Health News

New Federal Disclosure Law Aims To Increase Transparency Between Physicians, Drug Makers

Date: May-31-2012
A Colorado School of Public Health researcher has found that laws designed to illuminate financial links between doctors and pharmaceutical companies have little or no effect on what drugs physicians prescribe. "If the policymakers who passed these measures were hoping for a deterrent effect they may be disappointed," said the study's lead author, Genevieve Pham-Kanter, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Department of Health Systems, Management and Policy at the Colorado School of Public Health and a research fellow at Harvard University and Massachusetts General Hospital...

Why Swine Flu Virus Develops Drug Resistance

Date: May-31-2012
Computer chips of a type more commonly found in games consoles have been used by scientists at the University of Bristol to reveal how the flu virus resists anti-flu drugs such as Relenza and Tamiflu. Professor Adrian Mulholland and Dr Christopher Woods from Bristol's School of Chemistry, together with colleagues in Thailand, used graphics processing units (GPUs) to simulate the molecular processes that take place when these drugs are used to treat the H1N1-2009 strain of influenza - commonly known as 'swine flu'...

Study Of Child Abandonment In Europe

Date: May-31-2012
Researchers have called for a consistent and supportive approach to child abandonment in Europe to protect the welfare of the hundreds of youngsters given up by their parents every year. Academics from the Centre for Forensic and Family Psychology at The University of Nottingham conducted a two-year project exploring child abandonment and its prevention across the 27 countries of the European Union...

Family Relationships, Mealtimes And Communication

Date: May-31-2012
The family meal is often touted and encouraged for its social and health benefits, but a new Cornell University study questions the nature of this association, finding that the perceived benefits may not be as strong or as lasting once a number of factors are controlled for. "We find that most of the association between family meals and teen well-being is due to other aspects of the family environment...

Vitamin D Supplementation May Prevent Age-Related Disability

Date: May-31-2012
Older adults who don't get enough vitamin D - either from diet, supplements or sun exposure - may be at increased risk of developing mobility limitations and disability, according to new research from Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. "This is one of the first studies to look at the association of vitamin D and the onset of new mobility limitations or disability in older adults," said lead author Denise Houston, Ph.D., R.D., a nutrition epidemiologist in the Wake Forest Baptist Department of Geriatrics and Gerontology. Houston researches vitamin D and its effects on physical function...

Confirming Link Between The Mediterranean Diet And Quality Of Life

Date: May-31-2012
For years the Mediterranean diet has been associated with a lesser chance of illness and increased well-being. A new study has now linked it to mental and physical health too. The Mediterranean diet, which is characterised by the consumption of fruit, vegetables, pulses, fish, olive oil and nuts, has been proven to be beneficial to the health in terms of a lesser chance of chronic illness and a lower mortality rate...

Scientists Build A Synthetic Peptide That Overcomes Cancer Cells' Survival Defenses

Date: May-31-2012
Scientists at the Dana-Farber/Children's Hospital Cancer Center have developed an anti-cancer peptide that overcomes the stubborn resistance to chemotherapy and radiation often encountered in certain blood cancers when the disease recurs following initial treatment. The strategy could pave the way for much needed new therapies to treat relapsed and refractory blood cancers, which are difficult to cure because their cells deploy strong protein "deflector shields" to neutralize the cell death signals that chemotherapy agents used against them initially, say the researchers...

Certain Features Of Autism May Be Improved By Antioxidant

Date: May-31-2012
A specific antioxidant supplement may be an effective therapy for some features of autism, according to a pilot trial from the Stanford University School of Medicine and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital that involved 31 children with the disorder. The antioxidant, called N-Acetylcysteine, or NAC, lowered irritability in children with autism as well as reducing the children's repetitive behaviors. The researchers emphasized that the findings must be confirmed in a larger trial before NAC can be recommended for children with autism...

New Imaging Device Identifies Bacteria Behind The Eardrum

Date: May-31-2012
Doctors can now get a peek behind the eardrum to better diagnose and treat chronic ear infections, thanks to a new medical imaging device invented by University of Illinois researchers. The device could usher in a new suite of non-invasive, 3-D diagnostic imaging tools for primary-care physicians. The research team, led by University of Illinois electrical and computer engineering professor Stephen Boppart, published their advance in the online Early Edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences the week of May 28...

How The World's First Drug For Amyloid Disease Works

Date: May-31-2012
Scientists from The Scripps Research Institute and Pfizer Inc. have published a new study showing how a new drug called tafamidis (Vyndaqel®) works. Tafamidis, approved for use in Europe and currently under review by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), is the first medication approved by a major regulatory agency to treat an amyloid disease, a class of conditions that include Alzheimer's. Tafamidis treats a deadly nerve disease caused by transthyretin (TTR) amyloid fibril formation, or the accumulation of abnormal assemblies of the TTR protein...