Latest science news in Health & Medicine
UN treaty to limit mercury emissions signed by 140 countries
A new and legally binding international treaty to reduce harmful emissions of mercury has been adopted by more than 140 nations, capping four years of difficult negotiations but stopping short...
Flu Season ‘Worse Than Average,’ Officials Say
The season has been particularly bad for older people, but appears to have peaked, with reports of new cases declining in most of the nation.
Botox beats steroids for painful foot condition, plantar fasciitis, study suggests
Plantar fasciitis is the most frequent cause of chronic heel pain, leaving many sufferers unable to put their best foot forward for months at a time. Now a Mexican study...
Inadequate food facilities in NC migrant camps could cause illness
Farmworkers are at potential risk from food and waterborne illnesses because of the condition of cooking and eating facilities available to them, according to a new study.
Mount Sinai researchers discover how the flu virus tells time
Scientists have discovered that that the flu virus can essentially tell time, thereby giving scientists the ability to reset the virus' clock and combat it in more effective ways. According...
How the brain copes with multi tasking alters with age
The pattern of blood flow in the prefrontal cortex in the brains alters with age during multi-tasking, finds a new study. Increased blood volume, measured using oxygenated haemoglobin (Oxy-Hb) increased...
Cancer cell metabolism study yields new insights on leukemia
Scientists have proposed a new reason why acute myeloid leukemia, one of the most aggressive cancers, is so difficult to cure: A subset of cells that drive the disease appear...
Commonly prescribed PAH medications could have adverse effects
Scientists have reported findings that significantly improve understanding of how widely used drugs in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension affect the heart health of treated patients.
Critically ill flu patients saved with artificial lung technology treatment
In recent weeks, the intensive critical care units at University Health Network's Toronto General Hospital have used Extra Corporeal Lung Support to support five influenza patients in their recovery from...
Potential to prevent, reverse disabilities in children born prematurely, study suggests
Researchers report for the first time that low blood and oxygen flow to the developing brain does not, as previously thought, cause an irreversible loss of brain cells, but rather...
Weight loss helps to oust worms
Scientists have discovered that weight loss plays an important role in the body’s response to fighting off intestinal worms.
Well: The Appetite Workout
Can exercise help regulate how much we eat? New science suggests that if you stick with the right kind of exercise, you may change how your body interacts with food.
Well: The Fallout of a Chance Medical Finding
A small mass was "incidentally noted" on my patient's chart. But once the incidentaloma had been given life, so to speak, it was no longer incidental. We were now obliged...
Enzyme involved in deadly brain tumors identified
One of the most common types of brain tumors in adults, glioblastoma multiforme, is one of the most devastating. Even with recent advances in surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, the aggressive...
HEALTH: Flu Season Strikes Again ... and Again
The flu comes every year and this year’s strain has hit early and hard. The Times’s Donald G. McNeil Jr. says plenty of people are sick, but don’t just blame...
GI tract bacteria may protect against autoimmune disease
Early life exposure to normal bacteria of the GI tract (gut microbes) protects against autoimmune disease in mice, according to new research. The study may also have uncovered reasons why...
Adolescent stress linked to severe adult mental illness, mouse study suggests
Working with mice, researchers have established a link between elevated levels of a stress hormone in adolescence -- a critical time for brain development -- and genetic changes that, in...
Irregular heart beat elevates risk of kidney failure
Many people who suffer from chronic kidney disease progressively lose their kidney function over time and eventually develop a condition called end-stage renal disease – the complete failure of the...
Hearing-loss-prevention drugs closer to reality thanks to new test
A new way to test anti-hearing-loss drugs in people could help land those medicines on pharmacy shelves sooner. Researchers have figured out the longstanding problem of how to safely create...
Fake Poop Transplant Might Fight Bacterial Infection
Artificial feces could be an effective cure for people with chronic C. diff infections.
Leprosy spreads by reprogramming nerve cells into migratory stem cells
The surprising modus operandi of a neglected tropical disease could lead to new stem cell therapiesThe bacterium that causes leprosy spreads through the body by converting nerve cells into stem cells with migratory...
Lap Banding Works For Chronically Obese
While every study ever done shows that people who consume fewer calories than they burn will lose weight, it is as well known that some people cannot or will not...
Feeling Threatened Makes Us Nicer
The way we behave when threatened sometimes goes against conventional wisdom: we soften up. Andrew White, a PhD student at Arizona State University, and his colleagues analyzed data from 54...
New Dad Builds World's Fastest Baby Stroller
Because the world needs a 50-mph baby carriage.
Amputations among diabetics can be cut in half
Every 30 seconds somebody in the world is amputated as a consequence of foot complication due to diabetes. A new [...]
Social stigma of migraine headaches: Worse than epilepsy
A neurologist shows that patients with migraine (a combination of severe headache, nausea, light sensitivity, and other factors) suffer social stigma from their disease similar to the stigma experienced by...
Police, psychiatrist improve response to mental health calls
Ottawa police are teaming up with the medical field to improve their response to calls that involve patients with mental health concerns, which experts say will lead to fewer patients...
People Who Don't Stink Still Wear Deodorant
75% of people without the "smelly underarm" gene wear deodorant daily, a new study finds.