Alison McCook writing in Reuters reported that, according to research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, more time spent in front of the TV may be linked to an increased risk of heart disease and diabetes, as well as to an increased risk of premature death. Nicole Ostrow writing in Bloomberg News added that investigators looked at data from “eight studies.” The researchers found that, “for every two hours of TV viewing, the risk of type 2 diabetes increased 20 percent, the risk of cardiovascular disease rose 15 percent and the risk of early death rose 13 percent.”
Millions of people with knee injuries could benefit from a new type of stem cell bandage treatment if clinical trials are successful. The world’s first clinical trial for the treatment of patients with torn meniscal cartilage has received approval from the UK regulatory agency, to start.
The current treatment for the majority of tears is the removal of the meniscus, a procedure that often results in the early onset of osteoarthritis. The trial will treat patients with a cell bandage seeded with their own expanded stem cells. Exciting stuff!
Based on these latest findings, that kind of flexibility is common, the researchers report in the journal Arthritis & Rheumatism.
Due To High Heels, Badly Fitting Footwear. The UK’s Daily Mail reported that a Society of Chiropodists and Podiatrists survey has “found a quarter of women wore high heels every day or ‘frequently.’” The group “warned that the UK could be hit by an ‘arthritis crisis’ caused by high heels and badly fitting footwear, especially trainers.”
Amy Norton writing in Reuters described a study showing that many teenagers, especially girls, have some degree of “double-jointedness,” – a sign, researchers say, that such flexibility is most often perfectly normal. They also say their findings raise the question of whether so-called benign joint hypermobility syndrome is being over-diagnosed. Often, people with the hypermobility syndrome have joint pain, but not always. And there is controversy over how often the joint flexibility is actually the cause of that pain, explained Dr. Jacqui Clinch, a consultant in pediatric rheumatology at the Bristol Royal Hospital for Children in the UK and lead researcher on the new study.
In their study, Clinch and her colleagues found that of 6,000 14-year-olds they assessed, about 27 percent of girls and 11 percent of boys met the commonly used criteria for joint hypermobility syndrome. Using the criteria, known as the Beighton score, doctors look at whether certain joints are hyper-flexible. In general, a Beighton score of 4 or higher – meaning at least four hypermobile joints — is the cutoff for diagnosing. Based on these latest findings, that kind of flexibility is common, the researchers report in the journal Arthritis & Rheumatism. “Our study has shown that ‘ double-jointedness’ is very common in children,” Clinch said. And in the “vast majority” of kids, Clinch said, such flexibility causes no problems.
Bariatric Surgery Patients At Increased Risk For Fracture
Laura Dean writing in Medwire reported “Patients who undergo bariatric surgery are twice as likely as would be expected to experience a fracture in the years following the operation,” according to research presented at the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting. For the study, Kelly Nakamura of the Mayo Clinic, and colleagues, “conducted a retrospective study to assess fracture incidence in 277 patients (mean age 43.7 years, 83% women) who underwent a first bariatric surgery, most commonly gastric bypass, between 1985 and 2004 at Mayo Clinic Rochester. They compared the number of fractures observed with the number of expected in the local population.” The researchers found that “during a mean post-surgery follow-up period of nine years, 82 patients experienced 138 fractures, which first occurred after 5.9 years, on average. This is “probably due to lack of absorption of key nutrients.”
Nancy Walsh writing in Reuter’s reported that fracture risk following weight-loss surgery may be even higher than initially thought, according to a findings presented at the Endocrine’s Society’s annual meeting in Massachusetts. For the study, Kelly Nakamura, medical student at Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, followed 258 patients who had bariatric surgery and found that over nine years, 79 of the patients experienced a total of 132 fractures. The first breaks, on average, occurred at about six years post-surgery.
Higher Vitamin D Levels May Boost Medicines Used To Treat Osteoporosis.
Shari Roan writing in the Los Angeles Times reported that, according to research presented at the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting, “adequate levels of vitamin D in the bloodstream also appear to boost the power of bisphosphonates, medications used to treat osteoporosis.” In their study, “researchers found that having a circulating vitamin D level greater than 33 nanograms per milliliter was linked to a seven times greater likelihood of having a good response to bisphosphonates.”
FDA Wants Companies To Review “Metal On Metal” Artificial Hips.
Patti Neighmond writing in NPR reported, ”The Food and Drug Administration has told companies that make ‘metal on metal’ artificial hips to take a closer look at how patients fare after their hip replacement surgery.” The FDA request “comes in response to an increasing number of consumer complaints about the implants, along with last year’s voluntary recall of an all-metal model made by DePuy Orthopaedics, a division of Johnson & Johnson.” The agency is also “asking companies to collect blood samples from patients with all-metal hip implants in order to better understand exactly how much metal may be released into the bloodstream.”
Alicia Chang writing for the Associated Press reports that in a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, “researchers analyzing toxin levels in tens of thousands of toenail clippings and determined that mercury from eating fish does not raise the risk of heart disease or stroke.” Good news for people who eat fish for the heart protective and arthritis protective effects.
