A simple vitamin pill could prevent millions from suffering the agony of Alzheimer’s. The tablet, costing as little as 10p a day and made up of three vitamin B supplements, cut brain shrinkage linked to memory loss by up to 500 per cent. Oxford University researchers behind the landmark study said it offered the ‘first [...]
The health insurer violated state law nearly 1 million times from 2006 to 2008 after it was bought by UnitedHealth Group, the Department of Insurance says. California regulators are seeking fines of up to $9.9 billion from health insurer PacifiCare over allegations that it repeatedly mismanaged medical claims, lost thousands of patient documents, failed to [...]
A scientist in the UK has said that the cockroach could hold the answer to beating new diseases resistant to currently available antibiotics. A researcher at Nottingham University said in a press release on Monday that he has found molecules in the brain and nervous system of cockroaches that kill superbugs. Superbugs have gained notoriety in [...]
When it comes to staving off dementia, new evidence suggests that the “use it or lose it” dictum holds true — at least for a while. But it also appears that mentally stimulating lifestyles may speed up dementia once it hits in old age. “We do think that a cognitively active lifestyle is protective up [...]
Sacramento’s FOX affiliate KTXL “FOX40″ is known for delivering many firsts to the Sacramento area. The station was first with a satellite news truck, first on social media websites Twitter and Facebook, and first with local, national and global breaking news. Monday morning will see another first — the first paid advertisement for a medical [...]
A pill costing little more than $1.50 a day could save the lives of thousands suffering from a common heart condition. British doctors are so impressed with the ‘breakthrough findings’ of a major study that they have pledged to start using the drug, ivabradine, to treat patients with heart failure straight away, even though it [...]
Fruiti Pops, Inc. of Santa Fe Springs has recalled its mamey (mah-MAY’) frozen fruit bars because of a possible link to a rare U.S. outbreak of typhoid fever. The company said Thursday that the fruit bars were distributed in California, Arizona and Texas since May 2009. Fruiti Pops says retail stores, ice cream trucks and vending [...]
The fight against superbugs has taken a leap forward thanks to the discovery that powerful new antibiotics could come from frogs. Scientists have long known that the skin of frogs contains plenty of powerful germ-fighting substances because of the hostile environments they exist in. But the substances are also often poisonous to humans. Now a [...]
Monsanto has been in the news this week, with a U.S. District Court Judge ruling that the USDA has to at least go through the motions of regulating the company’s genetically engineered sugar beets. Monsanto, you may know, is not likely to win any contests for the most popular company. In fact, it has been [...]
Researchers working at the forefront of stem cell technology may also unexpectedly have come up with a cure for baldness. They almost miraculously changed one cell type into a completely different one, but in the process ended up with skin cells complete with working hair follicles. A treatment for baldness was not the goal when [...]
The sons of a man killed after being given ten times the recommended dose of painkiller by a German locum doctor face prosecution for calling him a “killer” and a “charlatan”. Rory and Stuart Gray were arrested in June after heckling Dr Daniel Ubani at a medical conference in Lindau, Germany, that he was addressing. [...]
Health authorities in China have ordered an investigation into claims that a batch of powdered baby milk has caused children as young as four months old to grow breasts. Tests were ordered on infant formula made by the NASDAQ-listed company Synutra after reports surfaced in China’s state media that three children fed on the formula [...]
Consumers are being warned to check their freezers for recalled beef that may be contaminated with E. coli. The Modesto California-based meat processor Valley Meat Company is voluntarily recalling approximately one million pounds of ground beef. The beef may contain a rare strain of the bacterium E. coli O157:H7. The Valley Meat Company says the ground beef patties [...]
Pancreatic tumor cells use fructose to divide and proliferate, U.S. researchers said on Monday in a study that challenges the common wisdom that all sugars are the same. Tumor cells fed both glucose and fructose used the two sugars in two different ways, the team at the University of California Los Angeles found. They said [...]
As scientists reveal that a weekend of rest provides an essential boost to brain power ahead of a busy working week, Chris Buscombe explores 10 other factors which may help improve your intellect. Exercise It has been suggested as a means to improving brain capacity for several years, but scientists continue to find new evidence [...]
A gel that can help decayed teeth grow back in just weeks may mean an end to fillings. The gel, which is being developed by scientists in France, works by prompting cells in teeth to start multiplying. They then form healthy new tooth tissue that gradually replaces what has been lost to decay. Researchers say [...]
A woman who had her face blown off with a shotgun when she was 16 has been given a prosthetic replacement. Chrissy Steltz, 27, from Milwaukie, Oregon, was shot accidentally at close range by a friend at a party in March 1999. The shot blew a huge hole in her face where her eyes and [...]
The woman with the world’s biggest breasts has encountered some serious health issues. Sheyla Hershey, who lives in Texas but is originally from Brazil, has staph infections in both of her 38KKK breasts. Although she compared her plastic surgery addiction to body building (she’s gone under the knife 30 times!) and said she is tired [...]
Every time Dr. Hossam Haick – only 35 and one of the most brilliant scientists to come out of Israel – is invited to attend a scientific conference abroad, he is taken aside at Ben-Gurion International Airport and subjected to a rigmarole of questions and interrogations. “I told the security people that I am a [...]
Researchers have developed a high-precision method to diagnose three types of cancer from saliva, enabling patients to undergo tests without physical discomfort. The results can be available in less than 12 hours, according to the researchers. The method, announced at the current meeting of the international Metabolomics Society in the Netherlands, was developed by a [...]
A Missouri VA hospital is under fire because it may have exposed more than 1,800 veterans to life-threatening diseases such as hepatitis and HIV. John Cochran VA Medical Center in St. Louis has recently mailed letters to 1,812 veterans telling them they could contract hepatitis B, hepatitis C and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) after visiting [...]
Researchers have found that a substance found in grapes and other fruits could protect blood vessels in the eye being damaged by old age. The substance, which has been linked to anti-ageing and cancer protection in the past, is believed to work because it protects against abnormal angiogenesis – the formation of damaged or mutated [...]
In its ongoing effort to halt the use of dangerous drop-side cribs, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced a 2 million-crib recall involving seven companies including Evenflo, Child Craft and the maker of the Babi Italia line. The crib companies and the number of cribs involved in these recalls are: Evenflo, 750,000 Jenny Lind [...]
Uh oh, SpaghettiOs! Campbell Soup i recalling 35,000 cases, or 15 million pounds, of its popular SpaghettiOs in the United States, admitting that some of its varieties may have been under-processed. The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced the recall Thursday, saying that the affected varieties were manufactured between December 2008 and June 2010. Anthony Sanzio, [...]
Federal health regulators on Thursday fined the American Red Cross $16 million for sloppy screening of donated blood, the latest in a series of violations that have cost the group millions of dollars. The Food and Drug Administration said in a statement that the group failed to take precautions to assure the safety of blood [...]
Even the slimmest women have, on occasion, stood in front of the mirror and asked: “Does this dress make me look fat?” But according to a new study, long-suffering husbands and friends called upon for reassurance may be dealing with more than just irrational anxiety. Scientists have discovered that the body image a person projects [...]
Contaminated water in car windscreen sprays could be behind 20 per cent of outbreaks of Legionnaires’ disease in Britain, a study has indicated. Health experts discovered professional drivers were five times more likely to be infected with the deadly bug, which is found in warm, stagnant water. Drivers are now being urged to add screenwash [...]
June 14, 2010 | Posted in
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Livers could be grown in the laboratory for transplantation into humans within five years, new research suggests. Doctors believe the breakthrough could “revolutionise” how liver diseases are treated and also solve the shortage of organs for transplant. The technique could be used to recycle thousands of donated organs which are at present considered too old [...]
The latest generation of girls are reaching puberty before the age of 10, a new study suggests, raising fears they may also begin sexual activity earlier. Scientists have found that the average age that breast development begins is now nine years and 10 months – almost a year earlier than a previous study in 1991. [...]
June 14, 2010 | Posted in
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Costa Rica is cracking down on an unauthorized stem cell clinic that has attracted hundreds of foreigners seeking relief from degenerative diseases and serious injuries. Better known for its idyllic tropical beaches and lush cloud forests, Costa Rica’s many hospitals and clinics have made medical tourism one of the fastest growing segments of its tourism [...]
Nearly 2,000 people in five states and Washington, D.C., were urged to get hepatitis B tests after patients and volunteers at a free dental clinic in West Virginia contracted the blood-borne disease, public health officials said Friday. Officials say the risk of widespread illness is low, but they are concerned that low-income people who can’t [...]
We’re not sure how many people really ever believed that Rice Krispies are some sort of super-duper health food. But cereal maker Kellogg sure tried to make that case, saying right on the front of the box that the toasted-rice cereal “now helps support your child’s immunity,” with “25 percent Daily Value of Antioxidants and [...]
An FDA official hammered the maker of Tylenol for a pattern of sloppy manufacturing practices that led to a series of recalls in testimony prepared for a House hearing on Thursday. Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, the Food and Drug Administration’s principal deputy commissioner, cited “significant violations” of manufacturing regulations by McNeil Consumer Healthcare. The drugmaker McNeil, [...]
Mexican drug smugglers are increasingly peddling a form of ultra-potent heroin that sells for as little as $10 a bag and is so pure it can kill unsuspecting users instantly, sometimes before they even remove the syringe from their veins. An Associated Press review of drug overdose data shows that so-called “black tar” heroin — [...]
Alzheimer’s disease could in future be identified by looking into the eyes of patients, new research suggests. Scientists have discovered that the dementia illness leaves tell-tale protein deposits in the eyes. Examining eyes for evidence of the protein, which also accumulates in the brain, could provide a simple method of early diagnosis, they believe. Confirming [...]
A new kind of chocolate that apparently slows the ageing process and keeps wrinkles at bay has been unveiled by the world’s largest chocolatier. Acticoa is packed with natural antioxidants which can protect the skin from damage by harmful free radicals. Studies have shown that just 20g a day of the chocolate could help prevent [...]
The release of the largest study to date into the safety of cell phones has not ended speculation about the links between phone use and brain tumors — but rather it sparked a huge global debate on the issue Monday. News stories appeared around the world based on the 10-year Interphone study carried out in [...]
May 17, 2010 | Posted in
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Hay fever sufferers can now see the face of their invisible enemy – thanks to these Scanning Electron Microscope images of pollen grains. A Swiss scientists named Martin Oeggerli, who uses the name Micronaut for his art, uses a Scanning Electron Microscope to capture images of pollen grains. A grain of willow pollen wedged between [...]
The earlier a child starts telling convincing lies the more likely they are to be a success in later life, new research suggests. Researchers have found that the ability to tell fibs at the age of two is a sign of a fast developing brain and means they are more likely to have successful lives. [...]
Scientists are hoping to gain new insights into the mysteries of ageing by sequencing the genome of a 17-year-old girl who has the body and behaviour of a tiny toddler. Brooke Greenberg is old enough to drive a car and next year will be old enough to vote — but at 16lb in weight and [...]
You’re in a classroom and the teacher puts an exam face down on your desk. You pick it up and can’t really make out what’s on it; it’s blurry, or it’s in another language, or it’s in a subject you didn’t study. You feel like you’re going to fail, even though it’s been years since [...]
May 5, 2010 | Posted in
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“Good night, sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite” is no longer a piece of folklore before your kids go to bed. It’s a nightmare, that is a growing epidemic in New York City. New York has the biggest bed bug problem in the country. Bed bugs are everywhere and they don’t discriminate. Million [...]
Children in Grades 3 through 6 who are obese are more likely to be bullied than their normal-weight peers, a new study has found. No one who has attended grade school — or who has even the slightest familiarity with children — will be surprised by these findings. What is surprising, however, is that obese [...]
May 3, 2010 | Posted in
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A voluntary recall has been issued for more than 40 over-the-counter drugs for children, including Tylenol and Motrin, because they don’t meet quality standards. McNeil Consumer Healthcare, Division of McNEIL-PPC, Inc., in consultation with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), is voluntarily recalling all lots that have not yet expired of certain over-the-counter (OTC) [...]
People who are depressed eat more chocolate than people who are not, U.S. researchers said on Monday, in a study that puts numbers behind the link between mood and chocolate. They said people who were depressed ate an average of 8.4 servings of chocolate per month, compared with 5.4 servings among those who were not. [...]
April 27, 2010 | Posted in
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A rare and dangerous fungal infection named Cryptococcus gattii has been quietly spreading from British Columbia southward to the U.S. Pacific Northwest. And it’s changing as it goes. Researchers have discovered that a unique strain of the bug has emerged recently in Oregon and already spread widely there, sickening humans and animals. So far, over [...]
A team of 30 Spanish doctors claim to have successfully performed the world’s first full face transplant. The ground-breaking operation was carried out last month on a young man whose face had been disfigured in an accident. While face transplants have been carried out in the past they have only been partial. Doctors in Barcelona [...]
April 23, 2010 | Posted in
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Shutting off a single gene can help stop the cascade of damage that can paralyze people with spinal cord injuries, U.S. researchers reported on Wednesday. They propose using a common, generic diabetes drug in combination with a gene-silencing technique to stop spine injuries from getting any worse, and believe the approach may also work in [...]
More than a quarter of young adults are unable to meet physical requirements to join the military, creating a potential threat to national security, a group of retired armed forces leaders said Tuesday. “It’s not drug abuse, it’s not asthma, it’s not flat feet — by far the leading medical reason is being overweight or [...]
A vaccine being tested in the UK has been shown to help some patients fully recover from melanoma, even in its advanced stages. It attacks tumour cells, leaving healthy cells undamaged and carries agents that boost the body’s response to skin cancer. Dr Howard Kaufman, of Chicago’s Rush University Medical Center, said: “Our study shows [...]
April 10, 2010 | Posted in
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The largest hepatitis outbreak scare in the nation is playing out in Las Vegas, where 50,000 patients at an endoscopy center may have been exposed to infectious diseases because of unhygienic practices. So far, 114 patients have been identified by health authorities as having been potentially infected with hepatitis C at the clinic, which has [...]
The parents of conjoined twins said today their baby sons had won the “battle of their lives” after they were successfully separated in a 14-hour operation at Great Ormond Street hospital in London. Hassan and Hussein Benhaffaf, described by their parents as “little fighters”, are in intensive care in a stable condition, according to surgeon [...]
April 8, 2010 | Posted in
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The next time you order sushi in a Japanese restaurant, raise a glass of sake to the countless marine microbes that might be clinging to it. Bugs that live on the seaweed used to wrap sushi have given some of their genes to bacteria that live in the human gut, and in doing so, help [...]
April 7, 2010 | Posted in
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German researchers recently found having a moderate amount of chocolate may be good for blood-pressure control and therefore better protect the heart, according to a report published on European Heart Journal. Researchers in German Institute of Human Nutrition conducted a study on more than 19,300 people. Over a decade’s study, they discovered that those who [...]
Those chic baby slings that many parents are sporting these days can be dangerous, even deadly, the government warned yesterday. The Consumer Product Safety Commission said it has investigated at least 13 deaths associated with sling-style infant carriers over the last 20 years, including three deaths last year. One other case involving a fatality is [...]
Women who drink wine are actually less likely to gain weight than those who are teetotal, according to a new report. Researchers found that regular moderate female drinkers were less likely to become obese after a 13 year study of more than 19,000 women. The finding seems to contradict received dietary wisdom which has it [...]
March 7, 2010 | Posted in
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President Obama writes to Morning Post editor, Michael Morrison, regarding our readers support for Health Care Reform; Michael – Last Thursday’s first-of-its-kind summit capped off a debate that has lasted nearly a year. Every idea has now been put on the table. Every argument has been made. Both parties agree that the status quo is [...]
Temporarily stopping blood flow in the arm prevents damage in people having a heart attack, a Danish study has shown. It is thought the procedure “kick-starts” natural mechanisms in the heart to counter the lack of oxygen. In a study of around 150 patients, those who were treated this way in the ambulance on the [...]
February 26, 2010 | Posted in
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Hundreds of people taking Avandia, a controversial diabetes medicine, needlessly suffer heart attacks and heart failure each month, according to confidential government reports that recommend the drug be removed from the market. The reports say that if every diabetic now taking Avandia were instead given a similar pill named Actos, about 500 heart attacks and [...]
In California, it’s been seven months since some 3 million poor and disabled adults lost their dental coverage to budget cuts. And in thousands of dentist’s offices and community clinics — from the rocky north coast to the Mexican border — it’s the receptionists who are left to counsel and console patients who have lost [...]
A Southern California meatpacking firm has significantly expanded its recall of ground beef and veal that might be contaminated with E. coli. The recall includes approximately an additional 4.9 million pounds of products by Huntington Meat Packing Inc. under the Huntington, Imperial Meat Co. and El Rancho brands, the Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and [...]
As if people needed any more reason to eat chocolate – now scientists find a bar a week could stop you from having a stroke. A study of nearly 50,000 people found that those eating chocolate were 22 per cent less likely to suffer a stroke than those that didn’t. And those who did suffer [...]
California insurance regulators asked Anthem Blue Cross to delay controversial rate increases of as much as 39% for individual policies, hikes that have triggered widespread criticism from subscribers and brokers — and now from the federal government. In a rare step, the Obama administration called on California’s largest for-profit insurer to justify its rate hikes, [...]
Government safety officials Tuesday announced a recall of more than 500,000 drop-side cribs sold at Buy Buy Baby, Kmart, Wal-Mart and other stores after the death of three infants. The Consumer Product Safety Commission says plastic hardware on Generation 2 Worldwide and ChildESIGNS cribs can break and allow the drop side to detach. In addition, [...]
A major British medical journal on Tuesday retracted a flawed study linking the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine to autism and bowel disease. The retraction by The Lancet comes a day after a competing medical journal, BMJ, issued an embargoed commentary calling for The Lancet to formally retract the study. The commentary was to have [...]
Caffeine found in coffee and green tea could effectively slow the growth of brain cancer tumors, a group of scientists at the (South) Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) said Monday. According to the neural science research department at KIST, led by Lee Chang-joon, animal test results showed regular caffeine found in coffee and [...]
February 2, 2010 | Posted in
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Taking fish oil may help prevent full-blown psychotic illness in at-risk adolescents and young adults, a study released today hints. These at-risk individuals may have weak or transient psychotic symptoms, and already show schizophrenia-like brain changes, Dr. G. Paul Amminger of The University of Melbourne in Australia, a researcher on the study, told Reuters Health. [...]
February 2, 2010 | Posted in
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Scientists have shown how a family of “limpet-like” proteins play a crucial role in repairing the DNA damage which can lead to cancer. They hope the finding could pave the way for a new type of drug which could help kill cancer cells, and promote production of healthy replacements. The proteins seem to have a [...]
General Electric, one of the world’s biggest corporations, is using the London libel courts to gag a senior radiologist after he raised the alarm over the potentially fatal risks of one of its drugs. The multinational is suing Henrik Thomsen, a Danish academic, after he described his experiences of one of the company’s drugs as [...]
In November 2007, a new video of a 34-year-old Indonesian man named Dede Koswara with a rare disease appeared on the internet. His story has appeared in the Discovery Channel and TLC series “My Shocking Story” (“Extraordinary people” on UK’s Five) in the episode “Half Man Half Tree”. And then on August 12, 2008, Dede Koswara’s story was the [...]
An Australian man was fighting for his life on Friday after he dived face-first into a venomous jellyfish the size of a peanut in waters off north-east Australia. The 29-year-old man, whose name has not been released, was flown to hospital, where doctors in the intensive care unit fought to treat the potentially fatal sting. [...]
The maker of Slim-Fast announced a recall of its canned, ready-to-drink products due to possible bacterial contamination. Unilever, the company which also makes products like Skippy peanut butter and Ragu pasta sauce, said the weight-loss drink may be tainted by Bacillus cereus, which can cause diarrhea, nausea and vomiting. U.S. Food and Drug Administration spokeswoman [...]
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with Maclaren, today announced a voluntary recall of Maclaren Baby Strollers following consumer product. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed. The Maclaren Stroller’s hinge mechanism poses a fingertip amputation and laceration hazard to the child when the consumer is unfolding/opening the stroller. Maclaren has [...]
A U.S. group that arranged for an independent lab to test 10 children’s face paints for heavy metals and also review ingredient labels of Halloween products sold at a seasonal holiday store, has reported that Halloween face paints are contaminated with lead and other heavy metals, and other Halloween products contain hazardous ingredients. They recommend [...]
U.S. President Barack Obama has declared H1N1 flu a national emergency. The White House said the president signed the proclamation concerning the 2009 H1N1 outbreak on Friday evening. It increases the ability of treatment facilities to handle a surge in H1N1 patients by easing the implementation of emergency plans. Last week U.S. officials said swine [...]
Plastics chemical bisphenol A (BPA) has adverse effects on humans, particularly girls, a new study shows. Girls exposed to higher levels of BPA displayed more “externalizing” behaviors, such as aggression and hyperactivity, according to the study appearing in the Tuesday’s online edition of Environmental Health Perspectives. The study involved 249 pregnant women from Cincinnati, Ohio, who [...]
October 7, 2009 | Posted in
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Three Americans won the Nobel prize for medicine on Monday for discovering and identifying telomerase, the enzyme that renews the little caps on the end of chromosomes whose natural fraying underlies aging and cancer. Australian-born Elizabeth Blackburn, British-born Jack Szostak and Carol Greider won the prize of $1.42 Million, Sweden’s Karolinska Institute said. “The discoveries…have [...]
President Obama’s Letter To Morning Post Readers U.S. President Barack Obama wrote to Morning Post editor, Michael Morrison, urging readers to back the national health insurance initiative; Michael – I just finished laying out my plan for health reform at a joint session of Congress. Now, I’m writing directly to you because what happens next [...]
The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) has posted 14 large size posters in Washington D.C.’s Union Station in order to attract the attention of Congressional Staffers who walk through the station every day. The message is clear and well presented yet some Whitehouse staff members are concerned that the ad copy references the President’s [...]
Think globally, act locally,” the saying goes. New Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Tom Frieden, MD, MPH, has done both, acting “locally” by instituting one of the strongest tobacco control programs in the country as New York City health commissioner, and globally, through leadership of the Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use. [...]
August 2, 2009 | Posted in
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