Kids Deficient in Vitamin D Poses Serious Health Threat

Nearly one  in 10 kids are deficient in vitamin D which poses a serious health threat to these children. Having too low vitamin D levels puts them at risk of heart disease, weak bones and rickets. This study reflects 7.6 million American children who are actually deficient in vitamin D.

The new findings come from a study conducted by Juhi Kumar, MD, MPH, of Montefiore Medical Center, Michal Melamed, MD of Albert Einstein College of Medicine and colleagues.

In a press release Kumar said, “We expected the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency would be high, but the magnitude of the problem nationwide was shocking.”

Vitamin D is known as the “sunshine vitamin” since our bodies produce it naturally when exposed to the sun. Certain foods, such as fish and milk, are also good sources.

Kids who were at a particularly high risk of low vitamin D levels included older children, obese children, kids who drank milk less than once a week and kids who spent more than four hours a day watching TV, playing video games or using computers.

“It would be a good idea for parents to turn off the TV and send kids outside,” advised Kumar, “Just 15 to 20 minutes a day should be enough. And, unless they burn easily, don’t put sunscreen on them until they’ve been out in the sun for 10 minutes so they get the good stuff  but not the sun damage.

When kids are deficient in vitamin D, their bodies begin to reabsorb calcium from the skeleton.  The Kumar study found that children who took vitamin D supplements were least likely to have low vitamin D levels but only 4 percent of kids get these supplements

First Ever Transplant of Tongue and Jaw Completed in Spain

The first ever transplant of a tongue and jaw was completed Tuesday in Spain.

The 43 year old patient, who is from the Canary Islands, had lost the lower half of his face as a result of radiotherapy to treat a malignant tumor.  A team of 30 surgeons spent 16 hours operating on the horribly disfigured man.

Dr. Pedro Cavadas, who led the team at La Fe Hospital in Valencia, reported: “The patient has already seen himself in the mirror and he is delighted.”

The doctor also added, “The patient should recover the capacity to speak intelligibly, to swallow, recover sensitivity in his tongue and his face.”

The donor, a 35 year old Belgian, was living in Spain when he was killed in a traffic accident.

The first time ever transplant of a tongue and jaw was particularly difficult because previous surgery had rendered the veins, arteries and nerves, normally connected in these operation, useless, Cavadas said.

Study Shows the Best Drug for Heroin Addicts in Treatment is Heroin

A Canadian study shows the best drug for heroin addicts in treatment is heroin! The researchers reported Wednesday that injections of the active ingredient of heroin work far better than oral methadone for keeping addicts in treatment.

The reseachers wrote in the New England Journal of Medicine that “Methadone, provided according to best practice guidelines, should remain the treament of choice for the majority of patients.

However, when that doesn’t work, they said, giving heroin’s active ingredient diacetylmorphine, appears to be  an effective alternative.

Eugenia Oviedo-Joekes of the University of British Columbia and colleagues studied 226 addicts in Montreal and Vancouver. Only 54 percent of those who got methadone stayed in treatment for a year but 88 percent  of  those who got the diacetylmorphine shots did. Also, those who got diacetylmorphine cut back on illicit drugs by 67 percent compared to 48 percent who got methadone.

Dr. Martin Schechter of the University of British Columbia, who worked on the study said, “Once you open your mind to the idea of getting people off the streets, out of crime, out of the back alleys and into clinics where they’re going to be treated by doctors and nurses and counselors, some people will say, ‘Ah ha! I get it now.’ They begin to see the pragmatic side of the argument.”

 There are approximately a million heroin addicts in North America. Since methadone treatment fails in 15 to 25 percent of the addicts who try it, perhaps, as the study shows, the drug for heroin addicts in treatment really may be heroin.

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