Coffee, Alcohol, and More That May Affect RA

Rheumatoid arthritis

By Tammy Worth

About 1.3 million Americans are affected by rheumatoid arthritis, an autoimmune disease thought to be caused by genetic and environmental factors.

Strong medication can help prevent joint destruction and painful symptoms.

But there are other things that may affect RA risk and symptoms. In the big picture, these play relatively minor roles in RA (compared to, say, taking the right medication).

Still, here are some factors to keep in mind.
Smoking

One factor that affects RA is smoking, says Susan Goodman, MD, a rheumatologist at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City.

"Smoking clearly has an impact—it makes it worse and increases the likelihood of getting it," she says. "There clearly is something about smoking that is a bad actor."

RA nonsmokers have fewer swollen, painful joints than smokers, research suggests. RA smokers are three times as likely to have rheumatoid factor—a sign of more severe disease—and twice as likely to have joint damage.
Coffee

The link between coffee or tea and RA is debatable, Dr. Goodman says.

Research has suggested that decaf coffee (four or more cups a day) can increase the risk of getting RA, but caffeinated coffee has no impact, and tea may reduce risk. Other research found no correlation between decaf and RA.

One issue, though, is that coffee may make some RA medications, such as methotrexate (Rheumatrex, Trexall), less potent.

"There is not a consistent message there," Dr. Goodman notes. Check with your doctor; it may be fine to have a cup of joe.
Weather

While research on the topic is scant, there does seem to be a link between weather and RA symptoms. It is likely that barometric pressure and temperature changes have the biggest impact on symptoms.

"Many, many, many people say it, so my sense is it is something we just don't have an appropriate investigational design to test," Dr. Goodman says.

She says any change in climate tends to worsen symptoms—so RA patients may fare better when the weather is more consistent.
Seasonal allergies

As with the other factors on the list, the link between RA and allergies may vary from person to person.

Still, there is some research that suggests that people with RA are less likely to have hay fever. And people who do have both may have less-severe RA symptoms.

"My guess is that some of the allergy medications may help with some (RA) symptomatic therapy," Dr. Goodman says. "Or it could just be that people notice RA symptoms less because they are so distracted and miserable with their allergies."
Alcohol

In a recent study in the journal Rheumatology, researchers asked about 1,800 people about their alcohol-drinking habits and RA.

They found that people who had at least one drink three or more days a week were four times less likely to have RA than nondrinkers.

Also, RA patients who did drink tended to have milder symptoms than those who didn't.
Vitamin D

The link between vitamin D and RA is tricky.

Research suggests women in the northeastern U.S. are at greater risk of RA than those in sunnier regions. Lack of sun can cause vitamin D deficiency. And vitamin D deficiency has been linked with other autoimmune diseases.

"Vitamin D has a lot of interesting immune effects and metabolic effects and is critical to bone health," Dr. Goodman says. "Whether taking vitamin D will delay the onset or prevent it seems less clear-cut, but it is an important part of overall bone health."
Pregnancy

It's tough to predict the impact of pregnancy on RA. Women generally stop taking medication in pregnancy because the drugs may hurt the fetus.

For some, RA symptoms improve or even go into remission, Dr. Goodman says. She attributes this to the fact that the immune system is suppressed during pregnancy.

But others can experience even more pain than they normally do. And those who have a great pregnancy can have a flare-up after they give birth.
Breast-feeding

There are many benefits to breast-feeding, including a possible reduction in RA risk.

A 2004 study in the journal Arthritis and Rheumatism found that, compared to women who didn't breast-feed, those who spent a total of one to two years breast-feeding had a 20% lower chance of getting RA. Those who did for two years or more had a 50% reduced risk.

A 2008 Swedish study showed similar results. Breast-feeding for up to one year was associated with a 25% reduced risk, and breast-feeding for 13 months or more was linked to a 50% reduction in risk.
Hormones/contraceptives

The data are a bit up in the air when it comes to hormones and RA.

Studies have not found a link between contraceptives and the risk of RA or the severity of disease.

A 2004 study found that women with irregular menstrual cycles do have a higher RA risk.

"The data aren't completely clear" on this topic, Dr. Goodman says. But hormones may play a role in reducing symptoms. "There is no question that estrogen can decrease pain, so part of some of the perimenopausal flares may be caused by estrogen withdrawal."
Cold/flu

There seems to be an anecdotal link between the flu and worsening RA symptoms. And the flu can be especially dangerous for people taking medication that weakens the immune system, which includes most of the drugs used to treat RA.

The CDC recommends flu shots for people with RA. (But not nasal-spray flu vaccines, which contain live viruses.)

One note of caution: Certain RA medications—methotrexate, prednisone, and rituximab—may lower the effectiveness of flu shots.
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How to Keep Your Knees Healthy

By Linda Melone, CSCS, Special to Lifescript
Published April 23, 2011
Reviewed By Edward C. Geehr, M.D.
Healthy knees are important to your well-being, but painful injuries like “runner’s knee,” ACL tears and tendonitis are all too common. In fact, women are more likely than men to suffer serious knee trouble. Read how the knee works, what can go wrong and how to prevent getting hurt. Plus, learn how to strengthen leg muscles and reduce pain with a knee workout...

Although they’re the largest joints in the body, your knees are also among the most vulnerable to injury. And women face a higher risk, especially if they’re active.
But if you take precautions, you can reduce the likelihood of painful or even debilitating damage.

“Knee injuries generally fall into two categories: macro traumas and overuse injuries,” says John Hurley, M.D., an orthopedic surgeon at Summit Medical Group in Morristown, N.J.

Macro trauma includes tearing of a tendon or cartilage, usually the result of turning and twisting during running or sports. A tear can also occur when you stop short with feet planted in one direction and the knee forced into a different direction.

An overuse injury, on the other hand, often occurs from asking too much of your knees without enough rest.

And while they’re not completely preventable, both kinds of injury can usually be avoided with proper care.

Anatomy of a Knee
To understand how these problems happen, it’s helpful to know what makes your knees work.

Ligaments are stabilizers that hold your knee together. Two on each side prevent it from moving side to side. One on the inside and outside prevent it from collapsing in either direction.

A wrong step or sideways collision can easily result in a strain or tear. Women are two to eight times more likely to experience a tear of the ACL (anterior cruciate ligament – one of the knee’s stabilizing ligaments) than men. Read More..

Ned Kelly tattoos linked to higher violent deaths and suicides

Ned Kelly, who died in 1880 when he was hanged for murdering three police officers, was an Irish-Australian who became a symbol of the Irish resistance against the British. He was known for creating armor out of agricultural machinery and this can be seen in many of the different tattoo images supporting him.

Byard first became interested in the possible connection between Kelly tattoos and violent death when he noticed a high number of bodies coming into the mortuary with Kelly tattoos. He then looked at 20 men with the tattoos and found that only three had died from natural causes.

When comparing the findings to around 1000 other deaths in South Australia, he found that those with a Kelly tattoo had a suicide rate 2.7 times that of those without and a homicide rate of 7.7 of those who did not have a tattoo. The three that had died of natural causes can be compared to a national rate of 50 percent of the population.

Byard also noted that 11 out of the 20 men studied also showed signs of drug and alcohol abuse.

While this is not the first study to link violent deaths to anti-social tattoos, it is the first study to link these types of violent deaths with a specific tattoo and person.
Abstract
Tattoos depicting Ned Kelly, a 19th-century Australian bushranger (outlaw) are occasionally encountered in the contemporary Australian population at forensic autopsy. To determine the characteristics of decedents with such tattoos, twenty cases were identified in the autopsy files at Forensic Science SA. All of the decedents were white males (100%) with an age range of 20–67yrs (average 37yrs). Seventeen of the deaths (85%) were unnatural, due to suicide in eight cases (40%), accidents in seven cases (35%) and homicide in two cases (10%). Compared to the general autopsy population suicides and homicides were 2.7 and 7.7 times higher, respectively, than would be expected, with a striking male predominance. A Ned Kelly tattoo identified at autopsy in another country or in a disaster victim identification situation may suggest that the decedent was Australian or had a connection with that country. Although the population studied is highly selected, individuals with these tattoos had an above average incidence of traumatic deaths.

© 2010 PhysOrg.com
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University of Kentucky Expands Ban on Smoking

The University of Kentucky has officially placed an expanded ban on smoking and tobacco across its entire campus, stating that a smoke-free policy has various health benefits and should be implemented and followed especially in places where there are all types of people, at any given time.

The newly expanded ban includes outdoor areas and applies to, in addition to cigarette smoking, chewing of tobacco, pipes, cigars and snuff. The new development has come as a shock to many residents of a place which leads the country in production of burley tobacco and records some of the highest smoking rates across the nation.

"Going tobacco-free may not be the easiest thing to do, it may not be the most politically popular thing to do, but in my mind it's the right thing to do for this campus", saidUniversity of Kentucky President Lee Todd. The goal of the ban is to make the entire university smoke free within the next year.

UK is not the only campus in the nation which is looking at making smoking a thing of the past, University of Louisville also placed restrictions on smoking starting Thursday, and only few areas of the campus are now open to smokers. Pikeville College is also aiming at making its campus smoke free by fall, as was confirmed on Thursday.

(Via TopNews United States)


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13 New Cases of Dengue: Over 1,000 Affected In National Capital

The number of people affected by the mosquito-borne disease reached 1,054 with the addition of 13 new dengue cases in the national capital.

Mr. Debashish Bhattacharya, state nodal health officer for dengue cases, said, "There were 13 new confirmed cases in the last 24 hours. The cumulative total of dengue affected people is 1,054."

Out of the total 1,954 dengue cases, 1,041 cases have been reported from Delhi, while 13 were from outside the city.

Delhi has reported more than 400 dengue cases during the last two weeks, but the number of cases per day has been falling over the last few days.

According to the health department, the city has recorded two confirmed and one suspected dengue fatalities thus far.

The dengue cases were negligible between June to Sep 2009, but the number climbed up significantly since mid-October.

Health representative said this was owing to the late onset of monsoon in the city.

The cases of dengue are likely to go down with the beginning of winter since the yellow-fever mosquitoes cannot breed under 15 degrees Celsius.

"The cases are expected to go down gradually," Mr. Bhattacharya said.

from http://www.topnews.in/


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Adult with stressful childhood age faster

Recent study has shown that adults who had suffered from physical or emotional abuse during their childhood age faster as compared to the adults who had happy childhood.

Research team from Butler Hospital and Brown University found that adults who had been through psychological trauma during childhood are more likely to have accelerated cellular aging.

There is an accelerated reduction in the size of telomeres of these adults. Telomeres are the “caps” on the end of chromosomes that keep a cell's DNA stable however telomeres shorten with time.

Research team analyzed data collected from 22 women and nine men between ages 18 and 64. The DNA extracted from blood samples of study subjects was measured.

Data analysis showed that there was accelerated shortening of telomeres in adults who had stressful childhood. Earlier, studies have shown that exposure to toxins such as radiation or cigarette smoke can lead to shortening of telomeres at higher rate.

Lead researcher, Dr. Audrey Tyrka said: “We don’t know what the full implications of this are yet. Shorter telomere lengths are linked to aging and certain diseases, so it is possible that this is a mechanism of risk for illness following childhood abuse. But the precise role of telomeres in this process remains to be determined.”


On the net http://www.topnews.in/


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Potential therapeutic target for stress-induced high BP identified

Washington, Nov 24 : Does your blood pressure increase in stressful situations? Well, then your phosducin gene could be responsible, says a new study.

Researchers at the University of Freiburg, Germany, and the Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, have identified the role of a protein generated by the phosducin gene in modulating blood pressure in response to stress in both mice and humans.

The team, led by Lutz Hein and Ulrich Broeckel, generated mice lacking phosducin and found that they had increased baseline blood pressure when compared with normal mice and that they showed enhanced increases in blood pressure in response to post-operative stress.

Analysis in humans indicated that a number of phosducin gene variants were associated with certain stress-dependent blood pressure responses.

Further, one gene variant in particular was associated with elevated baseline blood pressure.

These data led the researchers to suggest that phosducin might be a good target for drugs designed to alleviate stress-induced high blood pressure.

The study has been published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation. (ANI)


On the net http://www.topnews.in/


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