1999.08.30 Pearls
 

Even a little exercise has significant benefits to the elderly, according to this German study of 4942 men and 5885 women aged 50 to 69. Among those who exercised as little as 2 times a month, small but significant reductions were found in blood pressure, heart rate, and the body mass index. Mensink G et al. Int J Epidemiol 1999;28:659.

This study of 72488 women in the Nurses' Health Study found that those women who exercised vigorously at least 1.5 hours a week or walked briskly for 3 hours a week reduced their risk of a heart attack by between 30% and 40%. Manson JE et al. NEJM 1999;341:650.

This study of 13905 Harvard University alumni found that regular exercise was associated with a nearly 40% reduction in developing lung cancer, even after adjusting for such known risk factors of age and smoking. Lee IM et al. Int J Epidemiol 1999;28:620.

Online pharmaceutical sales are predicted to jump from $11 million USD in 1998 to $890 million USD in 2002 according to the e-commerce research firm Gomez Advisors in a report they released 26-Aug-1999.

Preliminary research suggests that cocaine addiction may be treated and prevented with a vaccine. At the American Chemical Society's annual meeting last week, Dr. Kim D. Janda presented research on laboratory animals indicating that a vaccine could be used to stimulate the immune system to produce antibodies that would prevent cocaine intoxication.

According to a presentation by Dr. Kimberly S. Young at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association last week, Internet addiction is a distinct addictive disorder that can adversely affect an individual's personal life and interpersonal relationships. One study cited found that 53% of the 396 Internet addicts studied had marital problems, usually because of the addicts' cyberaffairs and cybersex.

In this study of 2761 people over 65 years old, found that social activities such as playing cards, or productive activities such as shopping, reduced the mortality rate by 20%. Glass TA et al. Br Med J 1999;319:478.

In this study of 10 patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), sleeping on the left side helped decrease episodes of acid reflux. Khoury RM et al. Am J Gastroenterol 1999;94:2069.

This study of laboratory mice found that genetic engineering was able to produce a greater degree of monogamous behavior. Young LJ et al. Nature 1999;400:766.

According to a report from the World Health Organization, an estimated 1.86 billion people--32% of the world's population--is infected with tuberculosis. Most of those infected do not become ill, however, in 1997, 1.87 million people died from the disease and 16.2 million people were ill from the infection. Dye C et al. JAMA 1999;282:677.

This study of 1810 elderly people, with an average age of 82.5, found that diuretics reduced the risk of dementia by 30% to 40%. The patients were followed for about three years. Diuretics were more strongly associated with this reduced risk than the other antihypertensive medications studied. Guo Z et al. Arch Neurol 1999;56:991.

Raloxifene, a selective estrogen receptor modulator, was shown to boost bone density and significantly reduce spinal fractures in this study of 7705 women. The women also had a lower risk of breast cancer. Ettinger B et al. JAMA 1999;282:637.