Neurotics’ heart risks are higher

Neurotic people are more likely to die from cardiovascular disease, and being extroverted seems to protect people from dying from respiratory illness, U.K. researchers report based on a study they conducted. Neuroticism – a proclivity toward worry and emotional ups and downs – is related to anxiety and depression, which could help explain the relationship with heart trouble, say Beverly A. Shipley of the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and colleagues in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine.

Reports on the health effects of neuroticism and extroversion, which is the tendency to be outgoing, have been mixed, the researchers note. To clarify the relationship, Shipley and her team looked at mortality in 5,424 middle-aged adults who were followed for 21 years after they completed personality tests.

Although an increasing degree of neuroticism was tied to an increased risk of death from any cause, the relationship disappeared after the researchers adjusted for other relevant factors such as body weight, alcohol use, social class and education.

Risk of death from cardiovascular disease also climbed as a person’s level of neuroticism rose, and the relationship remained significant after statistical adjustment.

Extroversion reduced a person’s likelihood of dying from respiratory disease but had no other effects on mortality.

Food pyramid for seniors updated

A nearly decade-old food guide pyramid for older adults has gotten a makeover to make it more user-friendly and to emphasize the special dietary needs of people older than 70. Published in the January issue of the Journal of Nutrition, the Modified MyPyramid for Older Adults stresses that older people should be careful to get enough fiber, calcium and vitamins D and B-12. It also emphasizes the importance of regular exercise and adequate fluid intake.

Researchers at Tufts University in Boston originally developed the food pyramid for older adults in 1999. They revamped it in response to changes made to the federal government’s general Food Guide Pyramid – which, along with a new look for the pyramid itself, includes an online component with which people can calculate their personal dietary needs based on factors such as age, weight and exercise.

Because older Americans are typically not as Web-savvy as younger people, the Tufts researchers created a new version of their food pyramid that contains more graphics and underscores the importance of certain nutrients for older adults.

Test fails to spot ovarian cancer

Annual screening with a technique called transvaginal ultrasound, coupled with a blood test for CA125, a protein that can be elevated in the setting of ovarian cancer, does not reliably detect ovarian cancer early, at a more curable stage, a new study finds.

“We and other groups confirm that the current method of ovarian screening, which is a combination of ultrasound scans and [blood] markers, is ineffective,” said Dr. Emma R. Woodward of Birmingham Women’s Hospital in Britain.

Early diagnosis of ovarian cancer is difficult, and the disease often is not detected until it has reached an advanced stage.

Instructions after radiation lacking

Outpatient clinics that perform diagnostic procedures using radioactive materials could do a better job of telling patients that they may set off radiation detectors at security checkpoints, a study shows.

Information and documentation that these facilities provide to patients “varies widely” in terms of quality, said Armin Ansari, of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who was involved in the study. “Some are extremely well done, some are not.”

A person who has a bone, thyroid or heart scan with radioactive material, or cancer treatment with radioactive implants, can trigger a radiation alarm for days or even months after the procedure, depending on the type of radiopharmaceutical used, Ansari and colleague Dr. Luba Katz of Abt Associates in Cambridge, Mass., said in the Journal of Nuclear Medicine.

There have been reports of people activating such alarms and being questioned and, in some cases, strip searched, by security officials. Since Sept. 11, radiation monitors are increasingly being used for security purposes, and millions of people undergo procedures involving radioactive material every year.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission suggests hospitals and clinics tell patients who are given radiopharmaceuticals that they run the risk of triggering a radiation alarm, and give them documentation to provide to law enforcement officials if necessary.

The researchers surveyed 89 healthcare professionals working at 66 facilities using radiopharmaceuticals in 12 states to examine procedures for informing patients of these risks.

Fewer than two-thirds gave patients documentation, while about one-third said they would provide it on request. Documentation varied from standardized cards providing information on the type of radioactive material used and its half-life, as well as a phone number to call for more information, to handwritten notes on prescription pads or blank paper, which Ansari said would likely not be acceptable to law enforcement.

Coffee, tea may lower cancer risk

Coffee and tea lovers may have a slightly reduced risk of developing kidney cancer, according to research. The findings, based on an analysis of 13 previous studies, suggest that coffee and tea may be protective against kidney cancer; milk, soda and juice seem to have no effect either way.

Across the studies, people who drank three or more cups of coffee a day were 16% less likely to develop kidney cancer than those who averaged less than a cup per day. And those who sipped just one 8-ounce cup of tea each day had a 15% lower risk of the disease than nondrinkers. The findings appear in the International Journal of Cancer.

Although the study cannot show that coffee or tea directly lower kidney cancer risk, there are reasons why the beverages could be beneficial, according to the researchers, who were led by Jung Eun Lee of Harvard Medical School in Boston.

For example, coffee and tea may increase the body’s sensitivity to the blood-sugar-regulating hormone insulin, and researchers suspect that insulin levels over time may affect kidney cancer risk. Coffee and tea also contain antioxidant compounds that may help protect cells in the kidney from cancer-promoting damage, the researchers say.

The investigators combined the results of 13 long-term studies that included a total of 530,469 women and 244,483 men. Each study collected information on participants’ diets at the outset and then followed them for seven to 20 years.

Coffee and tea consumption was linked to a lower risk of kidney cancer even when the researchers accounted for a number of factors known to affect people’s risk of the disease, such as obesity, smoking and high blood pressure.

Parasites affecting poor Americans

Roundworms may infect close to one-fourth of inner city black children, tapeworms are the leading cause of seizures among U.S. Hispanics and other parasitic diseases associated with poor countries are also affecting Americans, a U.S. expert said Tuesday.

Studies show many of the poorest Americans living in the United States carry some of the same parasitic infections that affect the poor in Africa, Asia and Latin America, said Dr. Peter Hotez, a tropical disease expert at George Washington University and editor in chief of the Public Library of Science journal Neglected Tropical Diseases.

Writing in the journal, Hotez said these parasitic infections had been ignored by most health experts in the United States.

He said the United States spent hundreds of millions of dollars to defend against bioterrorism threats such as anthrax, smallpox or avian flu, which were more a theoretical concern than a real threat at present. “And yet we have a devastating parasitic disease burden among the American poor,” Hotez said.

He noted that a recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, presented in November, found that almost 14% of the U.S. population is infected with Toxocara roundworms, which dogs and cats can pass to people.

“Urban playgrounds in the United States have recently been shown to be a particularly rich source of Toxocara eggs, and inner-city children are at high risk of acquiring the infection,” Hotez wrote, adding that this might be partly behind the rise in asthma cases in the country. Up to 23% of urban black children may be infected, he said.

– From Times wire reports