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Heart Disease, Cancer Top Two Leading Causes of Death

Animated man with bacteria showing moving towards him The CDC has presented a report on the 10 leading causes of death in 2016, which accounted for 74% of all deaths that occurred in the US that year, with heart disease and cancer topping the list.

The National Vital Statistics Report was compiled using information from all death certificates filed in the 50 states and the District of Columbia in 2014. According to the findings, the 10 leading causes of death, in rank order, were: diseases of the heart; malignant neoplasms (cancer); chronic lower respiratory diseases; accidents; cerebrovascular diseases (stroke); Alzheimer’s disease; diabetes; influenza and pneumonia; nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis (kidney disease); and suicide.

“Cause-of-death ranking is a popular method of presenting mortality statistics and is a useful tool for illustrating the relative burden of cause-specific mortality, but it must be used cautiously with a clear understanding of the limitations underlying the method,” the researchers wrote in the report.

Of the 10 leading causes, 8 saw significant increases in the number of deaths, led by Alzheimer’s disease, which increased by 10.4% from 2013 to 2014. The other causes that saw large increases in the number of deaths from year to year were: unintentional injuries (4.2% increase); suicide (3.9%); cerebrovascular diseases (3.2%); nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis (2.2%); malignant neoplasms (1.2%); diabetes (1.2%); and diseases of the heart (0.5%). Meanwhile, the number of deaths caused by chronic lower respiratory disease and influenza and pneumonia decreased by 1.4% and 3.1%, respectively.

Heart disease and cancer were the top two causes of death and accounted for 45.9% of all deaths in 2014. They were the two leading causes of death for both men and women. However, men and women diverged in the ranking of other causes of death. Unintentional injuries were the third-leading cause of death for males, while chronic lower respiratory disease ranked third for women.

In addition, while suicide ranked seventh and chronic liver disease and cirrhosis ranked tenth for men, neither was among the 10 leading causes of death for women. In addition, kidney disease ranked ninth and septicemia ranked tenth for women, but neither were among the top 10 for men.

Stem Cells Therapy the Future of Diabetes Treatment?

Stem cell therapy may be able to help treat Type 2 diabetes. Irv Weissman is currently leading a laboratory called the Weissman Laboratories at Stanford School of Medicine’s Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine program. Weissman spent study years researching the use of stem cells, where one third of women who received cancer free stem cells were still alive, without any disease versus 7% of women who were alive, but never received cancer free cells.

Weissman is now at Stanford University to start conducting human trials using stem cells and will start a pure stem cell transplant center. Juvenile diabetes as well as other juvenile illnesses such as “bubble boy” disease will be one of the disease that will be trialled. The process will involved taking purified blood stem cells will be from a related donor of an unaffected disease to be given to a patient with a disease. Before the clinical trials began, all animal models used during stem cells studies showed success as well as much promise for regenerative medicine.

A study published in the journal Stem Cell Reports showed that transplanting pancreatic stem cells from human cells into mice with Type 2 diabetes symptoms showed improvement. Another study was done using animals with type 1 diabetes. Blood was taken from stem cells from a donor without diabetes. Insulin producing cells in a healthy pancreas were transplanted into a diabetic animal model and showed improvement. Currently, this same technique will be used in human trials at Stanford. Different techniques will be used as well as the use of embryonic stem cells taken from a diabetes affected donor to be reprogrammed and transplanted back into the same donor. This technique will not only create a huge leap in the treatment of diabetes and other immunocompromised diseases but also become a platform in the way we treat these diseases. Many labs around the US and the world are currently also working to get every tissue specific stem cell and start trials using other diseases. If successful, stem cell therapy can soon even replace harmful chemotherapy.

Zika Vaccine On Its Way

On March 2nd in 2015, Brazil first notified the World Health Organization (WHO) with reports of an illness characterized by skin rash in its northeastern states. From February to April, about 7,000 cases of illness with skin rash were reported in these states. Since the cases were mild with no reported deaths, Zika was not a suspect of causing these illnesses. The cause was in fact Zika. It wasn’t until February of this year that WHO declared that Zika infection was associated with microcephaly and other neurological disorders. Since March of this year, researchers have been scrambling to develop a Zika vaccine to avoid the delayed response of a vaccine that occurred with the Ebola epidemic. Vaccine trials for Ebola began too late, as soon as the the rate of infection started to drop.

Agencies Involved in Vaccine

Since March, 18 agencies and companies around the world raced to develop Zika vaccines, including inactive vaccines that could be safely given to pregnant women. Alexander Precioso, the director of the clinical trials and pharmacovigilance division at Butantan Institute in Sao Paulo, Brazil said a “long term vaccine made from a weakened Zika virus might be the most effective because it mimics the natural course of infection more closely than other types.” The US National Institutes of Health are developing this type of DNA-based vaccine that would induce an immune response targeting both Zika and dengue.

Advancing the Virus Research

With no vaccine still in sight, the race is on. Just this past Monday, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) decided to expedite the process of developing a Zika vaccine and provided $1.1 billion in funding to combat the Zika virus. The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) that oversees development for vaccine research will provide $21 million over the next 30 months to the Center for innovation in Advanced Development Manufacturing (CIADM) that that will present a variety of studies to move rapidly through the early stages of vaccine development. After these studies are done, CIADM will submit a request to the Food & Drug Association to start clinical trials.

BARDA and HHS will give the task of manufacturing the vaccine to Emergent Biosolutions, a drug developer located in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Emergent expects to have a vaccine candidate ready by the end of this year for clinical trials. From there, Emergent will move production of the vaccine from its Gaithersburg facility to its bigger Baltimore manufacturing plant and start producing the vaccine for patients. Emergent is also known for manufacturing the anthrax vaccine and other cancer related drugs.

Symptoms of Postpartum Depression

Commonly known as baby blues, Postpartum Depression hits some mother’s post childbirth pretty hard. The condition is also known as postnatal depression and is caused by the sudden lapse of hormones, such as estrogen and progesterone along with various hormones produced by the thyroid gland. Production of these hormones generally plummets after childbirth. Add sleep deprivation, hormonal shifts and anxiety and feeling of loss of control over one’s life; and you have a recipe for disaster.

In order to have a better understanding of postpartum depression, you should know what to expect in post birth and how to assist your spouse with this type of depression, the symptoms of postpartum depression are the following:

Inability to bond with baby

One of the most common symptoms of postpartum depression in women is the inability to bond with the baby. This could be both, physical and emotional. While some women experience lack of connection with their newborn and have to ask for their partner’s assistance or the hospital staff, others may find it difficult to hold and nurse the baby themselves at all.

Crying Fits

If you have forgotten all about PMS during pregnancy, you are in for a huge surprise after you deliver the baby for the postpartum symptoms, which includes excessive crying on top of the list. The feelings of guilt due to not being able to care for your child, the inability to help the baby latch on to you for a few days, or simply a colic child can induce the feeling of inadequacy, which are too common during the phase of postpartum depression.

Loss of Energy

Not only do new mothers face a drastic shift in their energy levels, but they also experience severe drops in appetite as well as overwhelming fatigue most of the time. Mothers experiencing these symptoms should consult their medical practitioners for treatment.

Suicidal Thoughts

Postpartum depression is obviously heightened if the mother is having suicidal thoughts or thoughts to cause physical harm to herself and (or) the baby. Usually, these symptoms occur in cases of acute depression. Anxiety and panic attacks are also common symptoms of postpartum depression.

Constant irritability

It is one thing being annoyed the morning after your baby had kept you up wailing all night, and it is an entirely different thing to be irritated at everything and every person around. Symptoms of postpartum depression include constant irritability and expressed thoughts about not being a good mother, or feeling unworthy of the bundle of joy.

Shift in Sleeping Patterns

Either the patient suffering from postpartum depression would face severe insomnia or would be sleeping too much. In either case, the symptom needs to be monitored for whether it is only the postpartum fatigue or postpartum depression (postpartum depression would be paired with various other symptoms of postnatal depression along with disturbed sleep patterns).

Reduced Interest in general Activities

Some postnatal depression patients report a sudden loss in interests and activities which they used to enjoy a lot. Many people lose interest in their jobs and quit considering it as a general aftermath of giving birth, but that’s not it. Also, many postpartum depression victims show symptoms of diminished thinking ability or lack of concentration on general matters.

Though it is often a difficult battle, overcoming postpartum depression is not impossible. It is critical that you seek help for it immediately, ensuring that you would be, in time, able to take the best care of your baby. Prolonged postpartum depression is detrimental to mental health in the long run and may heighten the risk of the problem recurring after future pregnancies.

First Zika Death in the United States

The first Zika-related death has occurred in the continental United States. A resident of Salt Lake County in Utah died by contracting the virus after traveling to parts of the world where the Zika virus is active. The Salt Lake County resident was also elderly and had an underlying condition according to the press release from the Salt Lake County Health Department.

The announcement came July 8th. The health department also stated that while the person did test positive for the virus, due to health privacy laws (HIPAA), health officials cannot and will not release further details about the person, as well as their travel history other than the person died in late June, tested positive for Zika, was elderly and traveled to a Zika affected region.

Dangers

Mosquito experts assure residents of Salt Lake County that there is no threat of Zika virus infection from the mosquitos in the area. Dr. Ari Faraji, manager of the Salt Lake City Mosquito Abatement District stated, “The exotic mosquito species capable of transmitting Zika virus are not found along the Wasatch Front. In fact, so far this season, we have not deemed those two species (Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus) anywhere in Utah.”

Current Locations

Health officials haven’t identified any Zika infections transmitted by local mosquitoes in regions of the continental United States where mosquitoes capable of carrying Zika virus are found. The most updated information about where mosquitoes are spreading Zika can be found on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s website.

Transmission

Health officials also caution that sexual activity can transmit Zika. Women that are trying to become pregnant or are pregnant should not have unprotected sex with a man that has recently traveled to a Zika affected region.

Travel Warnings

Dr. Dagmar Vitek, medical director of Salt Lake County Health Department said, “This unfortunate situation is a tragic reminder of how important it is to receive proper pre-travel education and to protect yourself from mosquitoes when traveling abroad. Travelers need to also be mindful of other diseases found around the world, including mosquito-borne illnesses like Dengue fever, malaria, and chikungunya.”

You can visit the CDC website on travel information for the latest information on the Zika virus areas, as well as information on other diseases that are showing prominence worldwide. It is also recommended that you contact your physician for recommended vaccines if you are planning on traveling to any third world or underdeveloped country, or if you are unsure if the country you are going to may require a vaccination. Please note, there is no vaccination for the Zika virus at this time, so take extra precautions if you are planning to visit an area currently affected with the Zika virus.

Myths about Alzheimer’s Disease

Alzheimer’s is one of the irreversible diseases which deteriorates the memory and mental condition of the person, subjecting them to phases of memory loss, followed by complete loss and damage of cognitive skills over time. The disease is part of the more commonly known mental state called dementia, which is the generic term for those who lose their cognitive abilities. Alzheimer’s is a chronic, neurodegenerative disease and is one of the most dreaded, due to the fact that the person gradually loses their mental capacity until they cannot think of take care of themselves.

Apart from the commonly known facts, there are some myths surrounding the Alzheimer’s disease, which needs to be addressed, in order to obtain a better understanding if you are with a person suffering from it.

Alzheimer’s disease only happens to people of old age

This is one of the widely known misconceptions about Alzheimer’s disease. If someone is experiencing symptoms, then they shouldn’t put off the doctor’s appointment until their 50th birthday. This disease doesn’t wait to strike people in their senior years only. Although most of the patients of Alzheimer’s disease are above the age of 60 years on average, it doesn’t restrict the disease to old age and can be prevalent among young people as well. Due to not being considered under threat of the disease in midlife, many people aren’t tested for it, thus delaying the diagnosis. This results in major progression of the illness in old age. The early onset is usually genetic, so if someone has a family history of it, it’s better to get a thorough check up on a more frequent basis.

Alzheimer’s disease isn’t deadly

Often people do not take the disease too seriously, which results in failing to acknowledge the fact that it is one of the top 10 diseases leading to death in the U.S. Alzheimer’s patients go far beyond regular forgetfulness which is a part of the aging process, often forgetting to eat and drink even, if living alone. This could easily lead to the danger of starvation. The disease can also lead to breathing problems, pneumonia and trouble swallowing and chewing food which may be fatal.

There isn’t a current cure of Alzheimer’s disease

Although many stories have been published and there have been many claims by nutritionists about the cure of Alzheimer’s disease; there isn’t anything that could stop it from progressing. A healthy lifestyle, medicines and proper diet may improve the general health of an Alzheimer’s patient, subsequently slowing down the progress of the disease, but the illness does grow with time, leaving no other option but to accept it.

Getting mindfully engaged in mental exercises, like puzzles may lower the risk or slow the growth of Alzheimer’s disease, but no person should accept the claims made about medicines, diet regimen or exercise plans to cure it completely.

See latest developments in the cure for Alzheimer’s disease.

Identifying the Early Signs of Autism

The range and severity of symptoms in autism spectrum disorder can vary widely. However, there are common symptoms, such as difficulty with communication, obsessive interests, and repetitive behaviors.

Distinctions in Social Behavior

Deficits in social behavior is one very common symptom of autism. These defects often take the form of reduced eye contact, reduced showing of objects, reduced pointing, reduced following a speaker’s line of gaze, and other issues. As children with autism grow older, other social abnormalities, such as reductions in reciprocal social interaction and difficulty identifying and interpreting others’ emotions, often become apparent.

Early Detection

Identifying autism early, ideally before 18 months, can make a difference. But being able to catch autism early, means understanding autism and being able to identify early signs. Parents should keep an eye on when their child hits key social, emotional, and cognitive milestones. Developmental delays could indicate a heightened risk for autism.

Identifying Deficiency in Communication Skills in Young Children

Regression of communication skills is a serious warning sign. Children may start to develop communication skill, and then regress. This usually occurs between 12 and 24 months. Children who started to speak may stop entirely. Children who started playing social games, such as peek-a-boo, patty cake, or waving goodbye may stop doing so.

Infants with autism spectrum disorder won’t exhibit normal behaviors, such as responding to cuddling, reaching out to be picked up, or looking at their mothers when being fed. Early signs also include babies and toddlers who don’t smile when they are smiled at, don’t respond to their names or familiar voices, don’t follow objects visually or a gesture when someone points things out, don’t imitate movements and facial expressions, don’t play with other people, and don’t ask for help or make other basic requests.

Determining Autism in Older Children

In older children, red flags get more diverse but they still typically revolve around impaired social skills, speech and language difficulties, nonverbal communication difficulties, and inflexible behavior. Older children will appear disinterested in what’s going on around them; will have difficulty playing or making friends; will prefer not to be touched or held; won’t play pretend games, imitate others, or use toys in creative ways; and will seem aloof and detached from others.

Behaviors that may indicate autism is the repetition of the same actions or movements over and over again, which is known as self-stimulatory behaviors. Examples of these behaviors include hand flapping, rocking back and forth, snapping fingers, spinning objects, repeating words or noises, and watching moving objects.

Zika Virus Hits 324 in New York

The New York Department of Health announced this Thursday, June 30th, that as of Tuesday, there are 324 positive cases of Zika virus in New York, with at least 233 in New York City.

Of the 324 cases, 22 have been in pregnant women. In his statement Thursday, Health Commissioner Howard Zucker said, “Mosquito-borne diseases are a major public health threat, one that we monitor closely here in New York. The program is especially important this year as we work aggressively to protect New Yorkers from Zika and minimize the impact of this devastating disease.”

Areas Currently Affected in the United States

Nationwide, the virus is spreading, fortunately, not at an alarming rate. The map below illustrates the disease by state.

The mosquito-borne virus has also been reported in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, and American Samoa.

Currently, in New York State, 18 of the state’s 57 counties outside of New York City have had a positive case of Zika as of last week. This includes two cases in Westchester, one in Putnam and three in Rockland. Dutchess, Monroe, Ontario and Tompkins county are also among those affected as well. The largest majority of Zika cases in New York have been in New York City with 241 and on Long Island, with 36 according to the data from the Department of Health.

Countries of High Risk

The people that are most at risk are those that have recently traveled to the Dominican Republic. Of the 233 that tested positive for Zika in New York City, 140 had reported recently arriving from the Dominican Republic. Other places frequently and recently visited by those that tested positive for the virus included Puerto Rico, with 20 cases, and Guyana with 14 cases.

Follow the Guidelines

The guidelines issued in February by the Department of Health are still in effect. These guidelines include a warning to all women that are pregnant or trying to become pregnant and who have traveled to Zika affected areas to be tested even with no symptoms. Zika virus infection can produce symptoms of fever and/or rash but can also produce zero symptoms.

Currently, pregnant women affected with Zika have a 1% – 29% of their baby being born with birth defects, including microcephaly. Zika virus is also associated with Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare autoimmune syndrome that affected two people in New York City that were infected with Zika. They have since both recovered. Two other cases in New York City are thought to be a result of sexual transmission, which is a growing concern.

Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said during a conference last month that in the coming months, thousands of pregnant women in Puerto Rico could become infected. Currently, a race to create a Zika vaccine is slowly coming into fruition as two new vaccines have shown to fight the virus in animal models.

Microcephaly Screening Won’t Catch All Cases of Zika in Newborns

Microcephaly is a condition in which the brain does not develop properly resulting in a physical deformity, specifically, a smaller than normal head.

It is one of the most common outcomes of Zika virus infection in newborns, but the infection cannot be accurately diagnosed in babies solely based on screening for the brain defect. According to researchers, in order to detect Zika virus infection in newborns, signs and symptoms of brain abnormalities, not just head circumference, should be included in the screening criteria.

After studying all suspected cases of microcephaly in newborns in Brazil, the researchers discarded 3 out of 5 cases because they ended up being normal newborn babies with small heads.

“However, one in five definite or probable Zika cases had head circumference values in the normal range, said lead author Professor Cesar G Victora from the Universidade Federal de Pelotas in Brazil. “Therefore, the current focus on microcephaly screening alone is too narrow.”

Of the 1501 live born cases investigated, 899 were discarded. However, Zika infection among 602 cases were categorized as probable or definite. Among these cases, the babies had small head circumference at birth and their mothers were more likely to have experienced a rash during pregnancy. The definite or probable cases were also 4 times more likely to die in the first weeks of life.

More than 100 of these cases had head circumferences with normal range, however. As such, they would not have been included in the analysis for Zika if the researchers had used smaller cutoffs for head circumference.

“Although we believe that the underreporting of microcephaly cases is rare during the epidemic, newborns infected with the virus late in pregnancy may go unreported due to their head size being within normal range,” Victora said.

According to the researchers, their findings suggest that some, but not all fetuses in pregnancies affected by Zika will have brain abnormalities and microcephaly. However, other fetuses will have abnormalities with normal head sizes, and others still will not be affected. A surveillance system should not just focus on microcephaly or even rash during pregnancy, as for one-third of definite or probable cases there was no history of rash.

Unfortunately, the researchers have not yet determined the ideal cut-off point for head circumference.

New Gene Linked to Parkinson’s Disease

Mutations in a gene have been linked to confirmed cases of Parkinson’s disease. The gene TMEM230 is only the third to be definitively linked to the disease and was discovered by researchers at Northwestern Medicine.

The scientists published findings in Nature Genetics of evidence that TMEM230 mutations occurred in patients with Parkinson’s in both North America and Asia. The findings provide new clues about how the disease develops in the brain and could help find therapies for Parkinson’s disease. Currently, there is no cure and few known causes.

“Previous research has associated Parkinson’s disease with various factors in the environment, but the only direct causes that are known are genetic,” principal investigator Teepu Siddique, MD, the Les Turner ALS Foundation/Herbert C. Wenske Foundation Professor of Neurology and of Cell and Molecular Biology, said in a statement. “Many genes have been claimed to cause Parkinson’s disease, but they haven’t been validated. We show that mutations in this new gene lead to pathologically and clinically proven cases of the disease.”

TMEM230 is responsible for producing a protein involved with packaging dopamine in neurons. The researchers believe that the protein is involved in the movement of synaptic vesicles that release dopamine to cells that project into parts of the brain controlling motor activity and other organ systems affected by Parkinson’s.

“Our new findings suggest that normalizing synaptic vesicle trafficking may be a strategy for future therapeutic development,” study first author Han-Xiang Deng, MD, PhD, research professor of Neurology, said. We can develop drugs to promote this critical pathway.”

Only 15% of Parkinson’s disease cases are thought to be caused by genetics. The other genes known to be associated with the disease are SNCA and LRRK2. The researchers discovered TMEM230 after they began investigating a family with 15 members who had symptoms of Parkinson’s in 1996. The scientists then performed an analysis of the DNA of the entire family—those with and without the disease—in order to find a common mutation. Eventually, they identified TMEM230 as the gene with the disease-causing mutation.

“This particular gene causing Parkinson’s disease is not just limited to one population in North America,” Dr. Siddique said. “It’s worldwide, found in very different ethnic and environmental conditions. These mutations are that strong.”