HIV Causes Premature Brain Aging

A new research is showing that people infected with the HIV virus have premature aging of the brain. The research has shown that blood flow in HIV patients is the same as uninfected people who are 15 to 20 years older. In the study, researchers used MRI scans to study blood flow in the brains of 26 people infected with HIV and 25 people who were not infected. The ages and the educational levels all of the individuals were similar. Researchers found reduced blood flow in the brains of younger people infected with HIV recently infected with HIV as well as the older patients. It is unclear whether this is caused by the virus, the medication to treat the disease, or both. Currently, 14 to 18 percent of all AIDS patients in the United States are over 50 years old and older generations have an increasing high rate of new infections. By 2015, more than half of all AIDS patients may be over 50 years old.

Lose Weight Before Weight-Loss Surgery

It is found that losing at least a little bit of weight before having weight-loss surgery can reduce the risk of having surgical complications. Medical records of 881 patients who had weight-loss surgery show that the more weight patients lost before surgery, the less likely they suffered from post-operation complications, such as infection, blood clots, and kidney problems. The post-surgery complication rate was almost twice as much in patients who gained weight before surgery than patients who lost weight before surgery.

All of the patients had open Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery where staples are used to create a pouch in the stomach that can hold only a small amount of food at a time. A part of the small intestine is attached to the pouch so that food bypasses the rest of the stomach and part of the small intestine. Some of the surgeons who perform weight-loss surgery mandate that certain high-risk patients lose weight before having the surgery.

New Pill for Lung Cancer Patients

There is a new pill called Iressa for advanced lung cancer patients that can be a replacement for chemotherapy. The drug has less negative side effects even though it is more expensive. It works by attacking specific growth receptors on cancer cells and is less harmful. The drug costs thousands of dollars each month.

Iressa is currently available in the United States, but it is not licensed in Europe. It is also approved for use in patients that failed chemotherapy. The common side effects are rash, acne, and diarrhea. Cancer patients have shown to live nearly as long on the drug as with chemotherapy.

Same-Sex Heart Transplants Found to be Better

A new research has found that heart transplant patients have better chances of survival and lower risk of the body rejecting the organ if they get organs from donors of the same sex as them. This may be due to the fact that men's hearts are usually bigger than a woman's heart and have a greater pumping capacity. Differences in hormones and immune systems between men and women could also play a part.

ThermoSuit for Cardiac Arrest Patients

When a person has been revived after cardiac arrest but is still unconscious, cooling the body is the first thing done by emergency staff. Reducing the body temperature would improve the patient's chance for a full recovery. Blowing cold air over the body or using ice packs can take hours to work effectively.

Now, there is a product called a ThermoSuit that can reduce a person's body temperature in about 30 minutes. The product is a plastic suit that is filled with cold water. There are medical centers that are currently using it and say that the survival rate of their cardiac arrest patients has risen from 35 percent to 60 to 70 percent.

Better Help for Long Term Depression

For people taking antidepressants to fight depression, it may not be the best idea to stay on them a long time after the symptoms of depression have eased. If medications have relieved the symptoms, it is better to move to cognitive therapy.

Even though it is recommended that patients keep using antidepressants up to 2 years after symptoms are relieved, 60 percent of patients have a recurrence of depression symptoms during that time while taking the medication. Of the people who stopped taking the medication and tried cognitive therapy, only 8 percent experienced symptoms of depression again within 2 years.

Better Health for Diabetics

A person could significantly lower their risk of heart disease and strokes by taking a statin each day. Researchers analyzed patients over a period of five years and found that for every 1,000 people with diabetes that were given statin, there were 42 less heart attacks and strokes than there would have been if the patients wouldn’t have taken the statins. The statins even helped the people already diagnosed with vascular disease. It is recommended that women that are pregnant shouldn’t take them.

New Options For Diabetic Patients

Two different companies named Bentley and Nastech are testing nasal insulin sprays for people who have diabetes. It is found that insulin is absorbed quicker and more efficiently when it is inhaled than when it is injected. There are also chemists that are developing a breath test to monitor sugar levels for diabetics.

Study Says Some People Having AIDS Aren’t Infectious

It is found in a recent study that AIDS patients that have been treated with the latest antiretroviral drugs can no longer infect other people through sexual contact. The drugs work so well that even though the patients aren’t cured, they make it able that only a small amount of the virus is circulating through the body. Researchers say that this fact prevents a HIV-positive person from transferring the virus through sexual intercourse.

The researchers also say that AIDS patients who took the drugs for at least six months can have unprotected sex with HIV-negative people without infecting them. Many activists and doctors don’t agree with doing this because it might have HIV-positive people having sex without informing their partners about their disease. If a HIV-positive patient missed a dose of their medicine, then they could be at risk of infecting their partners.