Virginia Hospital Center Blog

Medical News| HealthDay News, August 24, 2012

Meditation May Help Fight Loneliness, Study Says

A simple form of meditation can help stave off feelings of loneliness and may cut the body's inflammatory response - which can trigger serious illness - to distressing emotions, a small new study suggests.
Researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles and Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh found that older adults who participated in an eight-week program of mindfulness-based stress reduction - which attunes the mind to the present and avoids dwelling on the past or projecting into the future - reported a reduced sense of loneliness on an established ratings scale. Blood tests also indicated a significant decrease in the expression of inflammation-related genes.
"I think meditation training can help [people] develop a new relationship to feelings of stress," said study co-author J. David Creswell, director of the Health and Human Performance Laboratory at Carnegie Mellon. "It puts a brake on this process ... and turns down the chronically stressed state people may be in, thereby turning down the pro-inflammatory cascade. I think it may be targeting the stress component of loneliness such that it doesn't blow itself out of proportion."
The study appeared online recently in the journal Brain, Behavior, and Immunity...
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Health Tip: Work Out in Water

By Diana Kohnle (HealthDay News)

When you need to lose weight, you may want to seek exercises that are low-impact and easier on your joints. Working out in water can help you shed pounds safely. The U.S. National Institutes of Health says the potential benefits of water workouts include: Improved flexibility during exercise.Greater joint and muscle movement.Less muscle soreness.Lower risk of injury.You are less likely to become overheated if exercising in water.

Missing Follow-Up Colonoscopies Could Raise Colon Cancer Risk

People at higher risk of developing colorectal cancer may be able to reduce their risk by getting thorough colonoscopies and adhering to recommendations for follow-up exams, a new study suggests. Researchers in Germany looked at more than 400 people with polyps -- growths in the colon and rectum that can lead to cancer -- that had been detected in the past 10 years. About a third of them developed colorectal cancer. The researchers found that those with colorectal cancer were more likely to have neglected getting a follow-up colonoscopy within five years of detection and to not have had their polyps completely removed upon detection. These colonoscopy-related factors accounted for two in five cancer cases, whereas factors related to the polyps themselves, such as the number of polyps a patient had, were only associated with one in five cases, the researchers said...
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Spirituality May Boost Mental Health: Study

By Robert Preidt

Spirituality can be uplifting for your mental health, according to a new study. University of Missouri researchers examined the results of three surveys that asked Buddhists, Catholics, Jews, Muslims and Protestants about their personalities, levels of spirituality and physical and mental health. Among people in all five faiths, a greater degree of spirituality was associated with better mental health -- specifically lower levels of neuroticism and greater extraversion. After considering personality variables, the researchers concluded that forgiveness was the only spiritual trait predictive of mental health. The study recently appeared in the Journal of Religion and Health...
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Modern Technology Adds to Worldwide Obesity Woes: Report

By Robert Preidt

The increasing amount of time that people spend using computers, playing video games and watching TV is a major factor in rising rates of obesity worldwide, according to a new study. The researchers at the Milken Institute in California found a direct link between spikes in adoption of new information and communications technology and the dramatic rise in obesity in 27 countries between 1988 and 2009. The Milken Institute is an independent economic think tank. "Technological innovations, more processed foods, a greater amount of 'screen time,' less exercise, and higher consumption of snack foods have all played a role," report co-author and economist Anusuya Chatterjee said in an institute news release. "These are all the adverse effects of a knowledge-based society." More than 500 million adults worldwide are obese, according to background information in the news release. The United States has the highest percentage of obese adults (nearly 34 percent), followed by Mexico (30 percent), New Zealand (about 26 percent), Australia (nearly 25 percent) and Canada (just over 24 percent)...
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PSA Testing Linked to Improved Prostate Cancer Survival

By Robert Preidt

Prostate cancer survival rates in the United States have improved since the introduction of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing, researchers report. PSA is a protein released into the body by the prostate gland. PSA screening involves measuring the amount of PSA in a man's blood. The higher the PSA level, the more likely it is that a man has prostate cancer. The new study, published Aug. 23 in The Journal of Urology, found that routine use of PSA testing for prostate cancer screening and monitoring has resulted in earlier and more sensitive detection of the disease. This has led to improved survival for patients with newly diagnosed prostate cancer that has spread to the bones or other parts of the body ("metastatic prostate cancer"). In addition, the survival rate for black patients has improved and is now about the same as for whites, the investigators found. For the study, researchers analyzed data from three clinical trials conducted over the last three decades that evaluated patient survival after androgen (hormone)-deprivation treatment for prostate cancer. Two of the clinical trials were conducted before the introduction of PSA screening, and one took place after...
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