underwriting

One Veggie Burrito with Salmonella Please

/ SupremeCmdr / Leave a comment

I had a burrito with guacamole and salsa for lunch today.  Serious!

Medical News: Salsa, Guacamole Among Top Causes of Foodborne Illness – in Infectious Disease, Public Health from MedPage Today

The incidents accounted for 4.1% of all restaurant-related food borne illnesses from 1998 to 2008, more than double the 1.6% incidence from 1984 to 1997.

Of the 5,560 salsa or guacamole-related illnesses reported, 33% were attributed to Salmonella, 18% to Norovirus, 15% to Shigella, 10% to other infections, and 24% due to unknown causes. The infections resulted in a combined 145 hospitalizations and three deaths.

Of the outbreaks, 95 were traced to salsa and 36 to guacamole. Reported reasons for contamination included improper storage time or temperature (30%), contamination by food handlers and preparers (20%), and contaminated equipment or cross-contamination.

The raw ingredients used to make the popular condiments — including tomatoes, hot peppers, and cilantro — have also been implicated in past outbreaks of foodborne illnesses, Kendall noted.

The study concluded that training materials should be devised for the healthy preparation and storage of salsa and guacamole.

The CDC began collecting data on foodborne illnesses in 1973, but the first recorded incidents related to salsa and guacamole occurred in 1984.

Arava (leflunomide) – Watch Those Liver Enzymes

/ SupremeCmdr / Leave a comment

Medical News: FDA Adds Liver Failure Warning to RA Drug – in Product Alert, Prescriptions from MedPage Today

The FDA has expanded the black box warning to the label of the rheumatoid arthritis drug leflunomide (Arava) to include possible fatal liver damage.

The agency received 49 adverse event reports — including instances of jaundice, coagulopathy, encephalopathy, and 14 fatalities — about the drug from August 2002 to May 2009. Of the patients reporting adverse events, 36 were hospitalized.

Big Head? Read On

/ SupremeCmdr / Leave a comment

Perhaps a new component of the senior questionnaire?

BBC News – Big head ‘may protect against dementia’

Having a big head may help protect against the worst ravages of dementia, say researchers.

They found that people with Alzheimer’s with the largest craniums had better memory and thinking skills than patients with smaller skulls.

The Munich University team believe a larger head means there are greater brain reserves to buffer against dementia-related brain cell death.

Their findings, based on 270 patients, are published in the journal Neurology.

Exercise + Tea + Vitamin D = Lower Dementia Risk

/ SupremeCmdr / Leave a comment

Study: Exercise, tea and vitamin D to ward off dementia – USATODAY.com

The researchers found that participants who had moderate to heavy levels of physical activity had about a 40% lower risk of developing any type of dementia. Those who reported the least amount of activity were 45% more likely to develop dementia compared with those who logged higher levels of activity.

In a second study, including data on more than 4,800 men and women ages 65 and older, participants were followed for up to 14 years. Tea drinkers had less mental decline than non-tea drinkers. Those who drank tea one to four times a week had average annual rates of decline 37% lower than people who didn’t drink tea.

Coffee didn’t show any influence except at the highest levels of consumption, researchers say. Author Lenore Arab of UCLA says, “Interestingly, the observed associations are unlikely to be related to caffeine, which is present in coffee at levels two to three times higher than in tea.”

In a third study, British researchers looked at vitamin D’s effect on brain health. They examined data from 3,325 U.S. adults ages 65 and older from the NHANES III study. Vitamin D levels were measured by blood test, and cognitive tests were administered. Odds of cognitive impairment were about 42% higher in those deficient in vitamin D, and 394% higher in people severely deficient.