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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Eating kiwi fruit might be a much better way of getting vitamin C into your system than taking purified vitamin supplements, according to research from New Zealand. Researchers with the University of Otago found that in mice eating kiwifruit, vitamin C uptake was five times as effective as taking a purified supplement form. The study [...]
The results, reported in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, add to evidence that sleep loss can promote weight gain … not just by boosting hunger but also by slowing the rate at which calories are burned. Sleep deprivation makes the day drag and appears to put a drag on metabolism too, causing the body [...]
Having the flu during pregnancy isn’t associated with a heightened risk of autism or developmental delay in children, although having a fever during pregnancy might be. And giving birth by Cesarean section isn’t associated with autism in offspring, but having diabetes or high blood pressure or being obese while pregnant seems to be. Those are [...]
In a study in the Archives of Disease in Childhood journal, British researchers used a “strengths and difficulties” questionnaire completed by parents about their children and found that abnormal scores were less common in children who were breastfed for at least four months. Babies who are breastfed are less likely to grow into children with [...]
Diet soda and other artificially-sweetened drinks, previously implicated in the chance of developing diabetes, are not guilty, according to a study by researchers at Harvard University. In a large group of men followed for 20 years, drinking regular soda and other sugary drinks often meant a person was more likely to get diabetes, but that [...]
A study found that mothers of young children were heavier and ate more calories, sugary drinks and fatty foods than childless women. Dads and moms in the study were less active than their peers without kids. Sheri Lee Schearer, 34, says the results reflect her life with a 5-month-old son. Before, when she worked as [...]
Restaurant chains will have to tell you how many calories are in your sandwich, your milk shake and even your bag of chips by the middle of next year as part of the U.S. government’s fight against obesity. The Food and Drug Administration said on Friday that final rules requiring restaurants and retail food companies [...]
Depression can heighten the risk for heart disease, but the effect of antidepressant use is separate and independent from depression itself, according to the study make public by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) on Saturday. People taking antidepressants may be more likely to develop thicker arteries which may raise the risk [...]
Women in a Swedish study who drank at least a cup of coffee everyday had a 22 to 25 percent lower risk of stroke, compared to those who drank less coffee or none at all. “Coffee drinkers should rejoice,” said Dr. Sharonne N. Hayes, a cardiologist at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. “Coffee is often [...]
Scientists have found 13 new gene variants that increase a person’s risk of developing heart disease, the world’s number one killer, in a series of large-scale international genetic studies. The discovery of 13 previously unknown gene variations and the confirmation of around 10 more should offer clues about how heart ailments such as coronary artery [...]
If teens could reduce salt intake by three grams daily, they would enjoy a much healthier life in adulthood, the American Heart Association said in a press release. Teens who consume less salt would be less likely to develop high blood pressure, heart disease and stroke in later life, a new study suggests. The release [...]
It was the first large, well-done study to test omega-3 capsules for atrial fibrillation, when the heart quivers instead of beating normally. More than 2 million Americans have the problem, which is more than an unsettling flutter — it raises the risk of blood clots that can cause a stroke. Eating fish is good for [...]
A food company in Texas is recalling several kinds of fully cooked, ready-to-eat smoked turkey breast products that may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes, authorities said on Sunday. New Braunfels Smokehouse of New Braunfels, Texas, ordered the recall after a routine test found Listeria monocytogenes in the products, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s Food [...]
The rate of obesity among U.S. adults may rise rather than slowing down as previously suggested, according to the study by researchers at Harvard University and Massachusettes Institute of Technology. The obesity rate may hit 42 percent by 2050, much higher than previously estimated. The study, published this week in the journal PLoS Computational Biology, [...]
Promising technological advances are able to reproduce the functioning of the human heart. Cardiac surgery often requires that the heart stop beating for the surgeon to handle it safely. For this purpose, the bypass was developed, a huge machine with rollers that need at least two people to handle it during surgery to facilitate extracorporal [...]
Postmenopausal women who engage in regular physical activity, maintain a healthy weight and drink moderate alcohol, if at all, may face a lower risk of breast cancer, according to the study by researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center. Even postmenopausal women with a family history of breast cancer may benefit from the three [...]
Hide the chocolate milk behind the plain milk. Get those apples and oranges out of stainless steel bins and into pretty baskets. These subtle moves can entice kids to make healthier choices in school lunch lines, studies show. Food and restaurant marketers have long used similar tricks. Now the government wants in on the act. [...]
Moderate physical exercises can help reduce the risk of cancers such as breast cancer and colon cancer, the World Health Organization said on the World Cancer Day Friday. In a report, WHO recommended moderate intensity aerobic physical activities of at least 150 minutes a week, for all people aged 18 and over, which has proven [...]
Is it doctors practicing defensive medicine? Or are patients so accustomed to a culture of medical technology that they insist on extensive tests and treatments? Too much cancer screening, too many heart tests, too many cesarean sections. A spate of recent reports suggest that too many Americans — maybe even President Barack Obama — are [...]
The issue of breast cancer avoidance concerns many women. Opinion polls reveal that 98% of them overestimate the threat. The breast physician, speak you to dispel certain myths about breast cancer. Myth 1. Breast cancer is 1 killer of women This is not true. Women die from cardiovascular diseases eight times more often. In reality [...]
Overall cancer mortality rates continued to drop in the United States mainly due to enhanced prevention efforts and better treatment. The drop in cancer mortality rates over the last 20 years has averted more than 767,000 cancer deaths, the ACS said in its annual Cancer Statistics 2010 report. The overall death rate from cancer in [...]
Vitamin B12 may help protect against Alzheimer’s disease, according to a study out Monday. The study suggests that seniors with more of the active part of the vitamin in their blood have a lower risk of developing the disease, which eats away at the minds of one in eight Americans aged 65 and older, according [...]
A young father who was terribly disfigured in an electrical accident showed off his new look Monday alongside doctors who performed the United States’ first full face transplant. Visibly moved as he described how his young daughter called him “handsome” and how the first whiff of hospital food was so tantalizing, 26-year-old Dallas Wiens said [...]
A new study confirms that smoking raises a person’s risks of the major forms of esophageal and stomach cancers, while drinking has more narrow effects. In a study that followed more than 120,000 Dutch adults for 16 years, researchers found that smoking increased the risk of the two main forms of stomach cancer, as well [...]
