Health and Disability

Executive Summary

In this month’s Health Advocate, we analyze clarifications to the “Free Care Rule,” which no longer prevents schools from being reimbursed for services provided to children through Medicaid’s Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic and Treatment (EPSDT) program.

How can you use hydrogen peroxide?

Hydrogen peroxide can be used to clean wounds: when applied topically it will kill germs and prevent infection.

Detoxing: it can be used to detox the human body- hydrogen peroxide can help to eliminate many different forms of toxins in the body.

Hydrogen peroxide also has anti-inflammatory properties so it can be used to alleviate common toothaches. It has the potential to eliminate germs and infections that are oftentimes the cause of oral pain.

When taken internally, hydrogen peroxide is able to increase the body’s internal supply of oxygen. Oxidizing human body in this way prevents parasites from multiplying and helping them to be naturally eliminated.

Hydrogen peroxide can also function as an effective treatment for sinus infections: It is able to help eliminate the underlying infection, clearing the nasal passages and killing off germs.

In one study, the team analyzed data from a geographically diverse consumer panel of 33,720 people across the US. The researchers analyzed the employment status of each individual and looked at how this related to the purchase of over-the-counter (OTC) painkillers.

Compared with households in which at least one adult was employed, the team found that households in which both adults were unemployed spent around 20% more on OTC painkillers in 2008.

In an online study - involving 187 participants - the researchers found that individuals who were unemployed and deemed financially insecure at state level were more likely to report experiencing physical pain on a four-item pain scale, compared with employed, financially stable participants.

A further online study found that, compared with subjects who recalled an economically stable period in their lives, those who recalled an economically unstable period reported almost twice the amount of physical pain, even after accounting for age, employment status and negative emotion.

Researchers also assessed whether financial insecurity might be linked to pain tolerance. In a laboratory-based study, the team asked students to think about entering a stable or unstable job market while placing one hand in a bucket of ice water. Pain tolerance was measured by how long participants could keep their hand in the ice water.

Compared with students who thought about entering a stable job market, those who thought about entering an unstable job market showed reduced pain tolerance; they were unable to keep their hand in the ice water for as long.

Women with disabilities are less likely than able-bodied women to get mammograms, and they have higher rates of mortality from breast cancer than able-bodied women diagnosed at the same stage of the disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

According to a 2010 government survey, only 61% of women with a disability aged 50 to 74 had had a mammogram in the past two years — compared to 75% of women without a disability.

One 1999 study looked specifically at causes of death among people with cerebral palsy from 1986 to 1995. Researchers found that people with CP were three times more likely to die of breast cancer than the general population.

What's going on? According to Reis, there's a "perfect storm" of factors that prevent women from getting the breast cancer screening they need.

Accessibility is just the beginning. But it still poses a significant challenge — one that can begin as soon as a women leaves her house to head to the doctor's office. To get around, some women need to rely on public transportation for people with disabilities, which sometimes doesn't even show up, Reis said. Once they arrive, they may find there aren't automatic doors, ramps or elevators.

"There are amazing numbers of offices that women are supposed to attend that aren't accessible," Dr. David Roye, medical director for the Cerebral Palsy Foundation, told Mic. Both Roye and Reis are involved with the CPF's newly launched initiative to identify health care obstacles for women with disabilities and develop strategies to overcome them. "Maybe the entryway up to the exam rooms is too narrow, or the exam room is too small, or you get into the exam room and it's a fixed-height table."

Another factor of the so-called "perfect storm"? The perception that women with disabilities couldn't possibly get breast cancer, too. It's a dangerous idea shared by doctors and patients alike. 

"A lot of providers ... don't really stop and think about the fact that women with disabilities are at risk for breast cancer," Reis told Mic. Providers need to encourage their patients to get breast cancer screenings, no matter how many other medical issues the patient is already dealing with.

Patients, themselves, may also overlook the possibility they could get breast cancer on top of their disability. It's tough to prioritize preventative breast cancer screenings when you're dealing with another ongoing health issue.

Conclusion. Endogenous melatonin produced from L-tryptophan could be one of the native mechanisms protecting the pancreas from acute damage and accelerating regeneration of this gland. The beneficial effects of melatonin shown in experimental studies suggest that melatonin ought to be employed in the clinical trials as a supportive therapy in acute pancreatitis and could be used in people at high risk for acute pancreatitis to prevent the development of pancreatic inflammation.

Magnetic brain stimulation for fibromyalgia patients has the potential to improve patients’ symptoms. The technique is called transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS).

A French study reported that it significantly increase the quality of life as well as the emotional and social well-being of patients suffering from fibromyalgia.

The lead researcher, Dr. Eric Guedj of Aix-Marsaille University, reported that “Improvement is associated with an increase in brain metabolism, which argues for the physical cost for this disorder and for the possibility of changes in areas of the brain to improve the symptoms.”

Delirium and other brain problems have been linked to 54 antibiotics from 12 different classes of drugs, ranging from the commonly used sulfonamides and ciprofloxacin to intravenous cefepime and penicillin, according to a study published Wednesday in Neurology.

Delirium causes hallucinations or agitation, and can lead to changes in alertness, consciousness, awareness, movement, sleep patterns and memory. It's often linked to alcohol or sedative drug withdrawal, drug abuse, infections, poison, surgery and medications, according to the National Institutes of Health. It occurs in up to half of hospitalized patients and up to 80 percent of ICU patients, according to the study. 

Researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston reviewed research articles published from 1946 through 2013, describing 391 cases of patients who were prescribed antibiotics and later developed encephalopathy – an umbrella term for any brain disease that alters the structure or function of the brain, like delirium. 

They identified three types of antibiotic-associated encephalopathy, or AAE, which linked the following medications to specific reactions: cephalosporins and penicillin were linked to ​seizures; quinolones, macrolides and procaine penicillin to psychosis; and metronidazole to abnormal MRI scans.

The researchers also found that 47 percent of people with AAE had delusions or hallucinations, 14 percent experienced seizures, 15 percent reported involuntary muscle twitching and 5 percent lost control of body movements. Brain scans were abnormal in 70 percent of the cases, and 25 percent of the people who developed delirium had kidney failure, according to a press release.

These reactions stopped once the patients were taken off the antibiotics, and while more research is needed, health care providers should consider antibiotics as the cause for delirium in some patients.

Breakthroughs in cancer treatment are often prematurely celebrated, but optimism fromrecent trials on a relatively new type of therapy may be justified.

Hailed as a “revolution,” scientists have reported “unprecedented” success with a type of personalized treatment called immunotherapy, in which a patient’s own cells are turned into tumor-killing agents. In one trial, where chemotherapy had previously failed, a staggering 94 percent went into remission, the Guardian reports. A paper on the results is pending review.

Announced at the 2016 meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington DC this week, the treatment focuses on components of the immune system called T cells. While these naturally spend their days scouting the body for threats, killing any invaders or cancerous cells they come across, their activity diminishes with some chronic diseases and often they’re not potent or persistent enough to be able to cope with rapidly dividing cancer cells on their own.

The most impressive results came from a group of 35 patients with a white blood cell cancer called acute lymphoblastic leukemia, in which 94 percent went into remission. And in more than 40 individuals with lymphoma, greater than 50 percent also had their cancer symptoms disappear. Considering other treatments had failed in these patients, and many were only given months to live, these results are even more impressive.

It’s important to note, however, that some patients experienced severe side-effects, including neurological problems and decreases in blood pressure, which the researchers are now working towards reducing. In addition, longer follow-up studies are needed to determine whether the anticancer effects are lasting. But if positive results keep pouring in, and the researchers can successfully tweak this therapy to address other cancers, then we may have a very effective treatment on our hands.