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Adolescents should participate in decisions about end-of-life care

Conversations between adolescents suffering from chronic illnesses and their families about end-of-life wishes well before a serious event occurs won't discourage hope for recovery or cause additional emotional or mental harm to young patients, according to new research from Children's National Medical Center and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital published in the journal Pediatrics.

9 Feb 2009

Oncostatin M may be a promising drug for treating viral hepatitis and liver cancer

This research, coordinated by the doctors Jesús Prieto, Esther Larrea, Pablo Sarobe, Iranzu González and Rafael Aldabe, has been published in the Journal of Virology ; a journal of the American Society of Microbiology.

9 Feb 2009

Multivitamin use not linked to women's risk of cancer, heart disease or death

Postmenopausal women who take multivitamins appear to have the same risk of most common cancers, cardiovascular disease or dying of any cause as women who do not take multivitamin supplements, according to a report in the February 9 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.

9 Feb 2009

Minority health-care clinics separate but unequal

A study published today in the Archives of Internal Medicine may shed new light on why minority Americans have poorer health outcomes from chronic conditions such as hypertension, heart disease and diabetes.

9 Feb 2009

Marijuana use may increase risk of testicular cancer

Frequent and/or long-term marijuana use may significantly increase a man's risk of developing the most aggressive type of testicular cancer, according to a study by researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

9 Feb 2009

Long-term use of inhaled corticosteroid drugs increases risk of pneumonia for COPD patients

Newly published research out of Wake Forest University School of Medicine finds that a popular class of anti-inflammatory inhalers significantly increases the risk of pneumonia in patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).

9 Feb 2009

Alarming increase in prevalence of chronic low-back pain

The proportion of people suffering from long term, impairing low back pain has more than doubled in North Carolina since the early 1990s, according to a new study.

9 Feb 2009

Body's defenses may worsen chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder

Although the immune system is designed to protect the body from harm, it may actually worsen one of the most difficult-to-treat respiratory diseases: chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD), according to new University of Cincinnati (UC) research.

9 Feb 2009

Sheer scale of bushfire devastation revealed as death toll rises

As Australians come to terms with the sheer scale of the destruction from the fires in Victoria, on an almost hourly basis the grisly search for survivors uncovers more victims.

9 Feb 2009

Vitamin B and folic acid - a new and safe treatment for migraine

A new Australian study has revealed that the occurrence and intensity of migraine may be lessened by taking vitamin B and folic acid.

9 Feb 2009

Study reveals long-lasting airway blockages, even in medicated asthma patients

Scientists now are able to get a much clearer picture of what happens inside the lungs of asthma patients, thanks to an innovative MRI technique being used at the University of Virginia Health System to visualize the flow of air within the lung.

8 Feb 2009

Kidney damage causes high blood pressure

Doctors have long believed that high blood pressure directly caused kidney damage.

8 Feb 2009

New guideline for prescribing opioid pain drugs published

A national panel of pain management experts representing the American Pain Society (APS) and the American Academy of Pain Medicine (AAPM) has published the first comprehensive, evidence-based clinical practice guideline to assist clinicians in prescribing potent opioid pain medications for patients with chronic non-cancer pain.

8 Feb 2009

Cognitive training can alter the biochemistry of the brain

Researchers at the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet have shown for the first time that the active training of the working memory brings about visible changes in the number of dopamine receptors in the human brain.

8 Feb 2009

Salt and the City is a killer and we're awash with it!

A new Australian survey on fast foods has revealed that some manufacturers are delivering an astonishing amount of salt in some of their products.

8 Feb 2009

Researchers uncover serotonin transporter gene SLC6A4's role in severity of drinking

New research from the University of Virginia Health System could help explain why some alcoholics are more severe drinkers than others.

5 Feb 2009

Research looks at smokeless tobacco products

Each year, two thirds of smokers in the US say they want to quit smoking but less than 3% of those who try to quit are successful.

5 Feb 2009

Research to provide information of long-term effects of childhood cancer treatment to parents

Researchers from the neuropsychology department and pediatric hematology/oncology department at Rhode Island Hospital and its Hasbro Children's Hospital have published the results of their findings on parents' needs for information about the neurocognitive late effects (NCLE) of treatment for childhood cancer.

5 Feb 2009

Super-fine oil-and-water emulsion protects against superbugs that kill cystic fibrosis patients

University of Michigan scientists report highly encouraging evidence that a super-fine oil-and-water emulsion, already shown to kill many other microbes, may be able to quell the ravaging, often drug-resistant infections that cause nearly all cystic fibrosis deaths.

5 Feb 2009

Safinamide significantly improved motor function in patients with advanced Parkinson's disease

Merck Serono, a division of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, and its partner Newron Pharmaceuticals SpA has announced that the first Phase III trial of investigational agent safinamide as adjunctive therapy to levodopa (study 016) met its primary endpoint by increasing daily "ON" time in mid- to late-stage Parkinson's disease patients with motor fluctuations by 1.3 hours.

5 Feb 2009