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Skiers and snowboarders who don’t wear helmets are more likely to suffer a head injury and lose consciousness than those who do wear helmets, a new U.S. study has found.

The researchers analyzed the medical records of skiers and snowboarders treated at nine hospital emergency departments in Colorado, New York and Vermont between July 2002 and July 2004.

They found that:
More collisions with fixed objects occurred in the Northeast
Loss of consciousness was more likely to occur among terrain park users
Patients in Colorado were less likely to lose consciousness
Loss of consciousness was less likely among those who wore helmets than among those who did not

The findings are reported in the fall issue of Wilderness and Environmental Medicine.

The authors noted that traumatic brain injury accounts for 50 to 88 percent of skiing and snowboarding fatalities. They expressed hope that their findings would strengthen the case for the use of helmets in these winter sports.

Obesity is a major risk factor for left atrial enlargement, which increases the risk of atrial fibrillation, stroke and death, a new study shows.

Atrial fibrillation is the most common type of arrhythmia (an irregular heart rhythm or heartbeat).

Researchers analyzed data on 1,212 men and women, aged 25 to 74, in Germany who were followed for 10 years. The study authors concluded that obesity and hypertension cause structural and functional changes in the heart and are independent predictors of left atrial enlargement (LAE).

The highest incidence of LAE after 10 years was seen in obese people — 31.6 percent compared to baseline prevalence of 10 percent among all study participants.

The findings, published in the Nov. 17 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, confirm the strong association between obesity and LAE reported in previous research. Some of those studies found that excess weight may affect left atrial size at an early age, potentially predisposing young obese people to future heart problems.

The authors of the new study said early assessment and intervention, especially among younger obese patients, is crucial to prevent the premature onset of cardiac remodeling — changes in heart size, shape and function — caused by LAE.

But they noted that it isn’t clear how much weight management or moderate weight loss can improve LAE. Further research is needed.

To keep colds at bay during the chilliest months of the year, exercise just might be the key.

David Nieman, a representative of the American College of Sports Medicine, says that studies have shown that people who exercise at least 45 minutes four or more days a week take 25 to 50 percent less time off from work because of illness.

“This reduction in illness far exceeds anything a drug or pill can offer,” Nieman said in a news release from the sports medicine group. “All it takes is a pair of walking shoes to help prevent becoming one of the thousands predicted to suffer from the common cold this winter.”

But what if you’re already under the weather? Should you try to get some exercise? Nieman suggests:
If a cold is only in your head and has not reached your chest, feel free to exercise.
Don’t overexert yourself. That means no running: Just take a walk. Studies have not shown that moderate exercise is bad if you have a cold.
If you have symptoms beyond the sniffles, stay in bed. This advice holds if a cold has traveled to your chest, if you have severe aches and pains and if you’re running a fever. Swollen glands spell trouble, too.
Take it slow when recovering from anything but a mild bout of illness. Take a couple of weeks off from exercise before you start workouts again.

Nieman has one more bit of advice: Exercise before you get your flu shot because research has shown that moderate-level physical activity will boost your immunity in the long run.

imple measures such as starting a walking group or creating pedestrian-friendly routes can encourage people to walk more, a new study has found.

At a multicultural housing site in Seattle, researchers implemented and evaluated several interventions meant to increase residents’ walking, including sponsoring walking groups, improving walking routes, offering information about walking options and advocating for pedestrian safety.

After the measures were implemented, self-reported walking among walking group members increased from 65 minutes to 108 minutes a day, according to the study published online Nov. 4 in the American Journal of Public Health.

“The built environment influences opportunities for physical activity through access to trails, parks, recreation centers and walkable streets, as does the social environment, such as having opportunities to walk with others,” the researchers wrote.

Community design should take into account ways to encourage walking, the study authors noted, and interventions to change people’s behavioral habits need to be considered.

World Trade Center rescue workers can add another illness to the list of health problems that may have resulted from exposure to Ground Zero toxins and the ensuing mental anguish of the tragedy — gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).

A new study shows that 41 percent of World Trade Center responders have GERD, twice that of the general population. GERD is a condition in which the lower esophageal sphincter doesn’t function properly, allowing the stomach’s contents to rise up into the esophagus, causing a burning sensation in the chest or throat.

The likelihood of having GERD was linked to mental health disorders, including post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. The more extensive the mental health issues, the more likely patients were to have GERD.

About 47 percent of those diagnosed with one mental health disorder also had GERD. About 64 percent of those who had two mental health disorders had GERD, while the rates of GERD rose to 70 percent and 72 percent for those who had three or four mental health disorders, respectively.

“These patients were exposed to a very complex trauma — both psychological and physical,” explained senior study author Dr. Benjamin Luft, a professor of medicine at State University of New York at Stony Brook and director of the Long Island World Trade Center Medical Monitoring and Treatment Program. “Unless you treat both of these things at the same time, they tend to exacerbate one another. It’s the close interaction between mind and the body. The physical may impact you psychologically, and the psychological may impact you physically.”

The study was scheduled to be presented Monday at the American College of Gastroenterology’s annual meeting in San Diego.

Previous research has found that people with mental health issues tend to have more reflux disease or other gastrointestinal disturbances, said Dr. David A. Johnson, past president of the American College of Gastroenterology.

Research has shown that people who are stressed are more sensitive to discomfort of gastric acid in the esophagus. Studies in animals have shown that over time, stress can weaken the ability of the esophagus to withstand acid reflux. Other research has shown that people who don’t sleep well are more bothered by acid reflux. The lack of sleep lowers the “sensory threshold” for pain.

“The study offers a very interesting and potentially very meaningful observation,” Johnson said. “We do know that stress does have a relationship to GERD.”

Researchers looked at records of 697 World Trade Center rescue, recovery and clean-up workers who were examined in 2005 and 2007 as part of the World Trade Center Medical Monitoring and Treatment program, which follows and treats several thousand Ground Zero workers, many of whom have suffered persistent mental health and respiratory ailments.

“It’s not as readily apparent as to why they would have a gastrointestinal problem,” Luft said. “Though as a result of being there, when you are exposed to a tremendous amount of dust, a lot of what goes into your mouth, nose and lungs is also swallowed and can enter the gastrointestinal tract as well.”

One explanation for some of the respiratory ailments is that the dust at Ground Zero was extremely alkaline, or acidic, and may have damaged the lining of the mucosal membranes. Something similar could have happened to the membranes of the gastrointestinal tract, Luft said.

The study also found that smoking and obesity, known risk factors for GERD, did not increase the risk of GERD, while spending a lot of time at Ground Zero did.

In a second study to be presented at the meeting, researchers found that active-duty military who were exposed to infectious gastroenteritis were more likely to have “functional gastrointestinal disorders,” including diarrhea, irritable bowel syndrome, functional constipation and dyspepsia (indigestion).

Infectious gastroenteritis is caused by viruses, bacteria or parasites.

Researchers used electronic medical records from the Defense Medical Surveillance System to identify 31,866 cases of gastrointestinal disease among active-duty personnel between 1999 and 2007. For some, the gastrointestinal disturbances were long-lasting. About 29 percent of active duty personnel were still being treated for gastrointestinal disorders two years after diagnosis.

New research suggests that sperm, not just semen, can transmit the virus that causes AIDS to immune cells in the body and, in fact, sperm may play a major role in transmission.

Scientists already know that men infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, can spread the disease through their semen, the fluid that carries sperm. But it hasn’t been clear what role sperm itself plays, especially considering that men who don’t produce sperm, such as those who have had vasectomies, can transmit the virus.

In a new study, published in the Oct. 26 online edition and the Nov. 23 print issue of the Journal of Experimental Medicine, researchers found that the virus attaches to the surface of sperm and can be transmitted to immune cells.

Immune cells known as dendritic cells appear to be vulnerable, the study authors explained. The researchers, led by Ana Ceballos of the University of Buenos Aires in Argentina, think the virus gets to these cells by passing through tiny abrasions in the vagina or anus or perhaps through another method.

The researchers said that a slightly acid environment, which they likened to that in the vagina after sexual intercourse, boosts the likelihood of infection of these cells.