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New technology has made it possible, for the first time, to track the potentially deadly bacteria MRSA around the world or from one person to another, a new study reports.

The ability to track MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) can help scientists figure out how the bacteria mutates and spreads so fast. It also could lead to better ways to control the infection as well as other emerging “superbugs,” researchers say.

“This is the first demonstration of a new approach to genome sequencing,” Stephen Bentley, from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in England and senior author of the study, said during a Wednesday teleconference.

“This is set to revolutionize genetic sequencing in general, and, I believe, a particular impact will be seen with bacteria, and more particularly, those bacteria which cause infectious disease,” he said.

The aspect of MRSA that makes it so concerning is that it is resistant to many antibiotics. One theory holds that the bacteria developed in response to the overuse of antibiotics. The current treatment is with an antibiotic called vancomycin, but the fear is that the bacteria could become resistant to this drug, too.

Although MRSA is usually not serious in healthy people, it can cause serious complications, including organ failure and death, if it enters the bloodstream. The presence of MRSA in hospitals is a particularly worrisome occurrence.

The new findings are published in the Jan. 22 issue of Science.

To make their discovery, the researchers used a new method of sequencing DNA, which enabled them to quickly see single mutations in the genetic code of the bacteria and identify differences between closely related strains of MRSA in 62 samples.

“We showed that mutations in MRSA occurred far faster than previously thought,” the study’s co-lead author, Dr. Simon Harris, also from the Sanger Institute, said during the teleconference.

Using the new technology, the researchers were able to see how fast MRSA mutated. In the strain of the bacteria they studied, mutations happened about every six weeks.

To understand how MRSA spreads around the world, the researchers looked at bacteria samples from hospitals in North and South America, Europe, Asia and Australia over a period of more than 20 years.

By tracking changes in the genetics of the bacteria, they were able to develop an “evolutionary tree of MRSA.”

Using this method, they found that one strain of MRSA first developed in Europe in the 1960s about the time antibiotics were starting to be widely used — a finding the researchers said adds credence to the theory that MRSA is a product of the overuse of antibiotics.

In addition, 20 MRSA samples came from one hospital in Thailand. Using those samples, the researchers were able to show how the same MRSA infection was transmitted within the hospital, Harris said.

MRSA is a common infection in hospitals, study co-author Sharon Peacock, a professor of clinical microbiology at the University of Cambridge and Faculty of Tropical Medicine at Mahidol University in Bangkok, said during the teleconference.

“In the U.S., MRSA infections doubled from 127,000 cases in 1999 to 278,000 cases in 2005,” she said. “Also in the U.S., annual deaths increased from 11,000 to 17,000 from MRSA problems in the same time frame.”

Peacock said that the new technology will enable doctors to study MRSA in such fine detail that “it will become possible to determine routes of MRSA transmission in a localized setting, such as a ward or a hospital.”

This could identify “hot spots” of MRSA transmission, which could lead to better infection control, she said.

Dr. Pascal James Imperato, dean of the School of Public Health at the Downstate Medical Center in New York City, said he agreed with the contention that MRSA developed because of the widespread use of antibiotics.

“This research describes the use of a newer technique to characterize the genetics of MRSA strains, to elucidate their evolution and to track their epidemiology worldwide,” Imperato said. “Although it is a useful research tool at present, there are possibilities for its greater use in the future in the contexts of clinical medicine and public health.”

“The results of this study also confirm that the evolution of resistant strains and their spread are primarily driven by antibiotic use,” Imperato said.

SOURCES: Pascal James Imperato, M.D., MPH&TM, dean and distinguished service professor, School of Public Health, Downstate Medical Center, New York City; Jan. 21, 2010, teleconference with Simon Harris, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Cambridge, United Kingdom, Stephen Bentley, Ph.D., Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute; Sharon Peacock, Ph.D., professor of clinical microbiology, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom and Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Bangkok

Dietary “phytoestrogens” — plant substances that have weak estrogen-like activity — have little impact on the risks of developing hormone-sensitive cancers like breast and prostate cancer or colorectal cancers, new research suggests.

In a large study of some 25,000 British adults, researchers failed to find any “significant” differences in cancer risk related to dietary intake of these compounds.

Phytoestrogens are found in a wide range of foods including dairy products, soy foods, cereals, fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, coffee and tea. Previous studies have suggested dietary phytoestrogen intake is associated with increased breast cancer risk and reduced colorectal cancer risk in women. The results from earlier studies were hampered, however, by limited data about phytoestrogen content in food.

No previous research has examined the association between phytoestrogen intake and prostate cancer risk.

In the current study, reported in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, researchers assigned phytoestrogen values to nearly 11,000 foods following chemical analyses. For the first time, phytoestrogen values were assigned to animal products.

Unlike plants, which themselves contain phytoestrogens, phytoestrogens are generated by the digestion of animal products like meat and dairy products by microbes in the gut, the researchers explain.

Phytoestrogen consumption was estimated for cancer-free adult participants in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition – Norfolk (EPIC-Norfolk). EPIC-Norfolk participants, recruited between 1993 and 1997, filled out a diet diary for a week and provided information about age, height, weight, smoking, aspirin use, menopausal status, and family history of cancer among other things.

Cancers that developed within 12 months of study recruitment were identified from a cancer registry totaling 244 breast cancers, 221 colorectal cancers, and 204 prostate cancers. The diets and other relevant information from those who developed cancer were compared to information from other participants (controls) who did not develop cancer.

While acknowledging more study is needed, the authors concluded that there is “little evidence” that phytoestrogen intake is “associated with subsequent risk of breast or prostate cancer.”

However, phytoestrogens found in eggs and dairy products “may influence the risk of prostate cancer and colon cancer in women,” they report.

The associations are weak and without further study do not warrant changes in diet, lead investigator Heather Ward, of the MRC Center for Nutrition and Cancer in the Department of Public Health and Primary Care at Strangeways Research Laboratory in Cambridge, England, told Reuters Health.

“The results of the present study do not suggest that anyone should alter their phytoestrogen intake, in part because the majority of the associations between phytoestrogen intake and cancer risk were not significant,” the doctoral candidate wrote in an email.

“It is worth noting that phytoestrogen intake within an Asian-style diet is more than ten-fold greater than in Western diets, without evidence of an increase in cancer risk,” she added.

Because phytoestrogen consumption is on the rise in Britain, the authors urge further monitoring because “the relation between phytoestrogen and cancer may change over time.”

The risk that an untrained bystander can do harm by giving cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or CPR, to someone who collapses in public is almost vanishingly small, a new study indicates.

And so the dispatchers who send emergency medical help when 911 is called should routinely tell the caller to start CPR, said Dr. Thomas D. Rea, an associate professor of medicine at the University of Washington, and lead author of a report in the Dec. 21 online issue of Circulation.

“There have been concerns expressed by laypeople and dispatchers that doing CPR might cause damage,” Rea said. “Our study shows that you can help the person at risk and the chances that you can injure someone who is not in cardiac arrest are very, very small, and those injuries are not serious.”

Rea and his colleagues used data on 1,700 adults who received CPR in the King County emergency response system between June 2004 and January 2007. Rea is program medical director of the King County program. Of those, 55 percent were in cardiac arrest and 45 percent were not. Nearly half of those not in cardiac arrest received CPR from bystanders.

The data showed minor problems — discomfort or injuries in 9 percent to 11 percent of cases — but only four fractures, three due to chest compressions administered during CPR, one from repositioning the individual for CPR.

And while this study did not measure the benefits of giving CPR even when it eventually turned out to be unnecessary, “many studies have shown that the odds of surviving cardiac arrest increase by 20, 30, 100 percent, depending on what study you look at, when CPR is given,” Rea said.

“The key finding here is that when a well-meaning member of the general public starts CPR and the victim is not in cardiac arrest, it will probably cause no injury at all,” said Dr. Michael Sayre, an associate professor of emergency medicine at Ohio State University, and a spokesman for the American Heart Association. “The study reassures me that rescuers are rarely going to do any kind of injury.”

King County emergency dispatchers use a basic two-question format to determine whether CPR should be started: Is the person conscious? Is the person breathing normally?

“If the answers are ‘no,’ the dispatcher tells the caller to ‘get the victim on a hard surface, on his back, bare the chest, put the hands in the center of the chest right between the nipples and then start compressions of one to two inches, counting aloud,’” Rea said. The dispatcher counts along with the CPR giver, and the routine continues until the emergency response team arrives.

It can end sooner if the person getting CPR regains consciousness and tells the rescuer to stop.

King County is unusually well organized to handle cardiac emergencies, Sayre said. “My experience is that in many places, the 911 center is almost too polite,” he said. “In communities like King County, call-takers are aggressive about telling callers how to do CPR.”

There often is uncertainty at the caller’s end of the telephone encounter, Sayre said. “I know there can be hesitation in terms of training and doing it in person. But this shows that evaluating the situation quickly and starting CPR will rarely do any harm.”

Some diseases and conditions can impact on your entire body, from your head to your feet.

The American Podiatric Medical Association lists these health conditions that can lead to foot problems or indicate that a foot problem exists:
High blood pressure.
Cardiovascular disease.
Rheumatic heart disease.
Diabetes, particularly if you’re taking medication to manage it.
Open sores that don’t heal normally.
Swollen feet or a “burning” sensation in the feet.

Researchers may be moving closer to better treatments for bovine spongiform encephalopathy, better known as mad cow disease, and the related condition called Creutzfeldt Jakob disease.

A protein called Glypican-1 is crucial to the development of mad cow disease, researchers from England now report, and understanding its role could help scientists figure out how to stop the illness from progressing.

The findings were published Nov. 20 in the journal PLoS Pathogens..

Abnormal forms of proteins known as prions cause mad cow disease, a killer infection that causes neurological problems. It hasn’t been clear, however, why the proteins go awry.

The researchers found that the presence of the Glypican-1 protein boosts the number of abnormal prion proteins.

“We were looking at how the normal prion protein functions in cells and spotted that it was interacting with something,” Nigel Hooper, a professor of biochemistry at the University of Leeds, who participated in the research, said in a statement. “Some lateral thinking and deduction led us to Glypican-1, and when we carried out the experiment, we found we were right.”

Hooper added: “Now that we know the identity of one of the key molecules in the disease process, we may in the future be able to design drugs that target this.”

People with an eating disorder may not want to attend a support group or meet with therapists, but a new report raises the prospect that “remote therapies” via e-mail, text messaging or through Web sites could help them recover.

In the new report, published online Nov. 19 in The Lancet, researchers pointed out that it can be difficult to find treatment. They examined so-called “self-help” interventions and found that with some professional oversight, these treatments could help people with bulimia nervosa and binge-eating disorder, although there’s some doubt about the effectiveness of the treatments.

Anorexia nervosa, in which people eat little or nothing, is an exception, the researchers said. For people with that condition, counseling and dietary therapy remain the ideal treatments.

There don’t appear to be many treatment advances on the horizon, the researchers noted. “Overall, apart from studies reporting pharmacological treatments for binge-eating disorder, advances in treatment for adults have been scarce, other than interest in new forms of treatment delivery,” they concluded.

An estimated 0.6 percent of adults develop anorexia nervosa in their lives, and 1 percent develop bulimia nervosa. Binge-eating disorder is estimated to strike 3 percent of adults, according to background information in a news release about the study. The conditions are more likely to strike women, but men are also affected. Perhaps 2 percent of men, for example, will develop a binge-eating disorder.