Bundling three older blood-pressure medicines, a cholesterol-lowering drug and aspirin into a single pill shows promise as a way to reduce heart disease, new research showed on Monday. . . .
Reuters - March 30, 2009
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE52T6GM20090330?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews
More than 200,000 U.S. patients a year learn that various types of cancer -- from the eye, skin, colon, pancreas -- have metastasized, or spread, to the liver. Whatever the original tumor type, few survive beyond a year or two.
Often, cancer this aggressive hits multiple organs. But up to 40,000 patients a year have a life-threatening metastasis confined just to the liver. They're the target of the new approach, called PHP, for percutaneous hepatic perfusion. . . .
USATODAY.com - March 30, 2009
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-03-30-liver-cancer-chemotherapy_N.htm?csp=34
An influential government-appointed medical panel is urging doctors to perform routine screening on all American teenagers for depression, a step that acknowledges that nearly two million teenagers are affected by this debilitating condition.
Most are undiagnosed and untreated, said the panel, the United States Preventive Services Task Force, which sets guidelines for doctors on a host of health issues. . . .
The New York Times - March 29, 2009
People whose diet includes a lot of red meat are more likely to develop the early stages of an eye condition known as age-related macular degeneration (AMD), which is the leading cause of vision loss in older adults, according to an Australian study. . . .
Reuters - March 27, 2009
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE52Q5KD20090327?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews
Seven out of 10 Americans should restrict their salt consumption, but very few of them do, according to a new government study.
About 145 million U.S. adults are thought to be more sensitive to salt -- a group that includes anyone with high blood pressure, African-Americans and everyone older than 40. . . .
USATODAY.com - March 27, 2009
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-03-27-salt-cdc_N.htm?csp=34
Doctors are puzzling over what seems to be an increase in the number of children with kidney stones, a condition some blame on kids' love of cheeseburgers, fries and other salty foods. . . .
USATODAY.com - March 26, 2009
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-03-26-kidney-stones_N.htm?csp=34
Scientists who have been following families with a history of depression have found structural differences in family members' brains -- specifically, a significant thinning of the right cortex, the brain's outermost surface. The thinning may be a trait or a marker of vulnerability to depression, the researchers suggested. . . .
The New York Times - March 24, 2009
A new study confirms that women with breast cancer who are 35 years old or younger are more likely than older women to have their cancer come back after treatment.
The study also shows that the likelihood of recurrence in younger breast cancer patients is influenced by the type of treatment they received. The disease was less apt to recur in young women who had mastectomy plus radiation than in young women who had mastectomy alone or breast-conserving therapy. . . .
Reuters - March 24, 2009
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE52N5BM20090324?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews
The widespread practice of aggressively controlling blood sugar levels in intensive care unit patients may be helping kill some patients, researchers reported on Tuesday.
Medicating patients to bring down their blood sugar levels may raise the overall death rate by 10 percent, the researchers reported in the New England Journal of Medicine. . . .
Reuters - March 24, 2009
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE52N1O820090324?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews
An estimated 5.3 million Americans have Alzheimer's, and each patient on average costs Medicare three times more than patients without the disease, the Alzheimer's Association reported on Tuesday.
In its annual report on the brain-wasting illness, the group projected that by 2010, nearly a half-million new cases of Alzheimer's will develop each year as the population ages and by 2050 a million new cases will be diagnosed annually. . . .
Reuters - March 24, 2009
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE52N3IY20090324?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews
One in five Americans has high levels of blood fats called triglycerides that raise the risk of heart attacks, yet few people take drugs or other steps to control them, U.S. researchers said on Monday.
They also found one-third of Americans have borderline high triglyceride levels. . . .
Reuters - March 23, 2009
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE52M6MD20090323?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews
Researchers have found nine new gene variations that can make a person vulnerable to sudden cardiac death and confirmed the role of another, international researchers said on Sunday. . . .
Reuters - March 23, 2009
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE52L13V20090323?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews
A protein that signals inflammation and heart disease may also show that a person has a high risk of cancer, researchers said on Friday.
People with high levels of C-reactive protein or CRP, already being studied for its links to heart disease, had a 30 percent higher risk of cancer, Danish researchers found. And cancer patients with the highest CRP levels were 80 percent more likely to die early, they found. . . .
Reuters - March 20, 2009
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE52J5X520090320?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews
People whose faces turn red when they drink alcohol may be facing more than embarrassment. The flushing may indicate an increased risk for a deadly throat cancer, researchers report.
The flushing response, which may be accompanied by nausea and a rapid heartbeat, is caused mainly by an inherited deficiency in an enzyme called ALDH2, a trait shared by more than a third of people of East Asian ancestry -- Japanese, Chinese or Koreans. As little as half a bottle of beer can trigger the reaction. . . .
The New York Times - March 20, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/21/health/research/21alcohol.html
By electrically stimulating the spinal cords of rodents, scientists have reversed some of the worst symptoms of Parkinson's disease. . . .
The therapy, described in Friday's issue of the journal Science, is a potential alternative to direct stimulation, which requires risky and invasive surgery to implant electrodes deep in the brain, researchers said. Only 30 percent of severely impaired Parkinson's patients qualify for the operation. . . .
The New York Times - March 19, 2009
More babies were born in the United States in 2007 than in any other year in American history, according to preliminary data reported Wednesday by the National Center for Health Statistics. . . .
The New York Times - March 18, 2009
Black adults developed heart failure at a rate 20 times higher than did whites, even dying of it decades before the condition typically strikes whites, in a large multicenter study of the causes of heart disease, researchers reported. . . .
The New York Times - March 19, 2009
Sales of prescription drugs in the United States rose an anemic 1.3 percent in 2008 to $291 billion in a continuing slowdown, as patients opted for cheaper generic versions or chose to go without treatment due to the economic downturn.
In previous years, U.S. prescription drug sales rose 3.8 percent in 2007 and about 8 percent in 2006 -- those years themselves reflecting a slowdown from annual double-digit percentage sales growth often seen in earlier decades. . . .
Reuters - March 19, 2009
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE52I5G320090319?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews
Terminally ill cancer patients who drew comfort from religion were far more likely to seek aggressive, life-prolonging care in the week before they died than were less religious patients and far more likely to want doctors to do everything possible to keep them alive, a study has found. . . .
The New York Times - March 17, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/18/health/research/18faith.html
Two large studies looking at the benefits of a common screening test for prostate cancer produced conflicting results about whether it saves lives, researchers said on Wednesday.
The studies, one in Europe and one in the United States, aim to settle a long-running debate over the benefits of a blood test called prostate specific antigen, or PSA. Both were published online in the New England Journal of Medicine. . . .
Reuters - March 18, 2009
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE52H5JL20090318?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews
The risk of complications from general anesthesia is not especially high for elderly patients having a cochlear implant inserted to correct deafness, according to a new report. . . .
Reuters - March 17, 2009
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE52G5LA20090317?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews
Women who suffer from migraines while they are pregnant are at increased risk of having a stroke, heart attack, or other vascular disorders, according to a recent report. . . .
Reuters - March 17, 2009
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE52G36120090317?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews
As many as 75 percent of U.S. doctors will be writing electronic prescriptions within five years, thanks to new federal spending to encourage e-prescribing, according to a forecast released on Monday.
The economic stimulus bill signed by President Barack Obama last month included about $19 billion to promote the use of healthcare information technology, including e-prescribing. . . .
Reuters - March 16, 2009
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE52F4VD20090316?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews
Exercise helps people recover after a heart attack but the benefits vanish when the workouts stop, Swiss researchers said on Monday.
Blood vessel function improved after four weeks of exercise among people who exercised, but the findings published in the journal Circulation suggest that long-term and continuing physical activity is key to preventing another heart attack. . . .
Reuters - March 16, 2009
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE52F79I20090316?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews
A new test can accurately detect Alzheimer's disease in its earliest stages, before dementia symptoms surface and widespread damage occurs, U.S. researchers said on Monday.
The test, which measures proteins in spinal fluid that can point to Alzheimer's, was 87 percent accurate at predicting which patients with early memory problems and other symptoms of cognitive impairment would eventually be diagnosed with Alzheimer's, they said. . . .
Reuters - March 16, 2009
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE52F5AN20090316?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews
Asthma sufferers taking statins in addition to their regular medicine required significantly fewer trips to the hospital, according to a study the provides the latest suggestion of added benefits from the widely-used cholesterol lowering drugs.
Among adults on inhaled corticosteroids in the 6,574-patient study, those also taking statins reduced their chances of an asthma-related hospitalization or emergency room visit by 33 percent, according to data presented at the American Academy of Asthma, Allergy and Immunology meeting in Washington on Saturday. . . .
Reuters - March 16, 2009
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE52F2TV20090316?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews
Some children may be freed of their peanut allergies if they eat a tiny crumb of peanut every day for weeks, U.S. doctors reported on Sunday.
Although the treatment was too dangerous to try on children with the most severe and life-threatening peanut allergies, the findings offer a ray to hope to some people with the allergy, which is at best inconvenient and at worst deadly. . . .
Reuters - March 16, 2009
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE52F0F520090316?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews
If the global economy were a 100-yard dash, the U.S. would start 23 yards behind its closest competitors because of health care that costs too much and delivers too little, a business group says in a report to be released Thursday.
The report from the Business Roundtable, which represents CEOs of major companies, says America's health care system has become a liability in a global economy. . . .
USATODAY.com - March 12, 2009
http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2009-03-12-health-care-costs_N.htm?csp=34
In a study of 42 athletic men ages 19 to 45, researchers found that running seemed to have even bigger benefits for bone mass than strength training did. Both runners and weight trainers had greater bone density in the spine compared with road cyclists, but much of the benefit in weight trainers seemed to stem from their greater muscle mass.
In contrast, running appeared to build bone density regardless of the men's muscle mass. . . .
Reuters - March 12, 2009
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE52B6RR20090312?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews
High blood pressure accounts for some of the disproportionately higher mortality rates among African American women with breast cancer compared with their Caucasian counterparts, according to an article in the International Journal of Cancer. . . .
Reuters - March 12, 2009
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE52B6QD20090312?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews
Few substance abuse programs in the U.S. offer high-quality treatment designed specifically for adolescents, a new study finds.
Of the more than 700 treatment programs the study surveyed, less than one-third had specialized services for teenagers -- with some excluding underage patients altogether and others integrating them with adult patients.
And among programs that did offer adolescent-only services, the quality was typically middling, according to findings published in the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment. . . .
Reuters - March 12, 2009
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE52B69620090312?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews
People who live in areas with the most ozone pollution are 25 percent to 30 percent more likely to die from lung disease than those living in areas with the cleanest air, researchers reported on Wednesday. . . .
Reuters - March 11, 2009
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE52A70J20090311?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews
Blood tests and ultrasound scans can catch deadly ovarian cancer at the most early and treatable stages, British doctors reported on Tuesday, saying it may finally be possible to screen women for the disease. . . .
Reuters - March 10, 2009
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE52974Y20090310?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews
People with type O blood have a much lower risk for pancreatic cancer, while those with type B blood have the worst risk, researchers said on Tuesday in a study that may help explain what causes one of the deadliest kinds of cancer. . . .
Reuters - March 10, 2009
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE52970T20090310?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews
Terminally ill patients who talk over end-of-life treatments with their doctors spend less money and do not die any sooner but die more peacefully than those receiving aggressive care, researchers said on Monday. . . .
Reuters - March 9, 2009
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE5286EK20090309?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews
In patients with stage II bladder cancer, the risk of death from cancer and other causes increases if surgery is not performed within 12 weeks of diagnosis, U.S. researchers report. . . .
Reuters - March 9, 2009
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE5285YS20090309?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews
Men with a higher intake of vitamin C from food or supplements have a lower risk of developing gout, a form of arthritis from uric acid build-up that causes inflamed joints, researchers said on Monday. . . .
Reuters - March 9, 2009
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE5286T720090310?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews
President Barack Obama lifted restrictions on federal funding of human embryonic stem cell research on Monday, angering abortion opponents but cheering those who believe the study could produce treatments for many diseases. . . .
Reuters - March 9, 2009
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE52721M20090309?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews
The U.S. healthcare system is pinched by a persistent nursing shortage that threatens the quality of patient care even as tens of thousands of people are turned away from nursing schools, according to experts. . . .
Reuters - March 9, 2009
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE5270VC20090309?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews
Men who are 75-80 years old and have a low prostate specific antigen (PSA) level -- that is, less than less than 3 nanograms per milliliter -- are unlikely to develop life-threatening prostate cancer during their remaining life span, according to newly reported findings.
"Therefore, these men may represent an ideal target group for discontinuation of PSA testing," Dr. Edward M. Schaeffer and colleagues conclude in the Journal of Urology. . . .
Reuters - March 6, 2009
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE52565420090306?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews
Elderly people who've suffered a recent stroke benefit almost as much from treatment with a "statin" drug as do younger stroke patients, researchers report in the medical journal Neurology. . . .
Reuters - March 6, 2009
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE52554D20090306?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews
Many U.S. teenagers -- including half of African Americans -- would be considered vitamin D-deficient if the definition of deficiency were changed to what many experts recommend, a new study finds. . . .
Reuters - March 5, 2009
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE52474G20090305?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews
People who put off regular exercise until they hit the age of 50 can still benefit from physical activity but it appears to take 10 years for the effects to kick in, Swedish researchers said Friday. . . .
Reuters - March 5, 2009
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE52501X20090306?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews
Two studies published on Thursday provide evidence that common viruses may cause childhood diabetes, paving the way for potential vaccines against the life-threatening condition, researchers said. . . .
Reuters - March 5, 2009
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE5246GM20090305?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews
In a striking instance of biologists' new prowess at manipulating human cells, researchers at the Whitehead Institute in Cambridge have converted skin cells from people with Parkinson's disease into the general type of neuron that is destroyed in the disease.
The new approach, though it requires much further work, would in principle allow the brain cells that are lost in Parkinson's to be replaced with cells that carried no risk of immune rejection, since they would be the patients' own. . . .
The New York Times - March 5, 2009
Pharmacies around the country are offering free antibiotics to cash-strapped consumers, but public health officials say the incentives send the wrong message and could worsen the problem of drug resistance.
Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sent out letters to several pharmacies urging them to promote responsible use of antibiotics to their customers. . . .
The New York Times - March 4, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/05/health/policy/05drugs.html
A cheap ingredient used in ice cream, cosmetics and found in breast milk helps protect monkeys against infection with a virus similar to AIDS and might work to protect women against the virus, researchers reported on Wednesday. . . .
Reuters - March 4, 2009
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE52356U20090304?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews
A third of Americans under age 65 -- 86.7 million people -- went without health insurance at some point during the past two years, according to a report released Wednesday.
The report from the advocacy group Families USA showed that the lack of access to health insurance in the United States is more widespread than government statistics suggest. . . .
Reuters - March 4, 2009
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE5233QM20090304?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews
People who suffer a heart attack nearly double the risk of having another if they are taking the widely used blood thinner Plavix together with a heartburn drug like Prilosec, researchers said on Tuesday. . . .
Reuters - March 3, 2009
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE52278420090303?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews
The flu strain most likely to make you sick this winter has developed a near-total resistance to one of the most popular drugs prescribed to blunt its symptoms.
More than 98 percent of one of the influenza A viruses circulating this winter is now resistant to the antiviral drug Tamiflu, up from less than 1 percent just two years ago, according to a study in TheJournal of the American Medical Association. . . .
baltimoresun.com - March 3, 2009
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/health/bal-md.tamiflu03mar03,0,5436145.story?track=rss
Scientists have developed what appears to be a safer way to create a promising alternative to embryonic stem cells, boosting hopes that such cells could sidestep the moral and political quagmire that has hindered the development of a new generation of cures. . . .
The Washington Post - March 2, 2009
