Health News

Tripling tobacco taxes 'would avoid 200 million deaths by 2025'

Date: Jan-02-2014
According to the World Health Organization, tobacco use is a cause of death for more than 5.4 million people worldwide every year. But a new review published in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that by tripling the taxes on tobacco globally, 200 million tobacco deaths could be avoided by 2025.Authors of the review, including Dr. Prabhat Jha, director of the Center for Global Health Research of St.

High blood pressure in women 'more dangerous' than in men

Date: Jan-02-2014
High blood pressure is known as the "silent killer," as it often has no symptoms. And now, new research suggests that women with high blood pressure are at higher risk than their male counterparts of vascular disease, prompting researchers to recommend different treatments in women.The study, published in the journal Therapeutic Advances in Cardiovascular Disease, was conducted by scientists at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in North Carolina.

Most clinical studies on vitamins flawed by poor methodology

Date: Jan-02-2014
Most large, clinical trials of vitamin supplements, including some that have concluded they are of no value or even harmful, have a flawed methodology that renders them largely useless in determining the real value of these micronutrients, a new analysis suggests.Many projects have tried to study nutrients that are naturally available in the human diet the same way they would a powerful prescription drug.

AVMA podcast: Protect your pets during cold weather

Date: Jan-02-2014
The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) reminds pet owners in a new podcast that winter weather brings a host of potential hazards for pets, but with some preparation pets can be healthy and comfortable until the spring thaw."Most pet owners seem to worry about their pets overheating in the summer, but tend to overlook the dangers of cold weather. Their fur coats don't always provide the necessary protection from the cold, particularly for small animals when the weather becomes extremely cold," explains Dr. Douglas G. Aspros, immediate past president of the AVMA.

Imaging technology could unlock mysteries of a childhood disease: respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)

Date: Jan-02-2014
By the time they're two, most children have had respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and suffered symptoms no worse than a bad cold. But for some children, especially premature babies and those with underlying health conditions, RSV can lead to pneumonia and bronchitis - which can require hospitalization and have long-term consequences.

Regular eye exams key to preventing vision loss from glaucoma

Date: Jan-02-2014
Glaucoma is a group of eye diseases that can damage the optic nerve. This nerve carries images from the retina - specialized light-sensing tissue - to the brain, which allows you to see. If left untreated, glaucoma can result in loss of vision and even blindness. Early detection and treatment can help protect your eyes against vision loss from glaucoma.Some risk factors for glaucoma include increasing age, African ancestry, a family history of the disease, past injuries to the eye and steroid use.Most cases of glaucoma do not produce easily noticeable symptoms at first.

Molecular evolution of genetic sex-determination switch in honeybees

Date: Jan-02-2014
It's taken nearly 200 years, but scientists in Arizona and Europe have teased out how the molecular switch for sex gradually and adaptively evolved in the honeybee.The first genetic mechanism for sex determination was proposed in the mid-1800s by a Silesian monk named Johann Dzierson, according to the study's co-author and Arizona State University Provost Robert E. Page Jr. Dzierson was trying to understand how males and females were produced in honey bee colonies.

Medicaid beneficiaries use emergency services due to lack of alternatives

Date: Jan-02-2014
A study from the University of Colorado School of Medicine shows patients with Medicaid insurance seeking care in an emergency department may be driven by lack of alternatives instead of the severity of their illness. The study is published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine (JGIM).Researchers, led by Roberta Capp, MD, used the 2011 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) to study 4,606 patients and their reasons for seeking emergency care.

Major reductions in seafloor marine life from climate change by 2100

Date: Jan-02-2014
A new study quantifies for the first time future losses in deep-sea marine life, using advanced climate models. Results show that even the most remote deep-sea ecosystems are not safe from the impacts of climate change.An international team of scientists predict seafloor dwelling marine life will decline by up to 38 per cent in the North Atlantic and over five per cent globally over the next century. These changes will be driven by a reduction in the plants and animals that live at the surface of the oceans that feed deep-sea communities.

New vaccine protects against staph-induced pneumonia

Date: Jan-02-2014
New research published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases describes how a team in the US has developed a new vaccine that protects against lethal staph-induced pneumonia.Staphylococcus aureus (staph) bacteria causes serious infections in both hospital and community settings, write the researchers.Led by Patrick Schlievert, a professor at the University of Iowa (UI), the researchers describe a new vaccine that targets three toxins made and secreted by the staph bacteria.