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Breastfeeding leads to better behaviour in kids: Study

A new study shows that just four months of breastfeeding can cut the risk of children becoming badly behaved by almost a third. It found 16 per cent of children brought up on formula milk had problems including anxiety, lying, stealing and hyperactivity – more than double the proportion breastfed for at least four months.

10 May 2011

Genetic mutation linked to Kufs disease

According to a new study, a genetic mutation thought to be responsible for the rare hereditary brain disorder Kufs disease is finally identified. The research was carried out by Dr Melanie Bahlo and her team at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute's bioinformatics department in Parkville, Australia, in partnership with neurologist and epilepsy specialists Professor Sam Berkovic and Dr Todor Arsov from the University of Melbourne, Australia.

10 May 2011

Painkiller warning for heart patients: Study

According to the latest study, taking some commonly prescribed painkillers for even a short while might increase the risk of dying from a heart attack or stroke. The study also reports that when heart attack survivors took the drugs for as little as a week, it appeared to boost their risk of another heart attack, stroke or sudden death. The results, published in Circulation, a journal of the American Heart Association, surprised even the researchers.

10 May 2011

Research finds 'no safe window' for painkiller use among heart attack survivors

Even short-term use of some painkillers could be dangerous for people who've had a heart attack, according to research published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

10 May 2011

New research shows iPhone app can accurately detect stroke

New research from the University of Calgary's Faculty of Medicine shows that doctors can make a stroke diagnosis using an iPhone application with the same accuracy as a diagnosis at a medical computer workstation.

10 May 2011

Ecstasy use falls while synthetic versions grow in popularity

Where on one hand the use of ecstasy is falling in Australia, experts are warning that the use of dangerous designer synthetic drugs, which can be made legally, may begin to rise. Ecstasy, one of the most popular “recreational” drugs in Australia over the past two decades is becoming less popular with regular users, consistent with global trends, say the authors of a new report from the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre at the University of NSW.

10 May 2011

Opinions: Democracy needed in epidemic outbreaks; U.S. food aid; development partnerships in Africa

After mentioning the riots that broke out in Haiti after the start of the cholera epidemic last year, Richard Evans, a professor of history and president of Wolfson College at the University of Cambridge, writes in a Guardian opinion piece that "popular disturbances during epidemics are nothing new." He goes on to provide several other examples.

10 May 2011

Teen alcohol consumption associated with computer use

Teenagers who drink alcohol spend more time on their computers for recreational use, including social networking and downloading and listening to music, compared with their peers who don't drink.

9 May 2011

Scientists reveal nerve cells' navigation system

Johns Hopkins scientists have discovered how two closely related proteins guide projections from nerve cells with exquisite accuracy, alternately attracting and repelling these axons as they navigate the most miniscule and frenetic niches of the nervous system to make remarkably precise connections.

9 May 2011

Uganda: First vaccination for GMZ2 malaria vaccine trial

Today, the EDCTP-funded GMZ2 consortium starts volunteer enrolment for the phase IIb clinical trial of the candidate malaria vaccine GMZ2 in Uganda. This is the third trial site to initiate volunteer recruitment for this multi-country study. Vaccination is already underway at trial sites in Gabon (November 2010) and Burkina Faso (April 2011). The Uganda site is in the peri-urban area of Iganga/Mayuge, at the Iganga Hospital. Akin to most areas in Uganda, malaria is one of the major health problems in this district. A team from Makerere University (Kampala) is conducting the trial.

9 May 2011

World's first urine-based tuberculosis diagnostics tool

Biomagnetics Diagnostics Corp., a developer of revolutionary diagnostics systems and technology for HIV, hepatitis, tuberculosis, cholera and malaria detection, and other innovative technologies, in a new video today unveiled the world's first urine-based tuberculosis diagnostics tool.

9 May 2011

Viewpoints: Dems' Medicare strategy; Health disparities; Chicago hospital dispute

Democrats may be feeling smug about their campaign against the House Republican budget plan, and as a matter of politics, they're no doubt right. If the goal is to deal with the long-term fiscal challenge, though, the Democrats' political success is apt only to prolong the gridlock and make the eventual solution that much more painful. ...

9 May 2011

RWJF offers health law implementation assistance to states

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation will offer states assistance in implementing elements of the health law that involve expanding access to the uninsured.

9 May 2011

Three Ontario projects set to further knowledge and discovery in biomonitoring, drug development

As part of the Genome Canada Large-Scale Applied Research Project Competition, which as a whole awarded over $58 million to 16 projects across the country, the researchers in Ontario will be focusing on biomonitoring, understanding gene function with the aim of identifying genes or proteins for drug targets, and the creation of synthetic antibodies to target cancers and other diseases.

9 May 2011

Novavax first quarter net loss decreases to $7.5 million

Novavax, Inc. today announced its financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2011.

9 May 2011

Minn. House approves abortion restrictions

After long, wrenching, debates with sometimes-graphic testimony about fetuses, the House approved bills Friday that would ban all abortions in Minnesota after 20 weeks of gestation and prohibit public money from paying for the procedure. The 20-week ban was approved, largely along party lines in the Republican-led chamber, 82-46.

9 May 2011

Will the GOP now set its sights on Medicaid?

With major changes to Medicare likely on hold for the time being, advocates say the GOP has Medicaid "in its sights" as a more realistic place to make health care cuts.

9 May 2011

State roundup: Concerns about state employee retirement boom

Plummeting stock portfolios and home values prompted many Baby Boomers to keep working long after retirement age. ... "What was once a planned exit is no longer a planned exit," says Daniel Hackler, Indiana's state personnel director.

9 May 2011

Military health costs continue to climb

A military built for fighting wars is looking more and more like a health care entitlement program. Costs of the program that provides health coverage to some 10 million active duty personnel, retirees, reservists and their families have jumped from $19 billion in 2001 to $53 billion in the Pentagon's latest budget request.

9 May 2011

Massachusetts patients face long wait times for doctor appointments

A survey conducted by the Massachusetts Medical Society found patients can wait as a long as a month and a half for non-urgent physicians' appointments.

9 May 2011