Health News

Mothers Who Smoke While Pregnant Increase Their Baby's Risk Of Asthma

Date: Aug-17-2012
New research has discovered that mothers who smoke during pregnancy may cause wheeze and asthma in their children when they reach preschool, even among kids whose moms did not smoke until late pregnancy or after birth. �sa Neuman, MD, of the Institute of Environmental Medicine at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden, said: "Epidemiological evidence suggests that exposure to maternal smoking during fetal and early life increases the risk�of childhood wheezing and asthma, but earlier studies were not able to� differentiate the effects of prenatal and postnatal exposure...

What Is Pus?

Date: Aug-17-2012
Pus is a protein-rich fluid called liquor puris, usually whitish-yellow, yellow, or yellow brown in color. Pus consists of a buildup of dead leukocytes (white blood cells) from the body's immune system in response to infection. It accumulates at the site of inflammation. When the buildup is on or very near the surface of the skin it is called a pustule or pimple. An accumulation of pus in an enclosed tissue space is called an abscess. Pus is a fluid that had filtered from the circulatory system into an area of inflammation caused by an infection; an exudate...

Meditation Can Help Loneliness

Date: Aug-17-2012
Many seniors spend the final years of their lives on their own. Partners die and children move on and start their own lives, leaving senior lonely. However, being lonesome is significantly more than just a quiet house and a lack of companionship. As time passes, being alone doesn't just take a toll on the mind, but can also have a severe physical effect too. Feeling alone has been associated with a heightened risk of cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer's, depression as well as premature death...

Hormone Levels Linked To Metabolic Disease

Date: Aug-17-2012
According to a study published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, researchers have found an association between low levels of a specific hormone and increased risk of metabolic disease in humans. The study was conducted by Andrew Butler from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute in collaboration with Peter J. Havel, professor of molecular biosciences and nutrition at the University of California, Davis...

Chemotherapy During Pregnancy Does Not Affect Birth Outcomes

Date: Aug-17-2012
According to a study published Online First in The Lancet Oncology, babies born to women with breast cancer who received chemotherapy while pregnant do not seem to be at greater risk of complications. The researchers analyzed over 400 women from across Europe who had been identified as having early-stage breast cancer during pregnancy. 197 women went through chemotherapy while pregnant, additionally the researchers evaluated if their newborns experienced any adverse effects that may be due to the cancer drugs...

What Is A Tumor?

Date: Aug-17-2012
A tumor, also known as a neoplasm, is an abnormal mass of tissue which may be solid or fluid-filled. A tumor does not mean cancer - tumors can be benign (not cancerous), pre-malignant (pre-cancerous), or malignant (cancerous). There are many different types of tumors and a variety of names for them - their names usually reflect their shape and the kind of tissue they appear in. Put simply, a tumor is a kind of lump or swelling, it does not necessarily pose a health threat. When doctors use the term tumor they are talking generically and not about the size of the lesion...

Baby Boomers Should Take Hep C Test Urge CDC

Date: Aug-17-2012
In order to avert a major rise in liver disease and deaths among Americans, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are urging all baby boomers, that is members of the population born between 1945 and 1965, to get tested for the hepatitis C virus. Hepatitis C causes serious liver diseases, including cancer, and is the main cause of liver transplants in the US. Liver cancer is also the fastest-growing cause of cancer deaths in the US. The CDC estimate that one in 30 baby boomers is infected with the virus, and most don't realise it...

Male Contraception Research Goes In New Direction

Date: Aug-17-2012
A successful test in mice of a molecule that can pass the blood-sperm barrier and render a reversible contraceptive effect in males has taken the quest for a non-hormonal male contraceptive pill in a new direction, following the results of a new US study reported online in the journal Cell on Thursday. The study is significant because it paves the way toward a non-hormonal male contraceptive pill that does not affect sex drive and does not permanently impair fertility. The study leaders were Martin M. Matzuk of Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) in Houston, Texas, and James E...

Prenatal Alcohol Exposure Studied Through To 9 Years Of Age

Date: Aug-17-2012
Although studies of alcohol's effects on fetal growth have consistently demonstrated deficits that persist through infancy, the data on long-term postnatal growth from human studies have been inconsistent. A new study of the effects of heavy prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) on growth and body composition throughout childhood has found growth restrictions that persist through to nine years of age, as well as a delay in weight gain during infancy, both of which were exacerbated by iron deficiency...

High Risk In First Weeks Of Pregnancy From High Potency And Synthetic Marijuana

Date: Aug-17-2012
Marijuana is up to 20 times more potent than it was 40 years ago and most pregnant women who use the drug are totally unaware that it could harm their unborn child before they even know they are pregnant. Writing in the journal Drug Testing and Analysis, American researcher's state the argument that marijuana is a harmless drug is no longer valid due to the emergence of 'high potency' marijuana and synthetic marijuana which pose a potential real threat for pregnant women...