All for people
A person’s lifetime risk of getting heart disease may be much higher than previously thought, according to a major US study published on Wednesday. A single risk factor — such as smoking, having diabetes, high blood pressure or elevated cholesterol — can significantly boost one’s likelihood of having a heart attack or stroke [...]
Pfizer’s Inlyta drug for patients with advanced kidney cancer got the nod from U.S. regulators on Friday, boosting the company’s plans to offset plunging Lipitor sales. The Food and Drug Administration said the drug, known generically as axitinib, was effective at treating patients who did not respond to another drug for kidney cancer. [...]
Women with breast cancer who take antiestrogen supplements may be decreasing their risk for melanoma, according to a study published Wednesday in Cancer Prevention Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. Christine Bouchardy, professor at the University of Geneva and head of the Geneva Cancer Registry, and colleagues analyzed data [...]
A new study led by Harvard School of Public researchers provides a novel explanation as to why some tuberculosis cells are inherently more difficult to treat with antibiotics. The discovery, which showed that the ways mycobacteria cells divide and grow determine their susceptibility to treatment with drugs, could lead to new avenues of drug development [...]
It’s a dream of medical science that looks tantalizingly within reach: the artificial pancreas, a potential breakthrough treatment for the scourge of type 1 diabetes. Meant to mimic the function of a real pancreas, the artificial version is a complex device that combines a pager-sized continuous glucose monitor and sensor that tracks blood [...]
In many parts of the country winter brings cold weather and a drop in humidity. Heaters in the home are running which adds to the dryness of the air. Skin tends to lose its water by evaporation into this dry environment. This is particularly extreme with aging or with diabetes, when the skin’s [...]
An international research collaboration has mapped the entire genome of the roundworm, a parasitic intestinal worm that currently infects some 1.2 billion people worldwide, researchers at Copenhagen University said here Thursday. The breakthrough could help pave the way towards finding vaccines or medicines to treat or prevent the parasite that infects millions of [...]
A research group from the University of Leeds has shown that infection by the brain parasite Toxoplasma gondii, found in 10-20 per cent of the UK’s population, directly affects the production of dopamine, a key chemical messenger in the brain. Their findings are the first to demonstrate that a parasite found in the [...]
There is no evidence to prove that using a cell phone can increase the risks of brain cancer, suggested a lastest study by Danish researchers. To arrive at the result, the researchers examined the health records from 1990 to 2007 for 358,403 Danish cell phone plan subscribers. They found that among people using [...]
Even a slightly high blood pressure is considered dangerous to largely increase the stroke risk, a new study found. The finding was published Wednesday on the online edition of U.S. medical journal Neurology. In the study, researchers found people who have pre-hypertension, whose blood pressure measured between normal and high, are 55 percent more likely [...]
Middle-aged white women drinking alcohol moderately are more likely to stay healthy than nondrinkers, according to a new study from Harvard. The study has followed about 14,000 mostly white women since 1976. As a result, compared with teetotalers, those who had 3 to 15 alcoholic drinks weekly in their late 50s were 28 [...]
An Australia report released on Monday draws a direct link between inaction on climate change and long-term social and mental health problems. The Climate Institute report, A Climate of Suffering: The Real Cost of Living with Inaction on Climate Change, points that in the wake of extreme weather in Australia, such as cyclones and droughts, [...]
Vaccines can cause certain side effects but serious ones appear very rare — and there’s no link with autism and Type 1 diabetes, the Institute of Medicine says in the first comprehensive safety review in 17 years. The report released Thursday isn’t aimed at nervous parents. And the side effects it lists as [...]
According to the report, titled HIV in Asia and the Pacific: Getting to Zero, the number of new HIV infections in Asia and Pacific dropped from about 450,000 in 2001 to 360,000 in 2009, thanks to government-invested preventative programs and increased access to antiretroviral drugs. About 4.7 million people in the region are currently [...]
German scientists experimenting with sniffer dogs have found they can accurately detect lung cancer by smelling breath samples. In a study carried out by researchers from Schillerhoehe Hospital in Germany, the dogs were able to correctly detect lung tumours in 71 percent of patients, suggesting a similar technique could be used for early [...]
Glucose is a main source of energy for the cells that make up your muscles and other tissues. Glucose comes from 2 major sources: the food you eat and your liver. During digestion, sugar is absorbed into the bloodstream. Normally, sugar then enters cells with the help of insulin. When you have diabetes, [...]
With or Without Diabetes by Roberta Kleinman, RN, M.Ed., CDE Hello ! Roberta Kleinman, RN, M.Ed., CDE… The new FDA nutrition guidelines have changed from the food pyramid to the plate method of eating. As a nation, we are trying to decrease our ever growing rate of obesity which can lead to multiple [...]
Dieting to lose weight may not help older overweight adults to live longer, but losing a little weight on purpose also does not seem to cause any harm, according to a study. Previous studies had raised concerns that losing weight might be harmful to older adults, since some research had linked dropping weight to a [...]
A new Australian study has downplayed the links between sleep length and obesity in teenagers, despite separate international studies claiming that the less sleep increases obesity risk in children. The study, led by the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Victoria, looked at the sleep habits of 133 obese adolescents aged 10-16 at a weight management [...]
Now we have multiple high quality studies that confirm it improves blood glucose control, it positively affects lipids, blood pressure, decreases cardiovascular events, decreases mortality and improves quality of life. It also states that a combination of aerobics and resistance training are needed to get the benefits more effectively than either exercise alone. [...]
Exposure to secondhand smoke ( SHS) is associated with increased risk of hearing loss among adolescents, according to a report in the July issue of Archives of Otolaryngology — Head and Neck Surgery. Among U.S. children, approximately 60 percent are exposed to SHS, according to background information in the article. Studies have associated exposure to [...]
Obesity rates in the United States climbed over the past year in 16 states, and not a single state reported a decline in the proportion of excessively overweight residents, according to a report released on Thursday. The report, published by HealthDay News, found that more than 30 percent of the people in 12 states are [...]
They’re very tasty and they have a very good texture. Bigger than soda, candy and ice cream. People generally don’t take one or two chips. They have a whole bag. It’s the biggest demon behind that pound-a-year weight creep that plagues many Americans, a major diet study found. And the reason is partly that old [...]
Retinopathy causes abnormal blood vessels to grow in the retina, the light-sensitive tissue lining the inner surface of the eye. This growth can cause the retina to detach from the back of the eye leading to vision loss. “For people who have had diabetes for 25 years, more than half of them will have retinopathy,” [...]
Drinking tea regularly had always been believed to have a positive impact on health. Some studies reveal that compounds in tea can prevent the development of cancer cells in the body. Especially if you regularly consume black tea. Work mechanism of black tea in fighting against cancer cells is also proven in two recent studies [...]
Overall, the group predicts 1,596,670 new cancer cases in the United States and 571,950 deaths in 2011. Death rates for all cancer types fell by 1.9 percent a year from 2001 to 2007 in men and by 1.5 percent a year in women from 2002 through 2007. Steady overall declines in cancer death rates have [...]
About 7,000 people are being infected with AIDS each day and about half of the 34 million people with HIV do not know they have it, according to a U.N. report released to mark the disease’s 30th anniversary. The UNAIDS agency said more money, less waste and smarter programs are urgently needed to consolidate gains [...]
A respected international panel of scientists says cellphones are possible cancer-causing agents, putting them in the same category as the pesticide DDT, gasoline engine exhaust and coffee. The classification was issued Tuesday in Lyon, France, by the International Agency for Research on Cancer after a review of dozens of published studies. The agency is an [...]
The compound, a flavanol called epicatechin, triggers two built- in protective pathways in the brain, providing a molecular mechanism by which the compound can guard against the damage of a stroke, said researchers at John Hopkins University School of Medicine. The findings were published in the May issue of the Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow [...]
Children exposed to pesticides known as organophosphates could have a higher risk of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), according to a U.S. study that urges parents to always wash produce thoroughly. Researchers tracked the pesticides’ breakdown products in children’ urine and found those with high levels were almost twice as likely to develop ADHD as those with [...]
People with depression are more likely to gain weight, but overweight people are not more prone to depression than their normal-weight peers, a new study suggests. Although there is a link between depression and weight gain, it is not exactly clear how they’re connected, researchers at University of Alabama said in the study, which appears [...]
The US government outlawed drop-side cribs on Wednesday after the deaths of more than 30 infants and toddlers in the past decade and millions of recalls. It’s the end of the traditional crib that has cradled millions of babies for generations. It was a unanimous vote by the Consumer Product Safety Commission to ban the [...]
Concern is heating up over whether common industrial chemicals found in plastics and other consumer goods could be harming our kids. The Food and Drug Administration made headlines when it said last week that it would review the safety of Bisphenol A, an industrial chemical commonly used in plastic bottles and food containers. It is [...]
British scientists studying the genetics of aging said on Thursday that experiments on laboratory worms showed that a specific gene is strongly linked to lifespan, immunity and disease resistance. Since the gene, called DAF-16 in worms, is found in many animals and in humans, the finding could open up new ways to affect aging, immunity [...]
In a study of patients with stage III colon cancer — characterized as cancer in the large bowel area with some cancer cells in a few nearby lymph nodes — the researchers found that while multivitamin use had no beneficial effect on patients’ outcomes, it also did not have a detrimental effect. Patients with colon [...]
