CDC: Young adults down nine drinks when they binge
ATLANTA - College-age drinkers average nine drinks when they get drunk, government health officials said Tuesday. That surprising statistic is part of a new CDC report highlighting the dangers of binge drinking, which usually means four to five drinks at a time.
Overall, nearly one in six U.S. adults surveyed said they had binged on alcohol at least once in the previous month, though it was more than one in four for those ages 18 to 34.
And that's likely an underestimate: Alcohol sales figures suggest people are buying a lot more alcohol than they say they are consuming. Health officials estimate that almost half of the beer, wine and liquor consumed in the United States by adults each year is downed during binge drinking.
The number of drinks per binge went down with age, to less than six for those ages 65 and older.
Low risk of heart incidents found for marathoners
NEW YORK - It's dramatic news when a marathon runner collapses with no pulse. Now a big study finds such calamities are rare and usually due to a pre-existing heart problem.
The study, released in Thursday's issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, also found such incidents are increasing as more runners try to go the distance.
The study covers 10.9 million runners who participated in marathons or half-marathons in the United States from 2000 to 2010. By scouring media reports and checking with medical staff of races, the researchers identified 59 cases of cardiac arrest, where a runner became unconscious with no pulse during the race or within an hour of finishing. Forty-two of the runners died.
The overall figures translate to one cardiac arrest per 184,000 participants and one death per 259,000 participants, the researchers said.
Most of the cardiac arrests involved marathons rather than half-marathons, and 51 of the 59 cases happened in men.
Homicide drops off U.S. list of top causes of death
ATLANTA - For the first time since 1965, homicide has fallen off the list of the nation's top 15 causes of death, bumped by a lung illness that often develops in elderly people who have choked on their food.
The 2010 list, released by the CDC last week, reflects at least two major trends: Murders are down, and deaths from certain diseases are on the rise as the population ages, health authorities said.
Homicide was overtaken at No. 15 by pneumonitis, seen mainly in people 75 and older. It happens when food or vomit goes down the windpipe and causes deadly damage to the lungs.
Study: Statins linked with small diabetes risk
WASHINGTON - A new side effect seems to be emerging for those cholesterol-lowering wonder drugs called statins: They may increase some people's chances of developing Type 2 diabetes.
A study published Monday adds to the evidence, finding a modest risk among older women who used a variety of statins.
It's a puzzling link, and specialists say people who most need statins because of a high risk for a heart attack should stick with the drugs.
But more and more doctors are urging otherwise healthy people to use the pills as a way to prevent heart disease. For them, the findings add another potential complication as they consider whether to tackle their cholesterol with diet and exercise alone or add a medication.
Statins are one of the most widely prescribed drugs, and among the most touted with good reason. They can dramatically lower so-called "bad" LDL cholesterol. Studies make clear that they save lives when used by people who already have heart disease.
Study finds no better odds using three embryos in IVF
LONDON - A new study of fertility treatment found that women who get three or more embryos have no better odds of having a baby than those who get just two embryos.
They also have a greater chance of risky multiple births, according to a study published in Thursday's issue of Lancet.
In Western Europe, where some countries pay for in-vitro fertilization, many authorities recommend a single embryo transfer for women under 37 and a maximum of two embryos for women 37 to 40. For women over 40, three is often the limit by law.
The United States, where there are relatively lax guidelines and a lack of regulation, has seen a rise in multiple births. Most fertility treatments in the U.S. are paid for privately and can cost at least $10,000 per cycle, which experts believe encourages the use of more embryos in the belief it will improve odds.
The American Society for Reproductive Medicine recommends single embryo transfers for women under 35, but there is no enforcement of that. For women 35 to 37, they advise two to three embryos, and three to four embryos for women ages 38 to 40.
Genetic mutation tied to inherited prostate cancer
NEW YORK - Scientists say they've identified the first genetic mutation with a major effect on the risk of prostate cancer that runs in families and strikes men early, by age 55.
The mutation accounts for only roughly 1 percent of all prostate cancers. But studying it might help scientists understand the disease in general and find better treatments.
More than 240,000 men are expected to be diagnosed with prostate cancer in the United States this year. Most cases are sporadic rather than inherited, and on average they are diagnosed around age 70.
The work was reported in a recent issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. The researchers said inheriting the mutation raises the risk of prostate cancer by 10 times or more.
Company announces low-cost DNA decoding machine
NEW YORK - A biotechnology company announced it has developed a machine to decode a person's DNA in a day for $1,000, a long-sought price goal for making a person's genome useful for medical care.
Life Technologies Corp. said last week it was taking orders for the technology, which it expects to deliver in a year. The Carlsbad, Calif., company said three major research institutions had already signed up for the $149,000 machine: the Baylor College of Medicine, the Yale School of Medicine and the Broad Institute of Cambridge, Mass.
The machine is a sequencer, meaning that it lets scientists identify the sequence of the 3 billion chemical building blocks that make up a person's DNA. Since the first sequencing of the basic human genome was announced at the White House in 2000, the costs of sequencing DNA have steadily tumbled. The $1,000 target has long been cited as a key step toward making the technique practical for doctors to use to help their patients, such as for revealing vulnerabilities to certain diseases or tailoring medical treatment.
First lady: More research on veterans medical care
RICHMOND, Va. - First lady Michelle Obama on Wednesday told military members and veterans that more medical schools are teaming up to boost training and research on brain injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Obama told an audience at Virginia Commonwealth University that 105 U.S. medical schools and 25 schools of osteopathic medicine are bolstering their efforts to train students in treating brain injuries, PTSD and other mental-health issues affecting service members.
To that end, the American Association of Medical Colleges and the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine have pledged to devote research, education and clinical care to address military service members' specific health care needs.
The initiative is part of the Joining Forces campaign, an effort by the first lady and Vice President Joe Biden's wife, Jill, to focus on issues that affect veterans and their families.
Red wine researcher accused of falsifying data
HARTFORD, Conn. - A University of Connecticut researcher known for his work on red wine's benefits to cardiovascular health falsified his data in more than 100 instances, university officials said Wednesday.
UConn officials said nearly a dozen scientific journals are being warned of the potential problems after publishing his studies in recent years.
The researcher, Dr. Dipak Das, did some studies of resveratrol, an ingredient in red wine that has shown potential for promoting health. But Dr. Nir Barzilai, whose research team conducts resveratrol research at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, said the new allegations will not make a material difference to resveratrol research, which is being conducted extensively around the world with encouraging results from many labs.
UConn officials said their internal review found 145 instances over seven years in which Das fabricated, falsified and manipulated data, and the U.S. Office of Research Integrity has launched an independent investigation of his work. It wasn't immediately known whether the irregularities in Das' research were significant enough to alter the conclusions.
