Latest science news in Health & Medicine
Celiac Disease Can Make Holiday Treats a Pain
Baked treats are a big part of the holiday season. But the rise in cases of celiac disease mean many people have to forgo some culinary traditions.
Oops! US Doctors Screw Up Surprisingly Often
Surgeons leave needles in patients, operate on the wrong patient or perform surgery on the wrong person dozens of times a week.
Discovery could eventually help diagnose and treat chronic pain
More than 100 million Americans suffer from chronic pain. But treating and studying chronic pain is complex and presents many challenges. Scientists have long searched for a method to objectively...
Merck Says Niacin Drug Combination Failed in Trial
The combination did not protect against heart attacks and strokes in a large clinical trial, and the company said it would no longer pursue its approval in the United States.
Animation students get an 'A' for viral eagle hoax video
A viral YouTube video revealed as a hoax that shows a golden eagle swooping out the sky to snatch up a toddler has earned its student creators an 'A' at...
Brake on nerve cell activity after seizures discovered; Gene expression initiates protective electrical response
Selected genes get switched on during and after a seizure, sending signals to reduce uncontrolled firing of nerve cells. A medication that amplifies this response could prevent recurrent seizures and...
Philippine Congress OKs bill to offer birth control to poor women
The measure wins passage despite opposition from the Catholic hierarchy and its backers. It would override a de facto ban on contraceptives in public clinics.Ignoring the Catholic Bishops' Conference of...
Cholesterol Helps Regulate Key Signaling Proteins in the Cell
Cholesterol plays a key role in regulating proteins involved in cell signaling and may be important to many other cell processes, an international team of researchers has found.
HIV patients in care lose more years of life to smoking than to HIV infection
Among HIV patients receiving well-organized care with free access to antiretroviral therapy, those who smoke lose more years of life [...]
Depression Surpasses Asthma as Top Disability Problem amongst U.S. and Canadian Teens
The recent tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut, perpetrated by 20 year-old Adam Lanza , has intensified the discussion about how mental health is handled and documented in the US. Officials...
Genetic variation that could help predict mortality in patients suffering sepsis identified
A new study offers evidence that variations in what is called the NFKB gene could play an important role in helping to determine the survival rate of patients who acquire...
Better approach to treating deadly melanoma identified
Scientists have identified a protein that appears to hold the key to creating more effective drug treatments for melanoma, one of the deadliest cancers.
Stillbirth and neonatal death in piglets
Changes in the breeding of pigs over the last 20 years has led to the size of litters increasing by on average two piglets. This increase has resulted in piglets...
Drug tests in humans for methamphetamine addiction
Scientists have successfully completed dosing in the first human safety study of a medication to help methamphetamine users fight their addictions.
Measuring skull pressure without the headache
Space research has developed a new way of measuring the pressure inside your skull using simple sound waves from headphones. The device is an effective early-warning system for patients recovering...
Success with cheaper, better leishmaniasis vaccine
A research coordinated by the UAB has succeeded in testing a vaccine against leishmaniasis. The vaccine was tested with the [...]
Robotic-assisted radical bladder surgery potentially benefits bladder cancer patients
About 30 percent of the more than 70,000 bladder cancer cases expected in 2012 are muscle invasive. In such cases, radical cystectomy is the preferred treatment. In a pilot trial,...
How airway cells regenerate after chlorine gas injury
Scientists have uncovered new clues in understanding how epithelial cells -- the cells that line the trachea, bronchi and other airways that carry air in and out of the lung...
Five reasons why New Year's resolutions to diet and exercise might be unhealthy
As New Year's resolutions to lead a healthier lifestyle are about to be in full swing, many might find that instead of feeling good they are feeling worse. And the...
Research reveals the serious side of the Christmas panto
"Oh yes it is, oh no it isn't!" The pantomime is a staple of Christmas, as seasonal as turkey and minced pies. This thigh slapping form of theatre is part...
Lawyer Says Ritual Circumcision Is Protected Activity
A lawyer for Orthodox Jewish groups asked a federal judge to throw out a city regulation requiring parents to sign a consent form before their infant sons undergo a form...
No Clear Link Between Cancer and 9/11 Debris, New York Health Dept. Study Finds
The study by the New York City health department, the largest to date, was released mere months after cancer was added to the list of sicknesses covered by the World...
Amoxicillin Doesn’t Help Some Respiratory Infections
Amoxicillin is no better than a placebo at treating the symptoms of a lower respiratory-tract infection.
Autoimmune disease patients fail to take medications as prescribed, study shows
The American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association (AARDA) conducted a study to determine what factors patients took into consideration when deciding to adhere or not adhere to new treatment as prescribed...
Confections sans Infections: How Candy Manufacturers Keep Chocolate from Killing You
Most of us know it is unwise to use the same unwashed utensils on raw then cooked chicken or eat raw cookie dough (although we may cheerfully ignore the latter...
What does Christmas do to your brain?
It's obvious what over-indulgence does to your body, but there's an unseen upheaval going on between your earsWhat's going on in your head as Christmas approaches? Your brain is already having to...
UNICEF calls out MPs for defeating generic drugs bill
A report by UNICEF takes aim at MPs for stopping a bill that could have meant cheaper drugs to treat HIV and AIDS in poor countries.
Hospitals Fear They’ll Bear Brunt of Medicare Cuts
Consensus is building around the idea that the largest Medicare savings should come from institutional providers of care.