Category: Medicine

Puppy Poop for Goodness!

Seems science has a lot going on in the world of poop right now. The latest news is a bit on curing puppy diarrhea with fecal transplants. Veterinarians looking to prevent diarrhea in kennel puppies may have a new option:

A veterinarian in Palmetto, Florida this week revealed a technique that uses poop transfers to successfully treat service puppies in-training that suffer from recurrent diarrhea, a common problem for dogs kept in kennels. The method reportedly cured 87 percent of dogs in the first round and 93 percent of those needing a second treatment.

That’s some pretty good numbers for preventing potential problems for pups.

Double Mastectomy Rates on the Rise, but Survival Rates Steady

A study covering 20 years of treatment for breast cancer in California shows a significant rise in rates of double mastectomies, but no significant change in survival rates as a result.

The researchers looked at the medical records of 189,734 California women who were diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer in one breast from 1998 to 2011.

During that time, the overall number of women who chose to have double mastectomy increased from 2% in 1998 to 12.3% in 2011. This increase was even larger in women younger than 40:

. . . (survival rates given) . . .

The small difference in survival rates between the women who had lumpectomy plus radiation and the women who had double mastectomy wasn’t statistically significant, which means it could have happened by chance and wasn’t because of the difference in treatment.

Weekends on the Couch Add to Weight

In news that shouldn’t surprise anyone, scientists find that sitting around doing nothing on the weekends contributes to fat buildup in the body. What might be surprising to some is that this sedentary time is apparently worse for the body than a normal 9-5 weekday desk job.

Exercise scientists reported that even a 20-minute reduction in sedentary time on Saturdays and Sundays added up to a loss of more than 2 pounds and 1.6 percent of body fat after a year. But the same association was not seen with sedentary time during the weekdays.

So do your body a favor and spend at least some of your weekend time getting out of the house and doing something active, whether it’s a full workout at the gym, a long walk with your dog, or pretty much anything that raises your heart rate.

Stem Cells in Premature Babies’ Urine

A potential new source has been found for stem cells.

Stem cells are the cellular putty from which all tissues in our body are made. They can be hard to come by though. Embryos provide a great source of stem cells that can change into a whole manner of tissues, but they involve the destruction of an embryo.

As noted in the New Scientist article, scientists have been able to find other sources of stem cells at later stages of development, but this may be a better source than any previously found.

Peanut Allergy Prevention Persists Even After a Year of Avoidance

In what is surely good news in regards to peanut allergies, we’re learning that early exposure to peanuts can help prevent later allergic reactions, and this protection persists even after a year of avoiding peanuts.peanut photo

The LEAP-On study was an extension of the ITN’s landmark LEAP Study (Learning Early About Peanut Allergy), which demonstrated that regular peanut consumption begun in early infancy and continued until age 5 reduced the rate of peanut allergy in at-risk infants by 80% compared to non-peanut-consumers. LEAP was the first large, well-controlled study to conclusively show the benefits of early peanut consumption in this population, changing previous notions about peanut allergy prevention.

Photo by EuroMagic