Health Highlights: Sept. 22, 2009

• Eye Test Detects Stroke Better Than MRI: Study
• U.S. Issues Alert About Cocaine Laced With Veterinary Drug
• Model Predicts Postnatal Depression Risk
• Sunshine, Vacation Linked to Lower Summer Death Rate

Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by editors of HealthDay:

Eye Test Detects Stroke Better Than MRI: Study

A quick, inexpensive eye movement test was better than magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at identifying patients with strokes, a U.S. study found.

The one-minute eye exam reveals eye movement changes associated with stroke damage in various areas of the brain, United Press International reported.

"The idea that a bedside exam could outperform a modern neuroimaging test such as MRI is something that most people had given up for dead, but we've shown it's possible," Dr. David E. Newman-Toker, of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said in a news release.

Some stroke patients can't immediately adjust their eye position if they turn their heads quickly to the side, while others may have jerky eye movements when trying to focus on a doctor's finger positioned on either side of their head, UPI reported.

The study was published in the journal Stroke.

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U.S. Issues Alert About Cocaine Laced With Veterinary Drug

Doctors, substance abuse treatment centers and other public health officials need to be aware that cocaine laced with the veterinary anti-parasitic drug levamisole is a widespread problem, the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration said in a nationwide public health alert issued Monday.

To date, there have been about 20 confirmed or probable cases of a serious blood disorder called agranulocytosis among people who've used cocaine that contains levamisole. Two people have died, the agency said.

The official number of cases of affected people is expected to increase as more health professionals become aware of this issue, SAMHSA said.

Ingestion of cocaine laced with levamisole can cause a serious decrease in white blood cell levels, leading to a weakened immune system that's unable to fight off even minor infections. This means that people who used levamisole-contaminated cocaine can suffer rapidly developing, life-threatening infections, the agency said.

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Model Predicts Postnatal Depression Risk

A model to predict postnatal depression is 80 percent accurate in the months after a woman gives birth, Spanish researchers say.

The researchers studied 1,397 women who gave birth and used a type of modeling they call artificial neuronal networks, United Press International reported.

The model includes a number of risk factors, including a mother's amount of social support, emotional changes during birth, neuroticism, mutations in the serotonin transport gene, and family history of psychiatric problems.

During the study, the researchers found that being older and working during pregnancy decreased a woman's risk of postnatal depression, UPI reported.

The study was published in the journal Methods of Information in Medicine.

"Now (the model) needs clinical evaluation, and for psychiatrists to start to test it directly on patients in order to study that true potential of these tools," lead author Salvador Tortajada, of the Polytechnic University of Valencia, said in a news release.

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Sunshine, Vacation Linked to Lower Summer Death Rate

The health benefits of increased exposure to sunlight and vacations may explain why fewer people in northern countries die in late summer and early fall, according to a new study.

American and Greek researchers found that death rates are lowest in August in North America and Sweden, in September in the Mediterranean, and in March in Australia, CBC News reported.

The link between these times of the year and lower death rates may be due to the physiological effect of increased vitamin D production by the body due to sun exposure, coupled with the stress-lowering benefits of vacation, the study authors suggested.