Medical News

RSS

Recovering alcoholics can remain sober for years

The study used a test that gauged participants' abilities to make sound choices between short-term rewards and the long-term negative consequences of their decisions.

1 Nov 2004

Discovery of new method for visual impairment treatment

The patients suffering from visual impairment can be helped if a healthy donor’s cerebrospinal fluid is introduced to the parent’s vertebral canal – this method is called liquortransfusion.

1 Nov 2004

BMA warns of serious threat to health safeguards from EU proposals

The British Medical Association has warned of a serious threat to health safeguards for patients, and the deregulation of the national health service, from new EU proposals.

1 Nov 2004

UK A & E departments face new staffing crisis as doctors leave to become GPs

Excluding trainees, around half of the doctors working in A&E in the UK are employed in staff grade and associate specialist (SAS) positions - which are distinct from consultant posts.

1 Nov 2004

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services has announced progress toward expanding the nation's supply of vaccines for flu season

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has identified about 5 million doses of influenza vaccine from foreign manufacturers; HHS has been able to recoup an additional 300,000 doses of the injectable vaccine originally bought for federal employees and the military; and a major pneumonia vaccine manufacturer plans to triple its production.

29 Oct 2004

Adult men and women are roughly an inch taller than they were in 1960

Adult men and women are roughly an inch taller than they were in 1960, but are nearly 25 pounds heavier on average as well, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

29 Oct 2004

FDA warns of risks associated with using decorative contact lenses

This Halloween season, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is again warning consumers about the serious risks of using decorative contact lenses distributed without appropriate involvement by an eye care professional.

29 Oct 2004

Drug-loaded contact lenses to treat eye diseases

When a person suffers from eye ailments today, nine times out of ten, he will be prescribed eye drops to treat his illness or relieve his discomfort.

29 Oct 2004

Practical lifestyle tips that can ease living with prostate problems

Symptoms of an enlarged prostate — known medically as benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) — can range from a weak, slow urinary stream, to hesitancy and straining to urinate, to an inability to empty the bladder completely, to more serious complications including recurrent urinary tract infections and kidney damage.

29 Oct 2004

Routine screening of blood samples would reduce the risk of disease transmission among transplant recipients

Results of a study in this week’s issue of THE LANCET suggest that routine screening of blood samples to detect viral RNA among organ and tissue donors who do not have obvious signs of clinical disease would reduce the risk of disease transmission among transplant recipients.

29 Oct 2004

Hispanic children are less likely to be diagnosed with attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder

Hispanic children are less likely to be diagnosed with attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder during primary care visits than white or black children are, according to a new study that looks at children's physician visits nationwide.

29 Oct 2004

Scientists decode the genome sequence of Cryptosporidium hominis, one of the most common causes of waterborne diseases in humans

A team of scientists at Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine has helped decode the genome sequence of Cryptosporidium hominis, an insidious parasite identified as one of the most common causes of waterborne diseases in humans and classified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as a potential bioterrorist agent.

29 Oct 2004

Interaction of nervous system proteins help researchers better understand age-related memory and hearing loss

In a finding that may one day help researchers better understand age-related memory and hearing loss, scientists have shown that two key nervous system proteins interact in a manner that helps regulate the transmission of signals in the nervous system.

29 Oct 2004

New data supporting the use of Renagel in patients who are new to hemodialysis

Genzyme Corporation announced that investigators tomorrow will unveil new preliminary data supporting the use of Renagel (sevelamer hydrochloride) in patients who are new to hemodialysis.

29 Oct 2004

Acetaldehyde appears to increase the addictive properties of nicotine

Acetaldehyde, one of the main chemical components of tobacco smoke, appears to increase the addictive properties of nicotine, according to animal studies conducted by the UC Irvine Transdisciplinary Tobacco Use Research Center (TTURC).

29 Oct 2004

Genetic evidence to support an inherited tendency to retain salt

Researchers at the University of Chicago have found genetic evidence to support the sodium-retention hypothesis, a controversial 30-year-old theory that the high rate of hypertension in certain ethnic groups is caused, in part, by an inherited tendency to retain salt.

29 Oct 2004

Red wine delivered though an aerosol for COPD, asthma, and possibly even arthritis

Homing in on mechanisms for the reported effectiveness of resveratrol, which is found in red wine, researchers at Imperial College London, England, confirmed its broad anti-inflammatory action, and found potential for applications in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma, and possibly even arthritis.

29 Oct 2004

New evidence to explain why mental function becomes less efficient with ageing

Dementia and milder forms of loss of mental ability affects millions of older people every year, but the causes are unclear. Previous research using brain scanning has shown that brain shrinkage and changes in the brain's white matter 'wiring', are associated with mental function slowing down in old age.

29 Oct 2004

Trojan horse technique offers potential new therapeutic approach to Alzheimer's disease

A potential new therapeutic approach to Alzheimer's disease protects brain cells in culture by drastically reducing the neurotoxic amyloid protein aggregates that are critical to the development of the disease.

29 Oct 2004

Controversial theory about how diabetes causes extensive tissue damage

A controversial theory about how diabetes causes extensive tissue damage will appear in the November issue of Diabetes. At stake in the heated debate over the theory are researchers' efforts to find new ways to reduce loss of vision, kidney failure, heart damage and other side effects of diabetes.

29 Oct 2004