Study looks at eating eggs and prostate cancer risk

Source: Study looks at eating eggs and prostate cancer risk – Health News – NHS Choices.

NHS Choices examines the science behind the newspaper headlines.

Links to the headlines

Eating just three eggs a week ‘increases chance of men getting prostate cancer’. Daily Mail, September 30 2011

Prostate cancer linked to eggs, say researchers. Daily Mirror, September 30 2011

Just 3 eggs a week ‘raises the prostate cancer risk’. Daily Express, September 30 2011

 

Links to the science

Richman EL, Kenfield SA, Stampfer MJ et al. Egg, red meat, and poultry intake and risk of lethal prostate cancer in the prostate specific antigen-era: incidence and survival. Cancer Prevention Research, Published Online First September 19 2011

Assessment of Pedophilia Using Hemodynamic Brain Response to Sexual Stimuli

Arch Gen Psychiatry — Abstract: Assessment of Pedophilia Using Hemodynamic Brain Response to Sexual Stimuli, October 3, 2011, Ponseti et al. 0 (2011): archgenpsychiatry.2011.130v1.

This article is available freely via Open Access. Please click on the above link to view it fully.

 

Context  Accurately assessing sexual preference is important in the treatment of child sex offenders. Phallometry is the standard method to identify sexual preference; however, this measure has been criticized for its intrusiveness and limited reliability.

Objective To evaluate whether spatial response pattern to sexual stimuli as revealed by a change in the blood oxygen level–dependent signal facilitates the identification of pedophiles.

Design  During functional magnetic resonance imaging, pedophilic and nonpedophilic participants were briefly exposed to same- and opposite-sex images of nude children and adults. We calculated differences in blood oxygen level–dependent signals to child and adult sexual stimuli for each participant. The corresponding contrast images were entered into a group analysis to calculate whole-brain difference maps between groups. We calculated an expression value that corresponded to the group result for each participant. These expression values were submitted to 2 different classification algorithms: Fisher linear discriminant analysis and -nearest neighbor analysis. This classification procedure was cross-validated using the leave-one-out method.

Setting Section of Sexual Medicine, Medical School, Christian Albrechts University of Kiel, Kiel, Germany.

Participants We recruited 24 participants with pedophilia who were sexually attracted to either prepubescent girls (n = 11) or prepubescent boys (n = 13) and 32 healthy male controls who were sexually attracted to either adult women (n = 18) or adult men (n = 14).

Main Outcome Measures Sensitivity and specificity scores of the 2 classification algorithms.

Results  The highest classification accuracy was achieved by Fisher linear discriminant analysis, which showed a mean accuracy of 95% (100% specificity, 88% sensitivity).

Randomized Trial to Evaluate the Efficacy of Cognitive Therapy for Low-Functioning Patients With Schizophrenia,

Source: Arch Gen Psychiatry — Abstract: Randomized Trial to Evaluate the Efficacy of Cognitive Therapy for Low-Functioning Patients With Schizophrenia, October 3, 2011, Grant et al. 0 (2011): archgenpsychiatry.2011.129v1.

This article is available freely via Open Access. Please click on the above link to view it fully.

 

Context  Low-functioning patients with chronic schizophrenia have high direct treatment costs and indirect costs incurred due to lost employment and productivity and have a low quality of life; antipsychotic medications and psychosocial interventions have shown limited efficacy to promote improved functional outcomes.

Objective To determine the efficacy of an 18-month recovery-oriented cognitive therapy program to improve psychosocial functioning and negative symptoms (avolition-apathy, anhedonia-asociality) in low-functioning patients with schizophrenia.

Design, Setting, and Participants A single-center, 18-month, randomized, single-blind, parallel group trial enrolled 60 low-functioning, neurocognitively impaired patients with schizophrenia (mean age, 38.4 years; 33.3% female; 65.0% African American).

Interventions Cognitive therapy plus standard treatment vs standard treatment alone.

Main Outcome Measures The primary outcome measure was the Global Assessment Scale score at 18 months after randomization. The secondary outcomes were scores on the Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms and the Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms at 18 months after randomization.

Results  Patients treated with cognitive therapy showed a clinically significant mean improvement in global functioning from baseline to 18 months that was greater than the improvement seen with standard treatment (within-group Cohen d, 1.36 vs 0.06, respectively; adjusted mean [SE], 58.3 [3.30] vs 47.9 [3.60], respectively; P = .03; between-group d = 0.56). Patients receiving cognitive therapy as compared with those receiving standard treatment also showed a greater mean reduction in avolition-apathy (adjusted mean [SE], 1.66 [0.31] vs 2.81 [0.34], respectively; P = .01; between-group d = –0.66) and positive symptoms (hallucinations, delusions, disorganization) (adjusted mean [SE], 9.4 [3.3] vs 18.2 [3.8], respectively; P = .04; between-group d = –0.46) at 18 months. Age was controlled in the analyses, and there were no meaningful group differences in baseline antipsychotic medications (class or dosage) or in medication changes during the course of the trial.

Conclusion  Cognitive therapy can be successful in promoting clinically meaningful improvements in functional outcome, motivation, and positive symptoms in low-functioning patients with significant cognitive impairment.

Targeted back pain care ‘better and cheaper’

Targeted back pain care ‘better and cheaper’ – Health News – NHS Choices.

NHS Choices examines the science behind the newspaper headlines.

Links to the headlines

Targeted back pain care ‘cheaper and better for patients’. BBC News, September 29 2011

Links to the science

Hill JC, Whitehurst DGT, Lewis M et al. Comparison of stratified primary care management for low back pain with current best practice (STarT Back): a randomised controlled trial. The Lancet, Early Online Publication, 29 September 2011

Further reading

NICE Clinical Guidelines: Low Back Pain

 

Fair-skinned people may need extra vitamin D

Fair-skinned people who are prone to sunburn may need to take supplements to ensure they get enough vitamin D, say experts

via BBC News – Fair-skinned people may need extra vitamin D.

HIV vaccine passes phase I trial

HIV vaccine passes phase I trial – Health News – NHS Choices.

Links to the headlines

New HIV vaccine could turn deadly condition into ‘minor infection like herpes’. The Daily Telegraph, September 29 2011

Vaccine could reduce HIV to ‘minor infection’. The Daily Telegraph, September 29 2011

HIV vaccine could turn condition into “minor chronic infection” like herpes, experts claim. Daily Mirror, September 29 2011

Links to the science

García F, López Bernaldo de Quirós JC, Gómez CE, et al. Safety and immunogenicity of a modified pox vector-based HIV/AIDS vaccine candidate expressing Env, Gag, Pol and Nef proteins of HIV-1 subtype B (MVA-B) in healthy HIV-1-uninfected volunteers: A phase I clinical trial (RISVAC02). Vaccine 2011 [Available via ScienceDirect]

 

 

Smoking cessation drug Tabex performs in trial

Smoking cessation drug Tabex performs in trial – Health News – NHS Choices.

NHS Choices examines the science behind the newspaper headlines.

Links to the headlines

Quit smoking for six quid. The Sun, September 29 2011

Smokers get chance to beat the habit with 12p tablets. The Guardian, September 29 2011

Banned: The 12p ‘cure’ for smokers not to be made available in Britain. The Metro, September 29 2011

Links to the science

West R, Zatonski W, Cedzynska M et al. Placebo-Controlled Trial of Cytisine for Smoking Cessation. New England Journal of Medicine 2011; 365:1193-1200, September 29 2011

Heart risk of painkillers examined

Heart risk of painkillers examined.

NHS Choices examines the science behind the newspaper headlines.

Links to the headlines

Painkiller heart alert: Don’t stop taking pills, but do talk to your GP, British scientists urge. Daily Mail, September 28 2011

Common painkillers can raise heart risk. The Daily Telegraph, September 28 2011

Health alert over common painkiller. Daily Express, September 28 2011

Links to the science

McGettigan P, Henry D. Cardiovascular Risk with Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs: Systematic Review of Population-Based Controlled Observational Studies. PLoS Medicine 8(9)

Best age for bowel cancer screening studied

Best age for bowel cancer screening studied – Health News – NHS Choices.

NHS Choices examines the science behind the newspaper headlines.

Links to the headlines

Lower bowel cancer screening age for men, study suggests. The Daily Telegraph, September 28 2011

‘Screen men at 50 for bowel cancer’ and save thousands of lives, says charity. Daily Mail, September 28 2011

Links to the science

Ferlitsch M, Reinhart K, Pramhas S, et al. Sex-Specific Prevalence of Adenomas, Advanced Adenomas, and Colorectal Cancer in Individuals Undergoing Screening Colonoscopy. JAMA 2011; 306: 1289-1395

Estimating treatment effects for individual patients based on the results of randomised clinical trials

Estimating treatment effects for individual patients based on the results of randomised clinical trials — Dorresteijn et al. 343 — bmj.com.

This article is available freely via Open Access. Please click on the above link to view it fully.

 

Abstract

Objectives To predict treatment effects for individual patients based on data from randomised trials, taking rosuvastatin treatment in the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease as an example, and to evaluate the net benefit of making treatment decisions for individual patients based on a predicted absolute treatment effect.

Setting As an example, data were used from the Justification for the Use of Statins in Prevention (JUPITER) trial, a randomised controlled trial evaluating the effect of rosuvastatin 20 mg daily versus placebo on the occurrence of cardiovascular events (myocardial infarction, stroke, arterial revascularisation, admission to hospital for unstable angina, or death from cardiovascular causes).

Population 17 802 healthy men and women who had low density lipoprotein cholesterol levels of less than 3.4 mmol/L and high sensitivity C reactive protein levels of 2.0 mg/L or more.

Methods Data from the Justification for the Use of Statins in Prevention trial were used to predict rosuvastatin treatment effect for individual patients based on existing risk scores (Framingham and Reynolds) and on a newly developed prediction model. We compared the net benefit of prediction based rosuvastatin treatment (selective treatment of patients whose predicted treatment effect exceeds a decision threshold) with the net benefit of treating either everyone or no one.

Results The median predicted 10 year absolute risk reduction for cardiovascular events was 4.4% (interquartile range 2.6-7.0%) based on the Framingham risk score, 4.2% (2.5-7.1%) based on the Reynolds score, and 3.9% (2.5-6.1%) based on the newly developed model (optimal fit model). Prediction based treatment was associated with more net benefit than treating everyone or no one, provided that the decision threshold was between 2% and 7%, and thus that the number willing to treat (NWT) to prevent one cardiovascular event over 10 years was between 15 and 50.

Conclusions Data from randomised trials can be used to predict treatment effect in terms of absolute risk reduction for individual patients, based on a newly developed model or, if available, existing risk scores. The value of such prediction of treatment effect for medical

Premature death rate in US is almost double that in France, study shows

Source: Premature death rate in US is almost double that in France, study shows — Tanne 343 — bmj.com.

An NHS Athens account may be required to view this in full.

The number of avoidable deaths among people aged less than 75 years is higher in the United States than in 15 other industrialised countries, says a new study, and progress in preventing such deaths is slower in the US

 

First Spanish HIV vaccine proves safe in phase I trials

Source: First Spanish HIV vaccine proves safe in phase I trials — Iriberri 343 — bmj.com.

An NHS Athens account may be required to view this in full.

The first Spanish prototype of a vaccine against HIV has proved to be safe in a small phase I trial conducted in healthy volunteers in Madrid and Barcelona. Although the first phase is intended only to test the safety of the compound, which is known as MVA-B, the study has also shown a good immunological response among the participants.

 

NHS changes ‘to cause irreparable harm’

The overhaul of the NHS in England will cause irreparable harm, according to leading public health doctors

via BBC News – NHS changes ‘to cause irreparable harm’.

Experts foresee huge growth in genetic medicine

Source: Experts foresee huge growth in genetic medicine — Watts 343 — bmj.com.

An NHS Athens account may be required to view this in full.

The increase in the ease and speed of conducting genetic tests and the fall in their cost is set to lead to “an explosion in this area,” the chief executive of the Institute of Cancer Research, London, has said.

 

Men ‘more prone to type 2 diabetes’

Researchers say they have discovered why men may be more likely than women to develop type 2 diabetes – they are biologically more susceptible.

via BBC News – Men ‘more prone to type 2 diabetes’.

NHS 111 to go nationwide

Source:NHS 111 to go nationwide | News | Health Service Journal.

This article is solely the work of the HSJ. For a full copy of the article please contact the library.

The non-emergency telephone number aiming to provide around-the-clock access to NHS services is to get a national roll out.

 

Conservative conference: Government health spending queried

BBC News – Conservative conference: Government health spending queried.

Missing and accounted for: Gaps and areas of wealth in the public health review literature

Abstract | Missing and accounted for: Gaps and areas of wealth in the public health review literature.

This article is available freely via Open Access. Please click on the above link to view it fully.

Abstract (provisional)

 

Background

High-quality review evidence is useful for informing and influencing public health policy and practice decisions. However, certain topic areas lack representation in terms of the quantity and quality of review literature available. The objectives of this paper are to identify the quantity, as well as quality, of review-level evidence available on the effectiveness of public health interventions for public health decision makers.

Methods

Searches conducted on http://www.health-evidence.ca produced an inventory of public health review literature in 21 topic areas. Gaps and areas of wealth in the review literature, as well as the proportion of reviews rated methodologically strong, moderate, or weak were identified. The top 10 topic areas of interest for registered users and visitors of http://www.health-evidence.ca were extracted from user profile data and Google Analytics.

Results

Registered users’ top three interests included: 1) healthy communities, 2) chronic diseases, and 3) nutrition. The top three preferences for visitors included: 1) chronic diseases, 2) physical activity, and 3) addiction/substance use. All of the topic areas with many (301+) available reviews were of interest to registered users and/or visitors (mental health, physical activity, addiction/substance use, adolescent health, child health, nutrition, adult health, and chronic diseases). Conversely, the majority of registered users and/or visitors did not have preference for topic areas with few (150) available reviews (food safety and inspection, dental health, environmental health) with the exception of social determinants of health and healthy communities. Across registered users’ and visitors’ topic areas of preference, 80.2% of the reviews were of well-done methodological quality, with 43.5% of reviews having a strong quality rating and 36.7% a moderate review quality rating.

Conclusions

In topic areas in which many reviews are available, higher level syntheses are needed to guide policy and practice. For other topic areas with few reviews, it is necessary to determine whether primary study evidence exists, or is needed, so that reviews can be conducted in the future. Considering that less than half of the reviews available on http://www.health-evidence.ca are of strong methodological quality, the quality of the review-level evidence needs to improve across the range of public health topic areas.

 

Children’s packed lunches ‘lack fruit and veg’

Parents are failing to put enough fruit and veg into their children’s packed lunches, health experts have warned.

via BBC News – Children’s packed lunches ‘lack fruit and veg’.