Health News

Programs Launched To Develop Medical Countermeasures Against Nuclear Threats

Date: Jun-29-2012
Concerns about terrorist attacks, the prospect of a rogue nation using nuclear weapons and the Fukushima power plant accident in Japan are fostering efforts to develop a new family of drugs that everyone hopes will never be used, according to an article in the current edition of Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society. Ann M. Thayer, C&EN senior correspondent, explains that the federal government has launched programs to develop medical countermeasures against nuclear threats...

Nanoscale Factories That Produce Medicine Inside The Body

Date: Jun-29-2012
Scientists are reporting an advance toward treating disease with minute capsules containing not drugs - but the DNA and other biological machinery for making the drug. In an article in ACS' journal Nano Letters, they describe engineering micro- and nano-sized capsules that contain the genetically coded instructions, plus the read-out gear and assembly line for protein synthesis that can be switched on with an external signal...

Community Factors And Racial Make-Up Impact Obesity Risk

Date: Jun-29-2012
The racial and ethnic composition of a community is associated with the obesity risk of individuals living within the community, according to a study led by researchers at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The findings, published in the American Journal of Public Health, may help explain disparities in obesity rates among racial groups and point to some of the environmental factors that may contribute to obesity in the United States...

Hearing Loss Identified By New Screening Test

Date: Jun-29-2012
The University of Southampton has developed a new hearing screening test which could help the estimated 100 million people suffering from hearing loss in China. This new Chinese version is based on a hearing screening test developed by the University's Institute of Sound and Vibration Research (ISVR), which has already been taken by more than a million people across Europe. The tests aim to address the fact that hundreds of millions of people worldwide have hearing loss but only a fraction obtain hearing aids that would help them to overcome hearing difficulties...

Detecting The Early Signs Of Autism In Infant Brains

Date: Jun-29-2012
A new study shows significant differences in brain development in high-risk infants who develop autism starting as early as age 6 months. The findings published in the American Journal of Psychiatry reveal that this abnormal brain development may be detected before the appearance of autism symptoms in an infant's first year of life. Autism is typically diagnosed around the age of 2 or 3...

New Data Reveals Public Ignorance About The Impact Of Lung Disease

Date: Jun-29-2012
New data released by the Forum of International Respiratory Societies (FIRS) to coincide with World Spirometry Day today has revealed a lack of understanding and concern among the public about the world's biggest killer[1] - lung disease, which now claims the lives of almost 4 million people a year[2]. Despite the high incidence of lung disease, research conducted by YouGov across four continents revealed that people are more worried about cancer, heart disease and stroke[3]...

Arsenic Overload Can Be Prevented By Your Diet

Date: Jun-28-2012
Millions of people worldwide are exposed to arsenic from contaminated water, and we are all exposed to arsenic via the food we eat. New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal Nutrition Journal has demonstrated that people who ate more dietary vitamin B12 and animal protein had lower levels of arsenic (measured by deposition in toenails). Total dietary fat, animal fat, vegetable fat and saturated fat were also all associated with lower levels of arsenic, while omega 3 fatty acids, such as those found in fish oil, were associated with increased arsenic...

Obamacare Seems To Be Reducing Federal Govt Health Costs

Date: Jun-28-2012
It appears that federal costs for reimbursing private health insurers are beginning to drop, after Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare, has begun to come into effect. The Medicare Rights Center released a report today that provides an analysis of Medicare benefits through the Medicare Advantage (MA) program in New York. Before the ACA went into place, its detractors said that insurers would exit the market and prices would rise for everyone. This doesn't appear to be the case...

Obamacare Upheld By Supreme Court Ruling

Date: Jun-28-2012
President Barack Obama's healthcare law has been upheld by the US Supreme Court today in a 5-4 ruling. Commentators and media experts around the world say this is a triumph in an election year for the Democrats and a serious setback for the Republicans. Obama's healthcare law has been described as the most sweeping change in America's healthcare system in over fifty years...

FDA Approves Bloodstream Bacteria Test

Date: Jun-28-2012
A new test for 12 different types of bacteria that cause bloodstream infections has been approved by the FDA. The test is much faster than current laboratory techniques, and can pickup on signs of bacterial growth within hours of the infection starting. Current tests require waiting as long as four days, which obviously exposes the patient to a longer wait time and risk, whilst giving the disease more time to establish itself...