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Take the stairs messages in shopping malls work

What would it take to get you to use the stairs instead of the escalator at your local mall? A team of British researchers has found that healthy messages printed on stair risers attract climbers and might even encourage them to descend the stairs later.

3 Sep 2007

Secondhand smoke and pets

It has been in the news for years about how secondhand smoke is a health threat to nonsmokers. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention indicates that secondhand smoke is attributed with killing thousands of adult nonsmokers annually.

3 Sep 2007

Red wine for prostate cancer

Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) have found that nutrients in red wine may help reduce the risk of developing prostate cancer. The study involved male mice that were fed a plant compound found in red wine called resveratrol, which has shown anti-oxidant and anti-cancer properties.

3 Sep 2007

Radiation and drug combo helps boost efficacy of lung cancer treatment

Combining radiation therapy with a drug that helps destroy blood vessels nourishing malignant tumors has been shown in mice to be significantly more effective in treating lung cancer than either approach alone, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found.

3 Sep 2007

Impact of indoor air quality on COPD patients

Poor indoor air quality can significantly worsen health problems in people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD), according to researchers in Scotland. High concentrations of fine particulate pollution - the type of pollution associated with secondhand smoke and, in developing countries, indoor cooking and heating fires - were strongly linked to poorer health status.

3 Sep 2007

Role of self monitoring in patients with type 2 diabetes

A new study published on bmj.com calls for better advice about home blood glucose monitoring for patients with non-insulin dependent (type 2) diabetes.Type 2 diabetes usually develops in people over 40, especially when the person is overweight.

3 Sep 2007

Quarter of HIV patients believe their doctors stigmatize them

Physicians might want to be extra careful about how they treat HIV-infected patients - not just in the clinical sense but in the way they behave toward them. Even the perception that physicians are stigmatizing patients for carrying the virus that causes AIDS can discourage these individuals from seeking proper medical care, according to a new UCLA study.

3 Sep 2007

New and very different schizophrenia drug shows promise

Scientists at Eli Lilly say the first human trial of a new schizophrenia drug shows promise for sufferers of the debilitating mental illness.

3 Sep 2007

African-Americans and other racial minorities more likely to have sleep durations associated with increased mortality

African-Americans and other racial minorities have sleep durations associated with increased mortality. This is consistent with the belief that unhealthy sleep patterns among minorities - long sleep or short sleep - may contribute to health differentials, according to a study published in the September 1 issue of the journal SLEEP.

3 Sep 2007

Interferon alpha revs immune cells but cancer cells ignore it

A new study shows that an important drug used in the treatment of malignant melanoma has little effect on the melanoma cells themselves. Instead, it activates immune-system cells to fight the disease.

3 Sep 2007

Lowering homocysteine with B-vitamins does not reduce cardiovascular risk

Secondary prevention with homocysteine-lowering B-vitamins does not reduce risk of death or major cardiovascular events, according to the WENBIT study.

3 Sep 2007

OPTIMIST: The Outcome of PCI for stent-ThrombosIs MultIcentre STudy

Stent thrombosis is a recognized complication occurring in 1-2% of patients with coronary artery disease treated by percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with stent implantation. Its occurrence is expected to increase with the number of stent implantation procedures done worldwide. Moreover, stent thrombosis is a hot topic in the cardiology community.

3 Sep 2007

getABI study finds that even mild atherosclerosis in the legs increases mortality substantially

Patients with atherosclerosis in the leg arteries face a substantially increased all-cause and cardiovascular mortality risk, according to a large study presented at the European Society of Cardiology Congress in Vienna.

3 Sep 2007

How to influence the risk profile of a nation

Professor Geoffrey Rose was a pioneer in the field of prevention of coronary heart disease (CHD). He emphasized in his works how CHD prevention calls for general reduction in risk factor levels in the population, i.e. population based approach. Geoffrey Rose wrote: "It makes little sense to expect individuals to behave differently form their peers, it is more appropriate to seek a general change in behavioural norms and in the circumstances which facilitate their adoption."

3 Sep 2007

Genetic-based dosing in orthopedic patients beginning warfarin therapy

Doctors prescribing blood thinners have had to go through a lengthy trial-and-error process to arrive at the optimal dose for their patients. But now the process can be faster and safer, thanks to research conducted at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

3 Sep 2007

Diacetyl is a respiratory hazard

Researchers in the Netherlands have identified a chemical agent that may be a, if not the, culprit in bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome (BOS), or “popcorn worker's lung,” a severe occupational lung disease first noted in 2001 among workers at an American plant that makes microwaveable popcorn.

3 Sep 2007

Cancer patients describe what they seek from support groups

A new study finds that many cancer patients would prefer to receive information over emotional aid from support groups, although – over time – their needs could change. Although clinicians and others frequently advise cancer patients to join support groups to deal with the psychological consequences of their diagnosis, a minority of cancer patients actually joins.

3 Sep 2007

Patent foramen ovale (PFO) and atrial septal defect (ASD) closure

A PFO and an ASD are congenital structural heart diseases characterized by a communication between heart chambers at the level of the wall (septum) separating them. These chambers are the left and right atrium as shown on the picture below. The right atrium receives (dark) oxygen-depleted blood from the great veins, while the left atrium receives (red) oxygen-rich blood from the lungs.

3 Sep 2007

The goals of platelet inhibition in acute coronary syndromes

Platelet activation and aggregation play important roles in the pathogenesis of cardiac ischemic events after either spontaneous plaque disruption in acute coronary syndromes or mechanical disruption of coronary artery plaques caused by percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), which could be considered an artificially induced acute coronary syndrome.

3 Sep 2007

Cell phone use after bedtime is prevalent among adolescents - contributes to poor sleep

The use of modern means of interpersonal and mass communication has become an essential part of being young. Technology has enabled two people to connect with each other virtually anywhere and at any time, a privilege that, according to new research, is often abused by youngsters and cutting into their sleep time.

3 Sep 2007