Genetic mapping of Quebec commences

Efforts to create a genetic map of Quebec begin in earnest this month as researchers start recruiting people willing to offer up their bodies' blueprints.

The University of Montréal-driven project aims to sign up the first 400 people from Montreal, Monteregie and the Eastern Townships, with the aim of eventually collecting data on health and disease from just over 20,000 people.

The government-funded project is expected to create one of the largest data and biobanks in Quebec and will be made available to health researchers.

"The genome of each human being contains enormous quantities of information. The analysis of this information can increase our understanding of the underlying processes of health and disease," Dr. Claude Laberge, a geneticist and scientific director of the CARTaGENE project, said in a release.

The initial subjects, all between the ages of 40 and 69, will be selected at random using a list provided by the province's health insurance board.

Laberge says focusing on subjects in this age group means researchers know they will find that one-third are already coping with a variety of ailments including hypertension, cardiovascular diseases and arthritis.

Read the full story here

Poor people in Canada healthier than in the U.S.

Poor and less-educated Canadians are healthier than their American counterparts, according to a Kaiser health economist based in Portland.

Although overall population health is similar in both countries, there were differences at the lowest levels of income and education, said David Feeny, senior investigator at Kaiser Permanente's Center for Health Research.
He was co-author of a study that included the largest survey comparing health in the two countries.

"Income and education are well-known predictors of health status," said Feeny.
"What was surprising, however, was the statistically significant health gap between people in the U.S. and Canada at the lowest levels of income and education. The question is, what explains this gap?"

The most obvious difference between the two countries is Canada's universal health coverage, Fenny said.

"From prenatal care through death, there is no co-pay to see a family doctor or visit the hospital," he said.

"Some people think that is probably important in the differences people observe in the less advantaged. The less advantaged in the United States often have no health insurance, or inadequate insurance."

"There is an argument, not a definitive one, that with access to routine care, people seek care earlier in the progression of a disease, instead of coming in late when you've already become a complicated case."

Source: The Columbian

House dust greater health risk for kids than lead paint

Canadians may be exposed to a wide variety of metals, chemicals and pesticides on a daily basis as the result of a seemingly harmless domestic nuisance: house dust.

It's a potential health hazard that scientists are only beginning to understand.
Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada have embarked on a landmark four-year national study to determine levels of metals and chemicals in house dust across the country, and how health risks should be addressed.

Dust typically contains a variety of toxins released by common household products including plastics, electronics, furniture, garden soil and lead paint, which is common in older homes.

Scientists don't know for sure where all the toxins commonly found in dust come from.
They also don't know the typical concentration of metals and other toxins in house dust.

Unlike lead paint on toys or chemicals in plastic, scientists say house dust presents a far greater, unique risk because the loose, free particles can be easily ingested by children crawling on the floor or may be inhaled when dust becomes airborne.

Research has linked lead, flame retardants and pesticides found in house dust with the accumulation of these toxins in children's bodies.

"We've found high levels of lead in house dust is associated with higher blood lead levels in kids," said Paul Lioy, director of the exposure science division of the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute, at jointly sponsored by Rutgers University and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.

"We don't know what typical concentrations are for metals in house dust and other substances," said Pat Rasmussen, research scientist at Health Canada and principal investigator of the national house dust study.

Read the rest of the story here

Calgary Counselling Centre threatened to loose its residence

The Calgary Counselling Centre, since 1962, has provided counselling programs to help individuals, families, couples, children, men and women resolve domestic abuse, depression, stress, emotional and social programs.
Last year, the non-profit organization served 6367 clients, through 32,264 hours of counselling.

Through its ongoing research and education program, Calgary Counselling Centre strives to meet the changing needs of the community.

Now, with 10 working days notice, the Calgary Counselling Centre is in jeopardy of losing the space they have leased and occupied since June 1992.

Mid way through a ten year lease, the Calgary Counselling Centre has been advised that its lease may be terminated on coming 31 December.

Editor's opinion:

"Is it coincidence or well planned that health care workers are being told life changing bad news just before Christmas?
Earlier this week I already reported about the Victorian nurses in Hamilton who were told they'd loose their jobs coming April.
What is it with these people, these bringers of bad news?
Do they think that those people won't kill themselves around Christmas when around family and friends?
A happy Christmas to you too, you inconsiderate @%%40!e5"

Japanese study finds: Green Tea halves risk of Prostate Cancer

Drinking green tea may reduce the risk of advanced prostate cancer, according to a study by researchers at Japan’s National Cancer Center.
It finds that men who consume 5 cups a day or more could halve risk.

It said men who drank five or more cups a day might halve the risk of developing advanced prostate cancer compared with those who drank less than one cup a day.

“This does not mean that people who drink green tea are guaranteed to have reduced risk of advanced prostate cancer,” said Norie Kurahashi, a scientist who took part in the study.

Prostate cancer is much less common among Asian men than Western men, and that may be partly due to the effects of the high consumption of green tea in Asia, the study said.

But it said further studies are needed to confirm the preventive effects of green tea on prostate cancer, including well-designed clinical trials.

The study, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, compiled data from 50,000 men aged 40-69 over a period of up to 14 years from 1990.

British charity Cancer Research K says on its Web site that a study of almost 20,000 Japanese men published in the British Journal of Cancer in 2006 found no relationship between green tea and prostate cancer.

Reuters

Increasing number of ski and snowboard injuries

The number of skiers and snowboarders suffering head and spinal cord injuries is on the rise internationally.
This is probably the result of greater risk-taking on the slopes, according to researchers.

In a review of data on these injuries from 10 countries, Canadian researchers found increasing rates of brain and spinal cord injuries among skiers and snowboarders between 1990 and 2004.

These injuries account for a relatively small proportion of all injuries on the slopes; head trauma constitutes anywhere from 3 percent to 15 percent of all injuries, depending on the study, while spinal cord trauma accounts for an estimated 2 percent to 4 percent of injuries. Still, these injuries can be devastating or even fatal, the researchers note in a report published in the journal Injury Prevention.

They conclude that their findings highlight the need for better prevention efforts, particularly when it comes to young male snowboarders, who appear to be at greatest risk of fatal head injuries.

A key step is to always wear a helmet, according to Dr. Charles H. Tator of the University of Toronto in Ontario, the senior researcher on the study.

"Even those highly skilled can lose control," he told Reuters Health, "and therefore every skier and boarder, no matter at what level of skill or age, should wear a helmet."

The researchers based their findings on 24 studies from 10 countries, including the U.S., Canada and Japan. Across countries, there was evidence of a rising trend in traumatic brain injuries and spinal cord trauma.

Click here for the full story.

Reuters

Electronic personal health instructor calls: "Get your but off the couch!"

Fitness research done in Berkeley, CA in the US proofs that when a recorded voice tells them, even people who hardly get any exercise can be convinced to get off the couch and have a workout.

Researchers at Stanford University, who studied inactive people for a year, discovered that an automated exercise reminder phone call had about the same get-up-and-go power as calls from human motivators.

"The recording had a very nice, kind of cheerleader voice. It sounded very natural," said study participant Rita Horiguchi, who was initially disappointed to be assigned to get computer calls. "She would say things like, 'That's very good. I think you can go a little farther next week. So I would do a little bit more".

Horiguchi was one of 218 adults over 55 in the San Francisco Bay area who took part in the study, known as Community Health Advice by Telephone, or Chat. The goal was to get them out walking at a brisk pace for 30 minutes most days, or engage in some other medium-intense activity, for a total of about 150 minutes a week.

The group was divided into three: people who got no calls, people who were called by trained health educators and people who got computer calls.

The automated calls were interactive —for instance, asking participants to press "1" if they reached their goals in the previous week — and participants got prerecorded advice on how to overcome challenges.

Exercise levels were measured with devices that estimate physical activity and intensity.

After a year, both of the called groups were topping 150 minutes of exercise a week. Those who got computer calls averaged 157 minute while human-called participants logged an average 178 minutes. The no-call group averaged only 118 minutes.

Results of the study, funded by the US National Institute on Aging, are in the current issue of the journal Health Psychology.

MSNBC