Lower Back Pain is #1 Cause of Disability

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Lower back pain is the leading cause of disability worldwide, according to a large new study published in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.

Researchers in the U.K., Australia and the U.S. studied data from the Global Burden of Disease study, which assessed the health of people in 187 countries. They found that almost one out of ten people (9.4%) suffers from lower back pain – a number likely to rise as the population ages.

“Governments, health service and research providers and donors need to pay far greater attention to the burden that low back pain causes,” wrote lead author Dr. Tony Woolf from the Royal Cornwall Hospital in the UK.

“With aging populations throughout the world, but especially in low and middle income countries, the number of people living with low back pain will increase substantially over coming decades.”

Lower back pain was most common in Western Europe, where 15% of the population suffers from it; followed by North Africa and the Middle East. It was least common in the Caribbean and Latin America.

Lower back pain is not usually linked to any serious disease. It can be triggered by any number of everyday activities, including bad posture, bending awkwardly, lifting incorrectly or standing for long periods of time.

“Many people develop back pain for no obvious reasons, and research suggests that it’s impossible to identify a specific cause of pain for around 85 per cent of people in the early stages,” a spokeswoman for Arthritis Research UK told the Daily Express.

“Treatment such as physiotherapy, pain relief and exercise to keep the muscles supporting the spine strong can all help.”

Men (10.1%) are more likely to suffer from lower back pain than women (8.7%).

The study was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Australian Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing, the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council, and the Ageing and Alzheimer’s Research Foundation.

Organic food gives no cancer protection, Oxford University study finds

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EATING organic does not cut the risk of cancer, a study of hundreds of thousands of women has concluded. Women who always ate organic food were no less likely to get a range of 16 cancers than those who never ate organic, Oxford scientists said.

Research has shown that organic food is less likely to be contaminated with pesticide residue and the belief that it is healthier is one reason shoppers buy organic. To test this, researchers looked at data on 600,000 middle-aged women who were being tracked by the Million Women Study. They compared the 180,000 women who said they never ate organic with the 45,000 who said they always or usually did, looking at how many got cancer in a nine-year period.

After adjusting for such factors as age, class and exercise, they found the overall cancer risk between the two groups was almost identical. When the researchers looked specifically at cancers previously linked to pesticide exposure, such as breast cancer or soft tissue sarcoma, they also found no risk, although the risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma appeared lower in the organic group.

Professor Tim Key, of the University of Oxford, said: "We found no evidence that a woman's overall cancer risk was decreased if she generally ate organic food. More research is needed to follow-up our findings of a possible reduction in risk for non-Hodgkin lymphoma."

In a paper published in the British Journal of Cancer, his team say the finding for non-Hodgkin lymphoma could be due to chance. Similarly they say that a statistically significant increase in the risk of breast cancer in women eating only organic food is probably the result of other factors.

Claire Knight, at Cancer Research UK which helped to fund the study, said: "This adds to the evidence that eating organically grown food doesn't lower your overall cancer risk. But if you're anxious about pesticide residues on fruit and vegetables, it's a good idea to wash them before eating.

"More than 9 per cent of cancer cases in the UK may be linked to dietary factors, of which almost 5 per cent are linked to not eating enough fruit and vegetables. So eating a well-balanced diet which is high in fruit and vegetables whether conventionally grown or not can help reduce your cancer risk."

Peter Melchett of the Soil Association said the researchers were too quick to dismiss the non-Hodgkin lymphoma link and said they had "a poor understanding of what pesticides are found in and how pesticides get into food".

After Blocking Twitter, Turkey Moves To Stop YouTube

Authorities in Turkey are reportedly going ahead with a ban on access to YouTube days after a similar move in the country to block Twitter.

The Turkish telecommunications authority TIB is quoted in Turkish state media as saying it has taken an "administrative measure" against YouTube.

The news follows earlier reports that a recording, allegedly of a meeting among top Turkish officials discussing military intervention in Syria, was posted on YouTube.

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday lashed out against the post:

"They even leaked a national security meeting," he told a crowd of supporters in Diyarbakir. "This is villainous, this is dishonesty.

"Who are you serving by doing audio surveillance of such an important meeting?" Erdogan said as he campaigned ahead of March 30 elections.

Reuters quotes Google Inc, which owns YouTube, as saying it's looking into reports that Turkish users are unable to access the video-sharing site.

"There is no technical issue on our side and we're looking into the situation," a Google spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

As we reported at the time, Turkey's government moved to shut down access to Twitter last week, which was quickly circumvented by a text-to-tweet function. The hashtag#TwitterblockedinTurkey quickly went viral upon news of the ban, and even the country's own president tweeted his disdain.

In the wake of the latest reports, a new hastag, #youtubeblockedinturkey, has sprung up.

And the most unreliable flight in the world goes to…

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If you love hearing the announcement that your flight has been delayed or canceled, make sure to book your next trip on the Wizz Air Flight W62206 from London Luton airport to Budapest, which has recently been given the title as the world’s most unreliable flight.

EUclaim, a website that offers compensation to delayed passengers, has recently released figures that the flight has left on time once since last summer.

The flight has a total of 293 late departures in a row and has been delayed by anything from two minutes to 12 hours and 18 minutes since June 1. 

Flight data specialists at EUclaim also reported that passengers experienced a total of 176 hours of waiting time while en route to the Hungarian capital.

According to the Telegraph,Wizz Air claimed that the departure times do not qualify as delays under industry standards applied by the U.K.’S Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), which "define all flights departing within 15 mins of the scheduled departure time, as on time."

A Wizz Air spokesman told Telegraph that according to that definition, 73 per cent of the 295 departures Flight W62206 has made since June 1 last year were on time.

In total, the airline operates 28 routes from London’s Luton airport. According to Wizz Air’s spokesman, since November of last year, 88 percent of flights leaving Luton arrived punctually.  

New thrill ride to debut at Busch Gardens

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Thrill ride developers at Busch Gardens acknowledge that the park's newest attraction might not be everyone's idea of a good time.

Falcon's Fury opens on May 1. Riders will be seated upright and whisked to the top of a 335-foot (102-meter) tower, then the seat will pivot 90 degrees so the guest is looking straight down.

That's when the ride plunges in a six-second free fall.

Jeff Hornick, director of design and engineering at Busch Gardens, said riders will reach speeds of up to 60 miles (97 kilometers) per hour on the plunge.

"It's a different kind of thrill ride than a roller coaster," said Hornick. "It's really polarizing. You're either really going to want to ride it or not want to ride it at all."

Park officials say it's the tallest, free-standing drop tower in North America and the only one in the world to feature forward tilting seats.

"Drop towers have been popular at theme parks for many years, but what you see with Falcon's Fury is the industry's relentless drive for innovation," said Jeremy Schoolfield, editor-in-chief of Funworld Magazine. "Ride designers are always looking for new twists on classic attractions, and Fury's pivoting seats certainly fit that bill. Putting riders in a facedown position as they drop toward the ground is definitely a new take on this type of ride."

There are taller drop towers in the U.S., but they are integrated with other rides or buildings. Lex Luthor: Drop of Doom at Six Flags Magic Mountain in California has a 400-foot (122-meter) drop and the Zumanjaro: Drop of Doom at Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey will have a 415-foot (127-meter) drop when it's constructed later this year. Both of those are attached to other rides. A famous drop tower is the Big Shot, the ride atop the Stratosphere hotel and casino in Las Vegas that catapults riders 160 feet (49 meters) in the air.

Falcon's Fury stands alone, and Hornick says guests can see downtown Tampa and even St. Petersburg some 30 miles (48 kilometers) away once at the top.

Guests must be 54 inches (1.3 meters) tall to ride. A circular gondola of 32 seats takes the riders to the top of the tower — once there, a computer program determines how long the riders will stay at the peak before the gut-wrenching plunge.

Hornick said the wait time at the top will be randomized, anywhere from one to five seconds.

"The only thing you're going to hear is your heart beat," he joked.

On the 60-mile (97-kilometer) per-hour drop, the seats will be pulled back, to give riders a feeling of "ripping" a parachute cord, said Hornick.

The park wanted more of a scary, thrill ride to debut this year, he said, following a few years of new family-friendly rides and stage shows.

Falcon's Fury is the centerpiece of a newly designed section in the park called Pantopia that includes new retail and food areas.

Some skiers may not require surgery for torn knee ligament, study shows

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Nearly a quarter of recreational skiers who tear their anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) while hitting the slopes may be able to recover without surgery, according to a study published last month by the Hospital For Special Surgery (HSS) in New York City.

According to a report in the New York Times, an estimated 150,000 ACL surgeries are performed each year in the U.S. at a cost of approximately $15,000 per patient -- a clear indicator that substantial dollars could be saved if fewer ACL surgeries are done in the future.

The study, which was conducted between 2003 and 2008, looked at 63 alpine skiers with an average age of 43 who had undergone acute ACL tears in only one knee. Each skier was examined within six weeks after being injured.

The research showed that two physical tests involving basic manipulation of the knee could differentiate between individuals that needed reconstructive surgery and those who did not.

Of the 69 patients, 29 did not undergo reconstructive surgery. Within the group, 17 underwent tests indicating that they could ski again and “do whatever they want” without surgery. Two years later, all but 6 of the 17 patients returned and underwent tests indicating that their knees were still stable.

“Some patients who tear their ACL while skiing can get away without surgery,” lead study author Dr.  Robert Marx, an orthopedic surgeon at HSS, said in a press release. “Their ligament heals by itself, they will have stable knees, and they will be able to do whatever they want, including skiing. It is a huge deal to avoid surgery.”

But is this study too good to be true? Dr. David Altchek, attending orthopedic surgeon and co-chief in the sports medicine & shoulder service at HSS believes that the study is “oversimplified.”

“Skiing ACLS are a little different than other sporting ACLS because skiing is a non-contact sport, doesn’t involve pivoting and the tears are usually only partial,” Altchek told FoxNews.com. “Whereas most non-contact ACL injuries are seen in aggressive athletes who create their own velocity and torque, the length of skis intensifies the torque of the knee, which causes tears even at slow speeds because the skiers don’t have enough energy in the fall to get out of their bindings.”

If the knee is stable, Altchek agrees that people with partial ACL tears, who are not going to return to contact sports such as basketball, lacrosse or soccer, can heal without surgery and return to skiing.

However, professional or teenage athletes who want to return to contact sports don’t do well without surgery, according to Altchek.

“The whole thing about the ACL, the only reason we fix it, is to protect the cartilage,” Altchek said. “If you don’t have instability, there is not as large a chance of damaging cartilage. But if professional and teenage athletes go back to their sports and tear their meniscus, it’s over.”

Altchek said the increasingly high numbers of ACL injuries among skiers may have to do with contemporary ski technology.

Today, skis are made without edges to make carving – a technique skiers use to execute turns – easier. C-curves are cut into the sides of skis, under the boot, which causes skis to slide and turn without the skier having to dig their edges into the snow.

The problem, according to Altchek, is that many people have not spent enough time understanding and learning how to use these new skis. The result? The skis turn but the rest of the body doesn’t, which causes the knee to torque and the ligaments to tear. Altchek said to help prevent knee injuries, skiers should ask for side-cut skis that are gentle, not extreme, when purchasing or renting equipment.

Julie Wilcox is a professor of health and fitness at St. Francis College in New York City, and the founder and CEO of The Julie Wilcox Method (JWM). The JWM offers the perfect online solution for total wellness by integrating the three essential pillars of health: Yoga, fitness and nutritious food. Through instructional video classes and daily plans for each pillar, as well as hundreds of recipes, Julie teaches JWM members how to get fit, be flexible and eat right at home, at work and during travel.

1 in 25 patients battling hospital-acquired infections, CDC says

On any given day, one in 25 hospitalized patients - 4 percent - is battling an infection picked up in a hospital or other healthcare facility, according to a new survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

That translates to more than 600,000 hospital patients each year. Roughly 74,000 of them have to fight more than one hospital-acquired infection, researchers found.

About half of those infections were either linked to a device attached to the patient, like a catheter or ventilator, or occurred after a surgical procedure at the site of the surgery.

Previous estimates had pegged the annual number of infections at 2.1 million in the 1970s and 1.7 million from 1990 through 2002.

"The trend, in magnitude, seems to be going in the right direction," Dr. Mike Bell, deputy director of the Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion at the CDC, said.

Despite continuing concern about hospital-acquired infections, especially ones that are resistant to antibiotics, the U.S. does not have a national system for collecting information on the problem.

The new study, led by Dr. Shelley S. Magill of the CDC and published in the New England Journal of Medicine, was based on an analysis of 11,282 patients treated at 183 hospitals in 10 states. The survey in each hospital was done over the course of a day, involving as many as 100 patients per facility.

Pneumonia accounted for about 22 percent of the hospital-acquired infections. Another 22 percent were infections at the surgical site, and 17 percent were stomach or intestinal illnesses. Urinary tract and bloodstream infections ranked fourth and fifth, respectively.

The most common bacterium responsible was Clostridium difficile, which kills an estimated 14,000 people in the U.S. each year. It was detected in 12 percent of the hospital-acquired illnesses and was responsible for 71 percent of gastrointestinal infections in particular.

Nursing homes, emergency departments, rehabilitation hospitals and outpatient treatment centers were not included in the tally.

The researchers estimated that in 2011, 648,000 hospitalized patients had to battle at least one hospital-acquired infection. The total number of infections was estimated at 721,800. To put that number in perspective, about 34 million people are admitted to 5,000 community hospitals in the U.S. each year.

The new report "validates the work we've been doing, focusing on some of the severe infections related to intensive care, related to devices such as catheters in the bloodstream or the bladder, mechanical ventilation or surgical procedures," Bell said.

To prevent infections, the National Patient Safety Foundation recommends patients wash their hands regularly and remind their doctors and nurses to do the same. Patients should also make sure both bandages and the skin around any catheters are kept clean and dry, it says.

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