RadioMD news 1231

A highly influential government panel of experts says that older smokers at high risk of lung cancer should receive annual low-dose CT scans to help detect and possibly prevent the spread of the fatal disease. Specifically, the task force recommended annual low-dose CT scans for current and former smokers aged 55 to 80 with at least a 30 "pack-year" history of smoking who have had a cigarette sometime within the last 15 years. The person also should be generally healthy and a good candidate for surgery should cancer be found.

Hypothyroidism, a condition that causes low or no thyroid hormone production, is not linked to mild dementia or impaired brain function, a new study suggests. Although more research is needed, the scientists said their findings add to mounting evidence that the thyroid gland disorder is not tied to the memory and thinking problems known as "mild cognitive impairment." Some prior evidence has suggested that changes in the body's endocrine system, including thyroid function, might be linked to Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia.

Keeping "bad" cholesterol in check and increasing "good" cholesterol is not only good for your heart, but also your brain. low levels of "bad" (LDL) cholesterol and high levels of "good"  cholesterol are linked to lower levels of so-called amyloid plaque in the brain. A build-up of this plaque is an indication of Alzheimer's disease. The researchers suggested that maintaining healthy cholesterol levels is just as important for brain health as controlling blood pressure.

Many children with ADHD may have missed out on valuable counseling because of a widely touted study that concluded stimulants such as Ritalin or Adderall were more effective for treating the disorder than medication plus behavioral therapies. The study concluded that the medications outperformed a combination of stimulants plus skills-training therapy or therapy alone as a long-term treatment. But now experts, who include some of the study's authors, think that relying on such a narrow avenue of treatment may deprive children, their families and their teachers of effective strategies for coping with ADHD.