Health News

Study Examines Use Of Creative Arts Therapies Among Patients With Cancer

Date: May-13-2013
JAMA Internal Medicine Study Highlights Creative arts therapies (CATs) can improve anxiety, depression, pain symptoms and quality of life among cancer patients, although the effect was reduced during follow-up in a study by Timothy W. Puetz, Ph.D., M.P.H., of the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md., and colleagues. Authors reviewed the available medical literature and included 27 studies involving 1,576 patients. Researchers found that during treatment, CAT significantly reduced anxiety, depression and pain, and increased quality of life...

Research Letter Evaluates Calories, Fat, And Sodium Content In Restaurant Meals

Date: May-13-2013
JAMA Internal Medicine Study Highlights A research letter by Mary R. L'Abbe, Ph.D., of the University of Toronto, Canada, and colleagues examined the nutritional profile of breakfast, lunch, and dinner meals from sit-down restaurants (SDR). (Online First) A total of 3,507 different variations of 685 meals, as well as 156 desserts from 19 SDRs were included in the study. Nutrients evaluated included calories, fat, saturated fat, and sodium; excess consumption of these nutrients is associated with obesity, hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, and cancer...

Cocaine Vaccine Close To Human Clinical Trials

Date: May-13-2013
A novel anti-cocaine vaccine has been successfully tested in primates, suggesting that human clinical trials are not far off, according to new research by Weill Cornell Medical College. The finding, published in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology, used a radiological method to show that the anti-cocaine vaccine stopped the drug from reaching the brain as well as from causing a dopamine-induced high. The study's lead researcher, Dr. Ronald G...

Antibiotic Coating Does Not Prevent Prosthetic Urinary Sphincter Infections

Date: May-13-2013
SAN DIEGO -- Contrary to what might be expected, adding an antibiotic coating to an artificial urinary sphincter (AUS) does not decrease device-related infection rates, researchers announced at the 108th American Urological Association (AUA) Annual Meeting. In their study, 213 men with urinary incontinence who received an AUS without antibiotic coating had the same infection rate as 213 men who were implanted with the antibiotic-coated AUS (InhibiZoneR). Daniel S...

A New Vaccine To Protect Against Multiple Strains of H7N9 Bird Flu Virus

Date: May-13-2013
A vaccine that provides wider protection against multiple strains of the bird flu virus, H7N9, is currently being worked on as the outbreak in China continues to get worse. In a news conference held by the World Health Organization (WHO), they cautioned the public that the H7N9 virus, which is responsible for the present outbreak, is one of the most fatal seen in the latest years...

Routine Screening For Depression Not Recommended For Adults With No Apparent Symptoms Of Depression

Date: May-13-2013
New guidelines from the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care For adults with no apparent symptoms of depression, routine screening is not recommended in primary care settings because of the lack of high-quality evidence on the benefits and harms of screening for depression, according to new evidence-based guidelines from the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care (CTFPHC) published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal)...

Job Stress And Unhealthy Lifestyle Increase Risk Of Coronary Artery Disease Compared With Stress And Healthy Lifestyle

Date: May-13-2013
People with job stress and an unhealthy lifestyle are at higher risk of coronary artery disease than people who have job stress but lead healthy lifestyles, found a study published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). To determine whether a healthy lifestyle can help reduce the effects of job stress on coronary artery disease, researchers looked at 7 cohort studies from a large European initiative that included 102 128 people who were disease-free during the 15-year study period (1985-2000). Participants, ranging in age from 17-70 (mean 44...

Giving Babies Formula In Early Days May Help Prolong Breastfeeding For Some

Date: May-13-2013
In a bid to promote breastfeeding, hospitals push to reduce formula feeding in infants in the days following their birth. But in a new study, the first to carry out a randomized trial, researchers show that giving small amounts of formula to newborns who lose a lot of weight in their first few days of life, can actually help prolong breastfeeding in the long term. Lead author Valerie J. Flaherman of the University of California - San Francisco (UCSF), and colleagues, write about their findings in the 13 May online issue of the journal Pediatrics...

10% Of Congenital Heart Disease Not Inherited From Parents

Date: May-13-2013
Ten percent of babies born with congenital heart disease have genetic mutations that occurred while they were in the womb, i.e. they did not inherited the genetic mutations from their parents, researchers reported in the May 12th issue of the journal Nature. Thousands of children are born annually with severely malformed hearts. These disorders are collectively referred to as "congenital heart disease" or congenital heart defects. Congenital means you are born with it...

Do Healthier Fast Food Options Exist?

Date: May-13-2013
Can you really go into a Subway, which calls itself the "healthy" fast food restaurant, and eat a healthy meal? UCLA researchers found that Subways may not be a much healthier alternative to McDonald's for teenagers and young adults. In their study, which was published in the Journal of Adolescent Health, the investigators found that when adolescents and young adults bought Subway meals they consumed more-or-less the same number of calories as those purchased at McDonald's. They added that meals at both restaurants probably contribute to the country's obesity epidemic...