Health News

The Mechanistic Effects Of Spironalactone In Diastolic Heart Failure: The Aldo-DHF Study

Date: Aug-29-2012
Mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists should be considered as a treatment option in hypertensive patients with diastolic heart failure, said Professor Burkert Pieske presenting results of the Aldosterone Receptor Blockade in Diastolic Heart Failure (Aldo-DHF) study at ESC Congress 2012...

Prasugrel Versus Clopidogrel For ACS Patients Managed Without Revascularisation: The TRILOGY ACS Study

Date: Aug-29-2012
The first trial to study the effect of platelet inhibition in patients with acute coronary syndromes managed medically without revascularisation has found no significant difference between prasugrel and clopidogrel in the prevention of death, myocardial infarction or stroke. The findings, from the phase III Targeted Platelet Inhibition to Clarify the Optimal Strategy to Medically Manage Acute Coronary Syndromes (TRILOGY ACS) study, were presented at a Hot Line session of ESC Congress 2012 in Munich...

The ALTITUDE Study In Type 2 Diabetics, Stopped Prematurely In December 2011: Median Follow-Up Results

Date: Aug-29-2012
Preliminary results from the Aliskiren Trial in Type 2 Diabetes Using Cardio-Renal Endpoints (ALTITUDE) do not support administration of aliskiren on top of standard therapy with renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) blockade in type 2 diabetics at high risk of cardiovascular and renal events, according to Professor Hans-Henrik Parving from Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. Presenting results from the study, he said the treatment "may even be harmful"...

Side Effects Of Treatment For Prostate Cancer Reduced

Date: Aug-29-2012
New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Medicine reassessing clinical data from trials, which investigate ways of treating side effects of therapy for prostate cancer, finds that tamoxifen, an anti-estrogen used to treat breast cancer, is also able to suppress gynecomastia and breast pain in men. Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers in men and early treatment is usually very successful. Androgen-suppression therapy is often used to slow down progression of advanced disease...

Moms Can Be Stressed When Certain Children Care For Them

Date: Aug-29-2012
Older mothers are more likely to be stressed when they receive help from an adult child who is not their preferred caretaker, according to new research from Purdue University. "Most mothers have a preference for which child they turn to in a crisis, confide in and prefer as their future caregivers," said Jill Suitor, a professor of sociology. "And when mothers received care from the adult child who was not their first choice, they reported more depressive symptoms, such as sadness, loneliness and sleep disturbances...

Is Pretend Play Overrated For Child Development?

Date: Aug-28-2012
A new study by University of Virginia, published online in the journal Psychological Bulletin states that pretend play is not as important to child development as researchers previously thought. Pretend play can be any type of play using imagination to make toys talk or creating sounds coming from toys, or pretending to be in a fictional situation, such as cops and robbers or house. This play can occur when the child is playing by themselves, other children, or their parents and other adults...

Why Do Computer Tablets Disrupt Sleeping Patterns?

Date: Aug-28-2012
Communication devices and tablet computers with self-luminous backlit displays can cause melatonin levels to drop, making it much harder to fall asleep, researchers at the Lighting Research Center (LRC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York, explained. The authors of the report explained that if you have not yet gone to bed when exposed to a luminous screen for long enough, you will probably delay your bedtime...

Smoking After Stroke Increases Death Risk By Three-fold

Date: Aug-28-2012
A new study, presented at ESC Congress 2012 by Professor Furio Colivicchi from San Filippo Neri Hospital, patients who continue smoking after a stroke have a three times higher chance of death. Research also suggests that the earlier patients start smoking again, the greater risk of death with one year. Professor Colivicchi explained: "It is well established that smoking increases the risk of having a stroke. Quitting smoking after an acute ischemic stroke may be more effective than any medication in reducing the risk of further adverse events...

Men Should Sit To Pee Says Taiwan Minister

Date: Aug-28-2012
Men should sit down to urinate in the toilet instead of standing up because it helps maintain a cleaner environment, says a Taiwanese government minister. Stephen Shen is Taiwan's minister for Environmental Protection Administration (EPA). He has stirred up a widespread debate on whether men should sit down on the toilet to urinate, like women do. Shen himself maintains he does, both at home and in public toilets. The EPA carries out regular inspections of Taiwan's 100,000 or so public toilets and suggests while many of them are very clean, there is room for improvement...

Reducing Children's TV Time Helps Them Lose Weight

Date: Aug-28-2012
New research, released in the September/October 2012 issue of the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, suggests that excess weight gain among adolescents could be prevented by reducing the amount of television they view. The finding came from a team of experts from the University of Minnesota, School of Public Health Obesity Prevention Center who conducted a one-year community-based randomized trial that enrolled 153 and 72 adolescents from the same households. The researchers held 6 face-to-face group meetings, set up 12 home-based activities, and sent monthly newsletters...