Top 10 health headlines of 2009

In 2009, the world was inundated with statistics, information and hysteria about the swine flu, but the pandemic wasn't the only medical story of the year. Here, the top 10 health news and breakthroughs for 2009.

10. Predictions for breast cancer survival get more accurate
A new computerized tool that can predict a breast cancer patient's chances of survival accurately in 82 per cent of cases is revealed in the journal Nature Biotechnology.

The creators, Jeff Wrana and Ian Taylor, researchers at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, say the DyNeMo analyzes how the proteins in breast cancer tumours interact and that the network of proteins is organized differently among those who will survive and those who won't.

The information generated by this tool can also help patients and doctors determine the best course of treatment. Mount Sinai is working towards having the tool ready for widespread use within five years and hopes the tool will eventually be used to analyze other types of cancer, as well.

9. The verdict is in! Vaccines are not guilty of causing autism
In a landmark decision handed down by a special U.S. federal court in February, judges ruled that the MMR vaccine given to infants for measles, mumps and rubella does not cause autism.

A petition filed with the court represented about 5,000 families who hoped to receive reparation from the U.S. National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program. The movement against vaccination has been rampant in the States, with advocacy groups for the autism-vaccine link leading the charge.

But most health professionals continue to recommend that parents ensure their children get their vaccines.

8. Climate change = your greatest health threat
In the May issue of The Lancet, researchers from University College London published a study that squarely put the finger on climate change as the biggest health threat of the 21st century.

The most pressing concern involved food and water, where shortages and high prices over the next 20 years would lead to malnutrition and, in turn, an increase in low birth weight and a predisposition to infectious diseases. Other major threats that would rise over the century include war, ecological collapse, and insect-borne and heat-related diseases.

7. Cancer vaccines offer hope
What if a vaccine could help cancer patients survive longer? That was the question that had oncologists excited at this year’s annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, when not one, but three such vaccines were presented.

The first targeted melanoma and prolonged the lives of people with skin cancer by about five months; the second targeted those stricken with neuroblastoma, a childhood cancer that attacks the nervous system, increasing by 20 per cent the likelihood of being alive or not having a recurrence after two years; and the third delayed relapse of follicular lymphoma by 14 months.

A fourth vaccine, the Human Papillomavirus vaccine Gardasil, was approved for females 9 to 26 years of age and was shown to reduce the risk of cervical cancer in women from ages 25 to 45.

6. Deadline for organ transplants extended
Doctors may soon ditch the coolers to transport living organs for transplant. Under testing in the United States and already approved in Europe, the Warm Organ Perfusion Device is like a mini heart/lung machine that allows the heart, for example, to keep beating as warm blood from the donor pumps through it.

The device gives doctors up to 12 hours to transplant the organ, three times longer than with the cold ice and cooler method.

5. Exercise battles Parkinson’s disease
The body may indeed be able to heal itself. When Dr. Jay Alberts went for a tandem bike ride with a friend who has Parkinson’s disease, he noticed something odd: the friend’s hand tremors disappeared. He brought the mystery into the lab and set up a study to see whether forced exercise – working harder than one would normally do on one’s own, in this case 90 RPMs rather than 50-60 RPMS on a tandem bicycle – would improve motor function in other PD patients. It did.

Not only was there a 35 per cent improvement in motor function and bimanual dexterity, but the effect lasted four weeks after the exercise session. The findings suggest that forced exercise may trigger an increased release of dopamine, a neurotransmitter which is deficient in PD patients and which plays a part in controlling movement.

4. First HIV vaccine, sort of
On Sept. 24, partial results from a controversial clinical trial in Thailand revealed that two older vaccines -- when given together -- cut the risk of becoming infected with HIV by 31 per cent. But on Oct. 20, when the full findings by U.S. and Thai researchers were presented at an AIDS vaccine conference in Paris, the numbers didn’t add up – in fact they became statistically insignificant.

Further, the vaccine didn’t protect against those at highest risk for HIV and the effects only lasted about a year. Although disappointing, there was some effect and researchers say that may hold the key to designing new vaccine candidates.

3. Weight loss that works: Eat less, talk more
Obesity is on the rise and everyone is looking for a quick fix -- no news there. But the key to weight loss, according to a Harvard University study funded by the US National Institutes of Health, has nothing to do with low carbs, low fats, high proteins or any other nutrient-altering diet.

If you want to lose weight, the researchers say, you have to eat less and stick to it. They also found that participating in regular counselling sessions helped dieters lose more weight than those who didn't seek or receive external support.

2. Bad economy = bad health
According to a survey by the Canadian Medical Association, economic woes pose a serious health hazard for Canadians.

Respondents admitted that the financial downturn affected how they care for themselves (23 per cent), that they are almost as stressed about their health (52 per cent) as they are about the economy (57 per cent), and that they are cutting back on healthy foods, dental appointments and full meals.

1. H1N1 flu pandemic strikes!
Just as winter began to melt away last spring and Canadians looked forward to spending more time outdoors again, a global phenomenon gave us cause to remain inside and lock the doors -- swine flu. H1N1 seemed to appear out of nowhere in April and by June, the outbreak was classified a pandemic by the World Health Organization.

As of Nov. 10, two weeks after the flu vaccine was rolled out in Canada, the confirmed deaths worldwide totalled more than 6,500 and unrest remained as to whether the vaccine would prove harmful or beneficial.

So what do we have when we look at the year in review? Although an AIDS vaccine is further away than at first expected and we're recognizing that climate change poses a serious threat, 2009 made great strides in medical technologies and discoveries for far-reaching and life-threatening diseases such as Parkinson's and cancer. We look forward to more visionary studies and outcomes in 2010.

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