Health News

Transplant Patients' Hearts Need Protecting

Date: Jul-13-2012
In the United States, around 85,000 people are currently waiting for a kidney transplant and around 16,000 are waiting for a liver transplant. However, patients who are aged 50+ are also at increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Now, the American Heart Association (AHA) aims to harmonize the various cardiac evaluation policies that have been created at U.S. hospitals to evaluate a patient's overall health prior to transplant surgery...

Girls Who Experience Childhood Trauma More Likely To Smoke Later On

Date: Jul-13-2012
According to a new study published in the journal Substance Abuse, Treatment, Prevention, and Policy, girls who experience trauma during their childhood are more likely to smoke when they are older. Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), such as emotional, physical, and sexual abuse, neglect and growing up in a dysfunctional home, affect a large range of people. In addition, children exposed to ACEs during childhood may end up developing unhealthy coping behaviors when they are adults...

Biological Clock Chemical Offers Diabetes Treatment Hope

Date: Jul-13-2012
Due to the current obesity epidemic, metabolic disorders, such as type 2 diabetes have become a major public health concern in the U.S. A paper published July 13 in an advance online issue of Science reveals that biologists from California's San Diego University have discovered a chemical, called KL001, which provides a unique and novel target for the development of drugs that treat metabolic disorders, like type 2 diabetes. The discovery came as a surprise, given that the chemical isolated by the biologists is not directly involved in regulating glucose production in the liver...

Increased Risk Of Diabetes From Chemicals In Personal Care Products

Date: Jul-13-2012
According to researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH), there is a connection between an increased risk of diabetes in women and increased concentrations of phthalates in the body.  Personal care products such as nail polishes, moisturizers, soaps, perfumes, and hair sprays contain endocrine disrupting chemicals called phthalates. These chemicals can also be used in electronics, adhesives, and numerous other products. Their study was published July 13, 2012, and can be found in the online edition of Environmental Health Perspectives...

Skinny Jeans Cause Health Problems For Men

Date: Jul-13-2012
According to a new survey of 2,000 British men, tight-fitting jeans can cause urinary tract infections, twisted testicles, bladder weakness and long-term health consequences. The study, conducted by TENA Men, states that although many celebrities, such as Jude Law, Russell Brand and Joey Essex, favor fashionable skinny jeans, 10% of men surveyed reported experiencing an unpleasant adverse effect due to wearing tight-fitting jeans. Dr...

Shopping Linked To Menstrual Cycle

Date: Jul-13-2012
'That time of the month' does not just mean mood swings, stomach cramps and cravings for certain foods. "Calories, beauty, and ovulation: The effects of the menstrual cycle on food and appearance-related consumption," a study published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology investigates what effect the menstrual cycle has in terms of consumer consumption...

Asthma Keeps Kids From Sleep And School

Date: Jul-13-2012
Asthma is responsible for 10.5 million missed school days each year in the United States, and is also one the leading contributors to illness and missed sleep in urban children, according to researchers. The study, published in Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, found that children, especially Latino children, who missed sleep because of asthma were frequently absent from school, visited the emergency room more often and experienced limitation in sports. Lead author of the study, Lauren Daniel, Ph.D...

Reducing Racial Disparities Requires Better Preconception Health Care For Women

Date: Jul-13-2012
According to an article in Journal of Women's Health, a peer reviewed publication from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers, pregnancy outcomes could be improved, and racial differences in infant mortality reduced, by improving access to health care for minority women of childbearing age. Non-Hispanic whites have significantly lower infant mortality rates than non-Hispanic blacks and other minorities.  The authors believe that in order to reduce racial disparities in reproductive health outcomes, there needs to better preconception health care for women...

Male Circumcision A Priority Against HIV

Date: Jul-13-2012
A report prepared jointly by AVAC (Global Advocacy for HIV Prevention) who is based in the US, and a number of African based AIDS advocates, calls for a health drive involving Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision (VMMC). The publication entitled "A Call to Action on Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision: Implementing a Key Component of Combination Prevention" cites VMMC as one of the leading tools in the preventing the spread of HIV...

Multiple Sclerosis Patients Could `Benefit From Stress Management

Date: Jul-13-2012
People suffering from multiple sclerosis (MS) could significantly benefit from participating in a stress management program, say researchers. The study, published online in the medical journal Neurology, involved 121 people with MS.  The researchers assigned 50% of the study participants to receive the stress management program, while the remaining participants were put on a waiting list as a control group. Over a 5-6 month period, participants assigned to the program had 16 50-minute sessions with a therapist...