medical research

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Bypass Surgery Looks More and More Like Diabetes Cure

No one knows why, but docs are embracing bypass as a cure

(Newser) - Just why it works is still murky, but the connection between gastric bypass surgery and the reduction—or even elimination—of diabetes is so strong that some doctors are suggesting it as a treatment. “We may have a cure for diabetes,” one tells the Los Angeles Times. While...

Deadly Carbon Monoxide May Also Be Good For You

Small doses have medical benefits, researchers have found

(Newser) - Low-level doses of the deadly chemical carbon monoxide may actually have medical benefits, pioneering new research suggests. The research is preliminary, and no scientist denies the lethal results of CO poisoning. But studies in animals have found small, controlled doses of the gas can have benefits for organ transplantation and...

Moms Can Pass Cancer to Kids In Utero

Mutation makes cancer cells 'invisible' to fetus' immune system

(Newser) - Mothers pass myriad things to their unborn babies via the placenta, and scientists have found that cancer is among them. Researchers studied the case of a mother who died of leukemia soon after she gave birth, and whose child was diagnosed with cancer months later. Though the baby’s cancer...

Global Rates of Alzheimer's Disease Soar

Aging populations drive increase; developing world will be hit hard

(Newser) - Rising life expectancy in the developing world will lead to a dramatic increase in the number of people stricken by Alzheimer’s disease, HealthDay News reports. The number of dementia cases worldwide will reach 35.6 million in 2010, a 10% increase over the total in 2005. That number is...

It's Not Too Late to Extend Your Lifespan

Abandon unhealthy habits and you may live 10 years longer: docs

(Newser) - You knew smoking and fatty foods were bad for you, but thanks to a huge 40-year study, we now know exactly how bad. Researchers followed 19,000 men, starting in the late 1960s. Those who were still smoking, had high blood pressure, and had high cholesterol—the three top killers...

Cindy McCain Declares War on Migraines

Launches public campaign on behalf of headache research

(Newser) - Cindy McCain has publicly survived everything from miscarriage to stroke to a painkiller addiction—but the malady she took aim at last week was one she's endured in secret: migraines. “I’ve missed part of my life,” she told an American Headache Society luncheon. “People don’t...

Road Noise Drives Blood Pressure Up

Stress, sleep interruptions may be at fault: researchers

(Newser) - People who live close to noisy roads may face a greater threat of developing high blood pressure than residents of quieter areas, researchers in Sweden say. People experiencing average daily noise exposure above 60 decibels have a more than 25% higher risk of hypertension, a study shows. The researchers link...

Thick Thighs Decrease Heart Disease Risk

Researchers suggest beefing up skinny legs with exercise

(Newser) - Take off the skinny jeans and beef up those thighs, or you could be bound for an early grave. People whose thighs had a circumference less than 23.6 inches were more likely to suffer from heart disease and premature death than those with more sizable gams, according to a...

Chocolate Cuts Risk of 2nd Heart Attack

(Newser) - Heart attack survivors who eat chocolate after recovering are much less likely to suffer a recurrence than people who abstain, AFP reports. People who eat at least two servings a week are three times less likely to die from heart disease than those who don’t consume chocolate. And the...

High Cholesterol in 40s Tied to Dementia Later

Lowering it won't necessarily help, studies suggest

(Newser) - High cholesterol in middle age may increase a person’s future risk of Alzheimer’s disease, NPR reports. “Our study shows that even moderately high cholesterol levels in your 40s puts people at greater risk for Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia in later life,” says one researcher, who...

Pharma Ghostwriters Penned Medical Papers on HRT

Drug firms may play bigger role than thought in medical lit

(Newser) - Ghostwriters funded by a drug firm were deeply involved in writing papers supporting therapies that helped the firm’s sales boom, court papers show. The 26 scientific papers, published in medical journals from 1998 to 2005, highlighted the benefits of hormone replacement therapy over the risks, a boon to Wyeth,...

Dearth of Patient Volunteers Cripples Cancer Research

Just 3% of adult patients take part in studies

(Newser) - Cancer death rates have changed little in the past 40 years, and one big reason often goes unremarked on, experts say: only 3% of adult cancer patients participate in studies of treatments, the New York Times reports. More than a fifth of trials sponsored by the National Cancer Institute couldn’...

Scientists Upgrade Century-Old X-Ray Tech

(Newser) - A team of University of North Carolina scientists are working to bring X-ray technology into the 21st century, the Economist reports. The X-ray machines commonly used today rely on vacuum-tube technology little changed from a century ago, but physicist Otto Zhou and his colleagues have used nanotechnology to create smaller,...

Migraine Sufferers Have Lower Breast Cancer Risk

(Newser) - Finally, some good news for migraine sufferers: Those awful headaches come with a reduced risk of breast cancer, according to a new study. The researchers aren’t sure why that would be the case, but they suspect a connection with estrogen and other hormones. “It’s pretty clear...

Health Reform Must Pass the Test of Prostate Cancer

Efficacy should trump novelty in care choices

(Newser) - Forget public options and universal mandates. The real litmus test for health care reform is prostate cancer testing, writes David Leonhardt of the New York Times. Treatments for the disease range in cost from a few thousand dollars to more than $100,000. "You can probably guess which treatments...

Genetic Link Between Anorexia, Autism: Study

(Newser) - Anorexia might not be a social or psychological malady but rather an inherited genetic problem, Time reports. Furthermore, researchers see commonalities between that condition and autism. “Both autism-spectrum conditions and anorexia share a narrow focus of attention, a resistance to change and excellent attention to detail,” one doctor...

New Autism Research Tests Brain's 'Reflexes'

(Newser) - Scientists are taking a new approach to autism research using magnetic field generators that test the brain’s reflexes, the Boston Globe reports. Much like tapping a patient on the knee to gauge a physical reaction, trans-cranial magnetic stimulation triggers activity in specific areas of the brain through a charged...

Test for Early Alzheimer's in Development

Diagnosis could allow for treatment to slow disease's progression

(Newser) - A research institute devoted to Alzheimer's and related diseases has teamed up with a major maker of diagnostic tests to speed development of what could be the first test to detect Alzheimer's in its early stages. If all goes well, the first commercial version of the test could be available...

'Happyhour' Gene Decides How Fast You Get Drunk

Cancer drug could be used to lower humans' alcohol tolerance

(Newser) - What if your genes determined how much of a tolerance you had to alcohol—and you could take a drug that would turn those genes on or off? That scenario may not be far from reality: researchers studying fruit flies have discovered a gene called "happyhour" that renders...

Gene Tests Yield Results in AIDS Fight

Antibodies prevent HIV from spreading in monkeys

(Newser) - A back-door approach to battling AIDS that could revolutionize treatment has succeeded in monkeys, AP reports. Scientists inserted a gene that produces protective antibodies into the muscles of six monkeys, then injected them with SIV—the animal equivalent of HIV. None developed AIDS, and most still had high amounts of...

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