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Leading expert expresses concern about lack of research about home drinking

A leading expert on alcohol abuse has expressed concern about the lack of research about home drinking. Dr John Foster from the University of Greenwich is the first UK researcher to review all the research available about the drinking of alcohol by adults at home.

16 Mar 2012

Viewpoints: Health costs crushing Detroit; Military care still faces funding issues; Romneycare scores

Legacy costs are bankrupting Detroit just as they crushed its automakers. Firefighters can retire at 55 and earn 70% of their highest salary plus a 2.25% annual cost-of-living inflator in perpetuity. The result? Employee benefits alone now make up about half of the city's general fund. Health costs have grown by more than 60% since 2008 while the city's pension bill has quadrupled to $200 million.

16 Mar 2012

Neuropeptide F in the fly's brain governs behavior linked with addiction

Sexually deprived male fruit flies exhibit a pattern of behavior that seems ripped from the pages of a sad-sack Raymond Carver story: when female fruit flies reject their sexual advances, the males are driven to excessive alcohol consumption, drinking far more than comparable, sexually satisfied male flies.

16 Mar 2012

Food borne ailments from imported products on the rise: CDC report

Food-borne illnesses caused by fish, spices, produce and other edibles imported from other countries seems to be on the rise – but the countries of origin may be varied, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC defines a food borne disease outbreak as two or more similar illnesses resulting from the same type of food.

15 Mar 2012

Sleep less, eat more – Recipe for weight gain

Scientists at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., studied a group of 17 healthy volunteers between the ages 18 and 40 for a week in their homes, monitoring how much each of the typically slept and ate.

15 Mar 2012

Imported food leading to more foodborne disease outbreaks

Foodborne disease outbreaks caused by imported food appeared to rise in 2009 and 2010, and nearly half of the outbreaks implicated foods imported from areas which previously had not been associated with outbreaks, according to research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, presented today at the International Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases in Atlanta.

15 Mar 2012

Targeted drugs should be aimed at mutations that develop early in blood cancer

The diagnosis of myelodysplastic syndrome, a blood cancer, often causes confusion. While some patients can be treated with repeated blood transfusions, others require chemotherapy, leaving some uncertainty about whether the syndromes actually are cancer.

15 Mar 2012

CUMC scientists develop a way to recreate personalized immune mouse

Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) scientists have developed a way to recreate an individual's immune system in a mouse. The "personalized immune mouse" offers researchers an unprecedented tool for individualized analysis of abnormalities that contribute to type 1 diabetes and other autoimmune diseases, starting at the onset of disease.

15 Mar 2012

House IPAB repeal linked to tort reform legislation

Joining the two measures is causing some Democrats who back the repeal of the health law's Independent Payment Advisory Board to change their positions.

15 Mar 2012

Anti-inflammatory drugs may offer novel treatment for CHD

A large international study indicates that anti-inflammatory drugs may become a new tool for preventing and treating coronary heart disease (CHD), the leading global cause of death.

15 Mar 2012

Many women experience memory problems during menopause, confirms study

The difficulties that many women describe as memory problems when menopause approaches are real, according to a study published today in the journal Menopause, the journal of the North American Menopause Society.

15 Mar 2012

One in four HIV patients have been sexually abused as a child

One in four HIV patients was found to have been sexually abused as a child, according to a two-year Duke University study of more than 600 HIV patients. Traumatic childhood experiences were also linked to worse health outcomes among these patients, who are aged 20 to 71.

15 Mar 2012

Dietary cadmium may lead to increased risk of breast cancer

Dietary cadmium, a toxic metal widely dispersed in the environment and found in many farm fertilizers, may lead to an increased risk of breast cancer, according to a study published in Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

15 Mar 2012

Ob-gyns play a major role in reducing effects of toxic chemicals on women and babies

Ob-gyns are uniquely positioned to play a major role in reducing the effects of toxic chemicals on women and babies, according to an analysis led by University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) researchers.

15 Mar 2012

IPAB opponents eye curbs on medical malpractice lawsuits as means to pay for repeal

This idea has drawn support for some GOP lawmakers seeking to get rid of the Independent Payment Advisory Board, but trial lawyers are already lining up against it. Meanwhile, a new Congressional Budget Office estimate indicates that because Medicare spending is slowing, the board may never actually have to spring into action.

14 Mar 2012

Cooler hands may improve results of work out: Study

Researcher Stacy Sims, a research scientist and exercise physiologist at Stanford University School of Medicine presented her findings Tuesday at the American Heart Association's Epidemiology and Prevention/Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism scientific sessions in San Diego. “If you think about adipose [fat] tissue, it's a great insulator,” Sims said. For people who are obese, that means they often get too hot while exercising. “It would be like Lance Armstrong wearing a wet suit for the entire Tour de France,” she said. “We're trying to address those barriers.”

14 Mar 2012

Both low-carb and low-fat diets help improve blood vessel function in overweight people

Overweight people who shed pounds, especially belly fat, can improve the function of their blood vessels no matter whether they are on a low-carb or a low-fat diet, according to a study being presented by Johns Hopkins researchers at an American Heart Association scientific meeting in San Diego on March 13 that is focused on cardiovascular disease prevention.

14 Mar 2012

Scientists track genetic pathway of prostate cancer in new approach to drug discovery

Tracking the genetic pathway of a disease offers a powerful, new approach to drug discovery, according to scientists at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine who used the approach to uncover a potential treatment for prostate cancer, using a drug currently marketed for congestive heart failure. Their findings are published in the current online issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

14 Mar 2012

Researchers crack problem of predicting gene targets for PcG proteins

Cancer is usually attributed to faulty genes, but growing evidence from the field of cancer epigenetics indicates a key role for the gene "silencing" proteins that stably turn genes off inside the cell nucleus. A new study from Rice University and Baylor College of Medicine promises to speed research in the field by rapidly identifying the genes that epigenetic proteins can target for silencing.

14 Mar 2012

Wireless asthma inhaler training device could help save thousands of A&E visits and lives

Many asthma patients are not trained adequately to inhale from asthma inhaler devices. This is a problem that can be both serious and expensive considering some 5,000 people visit the emergency room due to and 11 people die from asthma every day, according to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America.

13 Mar 2012