Spirits increase acute pancreatitis risk

Consuming one drink of hard liquor can increase the risk of an acute attack of pancreatitis, researchers in Sweden say.

However, the study published online in the British Journal of Surgery, found wine and beer do not appear to have the same effect.

Lead author Dr. Omid Sadr-Azodi of the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and colleagues tracked 84,601 people from ages 46-84 from the general population in Vastmanland and Uppsala for a median of 10 years.

During the study period 513 developed acute pancreatitis.

"Our study revealed a steady increase between each measure of spirits a person drank on one occasion and the risk of having an acute attack of pancreatitis, starting at just under 10 percent for one drink," Sadr-Azodi says in a statement. "For example, drinking five standard Swedish measures of a drink on a single occasion increased the risk of an acute episode by 52 percent and the risk then continued to increase at that rate for every five additional units consumed. But drinking more than five glasses of wine or five beers on one occasion did not increase the risk."

Abused women have more mental health risk

Rape, sexual assault, intimate partner violence and stalking increase the lifetime risk of mental health disorders among women, Australian researchers say.

Study leader Dr. Susan Rees of the University of New South Wales' School of Psychiatry and colleagues analyzed survey data of 4,451 women ages 16-85.

About 15 percent of Australian women report sexual assault, while 9 percent report being raped, 8 percent report physical intimate partner violence and 10 percent report stalking.

The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, shows the four most common types of gender-based violence are strongly associated with a wide range of problems for women, including more severe current mental disorder, higher rates of three or more lifetime mental disorders, physical disability, mental disability, impaired quality of life and overall disability.

"It was the strength of these associations that was most shocking. There is an overwhelming link between gender violence and key indicators of women's mental health, well being and risk of suicide attempts," Rees says in a statement. "For women exposed to two types of gender-based violence the lifetime rate of mental disorder was 69 percent and for three or more types of gender-based violence, it was 89.4 percent. This compares with a rate of 28 percent for women who have not experienced violence. The link with gender-based violence was particularly strong for post-traumatic stress disorder."

Laughing may be bad for the lungs

Having a sense of humor has health benefits but the actual act of laughing can reduce lung function, at least in the short term, U.S. researchers suggest.

The researchers evaluated humor and laughter in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Participants who exhibited a greater sense of humor were more likely than others to report fewer symptoms of depression and anxiety, and better quality of life -- and tended to report that they had experienced fewer respiratory illnesses in the month before the study.

However, the study published in the journal Heart & Lung, finds patients who watched a 30-minute comedy video and laughed during the viewing had lower pulmonary function afterward than did patients who watched a home-repair video that did not prompt laughter.

"This study shows that humor is really more complex than people make it out to be," senior author Charles Emery, a professor of psychology at Ohio State University, says in a statement. "Yes, humor definitely has benefits, but the behaviors associated with humor in fact may not be good for all people all the time -- which is a useful thing to know."

COPD is a chronic, progressive disorder characterized by difficulty breathing, and especially in expelling air from the lungs.

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2011/08/05/Laughing-may-be-bad-for-the-lungs/UPI-50731312523318/#ixzz1UBD6yEPo

GOP hammered for food-safety cuts

A leading U.S. House Democrat is citing a recent deadly Salmonella outbreak to slam Republicans for their slashing of food-safety funding.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, senior Democrat on the Appropriations Committee's health subpanel, said GOP budget cuts aimed at the Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Agriculture could mean more food-borne illnesses like the salmonella linked this week to ground turkey produced by food giant Cargill Inc.

A drug-resistant strain of Salmonella linked to ground turkey produced by a Cargill processing plant in Arkansas has sickened about 80 people and left one person dead, resulting in a massive recall, The Hill reported Thursday.

"The House majority has slashed funding for the FDA and USDA, choosing to preserve tax cuts for the wealthy over investing in and improving our food safety system," DeLauro said in a statement.

"By cutting their funding, we have limited their effectiveness and asked FDA and USDA to do more with less, and the impact of these cuts is starkly clear with this most recent recall."

GOP hammered for food-safety cuts

A leading U.S. House Democrat is citing a recent deadly Salmonella outbreak to slam Republicans for their slashing of food-safety funding.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, senior Democrat on the Appropriations Committee's health subpanel, said GOP budget cuts aimed at the Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Agriculture could mean more food-borne illnesses like the salmonella linked this week to ground turkey produced by food giant Cargill Inc.

A drug-resistant strain of Salmonella linked to ground turkey produced by a Cargill processing plant in Arkansas has sickened about 80 people and left one person dead, resulting in a massive recall, The Hill reported Thursday.

"The House majority has slashed funding for the FDA and USDA, choosing to preserve tax cuts for the wealthy over investing in and improving our food safety system," DeLauro said in a statement.

"By cutting their funding, we have limited their effectiveness and asked FDA and USDA to do more with less, and the impact of these cuts is starkly clear with this most recent recall."

High lead levels in some Chicago homes

Tests of drinking water in Chicago homes by federal inspectors this spring found high levels of lead in a number of them, officials said.

Health advocates and scientists say lead could be an underestimated health risk in the nation's drinking water, especially in older cities and suburbs where lead pipe and solder are common in water supply systems, the Chicago Tribune reported Friday.

The Environmental Protection Agency reported high lead levels in seven of 38 Chicago homes tested.

"That's not really good news," said Marc Edwards, an environmental engineering professor at Virginia Tech who researches lead in water.

The allowable amount of lead -- 15 parts per billion -- was set in the 1990s.

Experts argue there is no safe level of exposure to lead.

"What you really want is zero," said Jeffrey Griffiths, a professor of public health and medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine who is chairman of a drinking water advisory board for the EPA.

"Four (parts per billion) is better than 15, but four is still four."

Jerry Lewis no longer the MDA chairman

The Muscular Dystrophy Association says U.S. entertainer Jerry Lewis will no longer serve as its national chairman or appear on its annual telethon.

Lewis, 85, and MDA announced in May his retirement as host of the "MDA Labor Day Telethon." The famous actor-comedian said at the time he planned to make a final appearance on the televised fundraising event this summer and would sing his signature song, "You'll Never Walk Alone."

Lewis said in May: "I'll continue to serve MDA as its national chairman -- as I've done since the early 1950s. I'll never desert MDA and my kids."

However, MDA Chairman of the Board of Directors, R. Rodney Howell, M.D., issued a statement Wednesday announcing Lewis would no longer serve as MDA chairman or perform on any future telethons.

"Jerry Lewis is a world-class humanitarian and we're forever grateful to him for his more than half century of generous service to MDA. We will not be replacing him as MDA national chairman, and he will not be appearing on the telethon," Howell said.

No reason was given for the parting of ways, but Lewis has been battling various health issues in recent years.