Chronic News and Research

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Pollution can contribute to the development of cardiovascular diseases

Journal of the American Heart Association reports that exposure to air pollution can contribute to the development of cardiovascular diseases.

2 Jun 2004

Pipe smoking as dangerous as cigar smoking

An American Cancer Society study finds pipe smoking confers a similar risk of cancer and other disease as cigar smoking. The study, the largest and most precise to date of the risks of pipe smoking, appears in the June 2 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

2 Jun 2004

Chronic diseases are the largest cause of death in the world

The rising global burden of chronic diseases needs a coordinated effort from policy makers, advocates and health professionals, according to a special communication in the June 2 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), a theme issue on Global Health.

1 Jun 2004

Thirty-five countries now face serious food shortages

Thirty-five countries now face serious food shortages, including two dozen in Africa, according to a report released by the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO).

1 Jun 2004

Microbes in your gut could be cause of allergies

Allergies making your life miserable? Tired of popping antihistamines like candy? Can't go anywhere without your inhaler? The real problem may not be your stuffed-up head. It could be the microbes in your gut.

1 Jun 2004

36 percent of Americans are using complementary and alternative medicines

A new, comprehensive government survey, released by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), reveals that 36 percent of Americans are incorporating complementary and alternative medicines (CAM) into their health care regimen.

1 Jun 2004

Where you live may increase risk factors for asthma

Along with the usual risk factors for asthma such as smoking and poverty, researchers have added another factor that may contribute: a neighborhood where people live in fear.

1 Jun 2004

Treatment helps 26% of black Americans with chronic hepatitis C

Twenty-six percent (26%) of black Americans (BA) with chronic hepatitis C who received treatment with Pegasys plus Copegus (peginterferon alfa-2a plus ribavirin) achieved a sustained virological response (SVR), according to study results published in the June 2004 issue of Hepatology.

1 Jun 2004

Louise Redknapp and Ronan Keating on cancer and how it affected them

Singer Louise Redknapp talks exclusively to the NHS about her fears that a fertility-threatening disease could threaten her plans for a family in a consumer-style magazine published today. Louise was diagnosed with endometriosis, a disease in which small pieces of the womb lining grow outside the womb, causing chronic pain and, in many cases, depression and fertility problems.

1 Jun 2004

Smoking a lot more harmful than previously thought

The U.S. Surgeon General has released a new comprehensive report on smoking and health, revealing for the first time that smoking causes diseases in nearly every organ of the body. Published 40 years after the surgeon general's first report on smoking -- which concluded that smoking was a definite cause of three serious diseases -- this newest report finds that cigarette smoking is conclusively linked to diseases such as leukemia, cataracts, pneumonia and cancers of the cervix, kidney, pancreas and stomach.

30 May 2004

New Australian after hours bulk billing medical centres

Two new after hours bulk billing medical centres have been opened as part of a joint Commonwealth-State initiative to improve access to doctors outside of working hours.

30 May 2004

Australian government programs help improve Indigenous eye health

The Australian Government today released the Review of the Implementation of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Eye Health Program as well as its response.

28 May 2004

Discovery that body temperature has a vital role in the onset of sleep

Insomnia affects up to a quarter of the population in Australia and can have a severe impact on the quality of life and health of long term chronic sufferers, who often cannot stay alert enough to remain in the workforce.

28 May 2004

A third of U.S. adults use some form of complementary and alternative medicine

According to a new nationwide government survey, 36 percent of U.S. adults aged 18 years and over use some form of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM).

27 May 2004

Blueprint for rational design of vaccines that induce desired T-cell responses

Investigators from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, have conducted studies in mice to gain a new picture of how the immune system’s “killer” T cells are prompted to destroy infected cells. Their insights provide a blueprint for rational design of vaccines that induce desired T-cell responses.

27 May 2004

Smoking causes diseases in nearly every organ of the body

U.S. Surgeon General Richard H. Carmona today released a new comprehensive report on smoking and health, revealing for the first time that smoking causes diseases in nearly every organ of the body.

27 May 2004

Training in chronic care medicine is poor

In a national survey of practicing family physicians, pediatricians, internists and surgeons, the majority reported that their training in chronic care medicine was too thin overall to meet the demands of their practices.

27 May 2004

Antibiotics could be the cause of many allergies

27 May 2004

Obesity affects women's employment success

Obesity contributes to various chronic medical problems, but new research on current and former welfare recipients indicates that obesity also affects women's employment success.

27 May 2004

New study challenges current thinking about varied response to hepatitis C treatment in different racial groups

Results of a new study published in the current issue of the New England Journal of Medicine show that in patients who have chronic hepatitis C, genotype 1 -- the most common form of the disease and difficult to treat successfully -- non-Hispanic whites achieved one of the highest response rates reported to date, but response rates in African Americans were significantly lower.

27 May 2004