Consolidated Health News for the week ending June 12, 2005
By Angsuman Chakraborty, Gaea News NetworkFriday, June 10, 2005
Three transplant patients have died as a result of receiving an organ from a donor who had unknowingly been infected with a common rodent virus. A fourth patient who received a kidney from the organ donor is recovering.
In what is believed to be only the second documented case in which the viral infection LCMV was transmitted through an organ transplant, four patients in all were infected and health officials say the infection has been traced to a female organ donor from Rhode Island who died of unrelated causes, but who was exposed to a common rodent virus, possibly from a pet hamster.
Women have higher rates of insomnia than men, but the better educated a woman is, the more likely she is to sleep through the night, finds a large study in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. The findings are based on a nationally representative Taiwanese survey on social trends, involving nearly 40,000 people aged 15 and older. Overall, insomnia tended to be more common among those who were older, divorced/separated, had low educational attainment, poor health, or low income. Children living at home also increased the rates of insomnia.
A diet rich in milk does not increase the risk of heart disease and stroke, and may even be protective, concludes research in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. The research team asked a representative sample of 764 men to weigh and record every item of food and drink they consumed for seven consecutive days. Just under 90% of the sample (665) produced complete and detailed diaries.
Men who consumed the most milk every day (a pint or more) had a higher energy intake, suggesting that they were more active. Cholesterol levels and blood pressure readings were similar in high and low milk consumers (less than half a pint), and men who drank the least milk tended to drink the most alcohol.
The authors suggest that milk has had something of a bad press in respect of its impact on cholesterol, and they conclude: “The present perception of milk as harmful, in increasing cardiovascular risk, should be challenged, and every effort should be made to restore it to its rightful place in a healthy diet.”
