Health News

Some Women Suffer Hot Flashes Before Menopause

Date: Jun-15-2013
More than half of middle-aged women who still have regular cycles have hot flashes. Asian and Hispanic women are less likely to have them than white women, but compared with previous studies, the figures are surprisingly high, showed a survey of some 1,500 women published online in Menopause, the journal of The North American Menopause Society (NAMS)...

World Population Will Reach 9.6 Billion By 2050

Date: Jun-15-2013
Over the next decade the world population is expected to increase by 1 billion and by 2050 experts estimate it will reach 9.6 billion. The United Nations report, titled "World Population Prospects: the 2012 Revision", states that most of this growth will occur in developing nations, especially in Africa. The Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, Wu Hongbo, said: "Although population growth has slowed for the world as a whole, this report reminds us that some developing countries, especially in Africa, are still growing rapidly...

Rate Of Children Treated For Obesity-Related Conditions Shows Four-Fold Rise

Date: Jun-15-2013
The number of children admitted to hospital for problems related to obesity in England and Wales quadrupled between 2000 and 2009, a study has found. Nearly three quarters of these admissions were to deal with problems complicated by obesity such as asthma, breathing difficulties during sleep, and complications of pregnancy, rather than obesity itself being the primary reason. Researchers at Imperial College London looked at NHS statistics for children and young people aged five to 19 where obesity was recorded in the diagnosis...

A&E Visits Increase Where Access To GPs Is Worse

Date: Jun-15-2013
Patients with more timely access to GP appointments make fewer visits to accident and emergency departments, a study suggests. In the largest analysis of its kind to date, researchers at Imperial College London related A&E attendance figures in England to responses from a national survey of patients' experience of GP practices in 2010-11. One question of this survey asked patients whether they had been able to see a GP within two weekdays when they had last tried...

Drug Action In Pancreatic Cancer Tracked And Improved By Nanotechnology

Date: Jun-15-2013
UK and Australian scientists have been able to show ways in which we can markedly improve drug targeting of solid tumours, using tiny 'biosensors' along with new advanced imaging techniques. In real time and in three dimensions, these technologies can show us how cancers spread and how active cancer cells respond to a particular drug. They can also tell us how much, how often and how long to administer drugs...

Worrying Rise In Heroin Use Among Young Adults Across Washington State

Date: Jun-15-2013
New data from the University of Washington's Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute indicates increases in heroin availability, abuse and deaths across the state, particularly among young adults ages 18-29. These increases are concerning because of the high risks of overdose and contracting infectious diseases associated with heroin use. Police drug evidence testing, particularly in 2011 and 2012, points to dramatic increases in heroin...

New Mechanism Of TB Drug Resistance Identified

Date: Jun-15-2013
Pyrazinamide (PZA) - a frontline tuberculosis (TB) drug - kills dormant persister bacteria and plays a critical role in shortening TB therapy. PZA is used for treating both drug susceptible and multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB) but resistance to PZA occurs frequently and can compromise treatment. A recent study, led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, has identified a new mechanism for PZA-resistance, which provides new insight into the how this mysterious drug works...

UCB Announces New Results From Phase 2b Open-Label Extension Study Evaluating The Long-Term Effects Of Epratuzumab In SLE

Date: Jun-15-2013
UCB have announced new data from an open-label extension (SL0008) of the EMBLEM™ phase 2b study evaluating the long-term effects of epratuzumab treatment in adult patients with moderate-to-severe systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). The primary outcome of the open-label extension was to assess the safety of epratuzumab in patients with SLE.4 Relative to the 12 week, double-blind, placebo-controlled EMBLEM™ study, data from the open-label, long-term extension identified no new safety or tolerability signals...

First Guidelines For Treating Non-Transfusion-Dependent Thalassaemia Introduced At European Haematology Association Meeting

Date: Jun-15-2013
New guidelines released by the Thalassaemia International Federation (TIF) address the Management of Non-Transfusion Dependent Thalassaemias (NTDT) and are a first of their kind in the field of medical haematology. The guidelines, presented today at the 18th Congress of the European Haematology Association (EHA), provide a consensus of international expert opinion based on the latest data in the field, and were developed to give clinicians easy-to-follow protocols to better identify and manage this patient population, who are often overlooked or under-diagnosed...

New Array Measures Vibrations Across The Skin, May Help Engineers Design Optimal, Wearable Tactile Displays

Date: Jun-15-2013
In the near future, a buzz in your belt or a pulse from your jacket may give you instructions on how to navigate your surroundings. Think of it as tactile Morse code: vibrations from a wearable, GPS-linked device that tell you to turn right or left, or stop, depending on the pattern of pulses you feel. Such a device could free drivers from having to look at maps, and could also serve as a tactile guide for the visually and hearing impaired. Lynette Jones, a senior research scientist in MIT's Department of Mechanical Engineering, designs wearable tactile displays...