There are good bacteria and there are bad bacteria

Use of a minimally invasive endoscopic procedure to remove superficial, early stage oesophageal cancer is as effective as surgery that takes out and rebuilds the esophagus, according to a study by researchers at Mayo Clinic in Florida. The research examined national outcomes from endoscopic treatment compared to esophagectomy, surgical removal of the oesophagus.
It found that endoscopic therapy offered long-term survival rates similar to those for oesophagectomy, says lead author, Michael B. Wallace, M.D., a gastroenterologist at Mayo Clinic in Florida.
‘Endoscopic resection in the oesophagus is similar to how we remove polyps in the colon, although it is much more technically complex. Oesophagectomy is a major surgical procedure that cuts out the entire oesophagus, and pulls the stomach into the neck to create a new food tube,’ Dr. Wallace says.
‘Our study on national outcomes, as well as our own experience with the procedure at Mayo Clinic in Florida, suggests that both offer the similar chances for cure and long-term survival,’ he says. ‘Patients now have the option to preserve their oesophagus when only early stage cancer is present.’
The research looked at national outcomes from the two procedures in patients with oesophageal adenocarcinoma, the most common type of oesophageal cancer in the United States. The research team examined data from the National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database.
They identified 1,619 patients with superficial, early stage oesophageal adenocarcinoma who had endoscopic therapy (19 percent) or surgery (81 percent) from 1998 through 2009. Many of these patients were treated for cancers that arose from Barrett’s oesophagus, a condition in which the cells in the lower part of the oesophagus morph into a pre-cancerous state.
The researchers collected survival data through the end of 2009, and found that endoscopy therapy increased progressively

A new study suggests that people with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) are perceived to appear more alert, more youthful and more attractive after at least two months of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy.

‘This study showed that independent human raters

Twenty grams of essential amino acids taken twice daily for a week before and for two weeks after knee-replacement surgeries helped 16 patients, mean age 69, recover faster and with much less muscle atrophy than a control group ingesting a placebo.
The approach could spell relief and speed recovery for a growing population of ageing adults who face total knee-replacements because of loss of mobility and pain problems. An estimated 3.48 million Americans are projected to need the surgery, known as total knee arthroplasty (TKA), by 2030.
The findings are part of an ongoing collaboration led by Hans C. Dreyer, a professor of human physiology at the University of Oregon, with the Eugene-based Slocum Research & Education Foundation and the Oregon Research Institute.
Atrophy in the quadriceps, a group of four muscles on the front of the thigh, has been a long-running problem following knee-replacement surgeries, Dreyer said.
In the study, 12 members of a control group receiving 40 grams a day of a non-essential amino acid supplement, a placebo, averaged an 18.4 loss in quadriceps muscle mass in their operated leg six weeks after surgery; those getting the supplement of eight essential amino acids (EEA) averaged a 6.2 percent loss. Eighty percent of atrophy occurred in the first two weeks after surgery. Atrophy in non-operative legs was about 50 percent of that in the operative leg in both groups. Muscle mass changes were seen with magnetic resonance imaging done at two and six weeks after surgery.
‘We’ve learned that the essential amino acids were able to mitigate the amount of muscle loss,’ Dreyer said. ‘The functional measures that we looked at