Health News

Treatment For Common Menopausal Symptoms 50 Percent Less Likely To Be Received By British Women

Date: Jun-23-2013
New data, published in Menopause International, suggests that post-menopausal women in Britain are experiencing less sex, and less satisfying sex compared to their European and North American counterparts1, because they are considerably less likely to access appropriate treatment for a common, taboo condition called vaginal atrophy1...

Staging System In ALS Shows Potential Tracks Of Disease Progression

Date: Jun-23-2013
The motor neuron disease Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease, progresses in a stepwise, sequential pattern which can be classified into four distinct stages, report pathologists with the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in the Annals of Neurology. This post-mortem staging of ALS brain and spinal cord tissues shows, for the first time, how the fatal degenerative disease may progress from one starting point in the central nervous system to other regions of brain and spinal cord...

Unattractive Workers More Likely To Be Bullied

Date: Jun-23-2013
A new study conducted at Michigan State University found that "unattractive" and/or disagreeable people are at a higher risk of being bullied by their co-workers. Brent Scott, the lead investigator of the study, said that the finding is rather "ugly" itself. He added that even though many professionals like to believe they act mature at work, it can end up being "just like high school in many ways...

New Insulin Pump Reduces Overnight Hypoglycemia Risk

Date: Jun-23-2013
The sensor augmented Threshold Suspend insulin pump safely reduces nocturnal hypoglycemia without affecting HbA1C (glycated hemoglobin level), says a study published in NEJM (New England Journal of Medicine) and presented at the American Diabetes Association 73rd Scientific Sessions in Chicago, Illinois. The Threshold Suspend has an investigational MiniMed® integrated system which automatically briefly halts insulin delivery when sensor glucose values hit a pre-set low level, says Medtronic Inc., the makers of the device...

Genetic Variants Identified That Predict Aggressive Prostate Cancers

Date: Jun-23-2013
Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center and colleagues at Louisiana State University have developed a method for identifying aggressive prostate cancers that require immediate therapy. It relies on understanding the genetic interaction between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). The goal is to better predict a prostate cancer's aggressiveness to avoid unnecessary radical treatment. Their study was recently published in the online journal PLOS ONE. According to the authors, prostate cancer accounts for 20 percent of all cancers and 9 percent of cancer deaths...

FDA Approves Vibativ (Telavancin) For Bacterial Pneumonia

Date: Jun-22-2013
Vibativ (telavancin) has been approved by the FDA to treat HABP/VABP (hospital-acquired ventilator-associated bacterial pneumonia) caused by Staphylococcus aureus. The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) added that telavancin should only be used when other treatments are not appropriate. Telavancin is a bactericidal lipoglycopeptide for use in MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) or other Gram-positive infections. It is a semi-synthetic derivative of vancomycin. The FDA approved telavancin in September 2009 for complicated skin and skin structure infections...

Damaging Healthy Eye Cells: New Insights Into Diseases Causing The Loss Of Vision.

Date: Jun-22-2013
There are two major light receptor cells in the mammalian eye: rods and cones. New research by scientists from Duke University have shown that dying cone cells can trigger the demise of healthy rod cells, leading to the loss of vision. The study by Kyoung-in Cho and colleagues, published in the journal PLOS Genetics, showed that when a multifunctional protein known as 'Ran-binding protein 2' (RanBP2) is removed from cone cells it causes not only those cells to die but also results in the demise of the healthy rod cells in the eye...

Artificial Pancreas Set To Transform Treatment Of Diabetes

Date: Jun-22-2013
Scientists are working to create an artificial pancreas that will help reduce the complications of type 1 diabetes and significantly improve the lives and life expectancy of millions of patients with the condition. Product development firm Cambridge Consultants recently announced that it is teaming up with the Institute of Metabolic Science (IMS) at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, UK, on this groundbreaking research. The U.S...

Study Reveals That Nearly 7 In 10 Americans Are On Prescription Drugs

Date: Jun-22-2013
Nearly 70 percent of Americans are on at least one prescription drug, and more than half take two, Mayo Clinic researchers say. Antibiotics, antidepressants and painkilling opioids are most commonly prescribed, their study found. Twenty percent of patients are on five or more prescription medications, according to the findings, published online in the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings. Researchers find the data valuable because it gives insight into prescribing practices. The statistics from the Rochester Epidemiology Project in Olmsted County, Minn...

Heart Attack Risk Not Increased By Laughing Gas

Date: Jun-22-2013
Nitrous oxide - best known as laughing gas - is one of the world's oldest and most widely used anesthetics. Despite its popularity, however, experts have questioned its impact on the risk of a heart attack during surgery or soon afterward. But those fears are unfounded, a new study indicates. The findings by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis will appear in the July issue of the journal Anesthesiology...