Health News

Headache And Migraine Leaders To Address Growing Issue Of Traumatic Brain Injury In Teen Athletes And U.S. Military Forces

Date: Jun-16-2012
Hundreds of headache, migraine and brain injury specialists will take a close look at traumatic brain injury (TBI) and its prevention and treatment, as well as at a range of headache/migraine-related topics, at the 54th Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Headache Society. Important new work will be presented at two major sessions - one on pediatric concussion and the second on brain injury among combat forces. Scientific papers will cover a range of clinical and basic studies on headache-related topics...

Medullary Thyroid Cancer Medication In Final Stage Of Development

Date: Jun-16-2012
Cabozantinib, a medication for the treatment of medullary thyroid cancer, has shown promising results in final-stage testing. Until now, there was no medication available in Belgium for treating this rare form of thyroid cancer. Dr. Patrick Schöffski, professor of oncology at the University of Leuven (KU Leuven), presented the results at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in early June. Medullary thyroid cancer accounts for 5 to 10 per cent of all malignant thyroid cancers...

Broken Heart, Broken Bones: Falls Among Elderly Tied To Depression

Date: Jun-16-2012
A new study has found that people suffering from depression are more likely to fall, pointing to a complex relationship between mental illness, a sense of balance, and falling in older people. Falls are a major public health issue across the world as falling is a frequent cause of accidental death in older people. A new study has found that along with visual impairments and poor balance, an equally important factor associated with a person's chance of falling is whether they suffer from depression...

Heart Rhythm Study Shows CardioFocus HeartLight EAS Provides Durable Pulmonary Vein Isolation In Treatment Of Atrial Fibrillation

Date: Jun-16-2012
Unique Remapping Study Finds 86% of PVs Remained Electrically Isolated and Notes Physician Learning Curve of Only 10 Cases CardioFocus, Inc., developer of the HeartLight® Endoscopic Ablation System (EAS) for the treatment of atrial fibrillation (AF), announces that a unique study in the journal Heart Rhythm demonstrates high acute success (98%) and durable pulmonary vein (PV) isolation rates achievable with a single, visually-guided HeartLight EAS ablation procedure...

HIV Destroyed And Its Oral Transmission Blocked By Breast Milk In Humanized Mouse

Date: Jun-16-2012
More than 15 percent of new HIV infections occur in children. Without treatment, only 65 percent of HIV-infected children will live until their first birthday, and fewer than half will make it to the age of two. Although breastfeeding is attributed to a significant number of these infections, most breastfed infants are not infected with HIV, despite prolonged and repeated exposure...

Growing, Aging Population And Increased Survival Prompt Estimate Of Nearly 18 Million Cancer Survivors In The US By 2022

Date: Jun-16-2012
The number of Americans with a history of cancer, currently estimated to be 13.7 million, will grow to almost 18 million by 2022, according to a first-ever report by the American Cancer Society in collaboration with the National Cancer Institute (NCI). The report, Cancer Treatment and Survivorship Facts and Figures, and accompanying journal article published in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, used data from the NCI-funded Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program to generate brand new estimates of cancer survivor prevalence in the U.S...

Understanding Of Inflammation And Cancer In The Pancreas Improved By Unexpected Discovery

Date: Jun-16-2012
An unexpected discovery of how the body controls cell death has revealed a potential new therapeutic target. A research team based at Cardiff University's School of Biosciences has already revealed the mechanism by which high alcohol intake can induce pancreatitis and its progression to pancreatic cancer. Now a new study, published in Current Biology, reveals a hitherto unknown interaction between two well known molecules, which has important implications for our understanding of inflammation and cancer in the pancreas as well as other organs...

PATH And Partners Issue Diarrhea/Pneumonia Declaration To Call For Action Against Leading Causes Of Child Mortality

Date: Jun-16-2012
With an unprecedented commitment that bridges the urgent need to address diarrheal disease with unique opportunities to overcome it once and for all, leaders in global health issued this Declaration on Scaling-up Treatment of Diarrhea and Pneumonia. PATH joins the US Agency for International Development, the Clinton Health Access Initiative, the Micronutrient Initiative, and others in raising a collective voice, calling for investments to scale-up the use of proven tools, particularly oral rehydration solution, zinc, and amoxicillin...

Reduced Risk Of Autism In Offspring When Folic Acid Taken During Early Pregnancy

Date: Jun-16-2012
A new study by researchers at the UC Davis MIND Institute suggests that women who consume the recommended daily dosage of folic acid, the synthetic form of folate or vitamin B-9, during the first month of pregnancy may have a reduced risk of having a child with autism. The study furthers the researchers' earlier investigations, which found that women who take prenatal vitamins around the time of conception have a reduced risk of having a child with autism. The current study sought to determine whether the folic acid consumed in those supplements was the source of the protective effect...

Obesity In Childhood Can Harm Social And Emotional Well-Being And Academic Performance

Date: Jun-16-2012
Obesity among children has increased dramatically over the past 40 years and has been tied to many health problems. Now a new study has found that children's weight is associated with their math performance. The longitudinal study, published in the journal Child Development, was carried out by researchers at the University of Missouri, Columbia, the University of California, Los Angeles, and the University of Vermont. "The findings illustrate the complexity of relations among children's weight status, social and emotional well-being, academics, and time...