Medical Diagnostics:Online: MedlinePlus:Millions on Verge of Diabetes Don't Know It: CDC:Only 11 percent of the 79 million Americans with prediabetes aware they have the condition

THURSDAY, March 21 (HealthDay News) -- Only 11 percent of the estimated 79 million Americans who are at risk for diabetes know they are at risk, federal health officials reported Thursday.

The condition, known as prediabetes, describes higher-than-normal blood sugar levels that put people in danger of developing diabetes, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"We have a huge issue with the small number of people who know they have it. It's up a bit from when we measured it last, but it's still abysmally low," said report author Ann Albright, director of the CDC's Division of Diabetes Translation.

"We need people to understand their risk and take action if they are at risk for diabetes," Albright said. "We know how to prevent type 2 diabetes, or at least delay it, so there are things people can do, but the first step is knowing what your risk is -- to know if you have prediabetes."

Things that put people at risk for prediabetes include being overweight or obese, being physically inactive and not eating a healthy diet, Albright said. These people should see their doctor and have their blood sugar levels checked, she said.

There is also a genetic component, Albright said, which is why having a family history of diabetes is another risk factor. "Your genetics loads the gun, then your lifestyle pulls the trigger," she said.

According to the report, published in the March 22 issue of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the lack of awareness of prediabetes was the same across the board, regardless of income, education, health insurance or access to health care.

One expert found the numbers troubling.

"People don't know about prediabetes, they don't exercise, they don't eat appropriate foods and we are going to have many more diabetics in the near future than we have now," said Dr. Spyros Mezitis, an endocrinologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.

The danger of prediabetes is that it can progress to full-blown diabetes, with all the complications that condition entails, including heart, kidney, circulation and vision problems.

continue reading : http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_135161.html

Medical Diagnostics : Research : Online : CAP Today : TB or not TB? Newer assays settle in William Check, PhD

Though tuberculosis is primarily diagnosed and treated in the public health system, there's a need for greater knowledge about TB in the private sector, says Sundari Mase, MD, MPH, of the CDC's Field Services and Evaluation Branch, Division of Tuberculosis Elimination. Among private physicians, she says, "there is little institutional knowledge about TB." When Dr. Mase sees patients, often she'll note diagnostic delays in recognizing TB, "delays that occur because physicians aren't thinking about TB."

One example: lymph node biopsies. "It happens all the time," she says, "that a patient is sent for a lymph node biopsy, which goes to a pathologist. On readout, there is granulomatous disease, but no one has thought about the possibility of TB, so the specimen is not sent for TB culture. The patient is sent to me, and I have to make a diagnosis of TB on clinical presentation and the pathology report without a culture." In these circumstances, Dr. Mase says, the patient could go from one physician to another seeking a diagnosis until someone realizes this could be TB.

It would be good to have greater knowledge of TB among clinicians and pathologists," she says. "Once the tissue is in formalin, we can no longer get a culture." While molecular tests work on formalin-fixed specimens, the yield for TB is low. "There are very few organisms in the specimen," Dr. Mase says. "There are generally not a lot of TB organisms in the lymph node, so it is hard to pick up." Dr. Mase has sent four pathology specimens for molecular testing; all were negative.

While many areas in TB diagnosis and management remain unchanged, a major advance has taken place in testing for latent TB infection. Several years ago, in vitro blood tests were approved that recognize the presence of TB infection by release of interferon-gamma (interferon-gamma-release assays, IGRAs) ("Tuberculosis no longer skin deep," CAP TODAY, November 2008). Data have accumulated on the performance of these assays in relation to the historical standard, tuberculin skin testing (TST), so that the place of IGRAs in diagnosing TB in various populations is now becoming clear. The CDC published updated guidelines in 2010 on the use of IGRAs; those guidelines are still the governing document (MMWR. 2010;59[No. RR-5]:1–25). Says Dr. Mase, "For diagnosis of latent TB infection, interferon-gamma-release assays are recommended for all situations in which we have used tuberculin skin testing." [more]

Medical Diagnostics:Online: MedlinePlus:Fewer blood pressure screens may be more effective: By Kathryn Doyle

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Less may be more when it comes to blood pressure checks, according to a new study.

After analyzing five years' worth of data for more than 400 patients, researchers conclude that the current practice of screening at every visit to the doctor's office - up to several times a year - may result in more people mistakenly diagnosed and unnecessarily treated for high blood pressure than would simple yearly screening.

Blood pressure measurements are often taken without following proper procedure, according to lead study author Dr. Gregory Garrison, so the readings can be widely inaccurate and lead to some people being wrongly diagnosed with hypertension, while others who have the condition are written off as just "more false positives."

"One, it results in unnecessary patient anxiety, repeated clinic visits, and laboratory testing," Garrison, of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, told Reuters Health by email. "Two, it often lulls physicians into writing off a positive result because so few are confirmed."

Garrison and his colleagues found that taking fewer readings, while still sometimes inaccurate, would weed out almost half of the false positives.

The researchers looked at Mayo Clinic records for 68 patients diagnosed with high blood pressure and 372 patients without high blood pressure. Based on the readings from every doctor's visit, all 68 high blood pressure cases were identified, but 110 people without high blood pressure would also potentially have been wrongly diagnosed because of a stray high measurement.

When the researchers analyzed the same data but only considered one measurement per patient per year, they identified 63 of the patients with high blood pressure - at or before the original date of their actual diagnosis - and got 67 false positives, according to the results published in the Annals of Family Medicine.

An office blood pressure measurement can be inaccurate if it is not performed with the patient seated, arm supported, after a five-minute period of rest. Otherwise, blood pressure can rise temporarily for a variety of reasons, including the mild stress of being tested by a doctor, known as the "white coat effect."

"Blood pressure technique is not good at all, and does overestimate a lot of the time," said Dr. William Cushman, chief of the Preventive Medicine section at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Memphis, Tennessee.

But he disagrees with the Mayo team's conclusion. Overestimation results in unnecessary expense and anxiety, but doesn't usually harm the patient, said Cushman, who was not involved in the new study.

If less frequent testing fails to identify a few positive cases, that could be a bigger problem, he told Reuters Health.

In the study, annual testing failed to identify five of the 68 cases of hypertension, or a little over seven percent, which was not statistically significant in that case. But it could become significant when applied to a larger population, according to Cushman.

"In populations, we don't want to miss ten percent of people," Cushman said.

High risk patients with high blood pressure can start to see the benefits of treatment after six months or a year, so waiting twelve months between tests could have consequences for some, he added.

For most people, hypertension is a slow moving disease, and a diagnosis delayed by a few months or a year is unlikely to have noticeable negative consequences, according to Garrison.

Continue reading : http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_135217.html

Medical Diagnostics:Prevention : Online: NKDEP: Testing for Kidney Disease

Early kidney disease usually does not have signs (a change in your body) or symptoms (a change in how you feel). Testing is the only way to know how your kidneys are doing. It is important for you to get checked for kidney disease if you have the key risk factors – diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, or a family history of kidney failure.

Two tests are needed to check for kidney disease.

1. A blood test checks your GFR, which tells how well your kidneys are filtering. GFR stands for glomerular (glow-MAIR-you-lure) filtration rate.

2. A urine test checks for albumin in your urine. Albumin is a protein that can pass into the urine when the kidneys are damaged.

It is also important to have your blood pressure checked. High blood pressure can be a sign of kidney disease. Keep your blood pressure at or below your target to help protect your kidneys.

The sooner you know you have kidney disease, the sooner you can get treatment to help delay or prevent kidney failure. If you have diabetes, get checked every year. If you have other risk factors, such as high blood pressure, heart disease, or a family history of kidney failure, talk to your provider about how often you should be tested.

Medical:Innovation:Latest research: MedlinePlus: Simple Breath Test Might Diagnose Heart Failure

An experimental breath test, designed to quickly identify patients suffering from heart failure simply by analyzing the contents of a single exhaled breath, has demonstrated promise in early trials, a team of researchers says.

The investigators stressed that their evaluation is based on a small group of participating patients, and that more extensive research will have to be done to confirm their initial success.

But by subjecting a patient's breath to a rigorous but fast analysis of the hundreds of so-called volatile organic compounds contained therein, the study team said it has so far been able to correctly diagnose heart failure among newly hospitalized patients with a 100 percent accuracy.

Continue reading at : http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_135249.html

September - Patient Education - Newborn Screening Patient Tutorials

Are you familiar with newborn screening? 

September month is also Newborn Screening Awareness month. 

View the  tutorial on newborn screening to learn more.

Click on the link  http://bit.ly/NPPozT

 

September - Patient Education - Cholesterol

September is National Cholesterol Education Month. 

High cholesterol can lead to many debilitating health problems including narrowed blood vessels and heart attacks.  

Education about how to manage cholesterol can help prevent these health problems. This month, take a break and take a look at and share the X-Plain tutorial on Managing Cholesterol.

 

Click on the link to understand and manage Cholesterol :  http://bit.ly/Pm1ga2

 

Online article : Medical Buyer magazine: Limitations in the Reach of Medical Equipment

"In India, the real challenge for any business is to cater to the needs of the common man living in rural areas." K. K. Mohan Raju, CEO, Sneha Diagnostics, Vijayawada

It is easier to cater to the needs of those who live in metropolitan cities and those who can afford the price of a test, but the real challenge for any business is to cater to the needs of the common man living in India's rural areas. There is a long way to go for the common man in a village to get benefited by technology developments happening on the medical diagnostics/equipment/technology front. Despite having all innovations in health care, in rural areas people have to travel to the nearest district head-quarter or to the state capital to get their glucose test done. There are many changes that need to be put in place to ensure an efficient medical system and the required changes are listed as:

Cost of medical equipment. In order to bring down test costs, the equipment price has to come down, the current prices of which are very unlikely for a common man to afford in most of the medical tests.

Innovations in medical equipment. A number of innovations are needed in the following areas:

• Robustness of the equipment, where there is little maintenance and low cost of spare parts
• Learning, using, and operating equipment - in most cases, highly educated equipment operators are required; recruiting and retaining highly skilled labor is a big problem
• Automated equipment having low throughput and less usage/wastage of consumables

After-sales service. It is a tough and challenging task for a diagnostic center that operates in tier III or tier IV cities to get a prompt and quick response from the services team because of various reasons. Some of the reasons are beyond their control (as the locations are remote), because of which there is a burden on the patient and the business due to increase in down-time of the crucial equipment. The best way for this is to have robust and low-maintenance equipment in place.

View online  : http://www.medicalbuyer.co.in/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3788&Itemid=41

Online-Medical News: India PR Wire : Abbott and the Indian Thyroid Society Expand Efforts to Raise Thyroid Awareness in Women

The initiative is a first of its kind in India, focused on improving disease awareness of thyroid disorders, increasing access to diagnosis, improving standards of treatment for women and continuing medical education for doctors. Since 2010, approximately 10 lakh individuals have been screened at the diagnostic and education camps that have been held in India throughout the 'Think Thyroid' programme. In 2012, the effort will expand to reach more than 10 lakh women.

Chandigarh, Union Territory, January 30, 2012 /India PRwire/ -- Abbott and the Indian Thyroid Society today announced a commitment to further improve thyroid disease awareness in women in India with the 'Make a Difference to Life - Think Thyroid, Think Life' programme. Juhi Chawla has been named ambassador for this thyroid awareness initiative.

The initiative is a first of its kind in India, focused on improving disease awareness of thyroid disorders, increasing access to diagnosis, improving standards of treatment for women and continuing medical education for doctors. Since 2010, approximately 10 lakh individuals have been screened at the diagnostic and education camps that have been held in India throughout the 'Think Thyroid' programme. In 2012, the effort will expand to reach more than 10 lakh women.

"This partnership with the Indian Thyroid Society, local doctors and a well-known personality like Juhi Chawla will bring about a greater awareness and understanding of thyroid disorders and their related conditions. The 'Think Thyroid' initiative demonstrates Abbott's commitment and progress in increasing access to health care in India," said Vivek Mohan, Managing Director, Abbott India Limited.

As ambassador of the 'Think Thyroid' initiative, Juhi Chawla hopes to bring awareness of thyroid disorders to more women and increase diagnosis and treatment.

"A number of people live with symptoms of a thyroid disorder due to lack of knowledge of the disorder. Having witnessed how untreated thyroid disorders can affect the quality of life in women, I am eager to raise awareness and encourage early diagnosis," said Juhi Chawla.

It is estimated that approximately 40 million Indians suffer from thyroid related disorders, of which 60 percent are women.* Thyroid disorders can be due to genetic or environmental and dietary factors. They are most commonly diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 40, but can occur at all ages. If left untreated, hypothyroidism can cause elevated cholesterol levels, decreased fertility, depression and decreased heart rate; and in pregnant women, placental abnormalities and increased risks for the baby's well-being. These symptoms are often confused with other disorders, thus making thyroid disorders one of the least detected disorders in India.

Like diabetes, there is no permanent cure for most forms of thyroid disorders but with medication and precise treatment, thyroid disorders can be controlled and patients can live normal lives.

Professor R V Jayakumar, President of The Indian Thyroid Society said, "Thyroid disorder is a silent disease. With millions of Indians suffering from this disorder, the majority of cases are undiagnosed. There is a significant need for us to reach out to the Indian people and make them aware of the causes, symptoms, treatment and importance of testing. Building on our significant outreach in 2011 and in conjunction with Thyroid Awareness Month, we will expand our efforts in India with a particular focus on women."

Read the full news : http://www.indiaprwire.com/pressrelease/health-care/20120128110381.htm

Online Diagnostics business news: mydigitalfc.com : Thyrocare to invest Rs 1,000 cr in imaging units

Nueclear Healthcare, a division of Mumbai-based diagnostic services provider Thyrocare Group, is investing Rs1,000 crore in 120 molecular imaging centres, for which it is joining hands with medical technology major GE Healthcare.

Aimed at early detection of cancer, these centres will come up in three phases ending 2015. While GE Healthcare will be the technology solutions partner in the venture, private equity CX Partners will fund 35 per cent of the total investment and the rest will be pumped in by Thyrocare and its promoter A Velumani.

"Last year Thyrocare had a turnover of Rs 120 crore. We are a cash-rich company without debt. But for the new company we will be borrowing from EXIM Bank and if needed also look at further equity dilution," said Velumani, founder of Thyrocare Group.

CX Partners had recently picked up 27 per cent stake in Thyrocare.

The molecular imaging centres will have 120 advanced PET/CT imaging systems and 12 PET Trace Medical Cyclotrons which produce glucose that helps early detection of 95 per cent of cancers. "While in the US, a PET/CT is available for one million people, in India there is not even one for 15 million. With the high rate of incidence of cancer in India, early detection is going to be vital in the fight against the disease," said Terry Bresenham, president and CEO of GE Healthcare India.

Thyrocare will have the cost benefit of having the systems in bulk from GE, which is also a strong player in molecular technology. GE is also in the process of bringing out low-cost diagnostic technologies for the emerging markets like India. It will invest $50 million in India on such products till 2015, which also includes a PET/CT system at 40 per cent lower cost.

"Currently a PET/CT scan costs Rs 25,000 per test and we will bring this cost down to Rs 10,000 per test making it more affordable," said Velumani.