(HealthDay News) -- Scheduling college classes before 10 a.m. on Fridays may reduce excessive student drinking on so-called "thirsty Thursdays," a U.S. study says.
Publishing in the July issue of the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, the researchers surveyed 3,341 undergraduates at a large Midwestern public university and found "significant relationships between the presence and timing of Friday classes and Thursday drinking," lead author Phillip K. Wood, professor of quantitative psychology at the University of Missouri-Columbia, said in a prepared statement.
"About half of the students with late or no Friday classes consumed at least one drink on Thursday, but only a third of students did so if they had Friday classes which met at 10 a.m. or earlier," Wood said.
"Approximately two-thirds of students who consumed some alcohol Thursday consumed a 'binge amount' if they had late or no Friday classes. The Friday-class effect was more pronounced for populations which we know to be at risk for higher levels of alcohol consumption: men, and members of or frequent participants in Greek activities. We also found strong evidence that Thursday, in addition to Friday and Saturday, is associated with high prevalence and levels of alcohol consumption across all four years of college."
Among students who had late or no Friday classes, males who drank at least one drink on Thursday consumed an average of six to 7.5 drinks, while females consumed an average of four to five drinks.
Wood and his colleagues concluded that scheduling classes before 10 a.m. on Fridays may help decrease student drinking.
"Many students, particularly freshmen and sophomores, are required to take core classes," Wood said. "Early undergraduates may not have much choice if core classes were only available on Friday. Or perhaps it would be cost effective to offer students cheaper tuition if they elect to take early Friday (and Saturday) classes."
College student drinking is a major health issue in the United States.
"Drinking by 18- to 24-year-olds (leads to more than) 1,800 deaths annually, nearly 700,000 assaults annually by drinking college students, nearly 100,000 date rapes perpetrated by drinking college students, (and) half of those who die in crashes involving drinking drivers 18 to 24 are people other than the drinking driver," Ralph Hingson, director of the division of epidemiology and prevention research at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, said in a prepared statement.
More information
The U.S. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism has more about college drinking.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Friday, June 22, 2007
Study Identifies Drug Target for Parkinson's
(HealthDay News) -- U.S. researchers say they've identified a potential new drug target to treat Parkinson's disease.
In experiments with cells and animals, a team at the MassGeneral Institute for Neurodegenerative Disease found that blocking the action of an enzyme called SIRT2 helps protect neurons damaged in Parkinson's disease from the toxic effects of the protein alpha-synuclein, which accumulates in the brains of people with Parkinson's disease.
Blocking SIRT2 may also help in the treatment of other neurodegenerative diseases in which abnormal proteins accumulate in the brain, the researchers said.
Their findings appear online on the Science Express Web site and will be published in an upcoming print issue of the journal Science.
"We have discovered a compelling new therapeutic approach for Parkinson's disease, which we expect will allow our scientists -- as well as those at pharmaceutical and biotech companies -- to pursue innovative new drugs that will treat and perhaps even cure this disorder," study leader Aleksey Kazantsev, director of the institute's Drug Discovery Laboratory, said in a prepared statement.
"Since the same sort of aggregation of misfolded proteins has been reported in Huntington's and Alzheimer's diseases, we plan to test this approach in those conditions as well," Kazantsev said.
More information
We Move has more about Parkinson's disease.
In experiments with cells and animals, a team at the MassGeneral Institute for Neurodegenerative Disease found that blocking the action of an enzyme called SIRT2 helps protect neurons damaged in Parkinson's disease from the toxic effects of the protein alpha-synuclein, which accumulates in the brains of people with Parkinson's disease.
Blocking SIRT2 may also help in the treatment of other neurodegenerative diseases in which abnormal proteins accumulate in the brain, the researchers said.
Their findings appear online on the Science Express Web site and will be published in an upcoming print issue of the journal Science.
"We have discovered a compelling new therapeutic approach for Parkinson's disease, which we expect will allow our scientists -- as well as those at pharmaceutical and biotech companies -- to pursue innovative new drugs that will treat and perhaps even cure this disorder," study leader Aleksey Kazantsev, director of the institute's Drug Discovery Laboratory, said in a prepared statement.
"Since the same sort of aggregation of misfolded proteins has been reported in Huntington's and Alzheimer's diseases, we plan to test this approach in those conditions as well," Kazantsev said.
More information
We Move has more about Parkinson's disease.
Monday, June 18, 2007
Turning an Anti-Tumor Gene Back On Could Fight Cancer
(HealthDay News) -- Cancer drugs may be able to switch on a gene that tumor cells have switched off, potentially offering a new target for treatment, scientists say.
The findings on the gene, called Brahma (BRM), are published online in the journal Oncogene.
Genetic mutations are one cause of cancer. But the disease can also develop when genes that control cell growth are turned off, allowing cells to multiply out of control. Currently, these deactivated genes can be used to identify or monitor cancer, but there are no treatments that actually target these genes, according to background information in the study.
A team at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center, Ann Arbor, found that BRM was switched off -- but not missing -- in about 15 percent of tumor samples they studied, including cells from lung, esophageal, ovarian, bladder, colon and breast cancers.
The team was able to use existing cancer drugs to switch BRM back on, but they said that new drugs would have to be developed to provide more effective reactivation of the gene in cancer cells.
"This is a targetable target. We can detect it, but we need to find a better way to turn it back on," lead author Dr. David Reisman, assistant professor of internal medicine at the U-M Medical School, said in a prepared statement. "No drugs are designed to deal with a gene that's turned off. But it's a straightforward extension of current therapies that target genes that are turned on," he added.
More information
The American Cancer Society has more about cancer.
The findings on the gene, called Brahma (BRM), are published online in the journal Oncogene.
Genetic mutations are one cause of cancer. But the disease can also develop when genes that control cell growth are turned off, allowing cells to multiply out of control. Currently, these deactivated genes can be used to identify or monitor cancer, but there are no treatments that actually target these genes, according to background information in the study.
A team at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center, Ann Arbor, found that BRM was switched off -- but not missing -- in about 15 percent of tumor samples they studied, including cells from lung, esophageal, ovarian, bladder, colon and breast cancers.
The team was able to use existing cancer drugs to switch BRM back on, but they said that new drugs would have to be developed to provide more effective reactivation of the gene in cancer cells.
"This is a targetable target. We can detect it, but we need to find a better way to turn it back on," lead author Dr. David Reisman, assistant professor of internal medicine at the U-M Medical School, said in a prepared statement. "No drugs are designed to deal with a gene that's turned off. But it's a straightforward extension of current therapies that target genes that are turned on," he added.
More information
The American Cancer Society has more about cancer.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Private Insurance May Help in Earlier Cancer Detection
(HealthDay News) -- Uninsured Americans or those with certain types of public health insurance are more likely to have oral or breast cancer diagnosed at an advanced stage, compared to people with private insurance whose disease is caught earlier.
That's the conclusion of two studies in the July 15 issue of the journal Cancer. They were produced by American Cancer Society researchers who analyzed data from a nationwide cancer database.
The analysis of oropharyngeal cancer patient data found that patients with no health insurance were more likely than those with private insurance to be diagnosed with advanced disease, the largest tumors or invasive disease that had spread to regional lymph nodes.
Patients with public health insurance, particularly Medicaid for low-income families, were also more likely than those with private insurance to have more advanced cancer, the largest tumors and lymph node involvement, the study found.
The analysis of breast cancer patient data revealed that uninsured patients and those covered by Medicaid were almost 2.5 times more likely to be diagnosed with advanced disease than patients with private insurance.
Improved access to regular medical care and cancer screening programs for the uninsured and underinsured could help reduce these disparities, the authors of both studies said.
In an accompanying editorial, Dr. Richard C. Wender, president of the American Cancer Society and chairman of the department of family medicine at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, wrote that having "a usual primary care clinician, a trusted source of care, also known as a medical home, is a strong predictor of improved preventive care delivery."
"A primary care medical home plays a vital role in reducing cancer mortality. Individuals who have a regular source of primary care are both more likely to be up to date with cancer screening and more likely to receive timely follow-up and evaluation for abnormal findings on an initial screen," Wender wrote.
More information
The American Medical Association has more about health insurance.
That's the conclusion of two studies in the July 15 issue of the journal Cancer. They were produced by American Cancer Society researchers who analyzed data from a nationwide cancer database.
The analysis of oropharyngeal cancer patient data found that patients with no health insurance were more likely than those with private insurance to be diagnosed with advanced disease, the largest tumors or invasive disease that had spread to regional lymph nodes.
Patients with public health insurance, particularly Medicaid for low-income families, were also more likely than those with private insurance to have more advanced cancer, the largest tumors and lymph node involvement, the study found.
The analysis of breast cancer patient data revealed that uninsured patients and those covered by Medicaid were almost 2.5 times more likely to be diagnosed with advanced disease than patients with private insurance.
Improved access to regular medical care and cancer screening programs for the uninsured and underinsured could help reduce these disparities, the authors of both studies said.
In an accompanying editorial, Dr. Richard C. Wender, president of the American Cancer Society and chairman of the department of family medicine at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, wrote that having "a usual primary care clinician, a trusted source of care, also known as a medical home, is a strong predictor of improved preventive care delivery."
"A primary care medical home plays a vital role in reducing cancer mortality. Individuals who have a regular source of primary care are both more likely to be up to date with cancer screening and more likely to receive timely follow-up and evaluation for abnormal findings on an initial screen," Wender wrote.
More information
The American Medical Association has more about health insurance.
Saturday, June 02, 2007
Keeping the Genitourinary Tract
Keeping the Genitourinary Tractin Balance
Urinate when you feel the need. Avoid holding in urine.
Drink at least 8 glasses of water each day.
Eat sweet, juicy fruits (daily if possible).
Avoid drinking coffee and alcohol, and stay away from spicy foods.
Avoid exposure to cigarettes, chemicals, water and air pollution, and other environmental toxins.
Women should wipe from the front to the back after using the restroom. This helps to prevent bacteria from the colon from entering the bladder.
Cleanse the genital area before sexual intercourse. Urinating after sexual intercourse can also help avoid infection.
Avoid bubble baths, feminine hygiene sprays and scented douches. These can irritate the urethra.
Avoid eating foods that are old or contain preservatives and chemicals — including leftovers, fermented foods, non-organic foods, canned foods, and packaged foods. These overload the liver and make it less effective in screening out toxins.
Avoid cold drinks, which reduce the digestive fire.
Stress can upset the normal functions of the body. The Transcendental Meditation® program has been shown in over 600 scientific studies to be the most highly effective technique for reducing both mental and physical stress.
For free ayurvedic recipes, self-care guides, podcasts and newsletters, be sure to visit www.mapi.com.
Urinate when you feel the need. Avoid holding in urine.
Drink at least 8 glasses of water each day.
Eat sweet, juicy fruits (daily if possible).
Avoid drinking coffee and alcohol, and stay away from spicy foods.
Avoid exposure to cigarettes, chemicals, water and air pollution, and other environmental toxins.
Women should wipe from the front to the back after using the restroom. This helps to prevent bacteria from the colon from entering the bladder.
Cleanse the genital area before sexual intercourse. Urinating after sexual intercourse can also help avoid infection.
Avoid bubble baths, feminine hygiene sprays and scented douches. These can irritate the urethra.
Avoid eating foods that are old or contain preservatives and chemicals — including leftovers, fermented foods, non-organic foods, canned foods, and packaged foods. These overload the liver and make it less effective in screening out toxins.
Avoid cold drinks, which reduce the digestive fire.
Stress can upset the normal functions of the body. The Transcendental Meditation® program has been shown in over 600 scientific studies to be the most highly effective technique for reducing both mental and physical stress.
For free ayurvedic recipes, self-care guides, podcasts and newsletters, be sure to visit www.mapi.com.
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Kamarani
