Health News

Five Second Rule For Dropped Food - Fact Or Fiction?

Date: Jul-19-2012
True or False? Lots of mums know the five-second rule, a common superstition, which says that food dropped on the ground will not be contaminated with bacteria if it is picked up within five seconds of being dropped. Jorge Parada, MD, MPH, FACP, FIDSA, medical director of the infection prevention and control program at Loyola University Health System provides the answer: "A dropped item is immediately contaminated and can't really be sanitized. When it comes to folklore, the 'five-second rule' should be replaced with 'when in doubt, throw it out'...

How Are Alzheimer's Disease And Diabetes Linked?

Date: Jul-19-2012
An experiment has shown that diabetes is associated with the onset of Alzheimer's disease. The finding, published online in this week's issue of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, is a collaboration between researchers from New Jersey's University of Medicine and Dentistry (UMDNJ) and researchers from Northwestern University, and was based on an experimental model, which shows that diabetes can potentially be used as an important new tool for investigating Alzheimer's disease and developing new drugs to combat the disease...

Increased Cancer Risk Among Kids Who Are Abused

Date: Jul-19-2012
Children who are frequently abused by a parent have a higher risk of cancer in adulthood. The new study from researchers at Purdue University, published online in the Journal of Aging and Health, reveals that the effects are particularly significant when mothers abuse their daughters and fathers abuse their sons...

Newly Discovered Gene Is Associated With Inheritance Of Leukemia

Date: Jul-19-2012
About 3,300 people are diagnosed every year with CLL, the most common form of leukemia in Western countries. Researchers have known for quite some time that certain families are more susceptible to sustaining CLL than others. However, the genetic basis for inherited predisposition to CLL has so far been unknown. Researchers from London's Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) in the UK have now identified a heritable gene variant that is linked to a higher risk of developing chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL)...

Multiple Sclerosis Associated With Sodium Build-Up In The Brain

Date: Jul-19-2012
Sodium buildup in the brain appears to be associated with disability in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), according to a French study. The accumulation of sodium, which can be detected by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), may be a biomarker for the degeneration of nerve cells that occurs in MS patients. The study, published online in the journal Radiology, found that individuals with early-stage MS showed sodium buildup in specific regions of the brain, while those with more advanced MS showed buildup throughout the entire brain...

Risk Cognitive Decline In Adults Is Increased By Binge Drinking

Date: Jul-19-2012
In the UK, around 800,000 people suffer from dementia, and more than half of these people have Alzheimer's disease. Now, researchers have found that binge drinking significantly increases the risk of cognitive decline in older people. The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Exeter, was presented July 18 at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference. The researchers examined data from 5,075 US adults aged 65+ and found that those who drank heavily at least two times per month were more than 50% more likely to suffer severe cognitive decline...

Risk Of Cholesterol-Related Cardiovascular Diseases Is Not Lowered By Vitamin D Supplements

Date: Jul-19-2012
According to a new study, vitamin D supplements do not seem to reduce the risk of cholesterol-related cardiovascular disease.� The study, conducted by researchers at Quest Diagnostics and The Rockefeller University, is published in Circulation, a publication of the American Heart Association. Lead researcher Manish Ponda, M.D., M.S...

Solvent Exposure At Work Increases Risk Of Birth Defects In Offspring

Date: Jul-19-2012
Children born to mothers who were exposed to organic solvents at their workplace during pregnancy are more likely to have a heart defect at birth, say researchers. The study, published in Occupational and Environmental Medicine, evaluated the levels of workplace exposure to organic solvents in 5,000 women from across the �United States from one month before conception through to the first three months of pregnancy. �All the women were participating in the National Birth Defects Prevention Study. All of their babies were born between 1997 and 2002...

Polypill Could Cut Heart Attacks And Strokes Dramatically

Date: Jul-19-2012
A randomized trial finds that giving over-50s a four-in-one "Polypill" to cut their risk of heart attack and stroke, led to large drops in blood cholesterol and blood pressure, the main causes of these two diseases. The trial's lead investigator says the expected impact of the Polypill would be to cut heart attacks and strokes, both leading causes of death worldwide, by two-thirds...

Egg Allergy In Kids Overcome With Egg Therapy

Date: Jul-19-2012
New research from the US finds that egg therapy, eating small but gradually increasing daily doses of egg white powder, may help affected children overcome their allergy to eggs. However, the researchers urge people not try it at home because the conditions have to be carefully controlled by a trained doctor...