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May 16, 2005 (United Press International via COMTEX) -- HERB INEFFECTIVE AGAINST HOT FLASHES
Mayo Clinic researchers say black cohosh, an herbal remedy derived from a plant in the buttercup family, does not reduce hot flashes in women. Used extensively in Europe for treating this common symptom of menopause, black cohosh (Cimicifuga racemosa) worked no more effectively than a placebo in the study, reported at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Orlando, Fla. "This finding is extremely important because we can now say to our patients that black cohosh does not work, and we have to try other methods to control their symptoms," says surgeon Dr. Barbara Pockaj.
TO SHED POUNDS, SKIP THE TV
Watching more than two hours of television a day increases adolescents' chances of being overweight, Indiana University researchers report. "The effect of TV is independent of eating and exercise habits," says Millicent Fleming-Moran, associate professor of applied health science. "We found that the TV watching alone added a 50 percent risk of being overweight for high school students." Overweight youngsters have an 80 percent higher risk of continued obesity problems in adulthood, Fleming-Moran says.
TECHNIQUE CAN TREAT VOICE DISORDER
A surgical technique has been shown effective in treating spasms of the vocal cords that prevent sufferers from speaking above a broken whisper. University of California, Los Angeles, researchers told the annual meeting of the American Laryngological Association their findings suggest the technique provides the first permanent solution to the problem. Dr. Dinesh Chhetri, assistant professor of head and neck surgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine, says spasmodic dysphonia affects 50,000 Americans. The neurological condition disrupts nervous signals to the vocal cords, preventing them from vibrating properly, bringing the voice down to a strangled whisper. In the operation, the surgeon severs the nerve sending abnormal signals to the vocal cords, then attaches a healthy nerve from the throat to maintain the vocal cords' muscle tone.
DRUG HELPS PUT SENIORS TO SLEEP
The investigational drug ramelteon helped put senior insomniacs to sleep, investigators report. They told the annual scientific meeting of the American Geriatrics Society bedtime administration of ramelteon, a compound under review for the treatment of insomnia, reduced the time it took older adults with chronic insomnia to fall asleep. Thomas Roth, director of the Sleep Disorders and Research Center in Detroit, says an estimated 60 million Americans suffer from insomnia, and half of older adults experience one or more symptoms of the sleep disorder at least several nights a week.
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(Editors: For more information about FLASHES, contact Lee Aase at 507-284-5005 or newsbureau@mayo.edu. For TV, Millicent Fleming-Moran at 812-855-8361 or mfmoran@indiana.edu. For VOICE, Elaine Schmidt at 310-794-2272 or eschmidt@mednet.ucla.edu. For SLEEP, Amy Losak at 646-935-3917.)
Copyright 2005 by United Press International.
