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Calcium supplements linked to post-stroke dementia in women
Conclusion The media paint this as a troubling study for older women who take calcium to strengthen their bones. However the small size of the study (only 98 women took calcium supplements, and only 14 of those got dementia) and its observational nature mean that we cannot rely on the results. As the researchers mention, it is possible that those taking supplements were less healthy than those that didn't in some unmeasured way. Further research may improve our confidence in these results. Broken bones are not a trivial matter for older people – a broken hip can be the difference between being able to live independentl...
Source: NHS News Feed - August 18, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Neurology Medication Older people Source Type: news

Can HRT in early menopause cut heart disease risk?
ConclusionThis double-blind RCT found that women taking HRT less than six years after the menopause had slower artery wall thickening than those taking a placebo. This represented the main measure of atherosclerosis progression tested; other measures showed no difference, so the results were not as conclusive as they could have been. Women taking HRT 10 or more years after menopause also showed no difference in atherosclerosis progression compared with a placebo, further complicating the picture.An important limitation of this study is the lack of a patient relevant endpoint, such as cardiovascular events or mortality. Pre...
Source: NHS News Feed - April 1, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Heart/lungs Medication Source Type: news

Can concussion be tested for with a 'simple' blood test?
Conclusion This study is a prospective cohort study that aimed to investigate the use of two proteins in the blood – GFAP and UCH-L1 – as markers for detecting mild to moderate traumatic brain injury. The study found both proteins could be present in the blood after a head injury, with higher levels of UCH-L1 in the early stages after injury, while GFAP seemed to be a good marker for up to a week after injury. But both biomarkers were not found in all cases. One in five people with a brain injury did not have detectable levels of GFAP, and 1 in 10 did not have UCH-L1. This substantially reduces their ability to be us...
Source: NHS News Feed - March 29, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Medical practice Neurology Source Type: news

Sugary drinks linked to increased fat levels around vital organs
Conclusion This US cohort study found drinking sugar-sweetened beverages on a daily basis is associated with the highest increase in fat accumulation around the abdominal organs, compared with people who do not consume them. But there was an average increase in the amount of this fat in all people who took part in the study, although this was lowest in people who never consumed sugar-sweetened beverages. The study was prospective, which limits some sources of bias, but it has some limitations. For example, the food frequency questionnaire was only conducted once, at baseline. The results are therefore reliant on the p...
Source: NHS News Feed - January 12, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Food/diet Diabetes Heart/lungs Obesity Source Type: news

Caution urged over CT scan radiation doses
BBC News reports on a sharp rise in the number of CT scans being performed, exposing people to the potential health risks of radiation. However, as The Daily Telegraph says, it is not possible to calculate the cancer risk due to exposure to CT scans because there is a lack of data. These media stories follow the publication of a report by the Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment (COMARE). COMARE has reviewed trends in the use of CT scans in the UK. The review weighs up the risk-benefit balance of using CT scans, and considers ways to obtain the best quality scan image while minimising the necessary...
Source: NHS News Feed - August 15, 2014 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Medical practice Source Type: news

Can a 'microwave helmet' really detect strokes?
Conclusion This study has shown that haemorrhagic strokes could potentially be distinguished from ischaemic strokes by analysing microwave scattering measurements. While the two types of stroke can already be accurately diagnosed by CT or MRI scans in hospital, the “microwave helmet” development is important because it could potentially be used before someone arrives in hospital. This would avoid any time delay and allow people with ischaemic stroke to receive the anti-clotting medication that they need as soon as possible, potentially reducing the extent of damage the stroke causes. The technique isn’t perfect ye...
Source: NHS News Feed - June 17, 2014 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Heart/lungs Medical practice Source Type: news

Scan could detect those on brink of heart attack
Conclusion This is a valuable study which shows the promise of using PET-CT with radioactively labelled sodium fluoride (NaF) as a way of identifying fatty deposits in the heart arteries that could be at risk of rupturing and causing a heart attack. The results confirmed that the marker used in this study (NaF) was better than the chemical marker normally used in PET-CT scans (FDG). The technique has the principal value of being a non-invasive technique compared with coronary angiography, which is the standard method used to look at blockages in heart arteries. As it does not involve surgical intervention, this could ha...
Source: NHS News Feed - November 11, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Heart/lungs Medical practice Source Type: news