Lou Gehrig might not have had Lou Gehrig's disease?
Here's a look at some of the top health news being talked about around the U.S. and the world today:
• New research suggests athletes and soldiers who have been diagnosed with the disease commonly called Lou Gehrig's disease may actually be suffering from another disease caused by concussions or other brain injuries. The New York Times reported the implication means the former Yankees player might not have actually had Lou Gehrig's disease himself.
• Cancer is the most expensive disease on the planet with an economic price tag of $895 billion in 2008 — or 1.5 percent of the world's gross domestic product, according to the American Cancer Society. The Associated Press and Time magazine report that number is calculated from disability and years of life lost, not the cost of treating the disease.
• A recently published study found evidence among a group of diabetic patients that those who had bariatric surgery to lose weight were able to stop taking diabetes medication, the Wall Street Journal reported. Published in Archives of Surgery, the government study found a big drop in health care costs among the group linked to the surgery.
Tina Reed covers health and the environment for AnnArbor.com. You can reach her at tinareed@annarbor.com, call her at 734-623-2535 or find her on Twitter @TreedinAA.
Comments
Rork Kuick
Fri, Aug 20, 2010 : 8:48 a.m.
I appreciated and used the link. Thankyou Tina Reed. The paper was interesting and it is appalling how high the frequency of ALS-like problems are in some occupations. I did not know that. I actually am hoping for some research to better understand what is going on for these people, cause we are currently rather bad at being able to help them. It's also a warning that might help increase and improve protective gear.
dayo13
Tue, Aug 17, 2010 : 1:24 p.m.
Roger Roth, I honestly believe that some researchers have nothing better to do than just that. They use our tax dollars and grants and create nonsense. Then the media reports the nonsense, and the cycle never stops.
Roger Roth
Tue, Aug 17, 2010 : 1:13 p.m.
dayo13, I thought the same thing. I find it humorous how the media so often flip-flops. One day coffee is good for you; then next day, it isn't. With this Gehrig story, we're getting a little more serious. Do you think they're going to have to rewrite a lot of autopsy reports if it turns out Lou had somebody else's disease?
dayo13
Tue, Aug 17, 2010 : 12:55 p.m.
Roger Roth, thank you for the correction to my opinion. I did indeed miss the " 's ". Further, no matter what Lou Gehrig died from, he still died from Lou Gehrig's Disease whether it was ALS or not.
Roger Roth
Tue, Aug 17, 2010 : 12:34 p.m.
Pour Lew. May he wrest in piece. dayo13, BTW,..."one of baseball greatest players..." should be "baseball's," I think. As an old Dood, I lerned a long thyme ago that if I'm going to be critical about miner stuff, then I'd better be above criticism myself. A word to the whys is sufficient :)
Tina Reed
Tue, Aug 17, 2010 : 12:26 p.m.
The goal of our Daily Dose is to point out links to interesting health news around the web each day. I invite you to follow the links if you would like to read more.
dayo13
Tue, Aug 17, 2010 : 12:10 p.m.
Ok, not only do you spell the name of one of baseball greatest players incorrectly, then the story doesnt explain anything about what Lou Gehrig might have actually died from if not from ALS. The story just repeats what the title said. This is in depth news? Ive seen more factual stories written by first graders. If this is considered good story writing by the staff writers, then my 6 year old will be applying for a job shortly. Do your job, do it professionally, do it completely, and THEN publish it. Thank you.
AAHS Alum
Tue, Aug 17, 2010 : 11:35 a.m.
annarbor.com has a doozie of another headline. Lately the teasers seems to have nothing about the topic. "Lou Gherig might not have had Lou Gherigs disease"!