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- Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments,
compiled by editors of HealthDay:

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Katrina's Legacy Still Haunts, Studies
Find

From alcohol abuse to the loss of a home, new research continues to
assess the devastating impact of Hurricane Katrina and the toll it
extracted from its victims.

In a study presented this week at the Population Association of
America's annual meeting in New Orleans, University of Michigan
researchers reported that Katrina survivors were more than three times
likelier to exhibit alcohol abuse after a stress experience. And if the
survivor experienced a trauma, they were five times more likely to become
alcohol dependent.

The difference between a stress and a trauma is one of degree, said
study co-author Sandro Galea, an associate professor at the university's
School of Public Health. An example of stress might be dealing with
insurance companies or contractors; a trauma is losing a loved one, he
said.

Another paper found that New Orleans residents who lost their homes in
the 2005 storm were more than five times more likely to experience serious
psychological distress a year after the disaster than those who did not.

The study, by University of Michigan researcher Narayan Sastry and
Tulane University's Mark VanLandingham, examined the mental health of
pre-Katrina New Orleans residents in the fall of 2006 — one year after
the hurricane. In all, about 66 percent of the respondents reported that
their homes were badly damaged or unlivable.

“Our findings suggest that severe damage to one's home is a
particularly important factor behind socioeconomic disparities in
psychological distress, and possibly behind the levels of psychological
distress,” Sastry said. “These effects may be partly economic, because,
for most families who own their home, home equity is the largest element
of household wealth.

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When It Comes to Happiness, It Really Is a
Shade of Gray

Oh to be young again? Not so fast, says a new study that found that
older Americans tend to be happier than younger ones.

The University of Chicago study also found that baby boomers aren't as
content as other generations, blacks are less happy than whites, women are
happier than men, and as people age, their happiness increases.

“Understanding happiness is important to understanding quality of life.
The happiness measure is a guide to how well society is meeting people's
needs,” study author Yang Yang, an assistant professor of sociology, said
in a prepared statement.

The study was based on data from the General Social Survey of the
National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago. Yang
charted happiness across age and racial groups and found that among
18-year-olds, white men are the happiest, with a 33 percent probability of
being very happy, followed by white women (28 percent), black women (18
percent) and black men (15 percent).

But curiously, those differences vanish over time. Black men and black
women have slightly more than a 50 percent chance of being very happy by
their late 80s, while white men and white women are close behind.

The increase in happiness with age is consistent with the “age as
maturity hypothesis,” Yang said.

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Network Offers Experimental Treatments to
Dying Cancer Patients

Great Britain has opened a government-run network of cancer clinics
that will provide experimental treatments to dying cancer patients and may
also speed up the drug testing process, the Associated Press
reported.

There are clinics in France, Italy and the Netherlands that offer
experimental treatments to cancer patients, but Britain is the only
European country with a national network of clinics. Currently, only a few
hundred patients with late-stage cancer in Britain have access to
experimental drugs, but officials hope the new network of clinics will
soon benefit thousands of patients.

Expanding drug tests for terminal cancer patients preys on their
desperation, according to some critics of the program, the AP
reported. But the process is fair as long as patients are told about
potential side effects, counter some ethicists.

In the United States, cancer patients can sign up for experimental drug
treatment, but there's no official national program to help them enroll.
About 80 percent of American cancer patients are treated in community
hospitals, while most drug trials are conducted at academic medical
centers, the AP reported.

—–

Chemical in Plastic Changes Breast Cell Gene
Activity: Study

A new U.S. study says that trace amounts of bisphenol A — a chemical
used to make polycarbonate plastic and epoxy resins lining most tin
cans — can alter the activity of genes in normal breast cells in ways
similar to what's seen in deadly breast cancers.

This link “is highly supportive of the concept that overexposure to BPA
and/or similar compounds could be an underlying factor in the
aggressiveness, if not in the causality” of breast cancers, study lead
author Shanaz Dairkee, a senior scientist at the California Pacific
Medical Center Research Institute in San Francisco, said in an e-mail,
Toronto's Globe and Mail newspaper reported.

For this study, Dairkee and colleagues took small samples of normal,
non-cancerous cells from the unaffected breasts of eight women who already
had breast cancer. The cells were placed in test tubes and exposed to the
BPA.

The findings were published in the journal Cancer Reserach,
which designated the study a “priority report,” the Globe and Mail
reported.

—–

Institute Seeks to Use Stem Cells to Heal
Wounded Soldiers

A new U.S. research institute will try to develop methods to help
wounded soldiers use their own stem cells to regenerate skin, muscle and
even limbs, Agence France-Presse reported.

The $250 million Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine will
fund and direct research by a number of universities and hospitals. The
Pentagon will provide $85 million over five years, $80 million will come
from participating universities and hospitals, and $100 million will be
provided by the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

“The new institute will work to develop techniques that will help to
make our soldiers whole again,” said Lieutenant General Eric Schoomaker,
the army surgeon general. “We'll use the soldiers' own stem cells to
repair nerve damage, to re-grow muscles and tendons, to repair burn
wounds, and to help them heal without scarring.”

The institute will also attempt to develop ways to salvage and
reconstruct damaged limbs, hands, fingers, ears and noses, and to
reconstruct damaged craniums, AFP reported.

—–

New Food and Drug Safety Measures
Proposed

New fees for drug and food companies and increased Food and Drug
Administration oversight of food and drug plants are among the proposals
included in draft legislation designed to improve food and drug safety in
the United States.

The first hearing on the draft legislation, created in response to a
number of recent food and drug scares, is scheduled for April 24, USA
Today reported.

Among the proposals:

• U.S. food production facilities and those exporting food to the United
  States would have to pay $2,000 per facility per year to register with the
  FDA. That would generate about $600 million a year, more than doubling the
  agency's current food safety budget.
• The FDA would be required to inspect food plants — and the plants'
  food safety plans — every four years. Currently, food plants are
  inspected about once every 10 years, according to lawmakers.
• Drug and medical device makers, as well as companies that import those
  products, would also have to pay registration fees to the FDA.
• The FDA would have to inspect domestic and foreign drug manufacturing
  facilities every two years.
• Food and drug makers would have to list on drug labels where active
  ingredients are made.
• The FDA would have the power to order food and drug recalls.

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