Latest Health & Medical News

High Protein, Low Fat, Low Carb Diets: Do They Work?
Category: Diet |

Many popular diet plans are based on changing the proportion of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats in the diet. There has been some controversy regarding the effectiveness of these diets. A new study accepted for publication in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM) examines the relative ability of different nutrient types to suppress ghrelin, which is secreted by the stomach and is the only known appetite-stimulating hormone. Circulating ghrelin levels increase shortly before meals and then decrease promptly after ingestion of food.

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17th January 2008 | 0 Comments

Evidence of Alzheimer’s Risk Gene Found
Category: Alzheimer's |

Through one of the largest studies yet of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) patients and their brothers, sisters, and children, researchers at Mayo Clinic Jacksonville have found strong evidence that genes other than the well-known susceptibility risk factor APOE4 influence who is at risk for developing the neurodegenerative disease later in life.

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17th January 2008 | 0 Comments

Obese Kids Show Early Signs of Heart Disease
Category: Obesity, Pediatrics |

A new study published in the Winter 2007 issue of the Journal of Cardiometabolic Syndrome finds that early signs of heart disease appear in obese children or in children at risk for obesity.

"Based on this study, these subtle markers can help us predict who could be at risk for heart disease and heart attacks," said Angela Sharkey, M.D., associate professor of pediatrics at Washington University School of Medicine and a pediatric cardiologist at St. Louis Children's Hospital.

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17th January 2008 | 0 Comments

ESA Anemia Drug Data Under FDA Review
Category: Anemia, FDA News |

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is reviewing new data from two studies that provide further evidence of the risks of anemia drugs known as erythropoiesis-stimulating agents, or ESAs. The studies show that patients with breast or advanced cervical cancers who received ESAs to treat anemia caused by chemotherapy died sooner or had more rapid tumor growth than similar patients who didn’t receive the anemia drug.

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3rd January 2008 | 0 Comments

Effects of Hypothyroidism on Weight Overstated, Says Study
Category: Hypothyroid, Pediatrics, Weight |

Children treated for hypothyroidism aren’t likely to drop pounds with treatment for the condition says a new study in the Journal of Pediatrics. The study is the first to examine the link between hypothyroidism treatment and weight loss in pediatric patients.

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3rd January 2008 | 0 Comments

Hospitals Can Do Better to Prevent Catheter-Related UTIs
Category: Hospital Care |

catheterOne in four Americans in the hospital right now has a urinary catheter. One percent of them will get a urinary tract infection from that catheter. All of those will require antibiotics. A few may suffer life-threatening complications. And with every new case, UTIs will retain their title of “most common hospital-acquired infection,” responsible for 40 percent of infections related to hospitalization.

But despite all this, a new study finds, American hospitals don’t seem to have a consistent strategy for preventing catheter-related UTIs. In fact, the study shows, most hospitals aren’t using basic tactics that have been proven to keep patients from getting catheter-related UTIs in the first place.

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3rd January 2008 | 0 Comments

Peptide Hormone Can Promote Weight Loss and Reverse Diabetes, Says Study
Category: Diabetes, Obesity |

A new study finds that a chemical found in the body is capable of promoting weight loss, improving insulin resistance and reversing diabetes in an animal model. The hormone is gastric inhibitory polypeptide (GIP) receptor blockade.

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3rd January 2008 | 0 Comments

BD Diagnostics’ Two-Hour MRSA Test Approved by FDA
Category: MRSA |

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today announced it has cleared for marketing the first rapid blood test for the drug-resistant staph bacterium known as MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), which can cause potentially deadly infections.

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2nd January 2008 | 0 Comments

Mediterranean Diet Plus Exercise Can Lower Death Rate, Says Study
Category: Diet |

Eating a Mediterranean diet and following national recommendations for physical activity are each associated with a reduced risk of death over a five-year period, according to two reports in Archives of Internal Medicine. Both studies use data from the National Institutes of Health-AARP Diet and Health Study, which began when questionnaires were returned from 566,407 AARP members age 50 to 71 in six states between 1995 and 1996.

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15th December 2007 | 0 Comments

Eigth Graders Smoking and Using Drugs Less, Says Survey

The nation’s eighth graders took center stage in this year’s Monitoring the Future (MTF) survey, showing a significant decline in both smoking and illicit drug use in the past year, part of a downward trend for all measured age groups in the last decade.

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13th December 2007 | 0 Comments