One germy doorknob can infect half your office within hours

Many people worry about catching a virus from a sick coworker, but perhaps they should also start worrying about other sources of possible infection. New research shows that contamination of just a single doorknob can help spread germsthroughout office buildings, hotels or health care facilities within hours.

Researchers applied samples of a virus to surfaces such as doorknobs and tabletops and found that, within two to four hours, the virus had been picked up by 40 to 60 percent of workers and visitors in the facilities and could be detected on many commonly touched objects.  http://www.cbsnews.com/news/one-germy-doorknob-can-infect-half-your-office-within-hours/

ER Visits Up for High Blood Pressure

Emergency room visits for high blood pressure jumped 25 percent in the United States in recent years, according to a new study.

The finding -- based on nearly 4 million U.S. emergency room visits from 2006 to 2011 -- points to a need for people to better control their blood pressure by going to their primary care doctor, said Dr. Sourabh Aggarwal, the study's lead researcher.

"That's quite a big increase in the number of visits to the ER," said Aggarwal, chief resident in internal medicine at the Western Michigan University School of Medicine in Kalamazoo.

However, while ER visits jumped, hospital admissions for high blood pressure, or hypertension, fell by 15 percent, the researchers said.

And deaths among those admitted to the hospital because of blood pressure spikes fell 36 percent, the investigators found.  http://consumer.healthday.com/general-health-information-16/emergencies-and-first-aid-news-227/er-visits-for-high-blood-pressure-up-in-u-s-study-says-691554.html

‘Fat shaming’ doesn’t work, a new study says

If, somehow, you think shaming overweight or obese people helps them lose weight, here's a news flash: It doesn't.

A new study from University College London evaluated the question: Are people who experience discrimination or negative interactions based on their weight actually encouraged to lose the extra pounds?

The answer, according to their findings, is a clear no.  http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2014/09/11/fat-shaming-doesnt-work-a-new-study-says/

Belly Up: American Waistlines Are Still Expanding, Study Finds

American adult waistlines are still spreading, a new study finds. While body mass index, a key measure for obesity, has stabilized, our bellies have increased an inch over the last decade — to a circumference of almost 39 inches. That's bad news, researchers say.  

“[Waist circumference] has kind of been picking up year after year [while] BMI flat-lined a little bit,” says Dr. Earl Ford, a medical officer at the Centers for Disease Control, and an author of the report published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Tuesday.  http://www.nbcnews.com/health/diet-fitness/belly-american-waistlines-are-still-expanding-study-finds-n204746

Artificial sweeteners could cause spikes in blood sugar

Artificial sweeteners might be triggering higher blood-sugar levels in some people and contributing to the problems they were designed to combat, such as diabetes and obesity, according to new findings published Wednesday in the journal Nature.

Although the precise reasons behind the blood-sugar changes remain uncertain, researchers suspect that artificial sweeteners could be disrupting the microbiome, a vast and enigmatic ecosystem of bacteria in our guts.

In a series of experiments, researchers found that several of the most widely used types of non-calorie sweeteners in food and drinks — saccharin, sucra­lose and aspartame — caused mice to experience increased risk of glucose intolerance, a condition that can lead to diabetes.  http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/study-suggests-sweeteners-could-contribute-to-obesity-and-diabetes/2014/09/17/c3c04ea6-3dc2-11e4-b03f-de718edeb92f_story.html

Common Painkillers Tied to Blood Clot Risk, Study Suggests

People who use painkillers called nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) -- which include aspirin, naproxen (Aleve) and ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin) -- may be at increased risk for potentially deadly blood clots, a new study suggests.

But the study only showed an association between use of the painkillers and higher clotting risk; it did not prove cause-and-effect.

The researchers analyzed the results of six studies involving more than 21,000 cases of a type of blood clot called a venous thromboembolism (VTE).

These clots include deep vein thrombosis (a clot in the leg) and pulmonary embolism (a clot in the lungs).

Reporting online Sept. 24 in Rheumatology, the analysis found that people who used NSAIDs had an 80 percent higher risk for venous clots.  http://consumer.healthday.com/bone-and-joint-information-4/pain-health-news-520/common-painkillers-tied-to-higher-blood-clot-risk-study-finds-692029.html

Cancer-Screening Program For Women Attempts to Fill Gaps Left by Health Reform

Dr. Milcah Larks is all too familiar with the cost of delaying preventative cancer screenings for women.

As an oncologist in the Immunology Clinic at Ventura County Medical Center, a hospital in Ventura focused on underserved populations, she prescribes treatment for patients with breast and cervical cancer. Often, patients come to her at late stages of the disease, requiring drastic interventions such as surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. These are treatments that could have been avoided, or at least made more effective, if the patients had been diagnosed sooner through routine mammograms and Pap smears.

“It’s frustrating,” said Dr. Larks, as she relaxed recently in the hospital’s cafeteria after a long workday. “I’m saddened when I have to tell a young person with young children that they may not be there to see their grandkids, to see their kids graduate form high school.”  http://www.healthycal.org/archives/16615