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Mystery of evolutionary growth in hominid brain size

Forget the textbook story about tool use and language sparking the dramatic evolutionary growth of the human brain. Instead, imagine ancient hominid children chasing frogs. Not for fun, but for food.

19 Feb 2006

Lack of progress in reducing children's exposures to pesticides

The lack of progress in reducing children's exposures to pesticides, despite passage in 1996 of the Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA), will be highlighted during a symposium organized by The Organic Center on Sunday, February 19th at the 2006 annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

19 Feb 2006

Organic diets lower children's exposure to pesticides

Organic diets lower children's dietary exposure to two common pesticides used in U.S. agricultural production, according to a study by Emory University researcher Chensheng "Alex" Lu, PhD. The substitution of organic food items for children's normal diets substantially decreased the pesticide concentration to non-detectable levels.

19 Feb 2006

Blood clot warning to go on Ortho Evra birth control patch

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says early results of a new study show that women who use the Ortho Evra contraceptive patch are twice as likely to develop blood clots than others who took a birth control pill.

19 Feb 2006

Bathroom scale model of weight loss most effective

According to a researcher in the U.S. losing and keeping off weight requires a lifelong commitment and effort.

19 Feb 2006

Tetrabenazine cuts down involuntary movements in Huntington's disease

The medication tetrabenazine cut down involuntary movement in patients with Huntington's disease on average by about 25 percent, with many patients experiencing a greater improvement, according to a study in the February 14 issue of the journal Neurology.

17 Feb 2006

Lessons for clinical trials from natalizumab in multiple sclerosis

Concerns over the fast tracking of new drugs for commercial licensing are raised by a senior doctor in this week's British Medical Journal.

17 Feb 2006

Science is bypassing poor people

Applying science and technology to build a Pluto-bound spacecraft that travels more than 10 times faster -- 47,000 miles per hour -- than a speeding bullet is a great achievement. But can we apply technology to feed the 800 million hungry people in the world whose plight isn't improving in a modern world?

17 Feb 2006

Boys are almost twice as likely as girls to burn themselves

Boys are almost twice as likely as girls to burn themselves and children under three face particular risks, according to research published in the February issue of Journal of Clinical Nursing.

17 Feb 2006

Global warming may be reducing respiratory illnesses

Rising global temperatures over the past two decades may be responsible for a shortened season of a serious respiratory illness in the United Kingdom, according to an article in the March 1 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases.

16 Feb 2006

Advancing knowledge of diet-gene interactions

Josi Ordovas, PhD, director of the Nutrition and Genomics Laboratory at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University joined more than eighty other leading researchers in the fields of nutrition and genetics to co-author a report outlining their strategy for maximizing the impact of nutrigenomics research on global poverty and health.

16 Feb 2006

Grapefruits help reduce cholesterol

A grapefruit a day - particularly the red variety - can help keep heart disease at bay, according to a new study by Israeli researchers.

16 Feb 2006

Less is more hypothesis - gene loss may explain unique human traits

Humans and chimps share most of their genes, yet they differ dramatically in many ways - their walk, the sizes of their brains and their capacities for speech and language, for example.

16 Feb 2006

Adverse drug events believed to be among the leading causes of mortality in the United States

Less than 1 percent of outpatients who received medication in 2002 were prescribed a medication that violated a prescription drug's black box warning, according to a study in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

16 Feb 2006

Scientists investigate sugar coating that surrounds bacteria

Scientists at The University of Texas at Austin have developed a quick and simple way to investigate the sugar coating that surrounds bacteria and plays a role in infection and immunity.

16 Feb 2006

Diabetics warned against using antibiotic drug Tequin

The Food and Drug Administration in the U.S. have issued strong warnings concerning the use of the antibiotic drug Tequin.

16 Feb 2006

Grapefruit reduces risk from heart disease

Heart disease patients who eat one grapefruit daily can significantly reduce the levels of cholesterol in their blood in comparison to patients who do not eat the fruit, a new study has found. Chronic high blood cholesterol is a major risk factor for heart disease.

16 Feb 2006

The pros and cons of new anti-obesity drug

According to researchers at New York's Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, an anti-obesity drug that turns off the same brain circuits which trigger the marijuana-induced hunger pangs, appears to produce sustained weight loss among patients.

16 Feb 2006

In future says FDA "whole grain" must mean just that

The Food and Drug Administration in the U.S. has issued advice on what the term "whole grain" may include.

16 Feb 2006

Calcium and Vitamin D supplememts of limited benefit to older women

According to researchers at Stanford University Medical Center, older women who regularly take calcium and Vitamin D marginally decrease their risk of hip fractures.

16 Feb 2006