Month: May 2013

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Some good news for people who enjoy restraints, riding crops and floggers in the bedroom: A new study says you probably don’t have a mental disorder.

The results “seem contradictory to what the general public and professionals believe,” said Andreas Wismeijer of Tilburg University in the Netherlands, who published the study along with Marcel van Assen.

Previous studies had suggested that BDSM activities were linked to mental disorders and vulnerability to abuse, according to the researchers, who published their results in The Journal of Sexual Medicine.

But in the new study, researchers found people who like BDSM, which stands for bondage-discipline, dominance-submission and sadism-masochism, were well adjusted and reported slightly better wellbeing than people who don’t take part in those activities.

“We do have a lot of academic literature that’s finding these positive things and not finding harmful characteristics,” said Dr. Beverly Stiles, who has studied BDSMers but was not involved with the new research.

“The people that identify as being part of the (BDSM) subculture, this is who they see themselves as in their core,” said Stiles, chair of sociology at Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas.

“There have been a number of studies in Finland and other places that basically concluded that there was no more or less psychopathology (or mental illnesses) among those who practice BDSM compared to control groups,” said Dr. Richard Krueger, who researches sexual behavior but wasn’t involved in the new study.

“They were fairly well adjusted or better functioning,” said Krueger, an associate clinical professor of psychiatry at the Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons.

The authors recruited 902 BDSM practitioners and 434 people who don’t take part in BDSM activities through advertisements to take surveys.

The questionnaire asked about BDSMers’ personality, wellbeing and how they handle attachment and rejection.

Overall, BDSMers performed just as well as those who didn’t report any involvement in BDSM activities. In fact, they scored slightly better on questions that measure neuroticism, openness, adventurism, wellbeing, awareness and sensitivity to rejection than the comparison group.

Stiles cautioned, however, that the study’s participants volunteered, which means they may not be representative of the general population.

FIFTY SHADES EFFECT

Rachel Venning, co-founder of the Babeland chain of adult stores in New York and Seattle, said this was the first time that she had heard that past research connected BDSM and mental illness.

“We have the section that’s got the blindfolds, cuffs and floggers and people don’t see it and go ‘that’s psycho!'” Venning told Reuters Health.

In fact, Babeland stores saw a jump in sales of BDSM items mentioned in E.L. James’s popular 2011 romance novel “Fifty Shades of Grey.”

“Every person on every airplane and every beach chair was reading a copy of that book. That gave people a little more permission to explore that stuff without making them feel like a freak or weirdo,” Venning said.

Stiles told Reuters Health that BDSM practitioners include doctors, nurses and lawyers.

Some diagnostic criteria manuals, in certain European countries, have removed references to BDSM, Krueger said. However, the new edition of the American Psychological Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-5) still considers sexual masochism a disorder if it causes people stress or dysfunction in their lives.

SOURCE: bit.ly/14eYiKc The Journal of Sexual Medicine, online May 16, 2013.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Kids who are short for their age but otherwise healthy probably don’t need extensive blood tests to determine if a disease is stunting their growth, researchers said in a new study.

Of 235 short kids without symptoms who were referred for specialty testing, just three had a possible diagnosis picked up on those labs, and only one diagnosis – for celiac disease – was confirmed, researchers found.

“Most of the screening tests are for diseases you really wouldn’t want to miss, but it’s rare that any of those diseases (would only) present with short stature,” said by Dr. Stephanie Sisley, who led the study.

Guidelines on short stature from endocrinology groups recommend lab screening for very short children, including those who don’t have any problems picked up on a physical exam. That screening includes blood tests for thyroid and growth hormones as well as calcium and other nutrients.

But one of the authors of those guidelines agreed that based on the new findings, kids who are short but have no other symptoms probably don’t need extensive screening.

Sisley and her colleagues reviewed the medical charts of 1,373 short children who were referred to the endocrinology clinic at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center between 2008 and 2011. Of them, 235 were below the third percentile for height and had a normal check-up and no record of having stopped growing.

A 10-year-old girl who is four feet, one inch tall would fall just below the third percentile, for example, as would a six-year-old boy who is three feet, five inches.

Few of those children underwent all tests recommended by the guidelines; the average kid had about two-thirds of them. One was diagnosed with celiac disease – when the body can’t process certain grains – and two others had signs of underlying conditions but didn’t finish follow-up tests.

There were 10 false-positive lab results that didn’t pan out on further testing.

Altogether, the tests cost $315,321 – or $105,107 per possible diagnosis, the study team reported in The Journal of Pediatrics.

Sisley and her colleagues said their findings show many children are inappropriately referred to specialists for short stature. Rather than looking at a child’s height at one point, it’s more important to track it over time to see if a kid has stopped growing, they wrote.

“Any patient who really isn’t growing should be checked out,” Sisley, now at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, told Reuters Health.

Dr. Alan Rogol, a professor emeritus at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, agreed the new findings only apply to those kids who are short but have no record of growth delay.

The kids in this study “had nothing that pointed to difficulty in any system, and many of them were short kids of shorter parents,” Rogol, who reviewed the study for the journal, told Reuters Health.

He and Sisley both said those kids should be followed by their pediatrician for at least six months – then referred to a specialist if they really aren’t growing, or any time new symptoms show up.

“In this idealized set of kids, the things that pediatricians do best… are probably more worthwhile than sending them over to see an endocrinologist or somebody else,” Rogol said.

“I think parents are most worried that they’re missing something in the kid. It’s actually okay to follow the growth of a patient for six months or 12 months to see if something’s going on before you do specialized testing,” Sisley said.

“Much of the time, if their child is otherwise healthy… the bottom line is they’re probably going to be fine in the long run.”

SOURCE: bit.ly/16vQeM9 The Journal of Pediatrics, online May 23, 2013.

30 May 2013 Last updated at 19:01 ET

By James Gallagher Health and science reporter, BBC News

The wraps inflate to move blood through the legs

Cheap inflatable leg wraps may save the lives of patients after a stroke, according to research in Scotland.

The devices regularly squeeze the legs to keep blood flowing and prevent formation of fatal blood clots.

A trial with 2,876 patients, published in the Lancet, showed there were fewer clots with the wraps.

The Stroke Association said the results were “extremely encouraging” and had the potential to save thousands of lives.

Bleeding on brain

A clot in the leg, a deep vein thrombosis, is normally associated with long flights, but is a problem for hospital patients unable to move.

Around 60,000 people a year in the UK are immobile when admitted to hospital after a stroke.

Doctors at Western General Hospital and the University of Edinburgh said compression socks did not improve survival and clot-busting drugs led to other problems, including bleeding on the brain.

They tested the devices, which fit around the legs and fill with air every minute. They compress the legs and force the blood back to the heart.

They were worn for a month or until the patient recovered and was able to move again.

‘Reduces the risk’

In the study, 8.5% of patients using the compression device developed blood clots, compared with 12.1% of patients who were treated normally.

Prof Martin Dennis said: “At last we have a simple, safe and affordable treatment that reduces the risk of deep vein thrombosis and even appears to reduce the risk of dying after a stroke.

“We estimate that this treatment could potentially help about 60,000 stroke patients each year in the UK.

“If this number were treated, we would prevent about 3,000 developing a deep vein thrombosis and perhaps save 1,500 lives.”

He said the system should also be tested in other immobile patients, such as those with pneumonia.

‘Incorporate into clinical guidelines’

Prof Tony Rudd, who chairs the Intercollegiate Stroke Guideline Group at the Royal College of Physicians, said: “This study is a major breakthrough showing how a simple and safe treatment can save lives.

“It is one of the most important research studies to emerge from the field of stroke in recent years.”

Dr Dale Webb, of the Stroke Association charity, said: “The results of this research are extremely encouraging and show that using a compression device on the legs of patients at risk of developing blood clots could be a more effective treatment.

“This new device has the potential to save thousands of lives and we would like to see it incorporated into national clinical guidelines.”

31 May 2013 Last updated at 04:16 ET

Antibiotics use can lead to diarrhoea, but probiotics may hold the solution

People who are on antibiotics may benefit from taking probiotics at the same time, a review of evidence shows.

Scientists at the Cochrane Collaboration say taking the supplements could prevent diarrhoea – a common side-effect of many antibiotics.

They looked specifically at cases of diarrhoea caused by the potentially dangerous Clostridium difficile bug.

Experts say probiotics could be a “pre-emptive strike” to ensure a healthy balance of bacteria in the gut.

Antibiotics can disturb the ecosystem of organisms normally present in the digestive system, allowing bacteria such as C. difficile to overwhelm the gut.

And people infected with the bug can suffer from diarrhoea, an inflamed and painful bowel or even death.

Researchers worldwide have been investigating whether probiotics – cocktails of micro-organisms – can keep gut bacteria in check by competing with more harmful bugs.

‘Special bacterium’

Scientists from the independent Cochrane Collaboration looked at data from 23 trials involving 4,213 patients who were on antibiotic treatment for a variety of reasons.

The researchers found 2% of patients given probiotics developed C. difficile-associated diarrhoea compared with 6% of patients who were taking placebos.

Professor Brendan Wren of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, who was not involved in the review, said: “Research into the prevention of C difficile is important – there is something special about the bacterium and the toxin it produces which allows it to have competitive advantage over other bugs and makes it difficult to get rid of.

“The probiotic approach is a good idea. It could provide a pre-emptive strike to make sure the balance in your gut is fine.”

The authors suggest probiotics could be particularly useful when there are outbreaks of C. difficile.

Dr Bradley Johnston, part of the Cochrane team, said: “Implementing the appropriate dose and strains of probiotics in hospitals could provide cost savings and improve quality of life.”

And the review showed that people taking probiotics had fewer unwanted side-effects than those on placebos, including stomach cramps, nausea and taste disturbances.

The authors say more work needs to be done to to pinpoint exactly which types of probiotics work best.

And though probiotics were seen to prevent diarrhoea associated with the bug, they note they did not prevent infections with C. difficile.

They suggest this property needs further investigation to help them understand more about how probiotics work.

31 May 2013 Last updated at 04:16 ET

Antibiotics use can lead to diarrhoea, but probiotics may hold the solution

People who are on antibiotics may benefit from taking probiotics at the same time, a review of evidence shows.

Scientists at the Cochrane Collaboration say taking the supplements could prevent diarrhoea – a common side-effect of many antibiotics.

They looked specifically at cases of diarrhoea caused by the potentially dangerous Clostridium difficile bug.

Experts say probiotics could be a “pre-emptive strike” to ensure a healthy balance of bacteria in the gut.

Antibiotics can disturb the ecosystem of organisms normally present in the digestive system, allowing bacteria such as C. difficile to overwhelm the gut.

And people infected with the bug can suffer from diarrhoea, an inflamed and painful bowel or even death.

Researchers worldwide have been investigating whether probiotics – cocktails of micro-organisms – can keep gut bacteria in check by competing with more harmful bugs.

‘Special bacterium’

Scientists from the independent Cochrane Collaboration looked at data from 23 trials involving 4,213 patients who were on antibiotic treatment for a variety of reasons.

The researchers found 2% of patients given probiotics developed C. difficile-associated diarrhoea compared with 6% of patients who were taking placebos.

Professor Brendan Wren of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, who was not involved in the review, said: “Research into the prevention of C difficile is important – there is something special about the bacterium and the toxin it produces which allows it to have competitive advantage over other bugs and makes it difficult to get rid of.

“The probiotic approach is a good idea. It could provide a pre-emptive strike to make sure the balance in your gut is fine.”

The authors suggest probiotics could be particularly useful when there are outbreaks of C. difficile.

Dr Bradley Johnston, part of the Cochrane team, said: “Implementing the appropriate dose and strains of probiotics in hospitals could provide cost savings and improve quality of life.”

And the review showed that people taking probiotics had fewer unwanted side-effects than those on placebos, including stomach cramps, nausea and taste disturbances.

The authors say more work needs to be done to to pinpoint exactly which types of probiotics work best.

And though probiotics were seen to prevent diarrhoea associated with the bug, they note they did not prevent infections with C. difficile.

They suggest this property needs further investigation to help them understand more about how probiotics work.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Tranquilizers known as benzodiazepines and certain older antidepressants are linked with a greater chance of having erectile dysfunction (ED), according to a new survey.

“Definitely it confirms the tricyclics (antidepressants)” are tied to ED, said Dr. Richard Balon, a psychiatry professor at Wayne State University School of Medicine.

Contrary to some other studies, however, the research did not find any increased risk of ED among men taking blood-pressure medications.

“I don’t know what to make of this,” said Balon, who was not part of the study.

Certain health conditions, such as high blood pressure and diabetes, are risk factors for impotence.

Previous research has suggested that medications themselves, especially when a man is taking several different prescription drugs, are tied to a greater risk for erectile dysfunction (see Reuters Health story of December 8, 2011 here: reut.rs/vp9UAz).

To see how that relationship shakes out with individual medication types, a research team led by Varant Kupelian at New England Research Institutes in Watertown, Massachusetts, surveyed 2,301 men about their prescription drug use and their sexual function.

Erectile dysfunction was defined as scoring 17 or below on the 25-point scale of a self-assessment of erection firmness, reliability and satisfaction.

The researchers found that about one in five of the men surveyed had ED.

Among 60 men who had taken a tricyclic antidepressant in the last month, nearly half also qualified as having ED.

In contrast, one quarter of the men who had not taken a tricyclic had ED.

Popular tricyclic antidepressants include amitryptyline, and the brand name drugs Anafranil, Tofranil and Vivactil.

After taking into account risk factors for ED, such as age and heart disease, the researchers determined that men on these drugs had a more than three-fold greater risk of experiencing ED.

Men taking benzodiazepines such as Valium, Xanax, Klonopin and Ativan, often used to treat anxiety, were also more than two times as likely to have ED.

Similar to men on tricyclics, nearly half of men who had taken a benzodiazepine in the last month had ED, compared to about a quarter of men who had not taken the drug.

The study can’t say whether the drugs are causing the sexual disorder, the erectile dysfunction is contributing to the psychiatric condition, or if perhaps the two problems share an underlying cause.

“We really cannot say anything about causation here and we don’t know what are the pathways that might be acting on erection function or not,” Kupelian told Reuters Health.

Men taking hypertension medication did not have a higher risk of ED, Kupelian’s team reports in the medical journal BJU International.

“This was a little unexpected, because we thought we would see something,” said Kupelian.

He said his study made sure to account for the hypertension itself as well as other health factors that might explain why his group didn’t see more cases of ED among the men taking hypertension medication.

Men taking anti-inflammatory drugs were also no more likely to have ED than men who didn’t take them.

Balon advised caution in interpreting the results, particularly with regard to benzodiazepines, because there were a relatively small number of men – 90 – who had used those medications.

Kupelian agreed that more research is needed. “These are exploratory analyses,” he said.

Kupelian said the results are not to be used for making treatment recommendations, and if men are concerned about their medications they should talk to their doctors.

SOURCE: bit.ly/174H4p6 BJU International, online May 14, 2013.

LONDON (Reuters) – Five top Japanese drug companies are to open their “libraries” of experimental compounds to scrutiny by scientists hunting new treatments for malaria, tuberculosis and other diseases affecting the world’s poor.

The initiative, announced on Thursday, is the first project under a new $100 million partnership between the drugmakers, the Japanese government and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to fund research into neglected tropical diseases.

The venture marks a change of tack by Japanese pharmaceutical firms, which have been slower than their Western counterparts to invest in emerging markets and address the problem of developing medicines for poor countries.

That is starting to change, with companies like Daiichi Sankyo and Takeda Pharmaceutical having made important acquisitions in emerging markets in recent years.

The new Global Health Innovative Technology Fund said the inaugural project would finance work by three non-profit groups that will search for new drug candidates in compound libraries maintained by Japanese drugmakers and research institutes.

The Japanese companies involved in the project are Astellas Pharma, Daiichi Sankyo, Eisai, Shionogi and Takeda Pharmaceutical.

(Reporting by Ben Hirschler; Editing by David Cowell)

LONDON (Reuters) – Five top Japanese drug companies are to open their “libraries” of experimental compounds to scrutiny by scientists hunting new treatments for malaria, tuberculosis and other diseases affecting the world’s poor.

The initiative, announced on Thursday, is the first project under a new $100 million partnership between the drugmakers, the Japanese government and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to fund research into neglected tropical diseases.

The venture marks a change of tack by Japanese pharmaceutical firms, which have been slower than their Western counterparts to invest in emerging markets and address the problem of developing medicines for poor countries.

That is starting to change, with companies like Daiichi Sankyo and Takeda Pharmaceutical having made important acquisitions in emerging markets in recent years.

The new Global Health Innovative Technology Fund said the inaugural project would finance work by three non-profit groups that will search for new drug candidates in compound libraries maintained by Japanese drugmakers and research institutes.

The Japanese companies involved in the project are Astellas Pharma, Daiichi Sankyo, Eisai, Shionogi and Takeda Pharmaceutical.

(Reporting by Ben Hirschler; Editing by David Cowell)