Health News

Prostate Cancer Surgery Can Result In Lower Quality Of Life

Date: Sep-25-2012
Surgery to remove prostate cancer could result in high levels of anxiety among men, which is associated with depression and sexual dissatisfaction, according to Mayo Clinic researchers from the Florida campus. The recent report, which was published in Psycho-Oncology, said that counseling for men who suffer from "cancer-specific anxiety" after undergoing prostate cancer surgery could significantly help improve quality of life and worries about their disease. Alexander Parker, Ph.D...

Overeating When Not Hungry Is Common In Obese Kids

Date: Sep-25-2012
Children who are overweight and obese eat 34% more calories from snack foods even after eating a meal, compared to their siblings of average weight. Indulging in that much more food, if continued over time, can lead to excess weight gain, according a study from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Bodyweight has increasingly become a huge health issue in the United States. Just over one third of Americans are of normal weight, while 35.8% are overweight and 27.6% are obese...

Limited Evidence To Support Medication For Adolescents With Autism

Date: Sep-25-2012
Inadequate evidence has been reported as the cause contradicting the use of medical interventions in adolescents and young adults with autism.  According to a recent analysis by researchers at Vanderbuilt University and their findings published in Pediatrics, even though adolescents with autism are being prescribed medication, there is little to no evidence showing whether these medications are helpful.  Jeremy Veenstra-VanderWeele, M.D...

Clues To Pain Relief From The Naked Mole Rat

Date: Sep-25-2012
Naked mole-rats evolved to thrive in an acidic environment that other mammals, including humans, would find intolerable. Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago report new findings as to how these rodents have adapted to this environment. The study was published online on PLOS ONE. In the tightly crowded burrows of the African naked mole-rats' world, carbon dioxide builds up to levels that would be toxic for other mammals, and the air becomes highly acidic...

Castrated Men Live Longer

Date: Sep-24-2012
The eunuchs in Korea's royal court of the Chosun Dynasty lived considerably longer than "intact" men, researchers reported in the journal Current Biology. The study appears to confirm what previous animal studies have shown - that castration prolongs life expectancy. The Chosun Dynasty ran from 1392 to 1910. During this period, some boys were castrated and became servants in the royal palace. The researchers found that their life spans were from 14 to 19 years longer than those of non-castrated men...

Low Levels Of Vitamin D Linked To Heart Disease

Date: Sep-24-2012
Low levels of Vitamin D may increase the risk of heart attack and early death, according to a study from the University of Copenhagen and Copenhagen University Hospital. Although vitamin D is most commonly associated with healthy bones, various population studies have demonstrated that low levels of this vitamin may increase the risk of developing ischemic heart disease, angina, coronary arteriosclerosis, and heart attack.  Other research has suggested that low levels of this vitamin may cause high blood pressure, which increases the risk of heart attack...

New SARS-Like Virus Emerges In Middle East

Date: Sep-24-2012
Just a few days ago, the United Kingdom notified the World Health Organization of a case of acute respiratory syndrome with renal failure. This person had a travel history to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Qatar. This patient was a normally healthy 49 year-old Qatari national man, who started showing symptoms on September 3, 2012 - he had traveled to Saudi Arabia before the start of his illness. The individual was treated in the intensive care unit (ICU) in Doha, Qatar on September 7 and then transferred to the UK by air ambulance on September 11...

Doping Is Now A Public Health Issue, Conference Told

Date: Sep-24-2012
Doping - using drug or blood products to improve athletic performance - has now become a public health problem, and not just a sporting one, experts explained at an anti-doping conference organized by the Arne Ljungqvist Foundation. Dr. Timothy Armstrong, who works at WHO (World Health Organization) explained that about 3% of high school boys in America regularly take growth hormones or steroids. This amounts to a very large number of people and is definitely a public health problem, he added. Dr...

Fish Consumption Can Decrease Risk Of Heart Attack Regardless Of Mercury Content

Date: Sep-24-2012
Eating fish may reduce the risk of heart attack, but it is important to steer clear from the type of fish that contains the most amounts of mercury, according to experts from Umeå University in Sweden. The researchers have worked together with teams from Finland and other countries in order to assess whether the advantages of heathy fatty acids outweigh the risks of mercury proportion. Previous research has said that individuals who consume fish have a decreased risk of heart disease, compared to those who eat none or very little...

Free Bus Passes May Help Seniors Stay Healthy

Date: Sep-24-2012
A new study finds having free bus passes encourages older people to be more physically active, which is known to benefit health, adding weight to the argument that proposals to scrap the scheme as a way for the government to save money could result in a false economy. Passes (special ID cards for travelers) giving people aged 60 and over the right to ride on local buses free of charge after the commuter rush on weekdays and all day on weekends and public holidays, were introduced in England in 2006. The scheme, which costs £1...