Latest science news in Health & Medicine
British scientists make H1N1 flu strain for vaccine
LONDON (Reuters) - British scientists have produced a strain of H1N1 flu virus which could be used for large scale production of a vaccine, health authorities said on Thursday.
Elevated BPA levels in people drinking out of plastic bottles, study finds
Participants in a recent Harvard university study who drank only out of plastic bottles containing bisphenol A for a week showed an almost 70 per cent increase in concentrations of...
'Happy Hour' Gene Discovery Suggests Cancer Drugs Might Treat Alcoholism
A class of drugs already approved as cancer treatments might also help to beat alcohol addiction. That's the conclusion of a discovery in flies of a gene, dubbed "happy hour,"...
Virus Tamed To Destroy Cancer Cells But Leave Healthy Cells Unharmed
Scientists have tamed a virus so that it attacks and destroys cancer cells but does not harm healthy cells. They have determined how to produce replication-competent viruses with key toxicities...
Prevalence Of Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Agent In Britain Remains Uncertain
First results from a large tissue survey in Britain of the agent that causes variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) are unable so far to establish that the prevalence is lower than...
The challenges of avian influenza virus: Mechanism, epidemiology and control
Early 2009, eight human infection cases of H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus, with 5 death cases, were reported in China. This again made the world alert on a...
Gene Therapy Could Expand Stem Cells' Promise
Once placed into a patient's body, stem cells intended to treat or cure a disease could end up wreaking havoc simply because they are no longer under the control of...
Menopause: Agent Provides Treatment Option For Women With Hot Flashes
A pill used for nerve pain offers women relief from hot flashes, according to new research.
WHO to consider severity of flu before declaring pandemic
The World Health Organization is changing its criteria to be met before a declaring a pandemic of swine flu.
Tuberculosis -- hiding in plain sight
Current research suggests that Mycobacterium tuberculosis can evade the immune response. The related report by Rahman et al, "Compartmentalization of immune responses in human tuberculosis: few CD8+ effector T cells...
Flu Spreads, but Some Countries Ease Measures
Japan and Mexico City lifted restrictions aimed at controlling the spread of swine flu.
Automated analysis of MR images may identify early Alzheimer's disease
Analysing MRI studies of the brain with software developed at the Martinos Centre for Biomedical Imaging at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) may allow diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease and of mild...
Elderly women with 'dowager's hump' may be at higher risk of earlier death
Hyperkyphosis, or 'dowager's hump' - the exaggerated forward curvature of the upper spine seen commonly in elderly women - may predict earlier death in women whether or not they have...
New model suggests role of low vitamin D in cancer development
In studying the preventive effects of vitamin D, researchers at the Moores Cancer Centre at the University of California, San Diego, have proposed a new model of cancer development that...
Mexico City ends swine flu alert, no cases in week
(AP) -- Mexico City lowered its swine flu alert level from yellow to green on Thursday, and the mayor said "we can relax" now that there have been no...
Pancreas cancer drug failure clue
Experts believe they have discovered why pancreatic cancer can be so resistant to drug treatment.
Vietnamese boy's facial tumour shrinks halfway through surgeries
Son Pham, the Vietnamese boy afflicted with a large facial tumour who's made Halifax his temporary home, is now halfway through his surgeries and looking noticeably better.
Study: Diabetes drug lowers amputation risk
(AP) -- Doctors who gave diabetics a drug originally intended to lower patients' cholesterol found it reduced their risk of so-called minor amputation by 36 percent, a new analysis...
HPV Linked to Certain Head and Neck Cancers (w/Videos)
(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI) in Buffalo, New York, are strongly advocating a national discussion about the need to vaccinate both young men and women against...
Doctor Uses Household Drill on Boy's Skull
An Australian doctor used a household drill to relieve pressure on a boy with a brain injury, thereby saving his life.
UPI NewsTrack Health and Science News
Global warming might be worse than thought … New epilepsy, schizophrenia clues found … Herschel and Planck: On speed, on course … Scientists study new way of fighting flu ......
UK's attempts to stop swine flu called flawed
(AP) -- Flu experts are looking very closely at Britain - and some have decided that the U.K.'s swine flu-fighting tactics are seriously off the mark and may be...
New study assesses quality and cost of care at nation’s hospitals
Costly care isn’t necessarily better care at the nation’s hospitals. New research conducted by a team including Harvard Kennedy School Professor Amitabh Chandra represents one of the first nationwide analyses...
Doctor and Patient: Fear of Contagion
Experts still do not know what the actual occupational death rate is for health care workers who put themselves at risk to care for others.
Innards of H1N1 Virus Resemble 'Flu Sausage'
Pigs cough up a mish-mash of flu viruses, which is why the swine flu outbreak was something that scientists saw coming for years
Brigham face transplant recipient goes home
James Maki, a 59-year-old who became the nation’s second face transplant recipient in April to repair injuries from a horrific subway accident, left Brigham and Women’s Hospital on Thursday (May...
Agios Pharmaceuticals' founders author Science review on cancer metabolism
Cambridge, MA ? May, 21, 2009 ? Agios Pharmaceuticals, the first biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing novel cancer metabolism drugs, announced that the leading scientific journal Science has...
Swine flu science update: 21 May 2009
A round-up of articles about the spread of swine flu through faeces, vaccine supplies for poor nations and access to the virus genome.