Walking on sand safer than playing in sand
CHAPEL HILL, N.C., July 10 (UPI) -- U.S. beach goers who play in the sand are at greater risk of diarrhea and gastrointestinal diseases than those who just walk on sand, scientists said.
"Beach sand can contain indicators of fecal contamination," said Chris Heaney, a postdoctoral epidemiology student at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
Heaney's study showed children run the greatest risk of illness after a day at the beach because they are more likely than adults to dig enthusiastically and get sand in their mouth, the university said in a release Thursday.
Heaney's team gleaned data from more than 27,000 beach goers interviewed between 2003 and 2007 for U.S. Environmental Protection Agency studies, Tim Wade, an EPA epidemiologist said.
"People should not be discouraged from enjoying sand at the beach, but should take care to use a hand sanitizer or wash their hands after playing in the sand," Wade said. "That will make a day at the beach a little less risky."
CPR to be taught via Nintendo Wii game
BIRMINGHAM, Ala., July 10 (UPI) -- Cardiopulmonary resuscitation soon could be taught using the Nintendo Wii video game console, students at the University of Alabama, Birmingham, said.
The American Heart Association has pledged $50,000 to fund the work by biomedical engineering students, the university said in a release Thursday.
Greg Walcott, an associate professor of biomedical engineering, devised the idea of a computer program that could be downloaded on home computers and synched with the wireless technology of the Wii remote to teach users proper resuscitation technique.
The students plan to make the program available, free of charge, on the American Heart Association Web site as early as this fall.
"The Heart Association's high interest in our students' innovations points to potential of this project and how it fits in with its desire to deliver reliable CPR education to the masses," faculty adviser Jack Rogers said.
High insulin level linked to breast cancer
NEW YORK, July 10 (UPI) -- Elevated insulin levels in the blood appear to increase the risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women, researchers in New York said.
Increased breast cancer risk for postmenopausal women previously has been linked to obesity and diabetes, researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University said.
Both conditions involve insulin resistance, which causes increases in circulating levels of insulin. Insulin promotes cell division and breast tumor growth in animal models, so the researchers reasoned that elevated insulin levels could contribute to breast cancer risk in women, said their study, published in the International Journal of Cancer.
"Up to now, only a few studies have directly investigated whether insulin levels are associated with breast cancer risk, and those studies have yielded conflicting results," Geoffrey Kabat, a senior epidemiologist at Einstein said.
Kabat's team analyzed data on 5,450 women enrolled in the Women's Health Initiative, a study investigating the influence of a number of factors on women's health.
The researchers found women in the upper third for insulin levels were more than twice as likely to develop breast cancer when compared with women in bottom third for insulin levels.
Study says heat gels, sprays, unproven
OXFORD, England, July 10 (UPI) -- Over-the-counter sport creams and heat gels are unproven and may do no more than rubbing your skin with saliva, a British biochemist said.
"The point is, you go to any pharmacy and find tons of these things, but they don't work," Andrew Moore, a biochemist at the University of Oxford, said. "I wouldn't waste the money. You might as well rub your skin with a bit of spit."
Moore's team reviewed studies of rub-on and spray-on preparations containing one or more salicylates. Aspirin, for example, is a salicylate. Well-known brands such as Aspercreme, Ben Gay and Icy Hot balms contain salicylates and often menthol additives.
The preparations are thought to work by producing a warmth -- and strong smell -- that distracts users from their musculoskeletal pain but does nothing to heal the injury, Moore said in the current issue of the Cochrane Library, which evaluates healthcare research.
Rather than use salicylate preparations, Moore suggests topical anesthetics containing capsaicin, a hot-pepper derivative which is effective for some strains, sprains and neuropathic pain.
