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Chemotherapy can save the lives of people with cancer, but new research suggests it may have devastating effects on the brain.

Many cancer patients who receive chemotherapy report “chemobrain” — a range of symptoms including a loss of memory and the ability to concentrate, and other problems such as difficulty thinking.

The stories of women who survived breast cancer but suffered from weakened brain power are told in a study published online Sept. 16 in the Journal of Cancer Survivorship.

Saskia Subramanian, from the Center for Culture and Health at the University of California — Los Angeles, and colleagues interviewed 74 women who had completed cancer treatment at least a year earlier. The women described a variety of emotions, including fear, frustration and emotional exhaustion.

In some cases, women stated that they feared losing their independence because they wouldn’t be able to take care of themselves like before. They sometimes devoted less time to work and to social activities, and felt that the medical community didn’t pay enough attention to their symptoms of chemobrain, according to a news release about the study.

At the workplace, the side effects of chemotherapy robbed their ability to focus, potentially making it less likely that they’d be promoted, the study authors pointed out.

“These data underscore the very serious ways in which chemobrain can affect the life experiences of cancer survivors — emotionally, psychologically and economically,” the researchers concluded. “A clear understanding of the cognitive impairments experienced by survivors will aid researchers in developing targeted therapies and interventions aimed at improving or mitigating these post-treatment side effects.”

There’s no bad time of the day, week or year to have elective coronary artery bypass surgery, say researchers who analyzed how 18,597 people fared after having the procedure.

The Cleveland Clinic team conducted the study to determine whether working off-hours and long shifts might affect the performance of surgeons and other medical staff. Other studies have shown that lack of sleep, prolonged work hours and natural body-rhythm disturbances reduce the performance of drivers and pilots.

“We started the study believing that timing was likely to influence outcome,” senior investigator Dr. Allen Bashour said in a news release from the American Society of Anesthesiologists. “If so, hospitals could intervene with precautions to improve patient safety during high-risk periods.”

The researchers also looked at the phases of the moon because it’s widely believed that a full moon can increase the number of accidents and emergency room visits.

“However, our results showed that serious complications were rare and that the timing of elective surgery did not influence the outcome,” Bashour said.

Coronary artery bypass graft surgery was studied because it’s the most common heart surgery and because there are well-established protocols for the surgery, the researchers said.

Overall, people in the study had a 4.8 percent major complication rate and a 1.4 percent death rate. The rates were similar for each weekday and each month, and for each phase of the moon, according to the study.

“The study found that elective coronary artery bypass surgery can be scheduled anytime throughout the workday, any day of the week, and in any month of the year with equally good outcomes,” Dr. Daniel I. Sessler, chairman of the Department of Outcomes Research at the Cleveland Clinic and a researcher on the study, said in the news release.

“Our results also suggest that the supposed effect of moon phase on medical complications is merely an urban legend,” he said.

If you have the choice between a seasonal flu vaccine that comes in a nasal spray or an injection, go for the injection, new research shows.

In a study of adults tracked over one flu season, vaccines made from inactivated, or “killed,” flu virus — the injectable form — provided better protection against the seasonal flu than vaccines made from live attenuated virus, the type of vaccine available in a nasal spray.

“The nasal spray vaccine is effective but isn’t as effective as the injected vaccine,” said lead study author Arnold S. Monto, an epidemiology professor at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. “But it’s better to get some vaccine than no vaccine, so if you’re averse to getting an injection, get the nasal spray.”

The researchers stressed that their findings, published in the Sept. 24 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, applied to seasonal flu vaccine efficacy in adults only. The same may not hold true for children, who may respond just as well to a nasal spray vaccine, or for the H1N1 swine flu vaccines that are on the way.

Researchers gave 1,952 adults aged 18 to 49 either an injected flu vaccine, a placebo injection, a flu vaccine nasal spray or a placebo nasal spray during the 2007-2008 flu season. That season, vaccines were well-matched to the predominant flu in circulation, according to the study.

Participants were reminded each week to come in for an exam and lab tests if they showed signs of respiratory illness. About 6.1 percent of participants, 119 in all, got the flu, mostly influenza A/H3N2.

Among those who got sick, participants who’d received the injected flu vaccine were 68 percent less likely to have the flu compared to those who’d received a placebo, according to the study. The flu virus was confirmed using lab tests.

Participants who’d received the nasal spray vaccine were 36 percent less likely to get the flu than those who’d received a placebo.

The injection was 50 percent better in preventing the flu than the nasal spray, according to the study.

Though researchers did not test vaccines in children, nasal sprays may work just as well in children as injections, Monto said.

There are two different types of vaccines, usually referred to as live attenuated, which contain very weakened or modified live virus, and inactivated, which contain bits of dead virus.

Live attenuated influenza vaccine, which comes in nasal sprays, must replicate in the body in order to provoke the immune system to produce antibodies against the virus. In adults who may already have some immunity against that or other flu strains, the live attenuated virus may not be strong enough to cause that response, Monto said.

Children are more likely to lack antibodies to the virus. Without any natural immunity, the nasal spray may be equally effective, Monto said.

Live attenuated vaccines “must infect in order to protect,” Monto said. “Adults, unlike children, have antibodies to the virus included in the vaccine. They are not infected by it and therefore are not protected. This would explain why the LAIV [live attenuated influenza vaccine] is highly effective in younger children.”

In some cases, the live attenuated influenza vaccine may even provide enhanced protection, said Dr. Kenneth Bromberg, director of the Vaccine Research Center at the Brooklyn Hospital Center in New York City.

In addition to immunity involving antibodies, live attenuated vaccines can also provide cell-mediated immunity, an added type of immune response that can boost effectiveness.

“They are different approaches, and in the case of a well-matched strain, the inactivated vaccine worked better than the live attenuated,” Bromberg said. “There could be situations, such as with a mismatched strain, in which the live attenuated could perform just as well, or perhaps even better, than the injected.”

And what about for H1N1 swine flu vaccines?

With the swine flu, vaccines made with live attenuated virus may work just as well as injected vaccines because children and most adults have no antibodies or natural immunity to the new strain, Monto noted.

“We are totally susceptible,” he said. “That’s why we are having these school outbreaks with high attack rates.”

People’s beliefs about the benefits and risks of their asthma medication may be key to their willingness to take it as directed, a new study finds.

The study, published in the Annals of Asthma, Allergy & Immunology, looked at adherence to inhaled corticosteroid medication among 261 low- income, minority asthma patients.

Inhaled corticosteroids reduce inflammation in the airways and are the cornerstone of managing chronic asthma. To be most effective, the drugs must be taken regularly, even when people are symptom-free.

But studies suggest that many adults do not take their inhaled corticosteroids regularly, and that the problem is more common among minority patients than their white counterparts.

In the current study, researchers found that 70 percent of patients said they used their inhaled corticosteroids all or most of the time.

Perhaps not surprisingly, those who believed it was “important” to take the drugs even when they were symptom-free were four times more likely to be compliant compared with patients who did not share that belief.

On the other hand, patients who worried about medication side effects were only half as likely to adhere to their treatment as those without those concerns.

Finally, patients who were confident in their ability to take their inhaled medication correctly were more than twice as likely to be compliant as those who lacked such self-confidence.

The findings point to several areas where healthcare providers could improve low-income, minority patients’ medication compliance, according to the researchers, led by Dr. Diego Ponieman of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City.

Doctors and nurses could, for example, help boost patients’ confidence by actively “coaching” them in how to take their medication properly, the researchers write.

In addition, they say, doctors should recognize that many patients worry about drug side effects and explicitly address those concerns.

The most common side effects of inhaled corticosteroids are considered relatively mild and include throat irritation and thrush, a yeast infection of the mouth.

The drugs are also much safer than the oral corticosteroids that may have to be given when a person has a serious asthma attack. So preventing attacks via inhaled corticosteroids is seen as a way of protecting patients from the risks of repeatedly using the oral versions — which include weight gain, elevated blood pressure and blood sugar, and decreased bone density.

By “bolstering positive beliefs and mitigating the negative ones,” Ponieman and his colleagues write, doctors may be able to convince more patients to stick with their inhaled-corticosteroid regimen.

Androgenetic alopecia (”male-pattern baldness,” “female-pattern baldness”)

Everyone loses hair, but men do it better–faster, earlier, and more extensively.

Doctors refer to common baldness as “androegentic alopecia,” which implies that a combination of hormones and heredity (genetics) is needed to develop the condition. (The male hormones involved are present in both men and women.)

Male-pattern baldness

Even men who never “go bald” thin out over the years. Unlike those with reversible telogen shedding, those with common male-pattern hair loss don’t notice much hair coming out; they just see that it’s not there anymore. Adolescent boys notice some receding near the temples as their hairlines change from the straight-across boys’ pattern to the more “M-shaped” pattern of adult men. This normal development does not mean they are losing hair.

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Young football players and other athletes face the risk of major heat injury and illness if they push themselves too hard in hot weather, warn sports medicine experts.

“Football might get the most attention for severe heat-related injuries and illnesses, but the risk in other sports is very real,” Michael F. Bergeron, a youth-sports heat stress expert and co-author of the American College of Sports Medicine consensus statement, said in a news release.

“Teaching coaches the warning signs of heat illness would be a huge step toward prevention. But it’s not enough. Coaches need to progressively introduce practice duration and intensity, as well as the uniform and any protective equipment, so that young athletes can safely adapt,” Bergeron said.

“Long gone are the days of refusing players water or using heat as a strategy to ‘toughen up’ a player. Unless the coach wants a collapsed athlete — or worse — on the field, it’s just not acceptable. All athletes need to be closely monitored for signs and symptoms of developing heat illness, and participation should immediately stop and medical attention should be promptly sought at the earliest point of recognition,” he added.

Heat-related causes account for the majority of indirect deaths in high school sports in the United States, according to the National Center for Catastrophic Injury Research. Heat stroke and other heat illnesses occur in a variety of athletes, including cross-country runners and wrestlers who train in heat-retaining rubber suits in order to lose weight before an event. Even members of marching bands have heat injury and illness risks similar to those of athletes.

The American College of Sports Medicine offers these guidelines for coaches:

-Don’t hold practices between noon and 4 p.m., which are typically the hottest hours of the day.
-In extremely hot weather, hold practices indoors or limit outdoor practices to lighter walk-through sessions.
-Increase the number and length of rest breaks in the shade and give athletes plenty of opportunities to drink sufficient fluids.

Ragweed, the bane of many allergy sufferers, will soon be in bloom.

That means several months of itchy, watering eyes, runny nose, sore throat, congestion and problems sleeping for the estimated 36 million Americans with seasonal allergies, according to the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI).

Aug. 15 was the unofficial start of ragweed season, which affects some 10 to 20 percent of Americans.

About 17 species of ragweed grow in the United States, mostly in the East and Midwest. As the plant matures, ragweed flowers release the pollen, according to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America. Though each plant lives only one season, the weed produces one billion pollen grains that can travel up to 400 miles in the wind.

Allergy sufferers typically don’t get relief until first frost.

Hay fever-type symptoms are the most typical ragweed reaction, though some with ragweed allergies react to eating some fresh fruits and vegetables, including bananas, cucumbers, zucchinis and melons. They develop itchiness and mild swelling around the mouth, called oral allergy syndrome.

To reduce your exposure to ragweed and deal with the symptoms, the AAAAI and the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America recommend these steps:

-Keep the windows closed. Use air conditioning, which cleans, cools and dries the air, preferably with a -HEPA (high efficiency particulate air) filter. This helps remove pollen from indoor air.
-Consider staying indoors when pollen or mold counts (mold is another common allergen) are high.Pollen counts tend to peak between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. Rain and cool morning temperatures (below 50 degrees) slow release of pollen.
-Have someone else mow your the lawn or rake leaves, which stirs up pollen and molds. Also, dry sheets and clothes in the dryer instead of outside, where they can collect pollen.
-If you must be outside on high pollen-count days, wear a pollen mask.
-Take a shower before bed to wash pollen from your hair and body and prevent pollen from settling on your pillow.
-Some ragweed allergy sufferers get allergy shots, which alleviate symptoms in up to 90 percent of patients, according to the AAAAI. If you think you may need these, or to better determine what exactly you’re allergic to, see an allergist/immunologist.

When home and family issues interfere with work, employees take more sick days, a new study has found.

Belgian researchers assessed work-family conflict among nearly 3,000 workers and found that absenteeism was higher for those who reported that problems at home were interfering with work. These employees felt the demands they faced at home made them tired at work.

Workers with high levels of home-work interference were more likely to have at least three sick leave episodes per year and to take 10 or more sick days per year, the study authors found.

Although some workers reported work interference at home, this did not increase use of sick days.

The findings suggest that companies seeking ways to reduce employee absenteeism might want to consider “family-friendly employment policies or specific strategies that enable a better harmony between private and work life, such as flexible work schedules,” according to lead study author Els Clays of Ghent University and colleagues.

But more research is needed to assess whether such policies actually reduce sick leave, they noted.