Health News

Alzheimer's Medications Lower Heart Attack And Death Risk

Date: Jun-05-2013
Medications that are prescribed for early-stage Alzheimer's disease appear to reduce the risk of heart attack and early death, researchers from Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden, reported in the European Heart Journal. Professor Peter Nordström and team examined data related to ChEls (cholinesterase inhibitors), including galantamine, rivastigmine and donepezil, all medications used for the treatment of mild-moderate Alzheimer's disease. Cholinesterase inhibitors raise the level of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine...

Cheese Comes From Plants, Many British Kids Believe

Date: Jun-05-2013
The British Nutrition Foundation (BNF) has just revealed that a shockingly high percentage of primary school children are not eating enough fruit and vegetables and that a large proportion of them believe that cheese comes from plants and that fish fingers are made from chicken. These findings come from a survey carried out by investigators from the BNF, which included more than 27,500 children in the U.K. - making it the largest study of its kind. Over 3,000 schools are participating in the BNF's "Healthy Eating Week", which is dedicated to educating more than 1...

Listeria Food Poisoning Risky For Elderly And Pregnant Women

Date: Jun-05-2013
Pregnant women and seniors need to be especially careful to avoid listeria-tainted foods, because they are at the highest risk of food poisoning, complications and death, says a new Vital Signs report issued by the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). The report also emphasizes the importance of food safety measures for cheese and raw produce, which are detailed in the 2011 Food Safety Modernization Act. What do "listeria" and "listeriosis" mean? Listeriosis is the illness, the infection, while listeria refers to the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes...

Genetic Screening Declined By Many Despite Good Prognosis

Date: Jun-05-2013
Even if Australians with newly diagnosed bowel cancer were routinely tested for a genetic predisposition to further cancers, one in three people would still not take the necessary steps to use that information to prevent further disease. Researchers from UNSW Medicine took the extra step of screening for the hereditary Lynch syndrome in the 2,100 people with colorectal cancer who presented at a number of NSW hospitals* over a three-year period...

Increasing Rates Of Emergency C-Section And Accompanying Emergency Anesthesia

Date: Jun-05-2013
There is an increasing need for safe emergency anaesthesia as cases of emergency Caesarean section (CS) continue to rise, said experts speaking at Euroanaesthesia, the annual congress of the European Society of Anaesthesiology (ESA). Dr Geraldine O'Sullivan (Lead clinician for obstetric anaesthesia, Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK) discusses how in the UK between 25-30% of deliveries are by CS, well above the WHO recommended rate of 15% (England 25%, Scotland/Wales 26%, Northern Ireland 30%, UK overall 25%)...

Drug Companies' Patent-Extending Strategies Substantially Increases Health Care Costs

Date: Jun-04-2013
Evergreening strategies--where pharmaceutical companies slightly change the formulation of their brand drug into "follow on" drugs by combining formulations or producing slow-release forms, for example, so that they can extend the patent--substantially contributed to an increase in overall healthcare costs in the Swiss canton of Geneva, according to a study by international researchers published in this week's PLOS Medicine...

Unraveling Tumor Growth One Stem Cell At A Time

Date: Jun-04-2013
Researchers at the University of Cambridge have discovered that a single mutation in a leukemia-associated gene reduces the ability of blood stem cells to make more blood stem cells, but leaves their progeny daughter cells unaffected. Their findings have relevance to all cancers that are suspected to have a stem cell origin as they advance our understanding of how single stem cells are subverted to cause tumors...

Ketamine Effective At Treating Depression

Date: Jun-04-2013
Researchers at Mayo Clinic have found that the general anesthetic, Ketamine, is very effective at treating depression when administered over a long period. The study, published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, revealed that prolonged, low-dose intravenous infusions of Ketamine, have excellent potential in reducing the symptoms of severe depression. About ten years ago researchers identified that Ketamine has properties that can help alleviate depression. However, given the serious psychiatric side effects of the drug, experts have been looking for the safest ways to use it...

Can Oral Sex Cause Throat Cancer?

Date: Jun-04-2013
Michael Douglas was diagnosed with throat cancer (oropharyngeal cancer) three years ago. He initially said it was caused by years of heavy smoking, alcohol abuse and stress. However, he recently told The Guardian newspaper that it was caused by oral sex (cunnilingus). In an Interview with Guardian reporter, Xan Brooks, Douglas said that his type of cancer was caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV) "which actually comes from cunnilingus"...

Daily Sunscreen Use Prevents Skin Aging

Date: Jun-04-2013
Daily sunscreen use greatly reduces skin aging, even in middle-aged men and women, according to new research in the Annals of Internal Medicine. Sunscreen and antioxidants have historically been shown to prevent skin aging, however, there has been no scientific evidence of their effectiveness. The current study calculated *photoaging of 903 subjects aged younger than 55 from Australia in order to find out whether regular use of sunscreen could slow skin aging compared with voluntary application...