Health News

Deadly New Salmonella Spreads In Wake Of HIV In Africa

Date: Oct-01-2012
A new deadly form of Salmonella is spreading in sub-Saharan Africa. Now a new study suggests the rapidly evolving invasive intestinal disease may be following a wake created by other disease epidemics such as HIV and malaria, as it takes advantage of immune systems weakened by them. The study authors report their findings in the 30 September online issue of Nature Genetics...

Depression Makes Many People Take Time Off Work

Date: Oct-01-2012
One in every ten employees in Europe has taken time off work because they have been affected by depression, says a new survey conducted by the European Depression Association (EDA). The authors added that for each depressive episode, 36 working days were lost. The problem of "depression and the workplace" has not yet prompted nearly one third of all managers to set up support services or procedures to deal with depressive employees. Nearly half of all managers are calling for better policies and legislation to protect employees...

Eradicate Polio Once And For All, Say Leaders Worldwide

Date: Oct-01-2012
Several heads of states as well as officials from donor countries have committed to help eradicate polio. The presidents of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria who attended a United Nation's led meeting have pledged to make sure their country's health departments do all they can to help eliminate polio for their countries. At the United Nations building in New York City, the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is hosting a polio-eradication event which started on 27th September...

Serious Physical Abuse Of Kids Has Gone Up Slightly, US Hospital Data Shows

Date: Oct-01-2012
In sharp contrast to reports from child protective services agencies, which show a halving of physical abuse cases, an analysis of hospital records in the US by Yale researchers shows cases of serious physical abuse injuries in children rose slightly in the 12 years up to 2009. The researchers say the big difference in the results highlights the challenge of relying on one source of information to keep an eye on serious problems. Yale University released details of the study for Monday. A full report is due to be published in the November issue of Pediatrics...

Scientists Find New Way To Up Safety Factor Of Stem Cell Therapy By Causing Contaminated Cells To Purge Themselves

Date: Oct-01-2012
Pluripotent stem cells show great potential in treating various debilitating diseases, but at a risk: during the process of reprogramming the cells so they will grow (differentiate) into the desired tissue, some of their DNA may be damaged causing them to develop into tumors. Researchers have been scrambling to find a way to overcome this huge drawback to an otherwise highly promising therapeutic candidate. Now, researchers at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn., think they might have found an answer...

Study Finds Large Proportion Of Intellectual Disability Is Not Genetically Inherited

Date: Oct-01-2012
New research published Online First in The Lancet suggests that a high proportion of severe intellectual disability results from genetic causes that are not inherited. These findings are good news for parents, indicating a low risk of passing on the disorder to further children. Intellectual disability affects between 1% and 2% of children worldwide...

Junk Food Advertising To Kids: Self-Regulation Is Failing Across Europe

Date: Oct-01-2012
Advertising of junk food continues to undermine children's health despite the food industry's promises that they would restrict their marketing activities, according to a new report A Junk-Free Childhood 2012: Marketing foods and beverages to children in Europe published by the International Association for the Study of Obesity (IASO). The review of advertising in Europe undertaken by IASO, a not-for-profit organisation, found that the industry's own figures show that children's exposure to advertisements for fatty and sugary foods had fallen by barely a quarter over the last six years...

Parasite Study Suggests Need For Rethink On Malaria Treatments

Date: Oct-01-2012
Fresh discoveries about how the malaria parasite responds to drugs could help inform strategies for treating infection. Scientists have shown for the first time that severe strains of the parasite, which cause the most harmful malarial infections, are harder to kill with treatment than less harmful strains. The research suggests that drugs may unintentionally encourage more harmful strains to evolve because the treatments are more effective at killing milder strains of the disease...

ToleroMune® Cat Allergy Treatment Clinical Results - Rapid Four-Dose Regimen Maintains Significant Symptom Reduction One Year After Starting

Date: Oct-01-2012
Circassia Ltd, a specialty biopharmaceutical company focused on allergy, today announced the publication of positive phase II results with its ToleroMune(R) cat allergy treatment in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (JACI). The results show that cat allergy patients who received four doses of ToleroMune(R) treatment over 12 weeks maintained a significantly greater improvement in symptoms one year after the start of the study compared with placebo (p=0.0104)...

Linaclotide Given Positive CHMP Opinion For Irritable Bowel Syndrome With Constipation

Date: Oct-01-2012
Almirall, S.A. (ALM:MC) and Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: IRWD) have announced that the European Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) has issued a positive opinion recommending the marketing approval for Constella® (linaclotide 290 micrograms), for the symptomatic treatment of moderate to severe irritable bowel syndrome with constipation (IBS-C) in adults.  The CHMP positive opinion is a recommendation to the European Commission (EC) and one of the final steps in the review of a marketing authorization application...