Health News

Study Reveals Austerity's Harmful Impact On Health In Greece

Date: Apr-18-2013
Findings are 'much worse than we imagined,' researcher says In one of the most detailed studies of its kind, a team of Greek and U.S. researchers have vividly chronicled the harmful public health impacts of the economic austerity measures imposed on Greece's population in the wake of the global economic crisis. Writing in the today's American Journal of Public Health, the researchers cite data showing the economic recession and subsequent austerity policies in Greece have led to a sharp deterioration of health services and health outcomes...

Rates Of Foodborne Illness Cases On The Rise

Date: Apr-18-2013
Rates of food borne illnesses - also known as "food poisoning" are on the rise, according to a new report released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The report compared rates of food borne infections from 2012 to rates from the period spanning 2006-2008 and found that the prevalence of infections from bacteria called Campylobacter and Vibrio increased. Additionally, they found that rates of infections from Cryptosporidium,�Listeria,�Salmonella,�Shigella, Shiga toxin-producing�Escherichia coli�(STEC) O157, and�Yersinia�remained the same...

Learning Disabilities Affect Up To 10 Per Cent Of Children

Date: Apr-18-2013
Up to 10 per cent of the population are affected by specific learning disabilities (SLDs), such as dyslexia, dyscalculia and autism, translating to 2 or 3 pupils in every classroom according to a new study. The study - by academics at UCL and Goldsmiths - also indicates that children are frequently affected by more than one learning disability. The research, published today in Science, helps to clarify the underlying causes of learning disabilities and the best way to tailor individual teaching and learning for affected individuals and education professionals...

Exclusive Breastfeeding For More Than 4 Months Lowers Mother-To-Infant HIV Risk

Date: Apr-18-2013
HIV-infected mothers who exclusively breastfeed for more than the first four months of life have a lower risk of transmitting the virus to their babies through their milk. The finding came from scientists at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health and was published in the journal Science Translational Medicine. The authors explained: "Women who stopped breast feeding earlier than four months had the highest concentrations of HIV in their breast milk, and those who continued to breastfeed, but not exclusively, had concentration levels in-between the two practices...

Bird Flu In China Spreading, 17 Dead

Date: Apr-18-2013
So far, 83 people have been confirmed infected with the H7N9 bird flu (avian flu) virus, of whom, 17 have died. In Shanghai alone, there have been 32 infections and 11 deaths, according to the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Yesterday, the Director of the Shanghai CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention) answered some questions that had been circulating in Shanghai...

3rd Annual European Life Sciences EPP Pricing & Profit Optimisation Forum: Performing "Under Pressure", 5-6 June 2013, Switzerland

Date: Apr-18-2013
The Life Sciences industry is evolving. Unprecedented market changes are pushing manufacturers to seek out new skills and insights and adapt their strategies and business models. Leaders are already investing in building capabilities that will ensure they meet both commercial & strategic objectives and are re-aligning people, functions and governance structures to that effect. The Annual Pricing and Profit Optimisation Forum is in its 3rd year, and is the only event of its kind dedicated entirely to the Life Sciences industry...

Famous Athletes And Performers Tend To Have Shorter Lives

Date: Apr-18-2013
An analysis of obituaries in the New York Times suggests that the cost of achieving fame as a performer or in sport may be a shorter life.  The Australian-based researchers, who analyzed one thousand obituaries, write about their findings in a paper published online in QJM: An International Journal of Medicine this week. Numerous studies show that job-related factors are linked to lifespan...

New Alzheimer's Treatment May Come From Discovering How Plaques Lead To Tangles

Date: Apr-18-2013
Alzheimer's disease has two key hallmarks: accumulation of amyloid protein plaques outside brain cells and of neurofibrillary tangles of tau protein inside brain cells. The plaques appear first, and then the tangles, giving the impression that one causes the other. However, evidence of this is scant, and scientists believe finding out precisely how these events are linked, will lead to new treatments to slow the relentless progress of this devastating brain-wasting disease...

Bacterial Vaginosis Could Put Pregnancy At Risk If Left Untreated

Date: Apr-18-2013
Women in the UK are more likely to know about intimate beauty treatments than they are about serious health issues that could make them six times more likely to miscarry or give birth prematurely. Research published this week by Balance Activ reveals women are more aware of bikini waxing (67%) and vajazzles (48%) than they are about intimate health, with nearly two thirds of women questioned (61%) unaware or unsure of health problems that could lead to fertility problems, miscarriage and increased risk of STI's...

TB Rates Need To Drop 10 Times Faster For Elimination By 2050

Date: Apr-18-2013
Tuberculosis (TB) rates are coming down, but not dropping fast enough to keep the world on track to meet the target of Stop TB Partnership: to eliminate TB by 2050 (less than 1 percent TB in population is referred to as elimination). "The current decline in TB rate is 2 percent globally every year" said Dr Christian Lienhardt of WHO Stop TB Department at the 4th Union Asia Pacific Region Conference on Lung Health (APRC 2013) which recently concluded in Hanoi, Viet Nam...