Health News

Can Iced Tea Cause Kidney Stones? Researchers Say Yes

Date: Aug-03-2012
Summer is high season for drinking iced tea. However, a John Miller, Loyla University Medical Center urologist warns that iced tea can contribute to painful kidney stones because of its high concentration of oxalate, one of the key chemicals that lead to the formation of kidney stones. Around 10% of people in the U.S. suffer from kidney stones, a common disorder of the urinary tract. Dr...

Kids Who Have Strong Lungs And Hearts May Do Better In School

Date: Aug-03-2012
According to a new study, having a healthy heart and lungs might be one of the most essential factors for middle school students to achieve good grades in math and reading. The findings were presented at the American Psychological Association's 120th Annual Convention revealing that physically fit boys and girls score higher on reading and math. Trent A. Petrie, Ph.D...

Stem Cell Therapy May Fix Defects From Injuries To Head And Mouth

Date: Aug-03-2012
Researchers have discovered, in the first human study of its kind, that it is faster, more effective and less invasive using stem cells to re-grow craniofacial tissues, i.e. mainly bone, compared with traditional bone regeneration treatments. The clinical trial was a collaboration of researchers from the University of Michigan School of Dentistry and the Michigan Center for Oral Health Research together with Ann Arbor-based Aastrom Biosciences Inc. involving 24 patients who required jawbone reconstruction after tooth removal...

Introduction Of The Medicare Diabetes Prevention Act Praised By The American Diabetes Association

Date: Aug-03-2012
Senators Al Franken (D-MN), John D. Rockefeller (D-WV), and Richard G. Lugar (R-IN) have been leaders in the effort to stop diabetes by introducing the Medicare Diabetes Prevention Act; new legislation that provides coverage of the National Diabetes Prevention Program (National DPP) under the Medicare Program. At the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National DPP is a public-private partnership that includes private insurers, government agencies, and community organizations...

Lower Risk Of Brain Tumors In People Who Have Allergies

Date: Aug-03-2012
A new study has added to the growing body of evidence implying that there's a link between allergies and reduced risk of a serious type of cancer that starts in the brain.  According to this particular study, published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, the reduced risk seems to be stronger among women than men, however men have a lower tumor risk with certain allergies. Scientists have believed having allergies or similar factors reduces the risk for this cancer, and this study has strengthened that theory...

Mechanism Of Lung Cancer-Associated Mutations Suggests New Therapeutic Approaches

Date: Aug-03-2012
Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center researchers have identified how one of the genes most commonly mutated in lung cancer may promote such tumors.  The investigators found that the protein encoded by this gene, called EPHA3, normally inhibits tumor formation, and that loss or mutation of the gene - as often happens in lung cancer - diminishes this tumor-suppressive effect, potentially sparking the formation of lung cancer. The findings, published July 24 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, could offer direction for personalizing cancer treatments and development of new therapies...

Seizures In Babies: Cutting-Edge Imaging Technique To Improve Diagnosis

Date: Aug-03-2012
A cutting-edge technique, combining brain imaging and monitoring of its electrical activity, could improve early diagnosis and treatment of babies who suffer seizures. Researchers at The Rosie Hospital, Cambridge, are investigating the new technique with funding from children's charity Action Medical Research. In the UK over 2,000 newborn babies suffer seizures each year.1 Early diagnosis and treatment is vital, as seizures may cause lasting brain damage. However, seizures sometimes go unnoticed, as babies can have no obvious symptoms...

Afinitor Approved In Europe For Advanced Breast Cancer

Date: Aug-03-2012
E.U. approval has been granted to Novartis drug Afinitor® (everolimus) after successful completion of the Phase III BOLERO-2 (Breast cancer trials of OraL EveROlimus-2) trial. Afinitor tablets have been approved for the treatment of hormone receptor-positive (HR+) and HER2/neu-negative (HER2-) advanced breast cancer (HR+ advanced breast cancer), in combination with exemestane in postmenopausal women without symptomatic visceral disease after recurrence or progression after a non-steroidal aromatase inhibitor...

Sepsis Causes Come To Light

Date: Aug-03-2012
Death caused by infectious diseases occurs in the majority deaths, not because of the actual pathogen itself, but because of an excessive inflammatory immune response (sepsis). For example, as a result of organ damage. Sepsis is also the second most frequent cause of death on intensive care units. Especially in patients with a severely compromised immune system, life-threatening candida fungal infections can pose a high risk of sepsis. Leading researcher Karl Kuchler and his team at the Christian Doppler Laboratory for Infection Biology at the Max. F...

ADHD Linked With Slower Brain Development

Date: Aug-03-2012
According to a study conducted by the National Institutes of Health, children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) experience a developmental delay in frontal regions of the brain. The study is published in Biological Psychiatry. The team examined 234 children with ADHD and 231 normally developing children. Each child's brain was scanned up to four times from age 10 to 17. The team then used advanced neuroimaging technology in order to map the trajectories of surface area development at over 80,000 points across the brain...