Your Health compiled by Franklin Ward Baum

 

Medicare drug plan working, new analysis shows
 
More older Americans have drug coverage now thanks to the Medicare Part D prescription drug plan, according to an analysis by the University of Michigan.
More than 90 percent of Americans aged 65 and older now have prescription drug coverage, compared to more than 75 percent who had drug coverage in 2004, according to the UM Health and Retirement Study, which is being funded by the National Institute on Aging.
 
The study was based on interviews of more than 10,000 people in 2004 and again in 2006, after the Medicare drug plan took effect. A surprising result, according to the analysis, was the confidence expressed by participants in the plan. More than 85 percent in 2006 said they plan to sign up for the program again the following year.
 
 
Pneumonia deaths linked to bleeding in the lungs
 
Pneumonia can kill by causing bleeding in the lungs, according to researchers from the University of Rochester Medical Center, explaining in part why antibiotics don’t save many patients.
 
Reporting in the journal Immunity, the researchers found that certain bacteria, Streptococcus pneumoniae, create a toxin that doesn’t respond to antibiotics and that causes bleeding in the lung tissue of some patients. Those patients can die in a matter of days.
 
According to the Rochester researchers, antibiotics may even worsen the condition by creating more toxins in the lungs. They are working on developing a spray that may counteract the toxin.
 
 
Antioxidant supplements won’t prevent heart disease
 
Taking antioxidant supplements such as vitamins C, E and beta-carotene, won’t prevent heart disease in high-risk women, according to a study by Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.
 
The nine-year study of more than 8,000 women over 40, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, found that antioxidant supplements provided no overall benefit for cardiovascular disease risk. There was an indication that the supplements may help lower stroke risk, but researchers said more study is needed.
 
Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death among U.S. women. About 37 percent of U.S. women live with cardiovascular disease, and even more are at risk for the condition, according to the American Heart Association.
 
 
Calcium supplements lower the risk of bone fractures
 
Taking calcium supplements, either alone or with vitamin D supplements, reduces the risk of fracture or bone loss by 12% in people over 50, according to a study reported in the journal The Lancet. And taking them regularly reduces the risk even more.
 
Australian researchers who analyzed data from more than 52,000 people over 50 who were studied for an average of 3.5 years found that people over 50 who took the calcium supplements in a correct daily regimen reduced the risk of fracture by 24 percent. In addition, taking higher daily doses of the supplements appeared to reduce the risk more.
 
Smokers much more likely to develop vision loss
 
Smokers, even after they’ve quit, are more likely to develop age-related macular degeneration than people who have never smoked, according to Australian researchers.
 
Scientists from the University of Sydney studied almost 2,500 people for 10 years and found that current smokers are four times more likely to develop AMD than people who have never smoked. Former smokers were three times more likely, according to the study published in the journal Archives of Ophthalmology.
 
AMD, the degeneration of part of the eye’s retina, is the leading cause of vision loss and blindness in Americans 65 and older.
 
 
Moderate exercise helps blood vessels become young
 
One reason why exercise lowers the risk of heart attacks and strokes is because it helps the blood vessels relax, according to a study from the University of Colorado in Boulder.
 
Researchers found that sedentary men in their 60s who started a program of moderate exercise, such as taking a walk five times a week, had more pliable and less constricted blood vessels after only three months. Their blood vessel health resembled that of men in their 20s, according to the report in the journal Hypertension.
 
 
Simple blood test detects early stage liver cancer
 
Researchers from the Flanders Institute for Biotechnology and Ghent University in Belgium say they have developed a blood test that will detect changes in sugars attached to proteins that occur in liver cancer. The test can also determine the size of the tumor based on the amount of sugars, the report in the journal Hepatology said.
 
Current tests include biopsies, imaging and the so-called AFP test in which doctors can detect malignant tumors based on the concentration of particular markers in the blood. Used with the AFP test, the new method was more accurate and can better detect liver cancer and save lives by getting patients earlier treatment, the researchers said.

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