Health News

Alcohol Plays A Huge Role In Cancer Deaths In The U.S.

Date: Feb-16-2013
We have known for years that sun exposure can lead to skin cancer and smoking can lead to lung cancer. Now a new report reveals that drinking alcohol is responsible for 3.5 percent of all cancer deaths in the U.S. The findings, published in the American Journal of Public Health, outline the cancer risks linked to alcohol use. This is the first major examination of this topic in over 30 years. The researchers analyzed cancers of the: rectum colon esophagus liver female breast larynx pharynx mouth The investigators examined surveys, 2009 U...

Prophylactic Therapy Achieving Zero Annual Bleed Rates Gives Hemophilia Patients Normal Quality Of Life

Date: Feb-16-2013
Children with hemophilia A achieving annual bleed rates of zero on prophylactic therapy have similar quality of life and physical health to the healthy population, according to a study reported at the 6th Annual Congress of the European Association for Hemophilia and Allied Disorders (6-8 February 2013; Warsaw, Poland)...

How The Brain Unconsciously Processes Decision Information In Ways That Lead To Improved Decision Making

Date: Feb-16-2013
When faced with a difficult decision, it is often suggested to "sleep on it" or take a break from thinking about the decision in order to gain clarity. But new brain imaging research from Carnegie Mellon University, published in the journal Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, finds that the brain regions responsible for making decisions continue to be active even when the conscious brain is distracted with a different task...

First Retinal Implant For Rare Eye Disease Approved By FDA

Date: Feb-15-2013
The first retinal implant, the Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System, received approval to treat a rare genetic eye disease. The U.S. FDA (Food and Drug Administration) approved the device to help adult patients with advanced retinitis pigmentosa (RP) regain some sense of vision...

Revolutionary Treatment Lowers Blood Pressure

Date: Feb-15-2013
A novel drug-free treatment consisting of "blasting" nerves in the kidneys with radio waves is actually decreasing high blood pressure. The method is known as renal denervation (RDN), it is administered for a length of 45 minutes under local anesthetic and is the first new alternative treatment for patients who could not lower their blood pressure by traditional drugs. Nearly 30 percent of adults in England have high blood pressure - or hypertension - which makes the body pump blood too strongly through the arteries and heart...

Bird Flu Reported In German Poultry Farm

Date: Feb-15-2013
Initial tests confirm H5N1 avian influenza (bird flu) infection in a duck farm in Brandenburg, eastern Germany, authorities announced today. Environment Ministry officials say that H5N1 was initially suspected when the poultry farm, which was carrying out its own tests, had positive results for avian influenza. Environment Minister Anita Tack said: "All the necessary measures to contain and control (the H5N1 spread) have been initiated." Samples were sent to counter-check to the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institute (FLI) on the Baltic island of Riems...

Synthetic Marijuana Use Associated With Acute Kidney Injury

Date: Feb-15-2013
Over 16 new cases of people suffering from acute kidney injury after smoking synthetic marijuana have been reported in six states across the U.S.  The report, published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), identified an association between the use of synthetic cannabinoids (SCs), such as "Spice" and "K2", and kidney damage. The sixteen patients began to experience symptoms of kidney failure within days of smoking the substance, complaining severe abdominal pains as well as vomiting and nausea...

Natural Antiviral Protein Stops HIV, Deadly Viruses Entering Cells

Date: Feb-15-2013
Researchers in the US have identified a natural antiviral protein that stops HIV and certain other deadly viruses like Ebola, Rift Valley Fever, and Nipah, from entering host cells. They hope the discovery will help efforts to develop broad-spectrum antivirals against many of the deadly viruses that the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease lists as "priority pathogens" for national biosecurity purposes...

Hunt For New Antibiotics Turns To Deep Sea Trenches

Date: Feb-15-2013
Around the world, as disease-causing bugs become more and more resistant to current effective antibiotics, doctors fear there will be no means to treat seriously ill patients in the future. Now scientists have widened the search for new drugs to include some of the deepest and coldest places on the planet. "There hasn't been a completely new antibiotic registered since 2003," Marcel Jaspars, professor of Chemistry at the University of Aberdeen, says  in a statement to the press released on Thursday...

Clasado Announces Positive Results Of Clinical Study Of Bimuno® For Metabolic Syndrome

Date: Feb-15-2013
Clasado, the manufacturers and suppliers of Bimuno®, a unique trans-galactooligosaccharide prebiotic, have announced the results of a clinical study on the use of the Bimuno (B-GOS) to alter bacteria in the human gastrointestinal tract as a candidate to help prevent and manage Metabolic Syndrome. The results from the study will be published in the March 2013 issue of The Journal of Nutrition. The double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, crossover study has been conducted on behalf of Clasado by a research team led by Dr...