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READING
Submitted by:
Michael Ginno Cuison

Submitted to:
Remedios B. Caubang R.N.

Submitted on:
Nov 24, 2010
EMERGENCY MEDICINEBy Alice Park

CPR Gets an Update.For 50 years, CPR has been performed the same way: quick breaths into
the victim's mouth, followed by chest compressions in a repeated cycle to get the heart beating again. But
in recent years, studies have shown that doing away with rescue breathing and using chest compressions
alone may be just as effective, if not more so, in resuscitating victims of cardiac arrest. That's why the
American Heart Association is updating its guidelines and urging both trained and untrained rescuers to
start with the compressions and either eliminate or delay mouth-to-mouth breathing in cases when a
victim's heart has stopped.
There are both social and medical reasons for the shift. About a third of people who collapse from
cardiac arrest never receive CPR, largely because bystanders are unsure or squeamish about delivering
it the right way. Streamlining the procedure to include only compressions--which should be firm enough to
depress the chest by about 2 in. (5 cm)--could make it easier for more people to attempt resuscitation.
Medically, say experts, the body has enough oxygen to function for a few minutes after the heart stops, so
using compressions to restore its pumping action should be the priority.
HORMONE THERAPY
Clarifying the Hazards of HRT
It's been eight years since a landmark study revealed that hormone replacement therapy (HRT)
after menopause increases women's risk of breast cancer. That trial was halted three years early, once
the harms came to light. But doctors--and their patients--have been wondering ever since whether the
types of breast cancers linked to HRT actually increase the risk of dying from the disease.
Now they have their answer and, unfortunately, it's yes. An 11-year follow-up to the trial in which
researchers compared cancer rates among women who had been randomly assigned to take HRT--an
estrogen-progestin combination that can treat the hot flashes and night sweats associated with
menopause--or placebo found that the hormone users had a 25% greater chance of developing invasive
breast cancer and a 96% greater likelihood of dying from the disease than the control group did. Previous
studies suggested that the cancers attributed to HRT were generally detected earlier and less likely to be
fatal, but the new data prove otherwise. The cancers in the hormone users were more likely to involve the
lymph nodes and therefore potentially more prone to spread beyond the breast.
The good news, however, is that the results should mean a further drop in breast-cancer deaths
in coming years, since fewer women have been using HRT since 2002.
FROM THE LABS
Anti-Alzheimer's Vitamin?
The key to reversing the mental decline caused by Alzheimer's disease won't be as easy as
popping a vitamin, but new research with a group of nearly 300 elderly people suggests that B[subscript
12] may help lower homocysteine, a compound linked to memory loss and stroke, and reduce the risk of
Alzheimer's as well.
Genetic Roots of Alcoholism
For the first time, scientists may have a clue why some drinkers are more prone to alcohol
addiction than others. Working with genetically modified mice, the researchers found that animals missing
a brain receptor for dopamine, a chemical responsible for feelings of reward and satisfaction, triggered
changes in other brain receptors that favored the reinforcing patterns of addiction.
TEEN BRAINS ON DRUGS
Excessive drinking and substance use can temporarily impair mental abilities, but these effects
may be longer lasting in adolescents. Teens who use alcohol or drugs heavily show delayed or
incomplete development of frontal-brain regions responsible for regulating attention and decisionmaking;
alcohol seems to be particularly detrimental to planning skills, while pot affects memory.
Source: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2026922-2,00.html

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