Common Thought That Pancreatic Cancer Can’t Be Detected Early Is In Danger Of Becoming Self-Fulfilling Cycle
The diagnosis can often be highly fatal because the cancer is difficult to detect, but there are steps that people should be aware they can take to help avoid finding it too late. In other public health news: measles, memory, the mysterious Cuba illness, language, Alzheimer's, and more.
The New York Times:
Early Detection Is Possible For Pancreatic Cancer
Pancreatic cancer has a bad reputation. It is a terrible disease, but most people do not realize there are ways that early detection can help. When the “Jeopardy!” host, Alex Trebek, announced last week that he had Stage 4 pancreatic cancer, many people assumed that it was an automatic death sentence. Not Mr. Trebek. (Simeone, 3/15)
The New York Times:
With Measles Outbreaks On The Rise, A Concern Over The Connection To Air Travel
Measles isn’t only in the headlines these days; it may also be on your airplane. An adult contagious with the disease flew from Asia to San Francisco in February, infecting two others — one adult and one child — during the flight, California health departments said this month. It’s an inauspicious development in a year that has already seen 228 cases of the serious and potentially lethal disease in 12 states, including six outbreaks of at least three people. (Schwartz, 3/14)
The New York Times:
Flashing Lights And Sounds Improve Memory And Learning Skills In Mice
Could people’s eyes and ears help fix the damage Alzheimer’s disease does to the brain? Just by looking at flashing light and listening to flickering sound? A new study led by a prominent M.I.T. neuroscientist offers tantalizing promise. It found that when mice engineered to exhibit Alzheimer’s-like qualities were exposed to strobe lights and clicking sounds, important brain functions improved and toxic levels of Alzheimer’s-related proteins diminished. (Belluck, 3/14)
Reuters:
Cuba Says USA, Not Canada, Manipulating Diplomat Health Incidents
Cuba denounced the Trump administration on Thursday for continuing to refer to health incidents among their diplomats in Havana as "attacks" without presenting any evidence, saying it was part of a broader campaign to damage bilateral relations. Both Canada and the United States have cut back their embassies in Havana to skeletal staffing after diplomats there began complaining about mysterious bouts of dizziness, headaches and nausea two years ago. (3/14)
The New York Times:
Did Dietary Changes Bring Us ‘F’ Words? Study Tackles Complexities Of Language’s Origins
Thousands of years ago, some of our ancestors left behind the hunter-gatherer lifestyle and started to settle down. They grew vegetables and grains for stews or porridge, kept cows for milk and turned it into cheese, and shaped clay into storage pots. Had they not done those things, would we speak the languages and make the sounds that we now hear today? Probably not, suggests a study published Thursday in Science. (Klein, 3/14)
The Wall Street Journal:
The Science Behind Why We Use ‘F’ Words
Modern humans communicate in roughly 7,000 different languages, a compilation of diverse sounds and gestures. Their origins involve a mixture of cultural, historical and social factors that come together to create the way we speak and connect. Biology and physiology, however, have largely stayed out of the linguistic picture, partially because it is challenging to collect both biological and linguistic evidence from the ancient past. In the new study, the research team from the University of Zurich tested an idea put forth in 1985 by linguist Charles Hockett. (Abbott, 3/14)
Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
Alzheimers Disease Deaths In US: Death Rate Has Doubled, CDC Finds
Based on nationwide death certificate data — which scientists with the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention note “underrepresent the true death rate from Alzheimer’s and other dementias” — the disease was found as the primary cause of 261,914 deaths in 2017, up from 84,000 deaths in 2000. “Overall, age-adjusted death rates for dementia increased from 30.5 deaths per 100,000 in 2000 to 66.7 in 2017,” researchers wrote in the new issue of National Vital Statistics Reports. (Pirani, 3/14)
The Philadelphia Inquirer:
Black Men Have The Lowest Life Expectancy Of Any Philly Group, Says A New Report
Black men in Philadelphia have the lowest average life expectancy — 69 years — of any population group in the city, driven by high rates of homicide, early cardiovascular disease, drug overdoses, cancer, and death in infancy. More than 40 percent of black men in Philadelphia have hypertension and almost one in three are obese. (Giordano, 3/14)
The New York Times:
Mushrooms May Reduce The Risk Of Memory Problems
Eating mushrooms may reduce the risk for mild cognitive impairment, or M.C.I., a type of memory impairment that is often a precursor of Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers in Singapore used data on 663 Chinese men and women over 60. None had memory or thinking problems at the start of the study. In one-on-one interviews, they recorded diet information, including questions about six types of commonly consumed mushrooms. They assessed cognitive function with detailed structured interviews and widely used tests of mental acuity. Over the six-year study, 90 in the group developed M.C.I. (Bakalar, 3/14)
The Washington Post:
Birth Order May Not Shape Personality After All
Birth order, according to conventional wisdom, molds personality: Firstborn children, secure with their place in the family and expected to be the mature ones, grow up to be intellectual, responsible and conformist. Younger siblings work harder to get their parents’ attention, take more risks and become creative rebels. That’s the central idea in psychologist Frank J. Sulloway’s “Born to Rebel,” an influential book on birth order that burst, like a water balloon lobbed by an attention-seeking third-born, onto the pop psychology scene two decades ago. (Guarino, 3/14)
California Healthline:
Students With Disabilities Call College Admissions Cheating ‘Big Slap In The Face’
For Savannah Treviño-Casias, this week’s news about the college admissions cheating scandal was galling, considering how much red tape the Arizona State University senior went through to get disability accommodations when she took the SAT. “It felt like such a big slap in the face,” said Treviño-Casias, 23, who was diagnosed in sixth grade with dyscalculia, a disability that makes it more difficult to learn and do math. “I was pretty disgusted. It just makes it harder for people who actually have a diagnosed learning disability to be believed.” (Feder Ostrov and Ibarra, 3/14)
The Washington Post:
U.S. Hopes To Send More Experts To Congo As Ebola Outbreak Rages
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention hopes to send experts to Congo in the next few weeks to train international and local personnel in the fight against a raging Ebola outbreak that has killed nearly 600 people and is far from under control, the CDC director said Thursday in an interview. Because of the worsening security situation, the CDC experts would not be based in the epicenter of the outbreak, in conflict-ridden parts of eastern Congo. Armed attacks against Ebola treatment centers in North Kivu province have increased in recent weeks. (Sun, 3/14)
The New York Times:
Yoga For Incontinence? Evidence Is Lacking
Yoga exercises are often recommended to help control urinary incontinence in women, but there is no solid scientific evidence to show yoga works. Incontinence affects up to 15 percent of middle-aged and older women, and although there are medications and surgeries to treat it, the first approach is usually bladder training and exercise. Some find an appealing treatment in the relaxation, bodily postures and breath control of yoga. (Bakalar, 3/14)
