SATURDAY, Dec. 1 (HealthDay News) — It's easy for the holidays
to become the season of sneezing, congestion and other woes for people
with food or other allergies and asthma, say experts at the American
Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI).

But some preventive measures can cut symptoms to a minimum, they
say.

“Whether it's feasting on holiday meals, setting up your Christmas
tree, or visiting your pet-owning relatives, allergy triggers may be
lurking inside of our warm, cozy homes this time of year,” Alisa M. Smith,
vice-chairwoman of the AAAAI's indoor allergen committee, said in a
prepared statement. “Unfortunately, with busy schedules, travel time and
the stress of the holidays, it is easy to forget to take the proper care
when dealing with allergies and asthma. However, avoiding potential
triggers and taking the proper precautions is necessary to keep symptoms
under control.”

The AAAAI offers the following tips for people with asthma and
different types of allergies:

• When you're at parties or family gatherings, inform your hosts about
  your food allergy and ask about the ingredients used to prepare the
  meal.
• Always carry an injectable dose of epinephrine. Homemade meals/snacks
  don't have ingredient lists and may be contaminated with trace of amounts
  of allergenic foods through contact with storage containers or kitchen
  utensils.
• Remind family and friends that strict avoidance is the only way for
  you to manage food allergies and that even a tiny bit of allergenic foods
  can trigger a dangerous allergic reaction.
• If you're visiting homes where there are pets, take your allergy
  medication beforehand.
• Real Christmas trees often carry microscopic mold spores that can
  cause allergic symptoms such as sneezing, water eyes, and an itchy
  nose.
• Decorations and artificial trees can gather mold and dust while in
  storage. Clean them before you start putting them up.
• Artificial snow can irritate your lungs if you inhale it. Be sure to
  follow directions when spraying artificial snow on windows or other
  surfaces.
• The stress of the holiday season can sometimes trigger an asthma
  attack. Monitor your stress levels. If you do feel stressed, deep
  breathing and relaxation may help.
• If you're sleeping away from home, bring your own pillow with an
  allergen-proof cover. Ask for down-free pillows.
• Avoid wood smoke, which can trigger an asthma attack.

More information

The American Academy of Family Physicians has more about controlling allergy symptoms.

FRIDAY, Nov. 30 (HealthDay News) — It can be difficult for women in
America's inner cities to eat in ways that may help prevent cancer.

That's the conclusion of a Johns Hopkins University study that looked
at the dietary habits of 156 black women living in 11 public housing
communities in Washington, D.C.

The researchers found that about 61 percent of the women failed to meet
more than one of the five dietary goals suggested to reduce the risk of
developing cancer: adequate consumption of fruits and vegetables; low
percentage of fat intake; moderate caloric intake; no alcohol consumption;
and adherence to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Healthy Eating
Index, a measure of overall quality of diet.

Less than 1 percent met all five dietary goals, and only 15 percent
reported eating at least five servings of fruits or vegetables a day.

“Many women drank soda, and ate convenience and prepared foods, even
when they sat down with their families for a meal. Younger adults,
especially, seem to lack the skills to build a well-balanced diet –
skills that our survey shows that older generations of women still
possess,” Ann C. Klassen, an associate professor in the department of
health, behavior and society at Hopkins' Bloomberg School of Public
Health, said in a prepared statement.

The study was scheduled to be presented Wednesday at the American
Association for Cancer Research conference on The Science of Cancer Health
Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved, in
Atlanta.

“African-American women, in general, face a worse cancer incidence and
mortality rate than most other ethnic groups, and poor African-American
women are at an even greater disadvantage. Improving diet is one effective
way to help women lower their risk for developing cancer,” Klassen
said.

More information

The U.S. National Cancer Institute has more about >cancer prevention.

FRIDAY, Nov. 30 (HealthDay News) — High blood pressure reduces
blood flow to the brains of Alzheimer's patients and exacerbates the
symptoms of the disease, a new study finds.

A team at the University of Pittsburgh used MRI to measure brain blood
flow in older adults, including 20 Alzheimer's patients (10 with
hypertension and 10 without); 48 normal adults (38 with hypertension and
10 without); and 20 people with mild cognitive impairment (10 with
hypertension and 10 without).

Mild cognitive impairment affects brain functions such as language,
attention and reasoning, and is a transition stage between normal
age-related brain deficits and increased levels of dementia.

All the participants with hypertension showed substantially reduced
blood flow in the brain. Alzheimer's patients with hypertension had the
lowest levels of blood flow, but the normal adults with hypertension had
significantly less blood flow than normal adults without high blood
pressure.

“While hypertension is not a cause of Alzheimer's disease, our study
shows that it is another hit on the brain that increases its vulnerability
to the effects of the disease,” study co-author Dr. Cyrus Raji, a Ph.D.
candidate, said in a prepared statement.

“This study demonstrates that good vascular health is also good for the
brain,” added co-author Dr. Oscar Lopez, a professor of neurology and
psychiatry. “Even in people with Alzheimer's disease, it is important to
detect and aggressively treat hypertension and also to focus on disease
prevention.”

The findings were scheduled to be presented Wednesday in Chicago at the
annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America.

The results of this study follow a report earlier this month in
Neurology in which researchers at Johns Hopkins University School
of Medicine found that Alzheimer's may progress more rapidly in patients
with high blood pressure and a heartbeat problem called atrial
fibrillation.

More information

The U.S. National Institute on Aging has more about >Alzheimer's disease.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -
After waiting a month, Democratic
leaders in Congress said on Friday they would formally send a
bill expanding a popular children's health-care program to the
White House despite a veto threat.

The bill would provide health insurance to about 10 million
children in low-income families unable to afford private
insurance but who earn too much to qualify for the federal
Medicaid program for the poor. It would raise taxes on
cigarettes and other tobacco taxes to pay for the aid.

President Bush vetoed an earlier version of the bill. The
latest bill passed by a large margin in the House but not by
the two-thirds majority that would indicate a veto would be
overridden.

“Our bipartisan negotiations on extending health insurance
to 10 million children are ongoing,” House Majority Leader
Steny Hoyer, a Maryland Democrat, said in a statement.

Hoyer said leaders wanted to avoid a “pocket veto,” in
which a bill dies from inaction by the president while Congress
is out of session.

Congress is scheduled to convene next week for the final
three weeks of this year's session. The health-care bill was
passed at the end of October,

(Reporting by Charles Abbott; Editing by Peter Cooney)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -
Shift workers and firefighters have
a higher risk of cancer than the general population and such
work should be classified as probably or possibly carcinogenic,
the International Agency for Research on Cancer said on Friday.

A team of 24 scientists who sifted through the evidence
said more studies must confirm the link, but found that shift
work that disturbs the body's internal clock appears to have
cancer-causing effects, too.

This internal clock regulates circadian rhythms, a complex
system that signals cells to produce various hormones at
various times.

“Shiftwork that involves circadian disruption is probably
carcinogenic to humans,” the French-based IARC, the cancer
agency of the World Health Organization, said in a statement.
“Occupational exposure as a firefighter is possibly
carcinogenic to humans,” it added.

The statement, published as what the IARC calls a
monograph, could affect a significant number of people.

“Nearly 20 percent of the working population in Europe and
North America is engaged in shiftwork. Shiftwork is most
prevalent in the health-care, industrial, transportation,
communications, and hospitality sectors,” the IARC said.

But the IARC's Vincent Cogliano said the evidence was not
yet clear enough for anyone to take any action.

“I don't know if this is ready for an employer yet because
I don't think we understand fully what it is about shift work
that might be causing cancer,” Cogliano said in a telephone
interview.

First, he said, more study was needed. “Then we would like
the national health agencies to look at it and see what kind of
action is appropriate.”

GETTING MORE EVIDENCE

Cogliano said this was the first time the IARC had examined
shift work as a possible cause of cancer, and said the agency
would return to the issue in perhaps five years, when more
research had been done.

The monograph will be published in the December issue of
The Lancet Oncology medical journal, but the conclusions are
based on years of published research.

In 2001, a team at the Fred Hutchison Cancer Research
Center in Seattle found that women who work night shifts may
have a 60 percent greater risk of breast cancer.

Several tests in mice show that circadian clock genes are
disrupted in tumor cells.

Other studies provide evidence that firefighters, who
breathe in smoke, chemicals and dust and who also work shifts,
have a higher risk of cancer and heart disease.

The shift work findings may all have to do with the body's
response to light.

The brain's pineal gland produces the hormone melatonin
after the body is exposed to either sunlight or artificial
light and then darkness, and production is disrupted when
people are up at night with the lights on.

Melatonin also acts as an antioxidant protecting DNA from
the type of damage that leads to cancer and heart disease.

“Melatonin does a lot about regulating the body's cycle.
But I don't think we know how to tinker with the melatonin
system … yet,” Cogliano said.

“We are always going to have night workers and shift
workers. Some jobs must be done around the clock like nurses.
We need to know how to reduce the risk.”

Other experts have pointed out that shift workers may have
other behaviors that raise cancer risk, such as a higher
tendency to drink alcohol or to smoke, or get less sleep.

(Editing by Will Dunham and Eric Beech)

FRIDAY, Nov. 30 (HealthDay News) — Having cancer patients report
to doctors on their symptoms and side effects online may improve their
care, a new study finds.

Even the sickest cancer patients are willing and capable of reporting
their symptoms online, says a team from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer
Center in New York City.

“Cancer care has become increasingly complex, causing office visits to
become more compressed. This makes it challenging for the clinician to
comprehensively assess each patient's symptoms in that brief window of
time,” study author Dr. Ethan Basch, a medical oncologist, said in a
prepared statement.

“Because cancer therapies can be highly toxic, early detection of
symptoms and timely treatment is vital. What is exciting to us about
online self-reporting is that patients can alert clinicians to crucial
symptoms in real time,” Basch said.

The study included 107 lung cancer patients receiving outpatient
chemotherapy who had access to a secure Internet patient reporting system
developed by Basch and his colleagues. The patients were able to access
the Symptom Tracking and Reporting (STAR) site using computers in waiting
room kiosks and at home to report cancer symptoms and chemotherapy-related
side effects.

The patients were followed for up to 16 months and 40 visits. All of
the patients used the waiting room kiosks at some or all of their office
visits, and an average of 78 percent logged onto the system at any given
office visit. Patients were more likely to use STAR if they had prior
computer experience.

The study found that 98 percent of patients found STAR easy to use, 90
percent said it was useful, and 77 percent believed it improved the
quality of their discussions with clinicians.

The study appears in the Dec. 1 issue of the Journal of Clinical
Oncology.

More information

The U.S. National Cancer Institute has more about coping with
cancer.

YANGON (Reuters) -
The Myanmar junta has shut down a Yangon
monastery which served as a hospice for HIV/AIDS patients and
expelled its monks, an opposition lawyer said on Friday.

“The authorities sealed Maggin monastery yesterday
afternoon” and expelled the monks, said Aung Thein of detained
democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for
Democracy.

“The authorities did not give them any documents and did
not say under which law the action was taken, so we cannot do
anything to provide them with legal assistance,” he added.

United Nations special envoy Ibrahim Gambari criticized the
closure of the monastery, which was used as a hospice for
HIV/AIDS sufferers and a refuge for provincial patients who
came to Yangon for medicines.

“Any actions that run counter to the spirit of national
reconciliation, any action that will undermine the dialogue
between the government and those who disagree with the policy
of the government should be avoided,” Gambari said in Phnom
Penh.

“And I'd like to repeat that,” he told reporters during a
visit to Cambodia on a regional tour before returning to the
former Burma next month for more talks with the government and
probably Suu Kyi.

The abbots of Maggin monastery have long had the reputation
of supporting pro-democracy campaigns, such as the one led by
monks in September which the junta crushed. The official death
toll is 15, but diplomats believe it is much higher.

The suppression caused such international outrage the junta
allowed Gambari to visit and it appointed a senior general as
intermediary with Suu Kyi, who has spent 12 of the past 18
years under some form of detention.

Gambari, who expects to return to Myanmar in December, said
after his last visit he had received assurances the crackdown
would stop.

But arrests have continued, raising doubts about the
junta's sincerity in beginning a real dialogue with the
opposition.

“We get reports almost on a daily basis of people being
picked up,” Shari Villarosa, the top U.S. diplomat in Myanmar,
told reporters in Bangkok.

“It's hard to see how shutting monasteries, continuing to
arrest people and continued restrictions on Aung San Suu Kyi,
how this is progress,” Villarosa said.

Myanmar state media say all but 91 of the nearly 3,000
people arrested in the crackdown were released and monks from
raided monasteries were sent home.

Villarosa said she believed “a considerable number” of
monks had been arrested and their whereabouts were unknown.

“It's the big question out there. Where are all the monks?”

(Additional reporting by Darren Schuettler in Bangkok; Ek
Madra in Phnom Penh)

HOLD FOR RELEASE 12:01 A.M. FRIDAY; graphic describes an imprinted gene and how it affects inheritance; 2c x 4 inches; 96.3 mm x 101.6 mm

WASHINGTON - Remember biology class where you learned that children inherit one copy of a gene from mom and a second from dad? There’s a twist: Some of those genes arrive switched off, so there is no backup if the other copy goes bad, making you more vulnerable to disorders from obesity to cancer.

Duke University scientists now have identified these “silenced genes,” creating the first map of this unique group of about 200 genes believed to play a profound role in people’s health.

More intriguing, the work marks an important step in studying how our environment — food, stress, pollution — interacts with genes to help determine why some people get sick and others do not.

“What we have is a bag of gold nuggets,” lead researcher Dr. Randy Jirtle said about the collection of “imprinted” genes. The team’s findings were published online Friday by the journal Genome Research.

Next comes work to prove exactly what role these genes play. “Some will be real gold and some will be fool’s gold,” Jirtle added.

Usually, people inherit a copy of each gene from each parent and both copies are active, programmed to do their jobs whenever needed. If one copy of a gene becomes mutated and quits working properly, often the other copy can compensate.

Genetic imprinting knocks out that backup. It means that for some genes, people inherit an active copy only from the mother or only from the father. Molecular signals tell, or “imprint,” the copy from the other parent to be silent.

Jirtle compared it to flying a two-engine airplane with one engine cut off. If the other engine quits, the plane crashes. In genetic terms, if one tumor-suppressing gene is silenced and the active one breaks down, a person is more susceptible to cancer.

Only animals that have live births have imprinted genes. It was not until 1991 that it was proved that humans had them. Until now, only about 40 human imprinted genes had been identified.

The Duke map verified those 40 and identified 156 more. Researchers fed DNA sequences into a computer program that decoded patterns pointing to the presence of imprinted genes instead of active ones.

Many of the newly found imprinted genes are in regions of chromosomes already linked to the development of obesity, diabetes, cancer and some other major diseases, the researchers reported. One, for example, appears to prevent bladder cancer. A second appears to play a role in causing various cancers and may affect epilepsy and bipolar disorder.

Scientists had thought imprinted genes would account for about 1 percent of the human genome. While scientists must double-check that the newly identified ones are truly silenced, the new map matches that tally.

“It’s a fascinating paper,” said Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Volkow praised the new mapping method for speeding the slow discovery of these genes.

She said finding which genes are imprinted is important for a bigger question: How do behavioral or environmental factors tip the balance for someone who is genetically predisposed to a health problem?

Previous work by Jirtle and others shows the environment can reprogram how some genes operate, making them speed up or slow down or work at the wrong time. In a groundbreaking 2003 experiment, Jirtle fed pregnant mice different nutrients to alter the coat color of their babies. The feed affected chemical signals that control how hard a certain gene worked, determining when the babies had yellow coats like mom or brown ones.

“It’s not just about the sequence of your genes, but how that sequence is turned on and off by environmental exposures that is likely to determine whether you will be healthy,” Volkow said. Imprinted genes “are likely to be particularly susceptible to environmental factors.”

Sometimes imprinting goes awry before birth, leaving a normally silenced gene “on” or silencing one that should not be. Faulty gene imprinting leads to some devastating developmental disorders, such as Angelman syndrome, which causes mental retardation.

Now a question is how imprinting may be changed to reactivate an imprinted gene after birth.