This week, researchers reported more benefits for babies if their mothers take folic acid while pregnant and success with a procedure that does stomach stapling for obesity through the mouth. In cancer news, studies show that a vaccine can help people with lymphoma live longer and that depression drugs may cancel out the effects of a breast cancer drug. Other studies found that therapy programs can help prevent or treat anxiety and depression in kids with a family history of these conditions.
Stay well.

This Issue:

In the News:

Folic Acid: More Benefits for Babies?
Taking folic acid while pregnant may protect the baby in more ways than previously known. Folic acid taken in early pregnancy can help prevent birth defects of the spine and brain. Now two studies in the last month suggest it may help prevent other problems, too. One study looked at 35,000 pregnancies. Some women said they took folic acid pills for at least a year before they got pregnant. These women had only half the average risk of premature (early) birth. The other study was done in Canada. It included more than 1 million newborns. The study found that heart defects in babies have been less common since Canada started adding folic acid to some foods.

Lymphoma Vaccine Extends Survival, Study Says
Researchers say that a new vaccine can help people live longer with lymphoma. This type of vaccine does not prevent the cancer. Instead, it triggers the immune system to fight the disease. Many cancer vaccines have had disappointing results. But news has been more positive in recent months. The newest report came this week at a cancer conference. Researchers said the survival time for people who got the lymphoma vaccine was 44 months. People who did not get the vaccine lived an average of 30 months. The vaccine includes a substance from the surface of the cancer cells. This is attached to a shellfish protein. The immune system knows the shellfish protein with the attached cancer substance is a “foreign invader.” The immune system is tricked into attacking both the shellfish protein and the lymphoma cancer cells. Other promising vaccine results have been reported recently. They were treatments for prostate cancer, melanoma and a childhood brain tumor, neuroblastoma. The Associated Press wrote about the studies.

Studies Try To Break Family Cycle of Mental Disorders
Two studies suggest ways to reduce the risk of anxiety or depression in children of parents with these disorders. The studies were published this week, USA Today reported. One study included 316 teens whose parents had a history of depression. The teens themselves were depressed or had been in the past. Half were randomly assigned to group talk therapy. Half received other forms of care. In the next nine months, teens who got group therapy were less likely to be depressed than the others. But therapy did not help teens whose parents were depressed at the time. The second study included 40 younger children. Their parents had a history of anxiety disorders, but the kids did not. Half of the families went through an eight-week course. Kids learned coping skills. The parents learned to avoid doing things to make their kids anxious. After a year, none of the children who went through the course had developed an anxiety disorder. But nearly one-third of the other kids in the study did.

Drug Interaction May Increase Breast Cancer Risk
Breast cancer may be more likely to come back in women who take certain drugs for depression along with the cancer drug tamoxifen. That's the conclusion of a study presented this week at a cancer conference. The Associated Press wrote about it. Many women with breast cancer take tamoxifen to reduce the risk it will come back. Researchers used medical records. They compared 353 women who took tamoxifen and drugs that might interfere with it and 945 women who took tamoxifen alone. In a two-year period, breast cancer returned in 14% of women who took tamoxifen plus other drugs. These were mainly the antidepressants Prozac, Paxil and Zoloft. Cancer came back in only 7% of those who took tamoxifen alone. Researchers said other depression drugs did not have the same effect. Another study reported at the conference did not find a risk from combining breast cancer and depression drugs. However, it was smaller and the women did not take the drugs as long as in the other study.

Surgeons Staple Stomach Through Mouth
Researchers said this week they have found another way to do stomach-stapling surgery. The surgery is done to treat obesity. Stapling the stomach makes it smaller. People lose weight because they are not able to eat as much. At a conference, researchers reported a way to reach the stomach through the mouth. One hundred Europeans got either the stomach stapling or a fake procedure. Those who got the real treatment lost an average of 45% of their body weight in 18 months, the Associated Press reported. A U.S. study is still in progress.

Used with the permission of the copyright owner. All rights reserved. The above summaries are not intended to provide advice on personal medical matters, nor are they intended to be a substitute for consultation with a physician.