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Smoking ban in Victoria sees large numbers quit

According to Cancer Council Victoria, since bars and clubs in Victoria were made smoke free a large number of people have quit or reduced smoking.

30 Jun 2008

WHO says smoking bans work and benefit everyone

A report by the World Health Organisation (WHO) has confirmed the effectiveness of smoking bans and their benefit for everyone.

30 Jun 2008

Low childhood IQ linked to dementia risk later in life

The researchers from Edinburgh University compared the records of 173 people who took part in the Scottish Mental Survey of 1932, a mental ability test taken by almost every child aged 11 in Scotland, they found that lower childhood IQ increased the risk of vascular dementia.

30 Jun 2008

Microscopic needles effectively deliver drugs to the eyes

A new technique that effectively delivers drugs to the eyes, using microscopic needles, could offer hope to the millions of patients worldwide suffering from common eye diseases that threaten vision such as glaucoma, macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy.

30 Jun 2008

Treatment for cigarette, alcohol and drug use in pregnancy improves outcomes for mother and baby

Pregnant women who receive treatment for substance abuse early in their pregnancy can achieve the same health outcomes as pregnant women with no substance abuse, according to a Kaiser Permanente study published online in the Journal of Perinatology.

27 Jun 2008

Faulty DNA repair could be a risk factor for lung cancer in nonsmokers

People who have never smoked but whose cells cannot efficiently repair environmental insults to DNA are at higher risk of developing lung cancer than those with effective genomic repair capability, according to researchers from the Department of Epidemiology at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.

26 Jun 2008

Study shows youth smoking rates have stagnated

An article in this week's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report released today by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows, alarmingly, that the decline in smoking rates among high school students seen from 1997 to 2003 continues to stagnate. These results are an ominous sign as an overwhelming majority of smokers begin their deadly addiction during this critical stage of development in their lives.

26 Jun 2008

Senate panel approves $153.1 billion for discretionary spending in labor-HHS-education bill for FY 2009

The Senate Appropriations Labor, HHS, Education and Related Agencies Subcommittee on Tuesday by voice vote approved a $631 billion fiscal year 2009 Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill, CQ Today reports.

26 Jun 2008

Pregnancy may protect against bladder cancer

Female mice that had never become pregnant had approximately 15 times as much cancer in their bladders as their counterparts that had become pregnant, according to new findings by investigators at the University of Rochester Medical Center. Their work appears online as a rapid communication in the journal Urology.

26 Jun 2008

Children with lower IQs are more likely to suffer dementia later in life

Children with lower IQs are more likely decades later to develop vascular dementia than children with high IQs, according to research published in the June 25, 2008, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

25 Jun 2008

High levels of urinary albumin excretion predict hypertension

Healthy individuals with higher levels of albumin excretion, even levels considered normal, are at increased risk of developing hypertension (high blood pressure), according to a study appearing in the October 2008 issue of the Journal of the American Society Nephrology (JASN).

25 Jun 2008

Cancer and tobacco are growing health concerns in Africa

In an unprecedented meeting between the media, cancer and tobacco control nongovernmental organizations, and the health care sector, African journalists gathered in Johannesburg, South Africa yesterday to discuss Africa?s growing cancer and tobacco crisis. This first ever summit was convened in order to address ways in which journalists can communicate lifesaving messaging about cancer, and tobacco-related deaths.

25 Jun 2008

Few employers addressing employees' obesity despite increasing costs

Obesity rates in the U.S. are driving up costs for employers that provide health insurance to workers, but few companies have introduced programs intended to curb the trend, the New York Times reports.

25 Jun 2008

Nearly one in five patients experiences chest pain one year after having a heart attack

One of the main goals of in-hospital treatment and outpatient care after heart attack is to relieve angina (or episodic chest pain), according to background information in the article. The prevalence and treatment of chest pain one year after heart attack are largely unknown.

24 Jun 2008

Childhood prognosis of heart disease in later life

Heart diseases are one of the major causes of death in the western world. Research is under way in the University of Leicester Engineering Department, in collaboration with The Leicester Royal Infirmary, to analyse the heart rate variability of 10 year- old children, in an attempt to identify heart diseases at an early stage.

23 Jun 2008

Why depression and diabetes often go together ...but which comes first?

While researchers have long been aware that type-2 diabetes and depression often go together, which develops first has always been unclear.

19 Jun 2008

British teens top the league in alcohol and drug abuse

According to a report from the World Health Organisation (WHO), when it comes to abusing alcohol and drugs, British teenagers are right up there, with Wales at the top of the league, ahead of Scotland, Estonia, England and Lithuania.

19 Jun 2008

New AMA public health policies on vitamin D, processed foods, flavored cigarettes, tobacco sales, disaster medicine and seniors

The American Medical Association (AMA), the nation's largest physician organization, voted today at its Annual Meeting to adopt the following new public health policies.

17 Jun 2008

Lower incomes and lower education levels tied to higher death rates after heart attack

Researchers have long suspected that socioeconomic factors like education level and income also might affect survival rates following heart attack.

17 Jun 2008

The 'chicken-and-egg' problem with diabetes and depression

Researchers have long known that type-2 diabetes and depression often go hand in hand. However, it's been unclear which condition develops first in patients who end up with both. Now, a new study led by Johns Hopkins doctors suggests that this chicken-and-egg problem has a dual answer: Patients with depression have an increased risk of developing type-2 diabetes, and patients with type-2 diabetes have an increased risk of developing depression.

17 Jun 2008