Health News

Full moon affects not only werewolves but human sleep too

Date: Jul-26-2013
It appears there is some truth in the saying that it is harder to get a good night's sleep when the moon is full. Tests on Swiss volunteers as they spent nights in a sleep lab showed a link between moon phases and sleep patterns: sleep was more disturbed when there was a full moon. Led by a team from the University of Basel, the researchers report in the July 25th online issue of Current Biology how they found a full moon disrupts sleep quality...

Food is main source of BPA for consumers, thermal paper also potentially significant

Date: Jul-26-2013
EFSA's scientific experts have provisionally concluded that for all population groups diet is the major source of exposure to bisphenol A (BPA) and exposure is lower than previously estimated by EFSA. BPA is a chemical compound used in food contact materials such as packaging as well as in other consumer products. This is the Authority's first review of exposure to BPA since 2006 and the first to cover both dietary and non-dietary sources (including thermal paper and environmental sources such as air and dust)...

First patient receives innovative new treatment to tackle combined diabetes and obesity in NHS approved trial initiated by the ABCD, UK

Date: Jul-26-2013
Combined diabetes and obesity, 'diabesity', is a serious health problem with considerably increased risks of premature heart attack, stroke and death. If not controlled, it can also affect the eyes leading to blindness, the kidneys leading to kidney failure and the feet leading to ulcers and amputation.  The number of patients with diabesity is increasing rapidly, both in the UK and world-wide...

High alcohol relapse rate blamed for poor survival in liver-disease patients

Date: Jul-26-2013
Liver-disease patients are dying because of poor alcohol relapse rates after they leave hospital, according to a study published on 24 July 2013. And those patients who manage to stop drinking are almost three times likely to survive. The study, published on the Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics journal online library, is one of the first to assess the long-term outcome for in-patients with severe alcoholic hepatitis (SAH)...

Fullest clinical report of Saudi MERS cases to date points to important differences with SARS

Date: Jul-26-2013
Saudi and UK scientists provide the most detailed picture yet of the clinical and laboratory characteristics of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) coronavirus, revealing a wide range of clinical symptoms and an extremely high death rate among patients with co-existing medical conditions.  The new research, published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases, also reveals some important differences with severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)...

Whooping cough vaccine is only moderately effective in adolescents and adults

Date: Jul-26-2013
Researchers have found that the pertussis "booster" vaccine, also known as reduced antigen content acellular pertussis vaccine or Tdap, is only moderately effective at preventing pertussis among adolescents and adults. This is first study to assess the effectiveness of the Tdap booster in members of a new generation that has received entirely acellular vaccines appears in the current online issue of BMJ...

NICE gives green light to treatment for wet AMD in final guidance

Date: Jul-26-2013
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has published final guidance recommending aflibercept solution for injection as an option for treating wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Wet AMD is an eye condition that affects the macula (a tiny part of the retina at the back of the eye). AMD causes problems with central vision - for example, straight lines may appear wavy and blind spots may develop in the field of vision. Macular degeneration is diagnosed as either dry (non-neovascular) or wet (neovascular)...

New links between diet and acne

Date: Jul-26-2013
A review carried out by the University of Hull has shed new light on the relationship between acne and diet.  Published in Dermatological Nursing, the comprehensive review assesses the latest evidence and findings about the effects of food and nutrition on acne and suggest that high glycemic index foods such as milk could exacerbate the skin condition.  The review was carried out by HONEI (Humber Obesity Nutrition Education and Innovation) a centre for food research, based at the University of Hull...

Gene test highly accurate in predicting metastasis in patients with thymoma

Date: Jul-26-2013
Patients diagnosed with thymoma, a rare cancer of the thymus gland, may be able to avoid certain cancer treatments associated with severe adverse events if the results of a new test reveal they are at low risk of metastasis, according to a study published today in the journal PLOS ONE.  The paper, by researchers at the Indiana University School of Medicine, reported results on a gene expression profile test designed to predict whether thymoma will metastasize within 5 years...

Patients in shock who were diagnosed with whole-body CT showed significantly lower mortality rates

Date: Jul-26-2013
The analysis of data from the TraumaRegister® of the German Trauma Society (DGU) was performed by Stefan Huber-Wagner, MD, and colleagues in close cooperation with Professor Rolf Lefering, PhD, from the Institute for Research in Operative Medicine (IFOM), University of Witten/Herdecke in Cologne. Data of 16,719 severely injured patients from Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium and Slovenia were analyzed. The authors compared the observed and the expected mortality rate of severely injured patients with and without whole-body CT...