A therapy that promises to melt fat away with the help of a syringe has not yet been proven a safe and effective alternative to liposuction, according to a new report. The report, by a committee of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), points to a lack of research data and standardized techniques for the treatment, known as mesotherapy. Mesotherapy breaks down pockets of fat that dwell anywhere from the jaw line to the waistline to the hips. It involves a series of injections into the problem area, with the ingredients of those injections varying from case to case. A mixture of various drugs, plant extracts and other substances may be used. One of the most common ingredients is phosphatidylcholine, or lecithin - a waxy substance found in the cells of plants and animals. Lecithin is added to food and other products as an emulsifier, which means it helps mix fats with liquid. The product may act similarly when used in mesotherapy, emulsifying body fat and allowing natural enzymes to break it down. But whether and how mesotherapy works is still unclear, according to the ASPS report. Other important questions, including the possible effects of the procedure on the liver and other organs, remain unanswered, the authors report in the journal Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. Mesotherapy is also expensive, with charges as high as $1,500 per treated area and practitioners generally recommend three to six rounds of injections over time. Research is ongoing and has shown slight promise in its results equaling that of current liposuction procedures. The main question mark is whether or not mesotherapy has long-term success. The procedure is called mesotherapy because injections are made into the mesoderm, the layer of fat and connective tissue under the skin. The method was developed by a French physician in the 1950s for the treatment of disorders of the blood vessels and lymphatic system. More recently, it has become a popular non-surgical alternative to liposuction in Europe and South America. Advocates say mesotherapy is far safer than the surgery, which, like all invasive procedures, carries some serious risks-including infection, blood clotting and, rarely, death. A major gap with mesotherapy, however, is the lack of standardization in the formulations and dosages used, and of guidelines stating, for instance, which patients are good candidates. It's also unclear where the body fat ends up after it's purportedly melted by mesotherapy. In the U.S., the individual components used in mesotherapy must be approved by the Food and Drug Administration, but their use in the context of mesotherapy has not been shown safe and effective. And the FDA has never approved a drug specifically for the body-contouring procedure

Orthopedists say they are seeing an increasing number of patients with a condition known as "overuse syndrome" or "BlackBerry thumb" - caused by increasing use of handheld devices. In a time where people can't live without their handheld sidekicks - such as a BlackBerry or text messaging - more and more users are noticing the area between her thumb and wrist begin to throb - in some cases this symptom is severe. The American Society of Hand Therapists issued a consumer alert in January saying that handheld electronics are causing an increasing amount of carpal tunnel syndrome and tendonitis. With that warning, the society included directions on how to properly hold the devices, urging users to take breaks and, if possible, place pillows in their laps so their wrists are in a more upright position. BlackBerry subscribers now total 2.51 million, more than double the 1.07 million subscribers a year ago. Some other handheld devices, such as PalmOne Inc.'s Treo and T-Mobile Inc.'s Sidekick phones, use similar thumb-operated keyboards. The small keyboards are tough on hands and wrists, according to Paige Kurtz of the American Society of Hand Therapists. The pains associated with BlackBerrys and other handhelds used to be common among video game players, but Stuart Hirsch, clinical assistant professor of orthopedics at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center in Paterson, N.J., believes teens who are frequent gamers are a little more immune. Also, though many handheld game devices use thumb-operated controls, they typically don't require as much range of motion as keyboards spanning the entire alphabet as well as punctuation marks. "Tendonitis won't affect your teenage son the way it will a parent," Hirsch said. "Children are more tolerant of overuse than adults because they are younger." A British researcher of cyber culture, Sadie Plant, found that teenagers and young adults throughout the world are becoming so adept at using their thumbs for messaging, they have started to use them for ringing doorbells and pointing. Japanese teenagers are sometimes called "the thumb generation" because of their heavy-duty messaging. Plant has said that teens use their thumbs more than index fingers; making them faster and more muscled. Workplace injuries in white-collar jobs have grown with the widespread use of mobile communications technology. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, ergonomic disorders are the fastest-growing category of work-related illnesses for which it receives reports. In 1981, only 18 percent of all reported illnesses were repetitive strain injuries, known as RSI. By 1992, that figure had grown to 52 percent. That number has leveled off, said Emil Pascarelli, author of "Dr. Pascarelli's Complete Guide to Repetitive Strain Injury: What You Need to Know About RSI and Carpal Tunnel Syndrome" and professor emeritus of clinical medicine at Columbia University. He attributes the change to companies and employees becoming more knowledgeable about setting up a workstation to prevent injuries. However, with the popularity of tiny handheld devices, Pascarelli said there is a "potential for an epidemic" for new repetitive strain injuries. "These new devices are really introducing a new potential injury issue. I think it has the potential for being an explosive issue in the next few years

The latest national study by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America labels today's teens "Generation Rx" because of their increased recreational use of prescription drugs. The 17th annual study on teen drug abuse, released Thursday morning, found that about one in five teenagers has abused a prescription painkiller -- more than have experimented with either Ecstasy, cocaine, crack or LSD. One in 11 teens had abused over-the-counter products such as cough medicine, the study reported. According to the survey, the most popular prescription drug abused by teens was Vicodin, with 18 percent -- or about 4.3 million youths -- reporting they had used it to get high. OxyContin and drugs for attention-deficit disorder such as Ritalin/Adderall followed with one in 10 teens reporting they had tried them. Fewer than half the teens -- 48 percent -- said they saw "great risk" in experimenting with prescription medicines. "Ease of access" was cited as a major factor in trying the medications, with medicine cabinets at home or at friends' homes. This is the second year studies are being done on the abuse of legal drugs. But the first time surveyors included a question about the use of over-the-counter drugs to get high. Nine percent, or about 2.2 million teens, had experimented with cough syrup and other related products. The number of teens reporting marijuana use declined to 37 percent last year, compared with 42 percent a half-dozen years earlier. Over the same amount of time, ecstasy use declined from 12 percent to 9 percent, while methamphetamine trial dropped from 12 percent to 8 percent. The 2004 Partnership Attitude Tracking Study surveyed more than 7,300 teens, the largest ongoing analysis of teen drug-related attitudes toward drugs in the country. Its margin of error is plus or minus 1.5 percent. The nonprofit Partnership for a Drug-Free America, launched in 1987, is a coalition of communications professionals aimed at reducing the demand for illegal drugs

Alzheimer's disease affects roughly 5 million Americans and in some cases the neurological disorder may be preceded by an ailment dubbed "mild cognitive impairment. Though some researchers are skeptical that MCI, which represents progressive loss of memory, is even a real disorder. "MCI is an arbitrary category on the continuum of cognitive aging," said Dr. Peter Whitehouse of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. Whitehouse reminds us of previous misunderstood phenomena mistaken for illnesses. "Remember, homosexuality and hysteria used to be diseases - and do not forget 'drapetomania,' the pre-Civil War disease that caused slaves to run away." Criticism of MCI highly rose after a New England Journal of Medicine publication about Aricept, a drug used to treat Alzheimer's disease symptoms, showed that Aricept slows the aggression of Alzheimer's. Researchers believe Aricept, also given to patients showing signs of MCI, delays diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease by one year. The is no test that can accurately make an MCI diagnosis, only detailed patient histories, along with specific cognitive and psychological testing, can assist physicians when diagnosing MCI. The controversy over the term MCI derives from its broad use. Some feel the term is too inclusive and they could possibly diagnose persons experiencing normal mental decline due to aging. Some experts feel that early diagnosis is the last thing on the drug companies mind. "MCI is a marketing tool for drug companies," said Dr. Thomas Finucane, professor of geriatric medicine at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. "They are taking advantage of the despair and heartbreak of caregivers who love family members with Alzheimer's, and selling billions of dollars worth of drugs that have no meaningful effect," Finucane said. Despite the critics, the Aricept study and MCI description is favorable considering the dramatic results of delaying the onset of Alzheimer's. "Saying all people with MCI in all studies around the world should be treated is incorrect," said study author Dr. Rachelle Doody, professor of neurology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. "What we did in this study was define a subtype of MCI - the ones that are to become Alzheimer's patients