Health Buzz: Bypass With Pump May Be Better for Patients and Other Health News
Bypass With 'Pump' May Be Better for Patients
A new study suggests that bypass surgery is better and safer for patients when done with a heart-lung machine, the New York Times reports. Also called a "pump," it has been traditionally used to replace the heart's function during surgery, but a newer procedure permits surgeons to perform bypass without it, allowing the heart to continue beating on its own. Researchers compared the two bypass methods in more than 2,000 patients and found that those whose surgeries were off-pump were more likely to need a second operation, according to the Times . They also had a higher chance of heart attack and death. Michael Lauer, director of cardiovascular sciences at the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, tells the Times that as many as 20 percent of bypass surgeries in the United States are off-pump. Study results appear today in the New England Journal of Medicine.
[Read: Is Bypass Truly Better Than Stenting? and Are You at Low Risk for Heart Disease? Probably Not.]
4 Ways to Stop Stressing Out Your Kids
Kids are stressed out, and their parents all too often don't know it. That's the word from the American Psychological Association's Stress in America survey, which for the first time asked children about their stress levels, U.S. News contributor Nancy Shute reports. One third of the 1,206 children ages 8 to 17 said they were more stressed now than a year ago. And parents seem to be missing the clues.
Katherine Nordal, a clinical psychologist who is executive director for professional practice at APA, tells Shute that parents need to come clean with kids about their own worries. "Younger children tend to blame themselves for problems," she says. "If the kid doesn't know what's going on, they're likely to assume a worst-case scenario or make a problem bigger than it is." Shute lists 4 ways parents can stop stressing out their kids. Parents need to, for one, realize that children who tend to internalize problems rather than act out are more at risk of becoming depressed and anxious because of stress, Shute writes. Read more.
[Read: Stressed About Money? The Kids Might Be, Too and How Mindfulness Meditation Can Calm You Down.]
Experimental New HPV Vaccine Fights Precancer
A vaccine under development has been shown to treat precancerous vulvar lesions caused by the human papillomavirus, HealthDay reports. While Gardasil and the newly FDA-approved Cervarix are designed to prevent HPV infection, the new vaccine can identify cells already infected by the virus and work against those existing lesions. HPV is implicated in cancers of the cervix, vulva, and vagina, among others. A study conducted by Dutch researchers tested the vaccine's effect in 20 patients with vulvar lesions. Lesions disappeared completely in nearly half of the patients, according to HealthDay.
In August, U.S. News's Deborah Kotz and physician and columnist Bernadine Healy discussed the safety of Gardasil with leaders at the American Academy of Pediatrics. They asked former AAP President David Tayloe and current President Judith Palfrey to weigh in on whether it is safe to vaccinate younger children with the HPV vaccine. Read more.
[Read: 7 Facts You Need to Know About HPV and Gardasil and HPV Vaccine: Women Now Have a Choice Between Cervarix and Gardasil.]
Other Popular Articles From USNews.com
- Battling Diabetes With Diet and Exercise
- 10 Cities Where Coronary Bypass Surgery Outpaces Angioplasty
- 10 Reasons Not to Skimp on Sleep
- 5 Risks Linked to Diabetes Medications
- 7 Steps Newly Diagnosed Diabetics Should Take
- 6 Ways to Reduce Inflammation Without Taking a Statin
- Need Care? Scan the Rankings: Best Nursing Homes, Best Health Plans, and Best Hospitals.
advertisement
