Bones were fixed with metal plates and screws, and microscopic surgery was used to attached the arteries, veins and nerves. After the operation, when she saw her new hands for the first time, Ms Lucia said: "They look beautiful." Pedro Cavadas, the lead surgeon, said he was pleased with the outcome of the operation. "She has two new hands and forearms two inches above the wrist bone. It will be five to six months before she has any feeling." He added: "She's delighted, because after 28 years without hands. she sees herself with some perfectly beautiful ones. She will have two useful hands that will allow her an independent life. In any case this is much better than any prosthesis." Six double-handed transplants have been carried out on men. The first was carried out on a 33-year-old man in France in 2000.

BOTTLED WATER GENERATION SUFFERS TOOTH DECAY [Australian Associated Press, December 30, 2006] PRIME Minister John Howard has lamented the state of children's teeth in Australia, but refuses to promise more funds for state dental services. Mr Howard said tooth decay in young children was a national tragedy, and urged parents to offer their children fluoridated tap water. "I grew up in a generation who had bad teeth because we didn't have fluoride and fortunately my children have all got great teeth," Mr Howard told Fairfax newspapers. "But kids who are born into the bottled water generation are missing out on that." Most drinking water supplies have fluoride added, but bottled water doesn't contain the compound that prevents tooth decay. However, Mr Howard would not promise a funding boost to state dental services. Latest figures show one in five children aged five and under got a filling when they went to the dentist, with 38 per cent of 10- to 16-year-olds getting at least one filling.

THE DANGERS OF DIETING

[By Elizabeth Foss, published in CATHOLIC EXCHANGE January 28, 2007] Last year, I resolved "never, ever, to blog." Really. Never. I had a private blog by the end of the month and a public one about three months later. So much for resolution credibility. This year's resolution is much graver. I resolve never to diet. I come from a family of dieters. And, as I watch the younger women in my family struggle mightily with eating disorders, I know that failing to keep this resolution is perilous. I have said before that my children have literally saved me in this regard. I won't do anything to compromise a growing baby in utero or successful breastfeeding, so as long as I'm pregnant or nursing, I don't starve myself. Since I've been pregnant, nursing, or both for the last 19 years, I've pretty much dodged the agony of self-inflicted starvation that plagues so many women. Although I don't exhibit the behaviors of an eating disorder, I have, at times, been haunted by the guilt behind them. Like so many women, I've been taught by my environment that thin is better, even that only thin is acceptable and that the thinner, the better. So, while I didn't starve myself and achieve thin, I was tormented by the failure not to be thin. Success, it seemed, was getting back into that size six by the six-week postpartum checkup. As I got older, and had more babies, success began to evade me. When success is evasive, we feel failure. Well, maybe not all of us, but certainly those of us who are perfectionists. It is only natural for perfectionists to be looking for the perfect diet. Whether it's the Marilu Henner approach (vegan: I literally walked around repeating "no meat, no milk, no sugar, no caffeine") or the Sally Fallon approach (lots of meat, raw milk, fermented veggies, soaked grains only), we are on a quest for the perfect diet. Sometimes, the quest is only about health but for most women, it's usually about weight loss, too. And if you read enough books, try enough diets, believe enough gurus, there's nothing left to eat. For instance, read the above restrictions. If you follow Marilu and it doesn't make you thinner and you don't feel better but you still believe her and then you try Sally's approach (while still hanging on to Marilu's advice), you're pretty much not eating at all. I tried so many different diets and read so many different theories that I really didn't know what (or whether) to eat at all. A few years ago, a friend suggested a book that literally changed my life because it changed my perspective. If I could, I'd keep a case of these books in the car to hand out to every starving waif I see. It's called Fed Up! The author, Dr. Wendy Oliver-Pyatt, takes a long hard look at dieting in our culture. She points out that 100 years ago, Lillian Russell, who weighed nearly 200 pounds, was considered the greatest beauty of her time. Once upon a time, Marilyn Monroe was a sex goddess and she was a size 12. Then the fashion industry embraced Twiggy, who was a 5'8'', 90-pound twig. Now we have dresses in size 00 because the waifs need a new goal. Women haven't changed. Perspective has. Oliver-Pyatt goes on to explain the very real health risks to "regular dieting," not just anorexia and bulimia. She illuminates the typical diet plan diet which is likely to have about as many calories as a typical concentration camp diet (I'm not kidding). The book busts myths and offers support. More than anything, it points out that an obsession with thin has fostered an epidemic of self-hate. Isn't that so sad? I've learned to eat when I'm hungry, stop when I'm satiated and decline when I'm full. I've promised myself never to diet again. And I've made that promise out loud to a friend or two who have suggested along the way that my obsession with the perfect diet and with body size would be really, really detrimental to my daughters. As a matter of fact, when that observation was made was when my dieting days were over. Remember? I won't do anything to compromise the health of those precious babies. I'm still working on the negative self-talk and it might take me a lifetime to silence a voice that grates against my positive self-image. But it's progress. I've seen up close and personal what the expectation and the quest for perfect physical form on the part of mothers can do to the girls who are watching. Diets are forbidden in our house, as are any references to being fat (unless we are talking about a certain delicious baby). But what to do about all the conflicting information I've read over the years about what to eat? How to regain a long-lost approach that puts food in its rightful place? I had lost the ability to make rational decisions about food, to eat anything without feeling guilty. There were too many diet gurus chanting in my brain. I wanted a guide that put the emphasis on health, one that embraced and enjoyed food --all food — within reason. I settled on Eat, Drink and Weigh Less by Mollie Katzen and Walter Willet. Katzen is an old favorite from my vegetarian days, but this isn't a vegetarian book. The emphasis here isn't on weight loss (and the title is most unfortunate); it's on changing unhealthy behaviors and replacing them with healthy ones. Readers are encouraged to take a quiz covering several lifestyle parameters to get a pretty good idea of the state of your health and then make a decision not to be thin, but to be healthy. For years, I thought the goal was to look like I'd never had a baby. Now, the goal is to acknowledge I've had eight and to protect their health by setting an example of good eating habits. I don't want to teach my daughters how to diet. I want to teach them how to cook and how and what to eat. My motivation is not the numbers on the scale. My benchmark is not my dress size. Instead, I want to be a good mom. Good moms are healthy eaters. I resolve not to diet. [Elizabeth Foss is a freelance writer from northern Virginia. This article courtesy of the Arlington Catholic Herald.]