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ObesityWeek: Effective approaches to prevent and treat pediatric obesity

Childhood obesity has more than tripled since the early 1970s and has become one of the most pressing public health concerns of our time.

20 Oct 2017

Podcast: ‘What the health?’ whiplash

The bipartisan leaders of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee this week agreed on a bill they say could help stabilize the struggling health insurance exchanges.

19 Oct 2017

Small RNA molecules trigger cancer cells to commit suicide

Small RNA molecules originally developed as a tool to study gene function trigger a mechanism hidden in every cell that forces the cell to commit suicide, reports a new Northwestern Medicine study, the first to identify molecules to trigger a fail-safe mechanism that may protect us from cancer.

19 Oct 2017

Yale study finds reduced brain glucose levels in people with obesity, type 2 diabetes

Glucose levels are reduced in the brains of individuals with obesity and type 2 diabetes compared to lean individuals, according to a new Yale study. The finding might explain disordered eating behavior -- and even a higher risk of Alzheimer's disease -- among obese and diabetic individuals, the researchers said.

19 Oct 2017

Medicare vs. Medicare Advantage: How to choose

As health insurers struggle with shifting government policies and considerable uncertainty, one market remains remarkably stable: Medicare Advantage plans.

19 Oct 2017

BMS survey reveals negative effects of menopause on most aspects of women’s lives

Three quarters of women say that the menopause caused them to change their life and over half say it had a negative impact on their lives. Those are the headlines from a recent survey conducted by the British Menopause Society, released today to mark World Menopause Day.

19 Oct 2017

New systematic review finds substantial regional differences in global calcium intake

Daily calcium intake among adults appears to vary quite widely around the world in distinct regional patterns, according to a new systematic review of research data ahead of World Osteoporosis Day on Friday, Oct. 20.

18 Oct 2017

Psychedelics linked to decreased likelihood of criminal behavior

Classic psychedelics such as psilocybin (often called magic mushrooms), LSD and mescaline (found in peyote) are associated with a decreased likelihood of antisocial criminal behavior, according to new research from investigators at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

17 Oct 2017

Study opens door to new approach for curing HIV infections

In findings that open the door to a completely different approach to curing HIV infections, scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute have for the first time shown that a novel compound effectively suppresses production of the virus in chronically infected cells, and prevents viral rebound, even when those infected cells are subjected to vigorous stimulation.

17 Oct 2017

Want an IUD? Take note of Trump’s new birth control policy.

The Trump administration's recently announced changes to health insurance rules have raised concerns among people wondering how they'll be affected. This week, I address some of the questions likely on people's minds.

17 Oct 2017

A few pointers to help save money and avoid the strain of Medicare enrollment

Older or disabled Americans with Medicare coverage have probably noticed an uptick in mail solicitations from health insurance companies, which can mean only one thing: It’s time for the annual Medicare open enrollment.

17 Oct 2017

USC study reveals how schizophrenia has biological effect on the entire brain

Some 40 years since CT scans first revealed abnormalities in the brains of schizophrenia patients, international scientists say the disorder is a systemic disruption to the brain's entire communication system.

17 Oct 2017

Most ovarian cancers start in the fallopian tubes, study finds

Most - and possibly all - ovarian cancers start, not in ovaries, but instead in the fallopian tubes attached to them.

17 Oct 2017

Cascade of costs could push new gene therapy above $1 million per patient

Outrage over the high cost of cancer care has focused on skyrocketing drug prices, including the $475,000 price tag for the country's first gene therapy, Novartis' Kymriah, a leukemia treatment approved in August.

17 Oct 2017

Scientists discover new non-genetic cause of resistance to anti-cancer therapies

The targeted anti-cancer therapies cetuximab and panitumumab are mainstays of treatment for advanced colorectal cancer, the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States.

16 Oct 2017

Portable scanner can measure limb disfigurement easily in patients with elephantiasis

An estimated 120 million people worldwide are infected with lymphatic filariasis, a parasitic, mosquito-borne disease that can cause major swelling and deformity of the legs, a condition known as elephantiasis.

16 Oct 2017

The storm has passed, but Puerto Rico’s health faces prolonged recovery

As President Donald Trump signals impatience to wind down emergency aid to Puerto Rico, the challenges wrought by Hurricane Maria to the health of Puerto Ricans and the island's fragile health system are in many ways just beginning.

16 Oct 2017

New study maps human genome to healthy tissue functions and disease processes

Our genomes help to determine who we are - the countless variations between individuals that encode the complexity of tissues and functions throughout the body.

13 Oct 2017

AASM’s new position statement describes clinical use of home sleep apnea test

A new position statement published by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) describes the appropriate clinical use of a home sleep apnea test (HSAT).

13 Oct 2017

While Trump moves to dismantle health law, public favors repair

President Donald Trump has collided with a wave of public disagreement by moving to strip the Affordable Care Act of provisions intended to keep insurance prices stable.

13 Oct 2017