Antibiotics, not an effective cure for sinus

Sinus infections are all too familiar in this season. For most people, they start with a throbbing headache, swell into a fever and result in the inevitable arrival of thick nasal secretions. For years, doctors have prescribed what seemed like simple cures: a prescription for an antibiotic like amoxicillin or a steroid nasal spray. They may be the standard medications, but perhaps they are not as effective as once thought. Several studies have examined their effects and found that they are no better at shortening a sinus infection than no medication at all. The latest study, published in December in The Journal of the American Medical Association, looked at 240 cases. The subjects were given four different treatments: a full amoxicillin course for a week along with 400 units of steroid spray for 10 days, just the spray, just the amoxicillin or just a placebo. The treatments were found to be no better than placebo. The reason is unclear, but researchers suspect that antibiotics may not be very good at reaching the sinuses.

Children who sleep less weigh more
Children who get less than nine hours of sleep a night are more likely to be overweight or obese, new research shows. Sleep-deprived kids also have more than a three per cent increase in body fat on average compared to youngsters who sleep for more than nine hours nightly. The researchers also reported that children8217;s sleep patterns vary by season and day. Children sleep fewer hours in the summer and on weekends, according to the study. Researchers at the University of Auckland in New Zealand studied the sleep patterns of 591 seven-year-old children. The children were assessed at birth, at one year of age, at three-and-a-half years and at seven years. The team found that the children slept 10.1 hours on average. They slept fewer hours on weekend days than on weekdays, in the summer and when bedtime was set as after 9 pm. They also slept fewer hours if they had no younger siblings. In addition to increased weight and body fat, shorter sleep periods correlated with more emotional volatility, reported the research team.

Statins cut cancer risk too
Statins 8212; those hard-working, cholesterol-fighting drugs 8212; may also cut the risk of developing cancer by as much as 25 per cent, US researchers said in a study. Veterans taking statin drugs had a 9.4 per cent cancer incidence, compared to 13.2 per cent for non-statin users, the researchers reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Statins, the world8217;s top-selling drugs, have been effective at lowering low-density lipoprotein or LDL, the bad cholesterol. Not only do they significantly cut the risk of heart attack and stroke but they also may reduce the risk of death from influenza, pneumonia and smoking. In labs, statins have also been studied as a cancer fighter, with mixed results.
8212;Agencies