JHM HEALTH NEWS
An e-news service from Johns Hopkins Medicine
February 2007
NOTE TO EDITORS/REPORTERS: Welcome to the February 2007 edition of JHM Health News. Hopkins welcomes comments and suggestions for improving this means of sending you monthly health and medicine story ideas for your direct use or follow up. Contact John Lazarou at mednews@jhmi.edu to set up interviews, to localize a story with patients in your area, and to arrange for photographs or other services.
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IN THIS ISSUE:
- THE TEST NOBODY WANTS, BUT EVERYBODY (SOMETIME) WILL NEED
- WINTER COLDS, OVER-WRAPPING RAISE THE RISK OF SIDS, DOCTORS WARN
- BIGGEST LOSER? GET MOVING!
- YOU CAN’T LIVE VERY LONG LIKE THAT
- GENE HUNTERS CLOSE IN ON LOU GEHRIG'S DISEASE
- IT’S NOT ALZHEIMER’S! THE CONDITION KNOWN AS FTD IS LITTLE KNOWN, BUT DEVASTATING
- SPEEDING THE HEALING PROCESS
THE TEST NOBODY WANTS, BUT EVERYBODY (SOMETIME) WILL NEED
Colonoscopies rank at the top of the most unloved medical test list, but today’s principle means of prevention and early detection of colon cancer is a far cry from yesteryear’s process and deserves all the respect and attention it can get. Deeper sedation, improved technology, and easier pre-scope prep means fewer complications and far less discomfort than in the past. “Don’t be afraid,” says Anthony Kalloo, M.D., professor of medicine and the director of the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology. “The old days are long gone and lives can be saved.” It’s Colonoscopy Awareness Month in March. To separate colonscopy myth from fact, see the equipment, get past the “scaries,” interview Kalloo and talk to people who have had this life-saving screening, contact JHM Health News at mednews@jhmi.eduWINTER COLDS, OVER-WRAPPING RAISE THE RISK OF SIDS, DOCTORS WARN
Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) – the leading cause of death in infants under 1 year of age – can happen at any time. But parents and caregivers should be extra careful during the cold winter months, when the flu and other infections and the urge to bundle up babies extra warmly increase the risk of SIDS, say experts from the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center.BIGGEST LOSER? GET MOVING!
Is extreme exercise—promoted by a popular TV reality show—the best way to shed pounds? If you’re among the millions who’ve watched The Biggest Loser on TV, you’ve seen the rewards of eating less while exercising furiously every day. Flesh seems to melt away; contestants gain a new lease on life. You’re duly inspired, but how will you find the motivation to slim down? Ryan Andrews, personal trainer and dietitian at the Weight Management Center, “weighs” in his opinion.
YOU CAN’T LIVE VERY LONG LIKE THAT
On a scale of one to 10, the pain in Josh Ober’s stomach was an eight. “Actually, it was probably a nine,” says Ober, a 20-year-old piano tuner and motorcycle enthusiast from Lebanon, Pa., whose digestive troubles began eight years ago. Back then the pain was milder. By January 2006, however, the pain had become unbearable, and Ober stopped tuning pianos and worked only as much as necessary to pay his mounting medical bills. Eventually he just stopped eating, dropping down to 100 pounds—not enough weight for his 5-foot-8 frame.GENE HUNTERS CLOSE IN ON LOU GEHRIG'S DISEASE
In the first genome-wide search for the genetic roots of the most common form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Johns Hopkins scientists have newly identified 34 unique variations in the human genetic code among 276 unrelated subjects with ALS.
IT’S NOT ALZHEIMER’S! THE CONDITION KNOWN AS FTD IS LITTLE KNOWN, BUT DEVASTATING
Johns Hopkins psychiatrist Chiadi Onyike remembers it vividly: A middle-aged woman sitting quietly at a dining table and repeatedly picking up her glass for a sip. Yet her plate was bare, her glass empty. “It’s the small scenerios,” he explains, “that give you a sense of frontotemporal dementia (FTD).” Onyike, who heads the FTD clinic here, aims to increase awareness of this type dementia—often wrongly diagnosed as Alzheimer’s.SPEEDING THE HEALING PROCESS
The Vietnam War was still going when the Army drafted John Harmon, and by the time the young surgeon’s call to service actually came in 1976, the war was over. So, instead of being sent to treat fresh wounds directly on a battlefield, Harmon stayed in the United States and helped soldiers who arrived months after leaving combat, often with burn, bullet and shrapnel wounds that refused to heal. Working with the wounded men shaped the course of Harmon’s career and research, motivating him to search for ways to help wounds heal faster. In 1996, he brought the knowledge he’d gained to Hopkins.For previous issues of JHM Health News go to
http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/mediaII/MNU/index.html
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