UroToday – The success of the fast food and soft drink industries has translated into an unprecedented rise in childhood and adult obesity. This epidemic has had a direct impact on our (urologists) practice due to its association with carcinogenesis in the prostate and kidney.

In the April 5 issue of JAMA, Ogden and colleagues from the CDC present updated estimates in the prevalence of childhood and adult obesity in the United States.

Height and weight measurements were recorded for 3958 children and 4431 adults in 2003 and 2004. These data, part of the National Health and Nutrition Survey, was compared from prior data from 1999 – 2000, and 2001-2002. Being overweight in children and adolescents was defined as having a BMI above the 95% for age. In adults, obesity and extreme obesity was defined as a BMI above 30 and 40, respectively.

Prevalence of Obesity: Children and Adolescents

1999-2000
At risk for overweight 28.2%
Overweight 13.9%

2001-2002
At risk for overweight 30.0%
Overweight 15.4%

2003-2004
At risk for overweight 33.6%
Overweight 17.1%

Risk of being overweight in children and adolescents

White
Male 1.00
Female 1.00

Hispanic
Male 1.73 (1.42 – 2.10)
Female 1.56 (1.28 – 1.88)

African American
Male 1.13 (0.91 -1.40)
Female 1.46 (1.22 – 1.73)

Prevalence of Obesity: Adults

1999-2000
Obese 30.5%
Extreme Obese 4.7%

2001-2002
Obese 30.6%
Extreme Obese 5.1%

2003-2004
Obese 32.2%
Extreme Obese 4.8%

Risk of obesity in adults

White
Men 1.00
Women 1.00

Hispanic
Men 1.02 ( 0.87 – 1.20)
Women 1.31 (1.11 – 1.55)

African American
Men 0.99 (0.86 – 1.15)
Women 2.01 (1.76 – 2.29)

Statistical analysis was significant for male and female children and adolescents, with a prevalence increase of overweight in female children and adolescents from 13.8% in 1999-2000 to 16.0% in 2003-2004. The prevalence of overweight in male children and adolescents rose from 14.0% to 18.2%. The prevalence of obesity in adult men rose from 27.5% to 31.1% over the period studied. No significant changes in weight were seen among women over the period studied. Significant ethnic differences persisted especially among Hispanic men and African American women.

By Ricardo Sбnchez-Ortiz, MD

Reference:
JAMA. 2006;295:1549-1555.
Link Here.
Ogden CL, Carroll MD, Curtin LR, McDowell MA, Tabak CJ, Flegal KM.

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Journeys across several time zones make our internal body clocks go haywire. We feel exhausted and tense, and our sleep pattern is out of synch. As scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry have now succeeded in demonstrating for mice, the clocks associated with individual organs in the body adapt to the new time at different speeds. As a result, the body’s physiological processes are no longer coordinated. The adrenal gland plays a key role in this process. When the researchers switched off the adrenal clock or manipulated the synthesis of corticosterone by the adrenal gland with the help of metyrapone, the rodents adapted more quickly to the altered circadian rhythm. These insights could pave the way for a new approach to the hormonal treatment of the effects of jet lag and shift work. (Journal of Clinical Investigation, June 23, 2010).

Be they professional footballers on their way to the World Cup in South Africa or ordinary holidaymakers: people who cross several time zones by jet are prone to certain symptoms for a few days after the flight. During the day, they are crippled with exhaustion; at night they lie awake tossing and turning, unable to sleep, and many of the body’s functions are activated at the wrong time. What we have here is a clear case of jet lag. Our “internal body clock”, which still beats to our old rhythm of day and night, must adapt to the new external time. The process works, however: after a few days, we feel in synch with the outside world again.

The problems that arise with jet lag are a clear example of how external influences can disrupt our internal body clock. An entire network of molecular clocks found in the different organs coordinate the body’s various physiological processes ranging from the heart beat, temperature, sleep requirement and hormone balance to behaviour. All of these clocks are controlled by the master pacemaker of the hypothalamic suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN), which synchronises all of the body’s “peripheral” clocks with the outside world. At molecular level, all of the clocks are based on a handful of “clock” genes and proteins that regulate each other interactively and thus generate a molecular time signal in the form of a circadian rhythm – a term which originates from the Latin for approximately (circa) and day (dies).

Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry have for the first time systematically studied how individual “clock” genes and the internal clocks of the different organs synchronise with the new external time in the case of jet lag. The researchers were surprised by their findings. “The internal clocks and the ‘clock’ genes adapt to the altered external influences at varying speeds,” says Gregor Eichele, Director of the Institute’s Genes and Behaviour Department. “When an organism suffers from jet lag, it would appear that the entire clock mechanism fails to tick at the right rhythm. As a result, numerous physiological processes are no longer coordinated.”

Adrenal clock stabilises the status quo:


As the GГ¶ttingen-based researchers discovered, the adrenal clock plays a key role in the body’s adaptation to a new circadian rhythm. When the scientists switched off the adrenal clock in mice, the rodents adapted their behaviour more quickly to the new time and made a more rapid return to their laps on the wheel in synch with the new external time. Therefore, a functioning adrenal clock keeps the organism in a temporally stable state and halts the excessively rapid adaptation of the central clock in the SCN. Physiologically, this makes complete sense. Sporadic light changes – a dark stormy sky or dark cinema – do not disrupt the entire clock mechanism. In the case of jet lag, however, this is precisely what causes the problem.

It is not necessary, however, to switch off the entire adrenal clock to enable the mice to better recover from jet lag. The experiments carried out by the researchers give reason to hope that a less drastic solution may be possible. The adrenal gland produces a series of important hormones, including adrenaline, noradrenaline and corticosterone (cortisol in humans). Completely switching off the adrenal clock would not, therefore, be advisable. “The time-dependent release of corticosterone was crucial in enabling our rodents to adapt more quickly to the new time,” explains Eichele. When the scientists administered the active agent metyrapone to the mice, their corticosterone rhythm changed as did their sleeping/waking rhythm. “If the mice were given metyrapone at the right time, they adapted faster to the disturbed circadian rhythm. While the ‘sleep hormone’ melatonin, which is commonly used to treat jet lag, mainly acts by generating tiredness and is therefore more suitable for use when flying east than west, with metyrapone, the mice’s internal clock can be turned both forwards and back,” explains junior scientist Silke KieГџling.

New treatment approaches


The insights of the GГ¶ttingen scientists could produce an entirely new approach to the treatment of jet lag in the future. Metyrapone is already approved as a medication for the treatment of the overproduction of glucocorticoids and mineralcorticoids. However, it remains to be demonstrated in “field trials” and tests in the sleep laboratory whether the administration of metyrapone is suitable for the treatment of jet lag, and whether it has any side effects in humans. “Our results from the mouse model are not necessarily transferable to humans,” stresses Henrik Oster, who heads the research group “Circadian Rhythms”. “With our mouse mutants, we have an excellent system on which we can base our search for chronobiologically effective substances. However, it remains to be confirmed by clinical studies whether these are as effective in humans as they are in nocturnal animals like mice.”

Original work:

Silke Kiessling, Gregor Eichele, Henrik Oster

A role for adrenal glucocorticoids in the circadian resynchronization during jet lag in mice.

Journal of Clinical Investigation, June 23, 2010

Source:
Professor Gregor Eichele

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

Volcano Corporation (Nasdaq: VOLC), a leading developer and manufacturer of precision intravascular therapy guidance tools designed to enhance the diagnosis and treatment of coronary and peripheral vascular disease, announced today its Fractional Flow Reserve (FFR) technology can now integrate with the FFR modules of hemodynamic monitoring systems from GE, Siemens, McKesson, and Mennen.

“Utilization of Volcano’s physiology (functional measurement) products has grown 79% in the last year, driven primarily by the landmark FAME data and recent elevation of the level of evidence for FFR in the ACC/AHA/SCAI PCI Guidelines to Level A,” commented Scott Huennekens, President and CEO of Volcano. “The FAME study demonstrated a 34% reduction in death and myocardial infarction (MI), and a more than $2,000 reduction in costs for patients guided by FFR instead of angiography alone. This data has helped us place more than 1,200 FFR-capable consoles in the last 12 months, and further integration with hemodynamic systems will provide physicians and patients with more access to this proven technology.”

Volcano’s Smart Map® Pressure Instrument and PrimeWire® Pressure Guide Wire are now compatible with the majority of hemodynamic monitoring systems, making the benefits of FFR accessible to more clinicians and patients. Volcano’s SmartMap will provide a pressure reading to GE Healthcare’s Mac-Lab® XT and XTi hemodynamic recording systems version 6.8.1, Siemens’ AXIOM Sensis XP VC11, McKesson’s Horizon Cardiology™ Hemo version 12.1, and Mennen’s Horizon XVu Hemodynamic Monitoring System. With the pressure measurement derived from Volcano’s PrimeWire®, hemodynamic monitoring systems have the ability to calculate the FFR gradient and display the FFR measurement on the hemodynamic screen in the cath lab.

Volcano offers the broadest physiology product portfolio in the market today. Volcano’s s5i system, the only multi-modality system on the market, offers clinicians a choice of five modalities for assessment of lesion morphology and severity on a single platform: digital IVUS for fast plug and play imaging, high-frequency rotational IVUS for higher resolution, VH® IVUS for plaque characterization, ChromaFlo® for imaging blood flow, and FFR for physiological lesion assessment.

“Our message at Volcano is quite simple,” added Mr. Huennekens. “Angiography alone is not enough, and tools such as FFR and IVUS are designed to better assess the therapeutic strategy and result. We don’t favor one technology over another, but rather provide choice to physicians, as we are the only company that offers both FFR and IVUS. This level of integration with hemodynamic monitoring systems provides yet another example of choice for our customers. If you want full function, FFR, IVUS and VH™ IVUS integration, we offer the s5i multi-modality integrated console. If you want to start your integration path with FFR alone, then we offer the SmartMap® Pressure instrument that is now compatible with numerous hemodynamic system models. We provide the choice that is right for each individual lab, and then focus our efforts on training and educating our customers to take full advantage of an integrated lab workflow.”

About Volcano Corporation

Volcano Corporation offers a broad suite of devices designed to facilitate endovascular procedures, enhance the diagnosis of vascular and structural heart disease and guide optimal therapies. The company’s intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) product line includes ultrasound consoles that can be integrated directly into virtually any modern cath lab. Volcano IVUS offers unique features, including both single-use digital and rotational IVUS imaging catheters, and advanced functionality options, such as VH® IVUS tissue characterization and ChromaFlo®. Volcano also provides functional measurement (FM) consoles and single-use pressure and flow guide wires and is developing a line of ultra-high resolution Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) systems and catheters. Currently, more than 5,000 Volcano IVUS and FM systems are installed worldwide, with approximately half of its revenues coming from outside the United States. Volcano’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Axsun Technologies, develops and manufactures optical monitors, lasers and optical engines used in telecommunications, medical imaging, spectroscopy and other industrial applications.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any statements in this release regarding Volcano’s business that are not historical facts may be considered “forward-looking statements,” including statements regarding the potential benefits of the products and procedures described above, results and implications of the data from the FAME trial, commercial release and market adoption of the company’s technology, and the impact of clinical and other technical data. Forward-looking statements are based on management’s current preliminary expectations and are subject to risks and uncertainties which may cause Volcano’s results to differ materially and adversely from the statements contained herein. Some of the potential risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from the results predicted are detailed in the company’s annual report on Form 10-K and other filings made with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements which speak only as of the date they are made. Volcano undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect new information, events or circumstances after the date they are made, or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

Source: Volcano Corporation

The first field study on the impact of light on teenagers’ sleeping habits finds that insufficient daily morning light exposure contributes to teenagers not getting enough sleep.

“As teenagers spend more time indoors, they miss out on essential morning light needed to stimulate the body’s 24-hour biological system, which regulates the sleep/wake cycle,” reports Mariana Figueiro, Ph.D., Assistant Professor and Program Director at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Lighting Research Center (LRC) and lead researcher on the new study.

“These morning-light-deprived teenagers are going to bed later, getting less sleep and possibly under-performing on standardized tests. We are starting to call this the teenage night owl syndrome.”

In the study just published in Neuroendocrinology Letters, Dr. Figueiro and LRC Director Dr. Mark Rea found that eleven 8th grade students who wore special glasses to prevent short-wavelength (blue) morning light from reaching their eyes experienced a 30-minute delay in sleep onset by the end of the 5-day study.

“If you remove blue light in the morning, it delays the onset of melatonin, the hormone that indicates to the body when it’s nighttime,” explains Dr. Figueiro. “Our study shows melatonin onset was delayed by about 6 minutes each day the teens were restricted from blue light. Sleep onset typically occurs about 2 hours after melatonin onset.”

Disrupting Biological Rhythms

The problem is that today’s middle and high schools have rigid schedules requiring teenagers to be in school very early in the morning. These students are likely to miss the morning light because they are often traveling to and arriving at school before the sun is up or as it’s just rising. “This disrupts the connection between daily biological rhythms, called circadian rhythms, and the earth’s natural 24-hour light/dark cycle,” explains Dr. Figueiro.

In addition, the schools are not likely providing adequate electric light or daylight to stimulate this biological or circadian system, which regulates body temperature, alertness, appetite, hormones and sleep patterns. Our biological system responds to light much differently than our visual system. It is much more sensitive to blue light. Therefore, having enough light in the classroom to read and study does not guarantee that there is sufficient light to stimulate our biological system.

“According to our study, however, the situation in schools can be changed rapidly by the conscious delivery of daylight, which is saturated with short-wavelength, or blue, light,” reports Dr. Figueiro.

First Field Study

Dr. Figueiro’s research, sponsored by the U.S. Green Building Council and in part by a grant from a Trans-National Institutes of Health Genes, Environment and Health Initiative is the first field study to measure the impact of reduced morning blue light exposure on evening melatonin onset of teenagers attending school.

According to Dr. Figueiro, the results of this field study are significant because they validate controlled laboratory findings with actual field measurements of light that impact our biological system.

The field experiment was conducted at Smith Middle School in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, a school with good daylight design. The school building has south-facing skylights to deliver daylight to nearly all interior spaces throughout the day.

The study detailed in Neuroendocrinology Letters is part of a larger study where data on students was collected at both Smith Middle School in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, as well as Algonquin Middle School in Averill Park, New York.

The larger study is examining not only the impact of removing morning blue light, but also the seasonal impact and the increased evening light exposure during the spring months on teens’ melatonin onset and sleep times.

Implications for School Design

Throughout her research, Dr. Figueiro has repeatedly come face-to-face with the enormous concern of parents over teenagers going to bed too late. “Our findings pose two questions: “How will we promote exposure to morning light and how will we design schools differently?” says Dr. Figueiro.

The study findings should have significant implications for school design. “Delivering daylight in schools may be a simple, non-pharmacological treatment for students to help them increase sleep duration,” concludes Dr. Figueiro.

Light Therapy Can Reduce Health Risks of Shift Workers and Alzheimer’s Patients

The new research has applications for more than 3 million shift workers and Alzheimer’s patients who suffer from lack of a regular sleep pattern.

Studies have shown that this lack of synchronization between a shift worker’s rest and activity and light/dark patterns leads to a much higher risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, seasonal depression and cancer over decades.

As evidenced in prior studies by Dr. Figueiro, light therapy can also be used to improve sleep in Alzheimer’s patients, who usually display uneven sleep patterns. “By removing light at certain times of day, and giving light at other times, you can synchronize the sleep/wake patterns of Alzheimer’s patients with the light/dark pattern, providing them with more consolidated sleep,” says Dr. Figueiro.

Source: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI)

The burden placed on an elderly caregiver whose spouse suffers from Alzheimer disease can often cause sleep disturbance, which can, in turn, lead to early physical signs of cardiovascular problems. This finding pinpoints further the detrimental effects a poor night of sleep can have on a person’s well-being, and advises the elderly of the importance of sleep in maintaining their health.

The study, conducted by Brent T. Mausbach, PhD, and colleagues of the University of California, San Diego, focused on 40 elderly spousal caregivers of patients with Alzheimer disease, who participated in an in-home full-night polysomnography and had other tests performed. The results indicated that wake after sleep onset (WASO) was positively associated with norepinephrine levels, indicating that caregivers with greater time spent awake during the night had elevated plasma norepinephrine concentrations. In addition, WASO was significantly related to plasma D-dimer.

Sleep needs change over a person’s lifetime. Older adults need about the same amount of sleep as younger adults — seven to nine hours of sleep per night.

Not sleeping well can lead to a number of problems. Older adults who have poor nighttime sleep are more likely to have, in addition to health problems, a depressed mood, attention and memory problems, excessive daytime sleepiness, more nighttime falls, and use more over-the-counter or prescription sleep aids. Poor sleep is also associated with a poorer quality of life.

###

Sleep is the official journal of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, LLC, a joint venture of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society.

SleepEducation, a Web site maintained by the AASM, provides information about the various sleep disorders that exist, the forms of treatment available, recent news on the topic of sleep, sleep studies that have been conducted and a listing of sleep facilities.

Source: October 1st issue of the journal Sleep

For further information please go to:
American Academy of Sleep Medicine

The gradual loss of epidermis and dermis – skin atrophy – is clinically important because aging skin is more fragile and heals slower than young skin and is also prone to ulceration. No-one knows why skin atrophy occurs, but it is becoming more common as people live longer, and there is no effective treatment for it. One characteristic of atrophic skin is that, compared to normal skin, it contains less hyaluronate – a large carbohydrate component of the extracellular matrix, the material that surrounds cells. Results of a new study in PLoS Medicine provide the first indications that application of hyaluronate to atrophic skin might be useful therapeutically and suggest that clinical investigation is warranted.

###

PLEASE MENTION THE OPEN-ACCESS JOURNAL PLoS MEDICINE (plosmedicine/) AS THE SOURCE FOR THESE ARTICLES AND PROVIDE A LINK TO THE FREELY-AVAILABLE TEXT. THANK YOU.

All works published in PLoS Medicine are open access. Everything is immediately available without cost to anyone, anywhere – to read, download, redistribute, include in databases, and otherwise use – subject only to the condition that the original authorship is properly attributed. Copyright is retained by the authors. The Public Library of Science uses the Creative Commons Attribution License.

Citation: Kaya G, Tran CT, Sorg O, Hotz R, Grand D. et al. (2006) Hyaluronate fragments reverse skin atrophy by a CD44-dependent mechanism. PLoS Med 3(12): e493.

PLEASE ADD THE LINK TO THE PUBLISHED ARTICLE IN ONLINE VERSIONS OF YOUR REPORT: medicine.plosjournals/perlserv/

- Caption: Restoration of skin thickness by HAFi. Atrophic skin in an elderly indivudual before (left) and after 1 month of topical application of a 1% HAFi solution (right). (Photographer: Jose Fraga)

CONTACTS:
G’rkan Kaya
University Hospital of Geneva
Department of Dermatology
Geneva, 1211 Switzerland

About PLoS Medicine

PLoS Medicine is an open access, freely available international medical journal. It publishes original research that enhances our understanding of human health and disease, together with commentary and analysis of important global health issues. For more information, visit plosmedicine/

About the Public Library of Science

The Public Library of Science (PLoS) is a non-profit organization of scientists and physicians committed to making the world’s scientific and medical literature a freely available public resource. For more information, visit plos/

Contact: Andrew Hyde

Public Library of Science

A world first study by Monash University researchers into the health of families who drink rainwater has found that it is safe to drink.

The research was led by Associate Professor Karin Leder from the Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine in conjunction with Water Quality Research Australia (previously the Cooperative Research Centre for Water Quality and Treatment).

“This is the first study of its kind. Until now, there has been no prospective randomised study to investigate the health effects of rainwater consumption, either in Australia or internationally,” Associate Professor Leder said.

The study involved three hundred volunteer households in Adelaide that were given a filter to treat their rainwater. Only half of the filters were real while the rest were ‘sham’ filters that looked real but did not contain filters.

The householders did not know whether they had a real filter. Families recorded their health over a 12-month period, after which time the health outcomes of the two groups were compared.

“The results showed that rates of gastroenteritis between both groups were very similar. People who drank untreated rainwater displayed no measurable increase in illness compared to those that consumed the filtered rainwater,” Associate Professor Leder said.

Adelaide was the location chosen for the study as it the city with the highest use of rainwater tanks in Australia.

Associate Professor Leder said some health authorities had doubts about drinking rainwater due to safety concerns, particularly in cities where good quality mains-water is available.

“This study confirms there is a low risk of illness. The results may not be applicable in all situations; nevertheless these findings about the low risk of illness from drinking rainwater certainly imply that it can be used for activities such as showering/bathing where inadvertent or accidental ingestion of small quantities may occur.

“Expanded use of rainwater for many household purposes can be considered and in current times of drought, we want to encourage people to use rainwater as a resource,” she said.

The study was funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council and Water Quality Research Australia.

Source: Samantha Blair

Monash University

The American Journal of Nursing has released its latest article in their “A New Look at the Old” Series:
Oral Hydration in Older Adults: Greater awareness is needed in preventing, recognizing, and treating dehydration.
Janet Mentes, PhD, APRN, BC

Follow this link anytime to access this article: nursingcenter/AJNolderadults

In a study done by the author of this article, 31% of the LTC residents she followed over six months were dehydrated.

A different study found that 48% of older adults admitted from Emergency Departments had laboratory values indicative of dehydration.

Would you be surprised to know that sufficient fluid consumption has been associated with fewer falls, less constipation and laxative use, improved rehabilitation in orthopedic patients and a reduction in bladder cancer (among men)? In fact, drinking five or more 8-oz. glasses of water a day is also associated with lower rates of fatal coronary heart disease in middle-age and older adults

How astute are you at assessing for dehydration among your older patients? Do you know that the body’s thirst response becomes blunted with age? It’s true, and as a consequence, many of your patients may be dehydrated – a condition that leads to severe consequences if not identified and treated.

This newest article in the American Journal of Nursing New Look at the Old series provides current research about the hydration status of older adults across care settings and in the community, as well as a range of tools to improve your assessment skills, including a “Dehydration Risk Appraisal Checklist.”

This and previous articles in the New Look at the Old print series can be accessed free of charge. Links to videos based on articles in the print series can also be found at: nursingcenter/AJNolderadults. Reprints of previous articles are available at no cost!

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This project is funded in part by Atlantic Philanthropies. The venture is a collaborative effort between The American Journal of Nursing, The Gerontological Society of America, and Trinity Healthforce Learning.

Contact: Katherine A. Kany

The Gerontological Society of America

While the proven negative health consequences of smoking and tanning are undeniable, tobacco and indoor tanning advertisers would like consumers to think otherwise. In fact, a new study comparing the tactics used in advertising tobacco and indoor tanning products found several similarities in how these two industries market unhealthy products.

In the report entitled, “Comparison of advertising strategies between the indoor tanning and tobacco industries,” published online in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, dermatologist David A. Jones, MD, PhD, FAAD, in private practice in Newton, Mass., presented results of an observational study which concluded that both industries employ advertising strategies to counteract health concerns of their products in order to positively influence the consumer’s perception of smoking and indoor tanning and drive industry demand.

“The indoor tanning industry reported domestic sales in excess of $2.7 billion in 2007 , and it relies heavily on advertising to sell the misleading idea of a ‘safe’ or ‘healthy’ tan to the public,” said Dr. Jones. “Even though it is well documented that UV radiation from natural sunlight and indoor tanning devices is a known cause of skin cancer, the public is not always aware of the serious health risks associated with indoor tanning – and the tanning industry’s advertising practices capitalize on this fact.”

In reviewing 2,000 advertisements from four large tobacco advertising image databases, Dr. Jones and his colleague, Jennifer Herrmann, MD, identified four key strategy profiles that were used to sell their products. These strategies included: mitigating health concerns, appealing to a sense of social acceptance, emphasizing psychotrophic effects, and targeting specific population segments. Dr. Jones added that tobacco advertising was selected as a reference framework because it is well documented and designed to promote a product with known health hazards.

Subsequently, a collection of approximately 350 contemporary tanning advertisements was compiled from a variety of sources – such as industry magazines, salon and industry Web sites, and in-store promotional materials – and evaluated based on the four key strategies identified in the tobacco advertisements.

As the increased incidence of lung cancer, respiratory and cardiovascular diseases and other health risks linked to smoking continued to mount over the years, the tobacco industry adjusted its advertising strategy to mitigate these known health risks. Specifically, the tobacco industry recruited physicians as crucial allies in marketing their products, reassured the public that their brands had competitive health advantages, and commended the intelligence of smokers for choosing cigarettes marketed as “safer” cigarettes.

Using Physicians as Allies

Dating back to the 1930s and 1940s, Dr. Jones and his colleague found that physicians wearing white lab coats frequently appeared in cigarette advertisements – using the doctor’s image to reassure consumers that cigarettes were safe. Similarly, indoor tanning advertisements have resorted to using physicians and citing medical research studies to try to persuade the public that indoor tanning is somehow “safe” or “safer” than tanning outdoors.

“The thinking behind these ads is that if physicians do something, then somehow it must be okay,” said Dr. Jones. “However, these ads omit the results of a recent survey indicating that 100 percent of dermatologists and 84 percent of non-dermatologist physicians would discourage UV tanning for non-medical purposes, even in healthy patients.”

Promoting Misleading Health Advantages

When awareness of the health risks of cigarettes began to grow in the 1950s and 1960s, the tobacco industry responded with what it coined as “safer,” “filtered” cigarettes. Dr. Jones noted that the goal of these ads was to convince consumers that filtered cigarettes provided protection from harmful effects of smoking, but without admitting that smoking was detrimental to one’s health.

To dispel growing concerns about the dangers of UV exposure, the indoor tanning industry countered with “harm reduction” campaigns that were similar to those used by the tobacco industry. For example, some advertisers began promoting their tanning beds as “UVB-free” or “99% pure UVA” during the 1980s when research confirmed that UVB rays are carcinogenic. These ads, of course, failed to mention that UVA rays also are harmful and can cause skin cancer.

Another popular harm reduction tactic used in tanning advertisements is to promote the health benefits of vitamin D production from UV exposure. In these types of ads, consumers are led to believe that UV exposure from both natural sunlight and tanning beds is beneficial in producing vitamin D, which research suggests may provide protection against heart disease and other cancers.

“What these ads omit is that UV exposure increases your risk of skin cancer, and there are safer ways to get this important vitamin,” said Dr. Jones. “An adequate amount of vitamin D can be obtained from vitamin D supplements – without the health risks of obtaining vitamin D from intentional UV exposure.”

Nothing Smart about Ads that Appeal to the Consumer’s Intelligence

Another tactic used by tobacco manufacturers in advertising is to try to somehow make consumers believe they are “smart” by smoking a certain brand of cigarettes over another brand. Dr. Jones and his colleague found that the indoor tanning industry makes similar appeals to the intelligence of consumers by promoting sunburn prevention at tanning bed facilities through trained professionals who teach consumers how to “tan safely” without getting sunburned.

“This tactic fails to mention that tanning to prevent sunburn provides only an SPF protection of 3, while simultaneously causing damage to the skin that can lead to future skin cancers,” said Dr. Jones. “In addition, studies also show that staff members of indoor tanning facilities do not always enforce the tanning intensity of tanning beds and time regulations of their patrons.”

While Dr. Jones and his colleague concluded that further consumer education about the dangers of tanning is needed, they also point out that the lack of government regulation has allowed the tanning industry to thrive on the public’s misconceptions about tanning through deceptive advertising practices.

FTC Bans Misleading Indoor Tanning Ads

Recognizing the seriousness of this issue, in January 2010 the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a consent order that prohibits the Indoor Tanning Association (ITA) from making false health and safety claims about indoor tanning. The American Academy of Dermatology (Academy) raised its concerns about the false statements being made by the ITA with the FTC in 2008 after the ITA launched an advertising campaign designed to portray indoor tanning as safe and beneficial.

“The American Academy of Dermatology commends the FTC for its investigation into the false and deceptive health and safety claims about indoor tanning being perpetuated by the indoor tanning industry,” said dermatologist David M. Pariser, MD, FAAD, president of the American Academy of Dermatology. “The scientific facts are clear: Exposure to UV radiation – either from the sun or from artificial light sources such as indoor tanning – increases the risk of developing skin cancer, including melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer.”

Source
American Academy of Dermatology

Stroke victims may have a longer window of opportunity to receive treatment to save their brain cells, demonstrates a literature review published by University of Alberta medical researchers in Lancet Neurology.

The review, which was published online last week, was Ashfaq Shuaib and his colleagues. Shuaib, the senior author, is a researcher in the Division of Neurology with the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry at the University of Alberta. He is also a practising neurologist and a stroke specialist.

Literature reviews, which bring together large amounts of information from numerous studies, is one form of clinical research often referred to as health-outcomes research. This kind of “translational” work is valuable, since it synthesizes knowledge that lab researchers know and analyzes it for practising physicians so they can provide better patient care. The Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry has special expertise in conducting sophisticated health-outcomes research – taking knowledge “from bench to bedside.”

Shuaib reviewed stroke studies that examined the use of imaging to measure blood flow in the brain after a stroke. The literature was written from 1980 to July 2011. His review notes that using advanced neuroimaging, such as multi-dimensional brain CT scans and MRIs, can provide physicians important information about blood flow in the brain following a stroke. This information could enable doctors to provide better treatment to prevent brain cells from dying, through the use of techniques to increase blood flow in the brain.

The review noted that the presence of good “collateral” blood flow in the brain can “sustain brain tissue for hours” after major arteries to the brain have been affected by a stroke, and this flow could potentially offset injury to the brain. Enhancing or maintaining strong blood flow is a potential therapeutic treatment for stroke; it is currently under investigation in several stroke centres around the world, he says.

Shuaib’s review notes that stroke is the second most common cause of death, with the majority of the 16 million cases happening in developed nations. A lack of blood flow is the primary cause of a stroke. It is typically triggered by a blockage in a brain artery due to arteries thinning from a build-up of plaque, or by a mass from the heart or neck vessels restricting blood flow to the brain.

Normal blood flow in the brain is between 50-60 ml/100g/minute. If someone suffers a stroke and blood flow levels in the brain fall below 10 ml/100g/minute, brain cells die within minutes of the stroke. However, if blood flow in the brain is between 10-20ml/100g/minute, “the neurons cease function but remain structurally intact and are potentially revivable if normal blood flow is restored,” Shuaib says in the review.

He further adds that brain cell death after a stroke may not be complete for hours or even days after a stroke, meaning that the window to treat some stroke patients is longer than three hours – the standard timeframe that has been referenced in medicine since the 1990s. Shuaib says cell death can be complete within as little as an hour in some people following a stroke, while other patients have viable brain tissue and cells for days or indefinitely after a stroke. And with current imaging technology, physicians can determine whether brain cells are dead or have simply ceased functioning post-stroke.

“What we’re recommending is, don’t look at the window of time only, look at the important tissue window which may be quite prolonged in many patients,” says Shuaib. “Don’t just say, ‘oh this person had a stroke 4.5 hours ago, end of story.’ This person may have very good tissue you could treat.”