Health News

Is A Non-Hormonal Male Contraceptive Feasible? Probably

Date: May-24-2012
Researchers in the UK have identified a vital gene essential for sperm development that could pave the way for a new type of male contraceptive. The study is published in the journalPLoS Genetics. At present, male contraceptives disrupt the production of hormones, such as testosterone, and can cause adverse effects including acne, irritability and mood swings. Now, researchers at the University of Edinburgh have found that a gene named Katnal1, is vital to allow sperm to mature in the testes. According to the researchers if Katnal1 can be regulated to prevent sperm from maturing in the testes,...

Is Alteplase Safe For Stroke Patients Over 80? Researchers Say Yes

Date: May-24-2012
Each year in the UK around 30,000 individuals aged 80+ suffer a stroke. However, alteplase - an injectable drug that helps breakdown blood clots - is not licensed to treat stroke in individuals aged 80 years and over. Although the drug can be used in several conditions including ischemic stroke, heart attacks and pulmonary embolism, the time window in which the drug can be administered safely and effectively after a stroke is still debated. Two studies published in The Lancet reveal the benefits of alteplase in stroke patients age 80+ and also confirm the benefits of rapid treatment. The first...

C-Section Doubles Childhood Obesity Risk

Date: May-24-2012
The natural birth movement has been gaining speed and popularity in recent years. In Holland, some 50% of births are done at home, while in the UK, even the NHS has started to see the benefits and cost savings of natural birth. It has invested heavily with clinics like the Barkentine Centre, near to Canary Wharf in East London. Mothers, their spouses, and newborns get five star treatment at no charge, but only if they are not too posh to push. Those that fail are rushed to the less than glamorous Royal London Hospital in an ambulance. The NHS also offers home births where a mid wife comes to...

Recovery From Multiple Sclerosis By Growth Factor In Stem Cells

Date: May-24-2012
The online edition of Nature Neuroscience reports that researchers from the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have discovered that a substance within growth promoting human mesenchymal stem cells seems to spur restoration of nerves and their function in mice models with multiple sclerosis (MS). Animals that were injected with hepatocyte growth factor were noted to have grown new neural cells and lower levels of inflammation. Most significantly, the researchers noted that the protective envelope of myelin, the myelin sheath, which surrounds the core of a nerve fiber and...

Diabetic Foot Infections Can Be Reduced With Proper Treatment

Date: May-24-2012
Diabetics often suffer from foot infections, yet appropriate care can save limbs, and ultimately lives, according to the Infectious Diseases Society of America's new guidelines. The mortality rate for diabetics due to poor treatments of infected foot wounds that can subsequently lead to lower extremity amputation is worse than for the majority of cancers, given that around 50% of diabetics with foot amputations die within five years. The IDSA diabetic foot infection guidelines published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases have now revealed that about half of these lower extremity...

Lower Risk Of Psoriasis Linked WIth Physical Activity

Date: May-24-2012
A study of American women published in Archives of Dermatology shows that energetic, physical activity could be linked to a reduced risk of psoriasis, a chronic inflammatory skin disorder that redness, irritation and scaling.  According to the researchers, physical activity has already been linked to a lower risk of disorders caused by systemic inflammation, such as type 2 diabetes, breast and colon cancer and coronary artery disease. They write: "Our results suggest that participation in at least 20.9 MET (metabolic equivalent task)-hours per week of vigorous exercise, the equivalent of 105...

Calcium Supplements May Increase Heart Attack Risk

Date: May-24-2012
An analysis of data on nearly 24,000 people followed for over a decade suggests taking calcium supplements may increase the risk of having a heart attack. This is the main finding of a study published online this week in the journal Heart that also concludes boosting overall calcium intake through dietary sources brings no significant benefit in terms of reducing risk of heart disease or stroke. The researchers say calcium supplements, which are often recommended to the elderly and women after the menopause to protect against bone thinning, should be "taken with caution". Some experts are...

Are Obesity And Heart Disease And Death Risk Always Linked? No

Date: May-24-2012
Obese people are not always at greater risk of cardiovascular disease or early death, researchers from Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, reported in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. If the obese individual is metabolically healthy, their risk of all-cause and cardiovascular disease mortality is not usually that different for other people's, the authors added. Mark Hamer and team explained that previous studies had identified obese individuals who did not have the burden of adiposity-associated cardiometabolic risk factors. However, what...

WHO Fukushima Report - Good And Bad News

Date: May-24-2012
A World Health Organization (WHO) preliminary estimate report on the 2011 accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant found that human risk of cancer did not increase in most of the country, but that some infants in a nearby town who were exposed to radioactive iodine-131 may have a higher lifetime risk of developing thyroid cancer. The Fukushima plant was struck by a tsumani following a magnitude-9 earthquake on 11th March, 2011. A 14-meter tsunami wave neutralized the plant's emergency power supply, resulting in a meltdown in three of the facility's six reactors. Doses of 10...

Long Acting Birth Control Forms Much More Effective

Date: May-24-2012
Women on birth-control pills, the vaginal ring or the patch have a 20-fold higher risk of becoming unintentionally pregnant compared to those on IUDs (intrauterine devices) or implants, i.e. longer-acting forms of birth control, researchers from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis reported in NEJM (New England Journal of Medicine). Birth-control pills can be very effective, as long as there is excellent compliance, i.e. if the woman taking then remembers to do so every day. The authors found that short-term contraceptive methods, including birth-control pills, the ring or the...