Fewer People Dying In U.S. From First Heart Attacks

First-time heart attacks in the United States are becoming less severe, and fewer people are dying from them than did in past generations, according to a new study.

The study, published in Tuesday's Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association, said that the trend is true across racial and gender lines.

The researchers from St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital of Columbia University in New York City, were not attributed to people getting to the hospital sooner because that rate remained the same since 1987.

Instead, the researchers say people are controlling their blood pressure and cholesterol more these days, which makes heart attacks less deadly.

Though the news is positive, the decreased mortality rate is only slightly statistically significant. The study looked at data from more than 10,000 first heart attacks that occurred in four separate parts of the country from 1987 to 2002. During that time, the amount of people dying from first-time heart attacks only went down a little more than 5 percent.

Heart Attack Rates Drop After City Bans Indoor Smoking

Hospital admissions for heart attacks in Pueblo, Colo. have reduced significantly three years after the city banned smoking in most indoor places, according to a study released this week from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The study found there were 399 hospital admissions for heart attacks in Pueblo in the 18 months before the city's smoke-free ordinance took effect on July 1, 2003, compared to 237 heart attack hospitalizations in the similar period from 18 months to three years after this date, a CDC press release states.

The CDC said indoor smoking bans affect heart attack rates because they limit the amount of second-hand smoke non-smokers are exposed to and they reduce smoking altogether.

"This study adds to existing evidence that smoke-free policies can dramatically reduce illness and death from heart disease," Janet Collins, director of CDC's National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, said in a statement.

The CDC says long-term exposure to second-hand smoke is associated with a 25-percent to 30-percent increased risk of heart disease in adult non-smokers. The agency says it estimates second-hand smoke exposure causes an estimated 46,000 heart disease deaths a year in non-smokers.

Bird Flu Death Raises Concerns Of Outbreak In China

A 19-year-old woman in Beijing, China has died of the avian flu, the first human case in the country since February 2008, according to various press reports.

The World Health Organization released a statement that the woman likely became infected while preparing poultry. She died Monday morning of the H5N1 strain of avian influenza, according to the Beijing health bureau.

A spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Health said the government has forecast an increase in the amount of birds carrying the virus this year, making it possible more people in the country will become infected, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Avian influenza viruses typically don't infect humans, according to WHO's website. When they do, they cause severe respiratory problems. In most cases of human infection, the person has come into contact with contaminated poultry or with objects that came into contact with its feces.

Nine Asian countries have reported outbreaks of avian flu since 2003, and the virus has spread to parts of Europe, the Russian Federation and parts of neighboring Kazakhstan and Ukraine, according to WHO.

There were 115 human infections of H5N1 in 2006. Seventy nine of those were fatal. In 2008, there were 40 reported infections, 30 of those were fatal.

Tamiflu-Resistant Flu Strain Circulating the U.S.

A flu strain resistant to Tamiflu, the most frequently prescribed treatment for influenza, has become the most commonly circulated form of the illness in the U.S.

The inhaled powdered drug Relenza is effective in treating the H1N1 strain, but is not recommended for children under 7-years-old or with patients with lung disease.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is recommending doctors treat H1N1 with a combination of Tamiflu, and an older flu drug, Flumadine, which the strain is not resistant to.

Since this combination does work in treating the strain, and because this year's flu season is slow compared to other years, health officials say they don't see a reason to panic. They believe Tamiflu lost its effectiveness against the strain because of its increased use worldwide to treat upper respiratory illnesses, the Washington Post reported.

The CDC also said that all strains of the flu circulating the United States are preventable if people received the flu vaccine.

First Baby Born Who Was Screened For Cancer Gene

A baby girl was born in England who was tested before conception for a gene that is a marker for developing breast cancer.

The girl is the first person born who was screened for the BRCA1 gene. Doctors say if she carried the gene, she would have had an 80-percent chance of being diagnosed with breast cancer later in life.

Three generations of women in the little girl's father were diagnosed with breast cancer in their 20s.

So-called pre-implantation genetic diagnosis is done by taking a cell from the embryo at the eight-cell stage of development - when the embryo is about three days old. Doctors then find an embryo that is free of BRCA1 and implant it back into the woman's womb.

The procedure could be used to prevent a child being born that carries the risk for other diseases like cervical cancer and cystic fibrosis.

But the practice has also raised ethical red flags. Josephine Quintaville, of the group Comment on Reproductive Ethics, told the BBC that the procedure goes too far.

"I hope 20 years down the line we have eradicated breast cancer - not eradicated the carriers," she told BBC News.

Toxic Effects Of Ash Dumps On Water Resources, Environment Raised

There are over 1,300 ash dumps across the U.S. which remain unregulated despite the sites having toxic materials like arsenic, lead, mercury, selenium and other byproducts of burning coal.

While these heavy metals were recognized by the Environmental Protection Agency as threats to water supply and human health, there is hardly any tracking done on the effects of the ash dumps on the environment.

Coal ash is even used as construction materials and for mine reclamation. In 2007 50 tons of fly ash was used to improve soil's ability to absorb water even if the EPA, in 1999, warned about the high levels of arsenic in fly ash. The recycling of coal byproducts is partly due to its growing production, placed at 131 million tons in 2007 from less than 90 million tons in 1990.

Ash could leach toxic elements that cause cancer, birth defect and other health problems in humans and other creatures near ash dumps. In 2007, the EPA said 63 ash dump sites in 26 states had contaminated the water supply.

The growing menace of ash sites was highlighted last week after a judge approved a $54 million class-action settlement against Constellation Power Generation which used a sand and gravel put near Gambrills in Maryland as ash dump for over 10 years.

Meanwhile, the EPA is expected to issue soon a final national report on cruise ship discharges after the agency had gone over five waste streams from cruise ships. These are from its sewage, graywater, oily bilge water, solid waste and hazardous waste. Among the places where the EPA report will first be tested is Alaska's discharge standards for sewage and greywater for cruise vessels that dock in Alaska's ports.

Brain Implants Show Promise For Treating Parkinson's Disease

Deep brain stimulation therapy for Parkinson's disease, where a pacemaker device is implanted in part of the brain, showed more promise than medication in a recent study, but there were serious side effects.

The study, which appears in the Journal of the American Medical Association, concluded that patients treated with deep brain stimulation showed more improvements in movement and quality of life after six months compared with patients treated with medication.

But the study also found that these patients were at greater risk of developing serious side effects like depression, falls, heart problems and infections. One patient taking part in the study suffered a hemorrhage and died, the Chicago Tribune reported.

Deep brain stimulation, or bilateral deep brain stimulation, works by implanting leads into the subthalamic nucleus or the globus pallidus areas of the brain. Patients receiving the treatment in the study had an average increase of about five hours of normal movement, said lead researcher Frances Weaver of the Center for Management of Chronic Complex Care.

The part of the brain the device is implanted in contains dopamine-producing nerve cells that degenerate in Parkinson's patients. This causes the tell-tale symptoms of the disease, like tremors, stiffness, loss of coordination and slowed movement.