OK, boomer: You ’re not the only one who needs testing for hepatitis C
It turns out that many more people than just boomers can benefit from testing for hepatitis C, a viral infection of the liver that often causes no symptoms. If you’re a member of the baby-boom generation (born between 1946 and 1964), your doctor may have already recommended the test. But those born before or after those years may not have known about the test unless they had a risk factor for hepatitis C, such as a history of intravenous drug use. A new guideline is changing this approach.
Why the different recommendations for baby boomers?
In 2012–2013, the CDC and the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) establ...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - March 31, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Robert H. Shmerling, MD Tags: Digestive Disorders Health Infectious diseases Men's Health Sexual Conditions Women's Health Source Type: blogs
Alcohol Damage to the Liver – What Happens?
Alcohol use disorder and heavy drinking present many harmful health risks. They can include everything from high blood pressure to fatal seizures. One of the most well-known health risks that come along with prolonged heavy drinking is liver damage. How does alcohol impact the liver, and what types of alcohol damage to the liver are there?
In order to better understand alcohol damage to the liver, it is important to learn how the liver processes alcohol. According to MyDr, there are 2 ways that alcohol can be processed by your liver:
Most alcohol is broken down, or metabolized, by an enzyme in your liver cells known as a...
Source: Cliffside Malibu - March 4, 2020 Category: Addiction Authors: Jaclyn Uloth Tags: Alcohol Alcohol Rehab Information Alcoholism Detox Resources for Alcohol and Drugs/Opiates alcohol abuse alcohol dependence alcohol detox alcohol treatment alcohol treatment center alcohol treatment facility Source Type: blogs
Measure Twice, Cut Once: How Making Mistakes Can Help Us Learn and Grow
I can’t count the number of nights in the late 1980s and early 1990s, my husband and I spent watching one of his favorite shows on PBS called This Old House. A predecessor to the present-day home renovation programs, it offered viewers an inside look at projects with scrupulous attention to details. Bearded Bob Vila and Norm Abram were the host and co-host, builder and master carpenter for this show that exuded a folksy feel. One of the classic lines, courtesy of Norm, was “Measure twice, cut once,” which implied caution and care for outcome.
Sadly, at the time, it was not part of my code of ethics. Often, I rushed t...
Source: World of Psychology - March 4, 2020 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Edie Weinstein, MSW, LSW Tags: Personal Self-Help Coping Skills mistakes Perfectionism Resilience Source Type: blogs
Beyond heart health: Could your statin help prevent liver cancer?
Liver cancer is hard to treat. It’s a top-five cause of cancer-related death worldwide and a growing cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States. Since liver cancer is often found at a late stage, when treatment has limited benefit, there has been increasing interest in prevention. That’s where statin medications might come in.
Liver cancer is usually caused by chronic liver disease, so an important way to prevent liver cancer is to treat the underlying trigger. For example, curing hepatitis C infection — an important cause of chronic liver disease — reduces the risk of liver cancer. However, if the liver d...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - January 27, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Irun Bhan, MD Tags: Cancer Drugs and Supplements Health Source Type: blogs
“I Want Complete Labs Ordered Before My Physical”
By HANS DUVEFELT, MD
Many patients make this or similar requests, especially in January it seems.
This phenomenon has its roots in two things. The first is the common misconception that random blood test abnormalities are more likely early warning signs of disease than statistical or biochemical aberrances and false alarms. The other is the perverse policy of many insurance companies to cover physicals and screening tests with zero copay but to apply deductibles and copays for people who need tests or services because they are sick.
It is crazy to financially penalize a person with chest pain for going to the ...
Source: The Health Care Blog - January 14, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Christina Liu Tags: Medical Education Medical Practice Physicians Primary Care blood tests Hans Duvefelt Labs Source Type: blogs
Sexually transmitted infections are on the rise: Should you worry?
In 2018, the number of bacterial sexually transmitted infections (STIs) reported in the United States reached an all-time high. This is worrisome for many reasons. Having an STI can raise risks for HIV, infertility, pregnancy complications, and infant death. Fortunately, all of these outcomes can be avoided if people receive appropriate treatment.
What are STIs?
STIs are illnesses caused by microorganisms passed between people during sex. An STI can affect anyone who is exposed to it. Syphilis, gonorrhea, and chlamydia are the most common bacterial infections. Trichomoniasis, a protozoan infection, is also diagnosed freque...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - December 11, 2019 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Eric A. Meyerowitz, MD Tags: Adolescent health HIV Men's Health Relationships Sexual Conditions Women's Health Source Type: blogs
HPV and cancer: The underappreciated connection
Did you know that a viral infection can lead to a number of different types of cancer? If that comes as a surprise to you, you’re not alone. In fact, according to a new study, many people have no idea that a common viral infection called human papilloma virus (HPV) can cause cancer of the genitals, anus, mouth, and throat, as well as cervical cancer.
Viral infections and cancer
The connection between certain viral infections and cancer has been recognized for many years. Some of the most well-established examples include hepatitis C, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and human papillomavirus (HPV). One thing these viru...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - November 8, 2019 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Robert H. Shmerling, MD Tags: Adolescent health Cancer Infectious diseases Men's Health Sexual Conditions Vaccines Women's Health Source Type: blogs
TWiV 565: Karolinska Virology
From the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Vincent speaks with Niklas Björkström, Ali Mirazimi, and Matti Sällberg about their work on the impact of chronic hepatitis C virus infection on NK cells, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus vaccines, and immunotherapy to block entry of hepatitis B and D viruses. Click arrow to play Download TWiV 565 (52 MB .mp3, […] (Source: virology blog)
Source: virology blog - September 15, 2019 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: This Week in Virology Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus dna vaccine hepatitis b virus hepatitis C virus hepatitis D virus immunotherapy Karolinska Institute NK cell T cell exhaustion treatment interruption viral viruses Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, August 19th 2019
In conclusion, our data show how oncogenic and tumor-suppressive drivers of cellular senescence act to regulate surveillance processes that can be circumvented to enable SnCs to elude immune recognition but can be reversed by cell surface-targeted interventions to purge the SnCs that persist in vitro and in patients. Since eliminating SnCs can prevent tumor progression, delay the onset of degenerative diseases, and restore fitness; since NKG2D-Ls are not widely expressed in healthy human tissues and NKG2D-L shedding is an evasion mechanism also employed by tumor cells; and since increasing numbers of B cells express NKG2D ...
Source: Fight Aging! - August 18, 2019 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
Jim Mellon Interviewed by Adam Ford at Undoing Aging 2019
Adam Ford of Science, Technology, and the Future carried out a number of interviews while at Undoing Aging in Berlin earlier this year. The interview materials are steadily being processed and uploaded, and that just recently included this interview with Jim Mellon, billionaire investor and philanthropist, cofounder of Juvenescence, and a very down to earth fellow who is interested in improving the human condition by targeting aging with new biotechnologies. Accordingly, he has used his resources to put himself into a position to talk up the longevity industry, move research forward, and attract a great deal more funding f...
Source: Fight Aging! - August 12, 2019 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Healthy Life Extension Community Source Type: blogs
Health Reform Job One: Stop the Gouging! | Part 2
By BOB HERTZ
We Need Legal Assaults On The Greediest Providers!
When a patient is hospitalized, or diagnosed with a deadly disease, they often have no choice about the cost of their treatment.
They are legally helpless, and vulnerable to price gouging.
We need more legal protection of patients. In some cases we need price controls.
Next in this three-part series, I discuss how we could challenge Big Pharma by lessening regulation of generic drugs, having the government take over production and establishing price review boards.
Assault Phase Three – Challenge Big Pharma
Step One – Less Regulation of...
Source: The Health Care Blog - July 25, 2019 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Christina Liu Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
TWiV 552: Delta and the amazing technicolor dreamcoat
Team TWiV reveals DNA polymerases that do not require a primer, and packaging of hepatitis delta virus by the envelope glycoproteins of diverse viruses. Click arrow to play Download TWiV 552 (70 MB .mp3, 116 min) Subscribe (free): iTunes, Google Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiV! Show notes at microbe.tv/twiv (Source: virology blog)
Source: virology blog - June 16, 2019 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: This Week in Virology bacteriophage de novo synthesis dengue virus DNA polymerase envelope glycoprotein hepatitis b virus hepatitis C virus hepatitis delta virus herlper virus mobile genetic element pipolin primer viral viruses Source Type: blogs
Harm Reduction
Kishore and colleagues in NEJM, including Josiah Rich from a university well known to me, discuss the harm reduction approach to injection drug use (IDU). Basically, this means using evidence to guide practice so as to minimize as much as possible the adverse public health consequences of addiction. In addition to the risk of overdose, which is getting most of the attention nowadays, IDU is a means of transmission of Hepatitis C and HIV, and contaminated needles transmit other common infectious organisms that can result in abscesses, and very serious consequences such as myocarditis.So, assuring that users have access to s...
Source: Stayin' Alive - May 23, 2019 Category: American Health Source Type: blogs
TWiV 547: Upstate virology
Vincent travels to the University at Albany to speak with Cara, Rachel, and Alex about their careers and their work on stress granules, epitranscriptomics, and arboviruses. Click arrow to play Download TWiV 547 (58 MB .mp3, 96 min) Subscribe (free): iTunes, Google Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiV! Show notes at microbe.tv/twiv (Source: virology blog)
Source: virology blog - May 14, 2019 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: This Week in Virology arbovirus DDX68 epitranscriptome flavivirus hepatitis C virus mosquito vector viral viruses West Nile virus zika virus Source Type: blogs
Baby boomers and hepatitis C: What ’s the connection?
Hepatitis C is a viral infection that is spread through contact with infected blood. Hepatitis C infection can be short-term (acute) or long-term (chronic). Most people with acute hepatitis C eventually develop chronic hepatitis C.
Hepatitis C usually does not cause symptoms, which is why most people with hepatitis C don’t know that they are infected. Left untreated, hepatitis C can lead to cirrhosis, liver cancer, and liver failure.
Why screen baby boomers for hepatitis C?
Why are we recommending screening of adults in the baby boomer generation? To understand this, it’s worth reviewing how we got here.
In 1998, t...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - May 1, 2019 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Raymond Chung, MD Tags: Health Healthy Aging Infectious diseases Screening Source Type: blogs
