More than 11% of US children and teens take herbal supplements or another type alternative medicine, according to a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The study is the first to assess utilization of oral supplements, acupuncture, meditation and chiropractic care among children. The same study concluded that adult utilization of these treatments remained stable since 2002 at about 37%.

Herbal supplements were the most frequently used alternative therapy in all age groups. Children were particularly common users of Echinacea, fish oil, combination herb pills, flaxseed oil, and prebiotics or probiotics.

The most common symptoms triggering use of herbal supplements were head or chest colds, anxiety/stress and back or neck pain. Insomnia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and body aches made the top 10.

Kids were 5 times more likely to use alternative therapies if a parent or relative used them. Those with higher incomes and education, and those covered by private health insurance were more likely to use them than children who were uninsured or covered by public programs.

It’s hard to say whether this degree of utilization is useful or harmful since few of the therapies have been tested rigorously according to Richard Nahin, a study author head of the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

The study relied on a 2007 survey of 23,000 adults representing themselves and 9,000 other adults who spoke for a child in their home.

The study did not examine use of vitamin and mineral supplements, folk medicine practices or religious healing.

Use of alternative therapies is likely much higher in immigrant communities, particularly those from China, Africa and the Caribbean.

Congratulations to Somerville, Massachusetts, Washington DC and 7 other cities!

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation identified them as national innovators in the fight against childhood obesity. The honor comes with a cash payout from RWJF’s $44 million Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities program which hopes to spread fat-busting social innovations to 70 more communities.

Somerville attacked the scourge on many fronts. The city repainted crosswalks and added bike lanes. Public schools shelved deep fryers and replaced canned fruits with fresh produce. Elementary school kids maintained vegetable gardens on school grounds, and the Rec. Department offered low-cost dance classes.

As a result, Somerville 8-year olds gained one pound less than children in a control group over the course of a school year, according to Tufts nutritionist Christina Economos.

That’s not bad in a community where 44% of the kids are overweight or at risk to become so, and public health officials believe the gains will increase over time.

Since 66% of Somerville students hail from low-income families and half do not speak English in the home, there is hope the innovations can be reproduced in other locations that have been hit hard by the epidemic.

In the nation’s capital, the Summit Health Institute for Research and Education, along with 6 local agencies and community groups will receive $400,000 from RWJF to focus their battle against childhood obesity in Wards 7 and 8.

According to the RWJF Web site, Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities is a national program whose goal is to “implement healthy eating and active living policy- and environmental-change initiatives that can support healthier communities” across the US.

The program emphasizes reaching “children who are at highest risk for obesity on the basis of race/ethnicity, income and/or geographic location.”

Right now in Iran, a powerful, tube-like drilling tool is being used to expose new sources of oil, the nation’s economic lifeblood.

The device was developed in America, which seems a bit counterproductive since the US government is pretty sure Iran funnels oil profits to terrorists.

But there’s something else about that driller. It’s powered by a radioactive chemical that could fuel a dirty-bomb big enough to spread radiation across several city blocks, according to experts interviewed by the Boston Globe.

The tool was developed by Schlumberger, a multinational oil services company with development labs in Texas and Connecticut, a CEO in Houston and a corporate registration in the Caribbean.

The actual location is the Netherlands Antilles, that well-known hub of international finance.

US embargoes prevent US companies from transferring just about everything to Iran, but legal loopholes allow multinationals to bypass the sanctions. It’s that simple. In fact no one believes Schlumberger violated any laws.

And the practice isn’t isolated, according to Victor Comras, an international trade specialist. Comras told the Globe that “a number of companies subject to US law have devised structures that allow them to circumvent US regulations.”

As a result, “it is getting harder and harder to make sanctions effective,” Michael Lynch told the Globe. The oil market analyst added, “it has gotten to the point where keeping the technology away from [Iran and other countries under sanctions] is almost impossible.”

In a survey of chronically ill adults in 8 affluent countries, US patients were the most likely to forego care due to high costs and rate their care as inefficient and error prone.

This according to Cathy Schoen and her team, who surveyed 7,500 adults chosen at random in France, Germany, Netherlands, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the US. The study was published in Health Affairs.

Participants had at least one chronic illness such as arthritis, diabetes or heart disease. They had rated their health as fair or poor, or reported that they had recently sustained a major illness, undergone major surgery or required hospitalization.

Overall, US patients viewed their health system more negatively than any other country. One-third said it ought to be rebuilt from the ground up and only one-fifth said it worked well. Dutch patients viewed their system most positively, followed by the British, French and Canadians.

54% of Americans reported at least one cost-related access problem in the previous year, such as skipping medication doses, not filling prescriptions and not seeing a physician during an illness. This was highest among the 8 countries.

Only 7% of Dutch participants reported that costs were a barrier to accessing medical services.

41% of Americans indicated they incurred at least $1,000 in out-of-pocket medical expenses in the last year. That happened to just 5% of French and 4% of British respondents.

One third of US respondents reported experiencing a medical error, receiving an incorrect medication or dosage, delays receiving test results or receiving incorrect test results. That was higher than any other country.

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When Gennady Rozhdestvensky found out the materials promoting his appearance with the Boston Symphony Orchestra didn’t show proper respect, he pulled out at the last minute. That left the BSO in the hands of a young assistant conductor and its genteel audience aghast.

The 77 year-old Rozhdestvensky is a towering figure in his field. He conducted Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker ballet at the Bolshoi when he was 20 and went on to become the pre-eminent conductor during a golden era for classical music in the Soviet Union.

Rozhdestvensky’s brilliance was not lost on the Communist party. It flaunted him as a symbol of the regime’s excellence.

But that was quite awhile ago and now the maestro had pulled into Boston for a 4-night gig.

Then Rozhdestvensky, while out on a stroll, happened upon a promotional poster for his performance.  It gave top billing to the soloist, a cellist by the name of Lynn Harrell. Her name appeared in big print and was accompanied by a photo. His name appeared in smaller print.

How can that be?

The conductor tracked down a BSO marketing brochure. He opened it to find a page titled, “Artists who inspire.” His name wasn’t on that page. He then flipped to a section titled “Distinguished Conductors.” Still, no mention of the conductor. Rozhdestvensky finally found his name in a third section titled, “The Cello Shines.”

Who is that blasted Lynn Harrell anyway!

The maestro wasn’t going to take this sitting down. “I felt insulted by the actions of the (BSO) administration,” he told the Boston Globe. “I feel not only slighted but I suffered what is called in Russian a moral insult, and I’m free to take any actions to defend myself in public.”

That sent everybody ducking for cover at the BSO but Mark Volpe, its managing director did tell the Globe, “All of us at the BSO greatly admire Gennady Rozhdestvensky’s artistry. We genuinely regret that Maestro Rozhdestvensy decided to cancel his concerts this week.” 

Then he scrambled back to the foxhole.

In each of the 4 years since state legislators banned smoking in restaurants, bars and many workplaces, nearly 600 fewer Massachusetts residents died from heart attacks, according to a report from the state Department of Public Health and the Harvard School of Public Health.

That represents a 30% decline in heart attack deaths, a significant acceleration that was easy to spot amid a gentler, long-term decline reflecting national trends. Officials noted that Boston and surrounding municipalities, which had enacted bans prior to 2004, experienced the steep decline before other areas in the state.

The report explored other possible causes for the drop-off such as improved transportation of heart attack victims to hospitals, medical record coding changes and demographic changes, but there was no evidence they played a role.

“This is the strongest study yet of the effect of smoking bans on heart attacks,” Dr. Michael Siegel told the Boston Globe. Siegel, who had criticized earlier studies of the matter, is an expert on tobacco control programs. “You can no longer argue that these declines would have occurred simply due to medical treatment.”

The findings should impact the debate over secondhand smoke, in which tobacco and hospitality industry lobbyists argue that available data does not support workplace tobacco bans.

It should also further empower the Boston Public Health Commission which had tentatively approved several muscular tobacco control regulations such as ending cigarette sales on college campuses and at drug stores, and closing cigar parlors and hookah bars.

Scientists have known for years that secondhand smoke can adversely affect the cardiovascular system, even if exposure is brief. In particular, such exposure triggers coronary artery spasm, damages coronary artery endothelial cells, and increases the risk of blood clots, all of which can trigger heart attacks.

US spending on diabetes drugs nearly doubled to $12.5 billion over the last 6 years, according to a study published in this week’s Archives of Internal Medicine.

The cost escalations were driven by a 40% increase in the number of drugs prescribed per patient and a tendency to prescribe newer, costly drugs in lieu of tried-and-true generics despite safety concerns swirling around some of the newer ones.

The study investigators noted that the newer drugs Januvia (Merck, FDA approved in 2006), Avandia (GlaxoSmithKline, FDA approved 2006), and the wildly popular Actos (Takeda, FDA approved 1999) were prescribed in 28% of all doctor visits by the end of the study period.

“We need to pay attention to this,” Dr. David Nathan wrote in an accompanying editorial. Nathan, who is Chief of the Diabetes Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital, added “if you can achieve the same glucose control at lower cost and lower side effects, that’s what you want to do.”

Current guidelines for Type 2 (adult onset) Diabetes recommend metformin, a generic drug that costs about $30 per month along with dietary modifications and exercise as first-line therapy. The guidelines suggest adding other drugs for patients who fail to respond adequately, but the recommendations specifically do not include Avandia which costs nearly $225 per month.

Last year, the FDA released a safety alert for Avandia after a meta-analysis revealed an increased risk of heart attacks in patients taking the drug. There are no safety concerns of this sort for Actos or Januvia.

About 24 million Americans have Type 2 diabetes.

Odds are, the quality of care at Beth Israel Deaconess hospital is roughly the same as that provided at Boston’s other teaching hospitals, which is to say it is excellent.

So why is it that there seems to have been a ton of medical screw-ups at The Deek lately? Almost certainly this has to do with CEO Paul Levy’s bold policy to be forthcoming when medical errors do occur rather than the typical approach in which hospital leaders try mightily to bury these stories.

Credit Levy and his team for true leadership on the matter.

To be sure, it seems like The Deek has been haunted lately. In June, the hospital fired a cosmetic surgeon after he appeared to nod off while performing liposuction. Days later, another surgeon operated on the wrong ankle of a female patient. Earlier this month, a previously terminated drug abusing staff anesthesiologist was found in a hospital closet, dead as a door nail. Cue the ghoulish music.

Medical errors big and small happen with striking regularity at all hospitals. By some counts, 15 million errors occur each year in the US (thankfully few are this egregious, however).

That’s why Levy’s relentlessly transparent approach, if he backs it up with a data-driven, scientifically based, hospital-wide improvement program, may eventually elevate The Deek’s performance to truly outstanding levels.

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On October 8, previously sealed documents were released from a US District Court case in Boston, in which Neurontin users and insurers are suing Pfizer for unjust enrichment and consumer fraud. The documents purport to show that Pfizer executives suppressed negative results about Neurontin even as they launched a marketing campaign to increase utilization of the drug.

The Boston Globe, Wall Street Journal and other media outlets covered the development, as did Pizaazz.  

Yesterday, Dr. Joseph M. Feczko, Pfizer’s Chief Medical Officer wrote a letter to the Wall Street Journal, in which he responded to allegations made in the newly unsealed documents. Here is what he said:

“The suggestions made by plaintiffs lawyers in your article “Suit Alleges Pfizer Spun Unfavorable Drug Studies“ concerning Pfizer and its medication, Neurontin, paint an inaccurate and incomplete picture. The results of the studies named in your article were made public in professional journals or through presentations at medical conferences.

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Anyone who is in college or knows someone who is, knows that sleep is just not happening there. There’s too much to do, and no one wants to miss out.

“It’s like, well, I could do my calculus homework or it sounds like the girls next door are doing something fun so I’ll just walk over there,” Kelsey Barton, a Tufts freshman recently told the Boston Globe. Kelsey has averaged 3 hours sleep per night since she got there last month.

College administrators are starting to fret about the situation. “Most people feel it’s a badge of honor. ‘I didn’t sleep. Parentheses, aren’t I great,’” said Dr. Vanessa Britto, Wellesley’s Health Services Director. “Until you point out to them that pulling an all-nighter is the equivalent of driving drunk and is detrimental to their reaction time and memory,” she added.

And then there’s the oft cited Behavioral Sleep Medicine study which found that students who had pulled at least one all-nighter had lower GPAs than those who never did.

So, many colleges are taking action. One school sponsors dorm pajama parties featuring popcorn and tea. Another holds a Biggest Snoozer contest. There are awareness campaigns with catchy names like the one appearing in the title of of this post. And then, there are the hand-outs…everything from white noise machines to memory foam pillows, ear plugs and relaxing CD mixes.

It ain’t gonna’ fly, Orville.