NewsTrack Health and Science News

Older generations cut back on drinking LOS ANGELES, Feb. 22 (UPI) — People tend to drink less alcohol as they age, but drinking among earlier generations is declining faster than more recent generations, U.S. researchers found.

For instance, people born in 1925 decreased their drinking an average of 11 percent for each decade of aging, while those born in 1935 reduced their drinking about 9 percent each decade, according to researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Researchers used data from the first National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey of 1971-75 and follow-ups conducted in 1982 and 1992. More than 20,000 Americans up to age 74 participated in the study.

People cut down on drinking as they age because alcohol does not make them feel as good or it may interfere with medication, said lead researcher Alison Moore. Later-born generations continue to drink because they feel healthier, Moore said.

However, older adults are more likely to have conditions that can be worsened by alcohol use, such as depression and insomnia. Or, they may be taking medications that react negatively to alcohol, such as some arthritic medications, which can cause stomach bleeding when mixed with alcohol.

Not all bladder-infection drugs equal SEATTLE, Feb. 22 (UPI) — U.S. researchers have found differences in the effectiveness of common medications used to treat bladder infections in women.

Researchers at the University of Washington gave 370 women three days of treatment with either the antibiotic ciproflaxacin or the antibiotic amoxicillin-clavulanate. The women, ages 18 to 34, received the treatments twice daily, after which they were monitored for four months.

The researchers found 77 percent of the women treated with ciproflaxacin saw their urinary-tract infections cleared, compared with 58 percent among the women treated with amoxicillin-clavulanate.

Urinary tract infections are among the most common bacterial infections in women, with amoxicillin-clavulanate the most frequently prescribed antibiotic. Over the years, however, clinicians have detected an increasing microbial resistance to the medication.

The researchers found amoxicillin-clavulanate was not as effective as ciproflaxacin even among women infected with bacterial strains susceptible to amoxicillin-clavulanate — 60 percent vs. 77 percent.

The difference in clinical cure rates occurred almost entirely within the first two weeks after therapy, the researchers said.

Marijuana may help stem Alzheimer’s disease MADRID, Feb. 22 (UPI) — A Spanish study has found the active component of marijuana may reduce inflammation and help prevent the mental decline associated with Alzheimer’s disease.

Researchers at the Cajal Institute and Complutense University in Madrid, led by Maria de Ceballos, conducted studies using human brain tissue, as well as experiments with rats.

The team first compared the brain tissue of patients who died from Alzheimer’s disease with that of healthy people who had died at a similar age. They looked closely at cannabinoid receptors CB1 and CB2 — proteins to which cannabinoids bind, allowing their effects to be felt — and at microglia, which activate the brain’s immune response.

These findings that cannabinoids work both to prevent inflammation and to protect the brain may set the stage for their use as a therapeutic approach for (Alzheimer’s disease), de Ceballos said.

The study appears in Wednesday’s the Journal of Neuroscience.

Surgical site infections costly WASHINGTON, Feb. 22 (UPI) — Surgical site infections increase hospital stays and the risk of death, while costing the U.S. healthcare system $1.5 billion each year, researchers said.

A study, lead by Dr. Dale Bratzler at the Oklahoma Foundation for Medical Quality, analyzed 34,133 Medicare records from 2001 and found only about 55 percent of Medicare surgical patients got antibiotics within 60 minutes prior to the surgeon making the incision — even though that has been the gold standard for infection prevention since the 1960s.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Centers for Disease Control in 2002 initiated the Surgical Infection Prevention Project to reduce the number of surgical site infections.

There are substantial opportunities to improve the basic processes of care, Dr. David Hunt of CMS told reporters during a briefing on the study, which is published in Tuesday’s Archives of Surgery.

The study shows several hundred hospitals around the country that are participating in the project are reducing infection rates through properly adhering to the clinical guidelines, which also include ensuring the correct antibiotic is given and ending antibiotics 24 hours after surgery.