A very surprising study of almost 46 million Medicare patients found out that residents of rural areas have more chances of getting one of the nine common surgical operations than those living in the city. These findings challenge the current notion that people in cities have better access to surgery than those from the rural areas.

The study says that hip and knee replacements, back surgery, and prostate removal are among the surgeries that are carried out more often for Medicare patients in rural areas. Moreover, elective and emergency surgeries are both more commonly performed among rural residents than those from the cities.

Although the study challenges the idea that city people have better access to health care, many experts believe that the study raises more questions than answers. For example, the researchers did not specify where the procedures were performed, only that they live in rural areas. Therefore, it is possible that the surgeries were conducted in the city.

Moreover, the study did not have a clear report on the outcome of the said surgeries. Nor did it indicate if people living in rural areas have generally poorer health than those living in the city that is why they need more surgical treatments.

Lead author, Dr. Mark Francis, said that the results of their study could mean a lot of things. It is possible that people from rural areas are sicker, get surgeries they do not necessarily need, or are delaying treatment to simple illnesses which then lead to a condition prompting surgical procedures. Whatever the reason is, it cannot be found in this particular study which based their data on the 2006 Medicare patients report.

Scientists have discovered a gene that is linked to cholesterol and diabetes acts like a master switch that may control fats in the body. Scientists say that this can play a huge role in getting obesity help and cure for obesity-related diseases.

British researchers said in a study published in “Nature Genetics” that because fat plays an extremely significant role in our chances of getting metabolic diseases, the regulating gene may be targeted for the treatment of illnesses such as diabetes, obesity, and heart diseases.

Tim Spector, lead author of the study, said that their study is the first major research that shows how very minimal changes in a single master regulator gene can affect metabolic functions of other genes. They analyzed at least 20,000 genes in fat samples from 800 British female twins who volunteered for the study. After which they compared and confirmed their findings with 600 more fat samples from another group from Iceland.

As of the moment, one out of 10 adults in the world is obese. That is more than a billion people or 10% of the world’s total population. The numbers have increased, almost doubled, since the 1980s and it has shifted from rich nations only to even poor countries because of poor eating habits.

In the United States alone, $147 billion are spent to treat obesity-related diseases each year. That accounts for 10% of the country’s total medical spending. Cases of type-2 diabetes are also increasing in number as obesity rates grow.

Health officials of San Antonio are trying to reduce the obesity rate among children and improve their eating habits by taking a snapshot of what students eat. Five elementary schools in San Antonio participated in a $2 million research on Wednesday. The research includes taking a picture of students’ lunch trays before and after eating.

A computer program will then analyze the before and after photos of the lunch trays. The software is capable of identifying every food in the picture; right down to the number of ounces of food and the total calorie-intake of the students.

The project is funded by a grant given by the Department of Agriculture and the first of its kind in the entire United States. The cameras only take photographs of the food trays and not the faces of the children. Moreover, roughly 90 percent of parents agreed to have their children’s food intake monitored.

Parents will then receive a data which take into account everything their children eat in school. The researchers hope that once parents find out what kinds of food their children choose in school, they will also make an effort to change their eating habits at home.

The research is also expected to identify what children like to eat and how much of it they can consume in one meal.

Echon along with everyone in the research team are still in the process of fine-tuning their program. For example, they have just recently saw to it that the food served in one school is consistent with the foods served in others; both in kind and consistency.

One of the school principals, Mark Davis, said that they did not have a hard time getting consents from parents for this project.

The Chief Executive Officer of Philip Morris International, one of the leading makers of cigarettes, told a nurse working with cancer patients on Wednesday that although cigarette smoking is addictive, it is not that hard to quit.

CEO Louis Camilleri said that in response to questions and comments at the company’s annual shareholder meeting in New York. Executives from the company and other overseas brands producing and selling cigarettes spent most of their time in the meeting sparring with anti-tobacco advocates.

Elisabeth Gundersen, the nurse CEO Camilleri responded to, cited statistics that cigarette smoking kills at least 400,000 Americans and a total of 5 million people all over the world each year. Gundersen is one of The Nightingale Nurses, an activist organization that aims to draw public attention to tobacco consumption.

Moreover, Gundersen reiterated a patient’s story wherein the patient mentioned that of all the vices he has beaten – cocaine included – he had most trouble with cigarette smoking.

In response to Gundersen’s statement, Camillari said that they are taking their responsibilities as a tobacco company very seriously. He even said that he does not think their efforts in pointing out that cigarette smoking is addictive and dangerous are appreciated. Furthermore, Camillari said that contrary to what Gundersen mentioned, cigarette smoking is not that hard to beat as there are more previous than current smokers in America today.

Philip Morris International is the largest non-government seller of cigarettes in the world.

Based on a study conducted by Swedish researchers, women who drink enough amounts of coffee everyday have lower risks of developing aggressive breast cancer.

Their study successfully linked drinking at least five cups of coffee a day to a significantly lowered reduction in ER-negative breast cancer or more commonly known as t he non-hormone responsive disease. However, they found no links between coffee consumption and ER-positive breast cancer.

Dr. Per Hal, co-author in the said study, said that daily intake of coffee may protect women against the aggressive form of breast cancer – ER-negative. Hal, however, admits that they do not have thorough details about this finding yet. For example, they do not know if there are specific coffee mixes that can affect women’s risk to breast cancer. What they do know though, is that the protective effect of coffee in general is striking.

The study was reported online in the Breast Cancer Research website on May 11. It involved 5,929 Swedish women between 50 to 74 years old. Roughly half of that population have breast cancer.

Questionnaires were handed out to the participants which include questions like smoking, eating, and drinking pattern. Based on those questionnaires alone, the researchers noticed that women who drink a minimum of five cups of coffee per day have at least 33 percent lesser chance of having ER-negative breast cancer.

Hal, however, pointed out that consumers should not jump in to conclusion just yet. Although they saw an association between coffee and breast cancer, they have not yet proven that the two have a cause-and-effect relationship.

Their next step is to single out what specific chemical in the coffee that cause such dramatic decrease in ER-negative breast cancer risk.

A recent study found out that homosexual men have double the risk than other males to be diagnosed with and survive cancer. This shines a new light on the medical risks that gay people are facing today.

This is not the first time a study has seen differences in health risks associated with sexual orientation. Gay men, for example, hold higher risks of getting sexually transmitted diseases like HIV, while homosexual women or lesbians have higher risks of getting breast cancer compared to heterosexual women.

Studies also show that more lesbian women and gay men smoke tobacco than the general population. Moreover, lesbians drink alcohol more often than others and are more inclined to obesity.

This study that was published in May 9 examined surveys that involved at least 122,000 residents of California from 2001, 2003, and 2005. Included in the survey questions were sexual preferences and whether or not the participants were diagnosed with cancer.

The results show that 8 percent of the gay respondents have had cancer; double the rate among straight guys and bisexual men who participated in the survey.

Lesbians did not show higher rate of cancer occurrence compared to other women. However, a lot lesbian women who survived cancer reported that they have observed that they have poor health.

Liz Margolies, executive director of the National LGBT Cancer Network, said that even though things have changed and the society is more receptive to gay men and lesbian women, many of them still face unwelcoming atmosphere in a lot of medical offices. She added that unless this is addressed, many homosexuals will continue not to seek medical help.

A survey showed that one in about four caregivers for sick or elderly friends and relatives suffered from depression. The figure was two times higher than for the population of the United States in general.

In contrast, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta released a study last year, which said that around 9 percent of Americans are likely to suffer from depression.

The online survey was hosted by Caring.com, a California-based website for caregivers. They had recruited 400 Americans to complete the survey. According to the online site, caregivers who are attending to a loved-one experience high level of depression as they face their own health problems.

The survey also showed that nearly one-third of family caregivers allot more than 30 hours per week in that position. It also showed that 77 percent of the caregivers are concerned on how their responsibilities can affect on their savings. Most caregivers attend to a sick patient, but the rest care for their spouse, friend or relative.

Based on the given study, 86 percent of the respondents believed that their role as a caregiver affected their situation at work since they had to cut time away from it or even quit their jobs early.

It also revealed that nearly half of the caregivers turn to their religious organizations to gather support aside from their friends and family. In addition, 25 percent seek online support through chat rooms, discussion forums and social networking sites such as Facebook.

British researchers found out that asthma pills were as effective as inhaled steroids in a study that compared the efficacy of both medications.

Dr. Stanley Musgrove, co-author of the study and a senior research associate at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, said that the asthma pills called leukotriene-receptor antagonists should also be considered as treatment option for any patient.

The oral medication has shown similar cost and effectiveness against inhaled steroids, as well as better treatment compliance, Musgrove said. He also said that the study was intended to be a “pragmatic” trial, which means it closely copies the way patients consume medications in real life.

The study consists of 650 volunteers between the age of 12 and 80 with mild to moderate cases of asthma. They had either insufficient control of asthma or had a disrupted quality life because of the condition’s symptoms. The researchers randomly assigned the volunteers to different groups.

The study found out that asthma pills or leukotriene-receptor antagonists work as well as inhaled corticosteroids when utilized as first-line treatment. It also works as well as long-acting rescue medication when utilized as supplementary treatment.

The effectiveness of the medications was measured mainly through Mini Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire. Findings of the study are published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

St. John Hospital and Medical Center in Detroit chief of allergy and immonology, Dr. Jennifer Appleyard said the findings confirm that there are several options that can be given to asthma patients, and there is not just one answer for them.

Based on the results of a recent study in the United States, Avastin is equally effective against macular degeneration to Lucentis. Avastin is an anti-cancer drug while Lucentis is the leading drug for macular degeneration; Avastis, however, is 40 times cheaper than Lucentis.

The study basically compared Avastin to Lucentis. Both drugs were developed by Genentech, a US firm owned by the Swiss laboratory Roche.

While the test was still ongoing, the researchers randomly assigned a total of 1,208 people with neovascular macular degeneration to get Avastis or Lucentis injections in the eye on a regular basis. That is either done monthly or on an as needed basis, depending on the patients’ monthly evaluation.

Macular degeneration is a condition that usually affects older adults and results in a loss of vision around the center of the visual field due to damage to the retina. It is the most common cause of visual impairment among adults ages 50 and above. This condition will make it almost impossible for the patient to recognize faces, let alone read. However, they usually have enough peripheral vision to allow them to carry on regular daily activities.

After a year of trials, Avastis and Lucentis have the same effects on the respondents’ visual acuity when they are administered following the same schedule. However, the cost of treatment varies widely said Doctor Juan Grunwald, one of the study authors.

The average cost per patient of those who were administered with Lucentis is $23,400. That is a very huge amount of money compared to the $385 cost per patient treated with Avastis.

This study appears in the most recent issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.

Based on the report submitted by the Alaska Division of Public Health, Alaska has the most cases of Chlamydia and second-highest number of gonorrhea cases in the United States.

In 2010 alone, Alaska reported a total of 6,026 cases of Chlamydia. That number is 13 percent higher than the previous year. 849 out of 100,000 people in Alaska are infected with Chlamydia; a roaring ratio compared to the national rate of 417 per 100,000.

On the other hand, despite the reports of national decrease in the cases of gonorrhea, Alaska maintained a 179 per 100,000 rates of gonorrhea cases. In 2010, the incidents increased to 23 percent from the previous year; a total of 1,273 reported cases in 2010 alone.

Alaska’s HIV and Sexually Transmitted Diseases Program Coordinator, Susan Jones, said that the rates may be due to Alaska’s demographics. The cases of gonorrhea and Chlamydia are centered on the youth and on the average, Alaska has more teenagers to young adults compared to the majority of the states.

Jones added that the sexually transmitted diseases are prevalent among the ethnic groups. The worst cases of infections are reported largely from the native population of the state. She said that lack of access and timely treatment exacerbates the problem.

In line with this, the Alaska Medical Board, just recently changed their rules allowing physicians to give preventive medication to sexual partners of those who are infected with sexually transmitted diseases even before they have been examined.

Jones said that the rationale behind this ruling is the fact that Chlamydia symptoms are very mild and are often disregarded.