health – News Stories About health - Page 34

Breast Cancer Decline Tied to Hormone Drop

Apr 19, 2007 9:05 AM CDT

Breast Cancer Decline Tied to Hormone Drop

Study links 'colossal' reduction in cancer to women skipping estrogen

(Newser) - Researchers are linking a dramatic drop in the number of breast cancer cases to the decline in estrogen consumption by menopausal women. Women dropped hormone replacement therapy en mass after a 2002 study tied it to breast cancer risk. Other scientists argued that the decline—about 16,000 fewer new...

Men With Eating Disorders Lack Treatment

Apr 17, 2007 8:46 AM CDT

Men With Eating Disorders Lack Treatment

Up to 25% of anorexics and 40% of bulemics are male

(Newser) - Men affected by eating disorders have few options—with research, diagnosis, and treatment all geared towards women. A new study reveals that a quarter of all anorexics in the US are men, as are up to 40% of all binge eaters. "Society sees this as a girl's disease,"...

Vaccine May
Not Prevent
Cervical Cancer

Apr 16, 2007 8:43 AM CDT

Vaccine May Not Prevent Cervical Cancer

Mandated for all girls in some states, HPV vaccine fails to deliver

(Newser) - Pharma behemoth Merck is defending what it touted as a miracle cervical-cancer vaccine against charges of ineffectiveness. Merck lobbied states to mandate Gardasil for young girls—Texas and Virginia did—and got a glowing endorsement from the CDC. But new studies show that it works only to prevent sexually-transmitted HPV,...

British Scientists
Find Fat Gene

Apr 13, 2007 11:45 AM CDT

British Scientists Find Fat Gene

Answer to the waistline gap may be in the chromosomes, researchers say

(Newser) - British scientists have for the first time identified a gene that contributes to garden-variety obesity, supporting ancient anecdotal evidence that birthright, not just lifestyle, shapes stomachs. Although they can't say exactly how the gene, called FTO, works, the 16% of white Europeans carrying two "fat" variations of it...

Sperm Made From Bone Marrow

Apr 13, 2007 8:54 AM CDT

Sperm Made From Bone Marrow

Scientists may be able to produce sperm from women's bone marrow

(Newser) - Scientists are getting closer to removing men from the conception equation, announcing yesterday that they have produced early-stage sperm cells from male bone marrow. Now the team of British researchers is seeking ethical approval to try the same thing with women.

Docs Accused Of Hurrying Death To Harvest Organs

Apr 12, 2007 11:24 AM CDT

Docs Accused Of Hurrying Death To Harvest Organs

"They were waiting like vultures," the patient's sister said

(Newser) - A 47-year-old man was wrongly declared brain dead by two doctors apparently eager to harvest his organs, reports the LA Times. "They were waiting like vultures, so they could scoop them up," says the patient’s daughter, Melanie Sanchez. A third doctor determined that her father, who had...

Doctors Are Sorry, Not Sued

Apr 12, 2007 9:33 AM CDT

Doctors Are Sorry, Not Sued

New laws allow doctors to apologize

(Newser) - Lawmakers in nine states want doctors to be able to say they're sorry. So-called "I'm-sorry" laws, already on the books in 27 states, allow doctors to apologize to patients when they make mistakes, or as expressions of sympathy, without fear of litigation.

Kids Get Graded on Obesity

Apr 9, 2007 12:08 PM CDT

Kids Get Graded on Obesity

Though Controversial, BMI Screenings for Children Increasingly Common

(Newser) - School nurses in six states are now sending out "obesity report cards," giving parents the results of mandatory Body Mass Index screenings of their children. With the number of overweight kids quadrupling over the last 40 years, advocates aim to detect health issues early. But not all...

Military Skimps On Soldiers' Benefits

Apr 9, 2007 7:52 AM CDT

Military Skimps On Soldiers' Benefits

Disabilities shrugged off, wounded troops are sent back into action

(Newser) - Soldiers are being deprived of disability benefits, having their injuries downgraded and even being sent back into the field when they're not fit to fight, a U.S. News investigation shows. An arbitrary and system for rating disabilities has been a problem for years, veteran advocates say, but it's...

China Has Change of Heart On Transplants

Apr 6, 2007 4:40 PM CDT

China Has Change of Heart On Transplants

Puts a stop to lucrative transplant tourism

(Newser) - China is rethinking a major medical cash cow: providing organ transplants for Westerners on overcrowded waiting lists at home. "Transplant tourism" has been a particularly popular option in Israel, where insurers are required to pony up for overseas operations. But health officials recently ruled that organs should not be...

Conjoined Twins Are Freed

Apr 6, 2007 9:59 AM CDT

Conjoined Twins Are Freed

Thai twins joined at the heart and liver healthy after surgery separates them

(Newser) - A pair of conjoined twins attached at the liver and the heart are alive and separate after a surgery Bangkok's Siriraj Hospital calls a "world first." The 10-month-old girls' hearts were joined at the atrium, and the blood flow was connected, but the organs were not dependent...

Bacteria Battle Depression

Apr 6, 2007 8:55 AM CDT

Bacteria Battle Depression

Research shows brain produces serotonin as an immune response

(Newser) - Clinical depression may be treatable with bacteria, doctors at Bristol University posit. They got the idea when they observed lung cancer patients inoculated with harmless Mycobacterium vaccae who showed reduced symptoms and improved mental health. The brain produces serotonin as an immune response, the docs hypothesized, raising the low serotonin...

Cheap Anticancer Drugs Are Ignored

Apr 5, 2007 9:51 PM CDT

Cheap Anticancer Drugs Are Ignored

Why? They don't make pharmeceutical companies enough money

(Newser) - Ralph Moss writes about why inexpensive cancer treatments get no research dollars. The publisher of a newsletter that covers both conventional and alternative cancer therapies, Moss blames the inability to patent already discovered and available chemicals and drugs for the situation.

States Rewrite Organ-Donation Laws

Apr 4, 2007 11:26 AM CDT

States Rewrite Organ-Donation Laws

New revision would make it easier to obtain organs

(Newser) - Doctors will be able to take organs from potential donors in more sticky situations, under revisions to state laws on the boards in more than 24 states. Model legislation that's already passed in four states clarifies how to handle ethically complex decisions, helping to alleviate the chronic shortage of kidneys...

Depression Causes Preemies

Apr 4, 2007 8:40 AM CDT

Depression Causes Preemies

Depression is more dangerous before the baby is born, researchers say

(Newser) - Most new mothers with post-partum depression are ill long before their babies are born, the first study of clinical depression during pregnancy has found. The research, conducted at the Institute of Psychiatry in London, shows that depression, triggered by a natural increase in stress hormones during pregnancy, is a "...

Insurer Ties Employee Pay to Patient Health

Apr 4, 2007 8:32 AM CDT

Insurer Ties Employee Pay to Patient Health

Plan will offer bonuses for boosting patients' use of preventive services

(Newser) - The country's largest health insurer says it will pay up for good health--offering bonuses to employees who boost patients' use of preventive medical services. WellPoint Inc.'s plan is intended to encourage participation in programs like diabetes management, which helps patients handle their medical needs before they end up in...

Docs Tell Younger Women: Avoid Mammograms

Apr 3, 2007 8:16 AM CDT

Docs Tell Younger Women: Avoid Mammograms

Younger women should think twice before x-raying breasts, docs say

(Newser) - Forty-something women should consider skipping their annual mammograms, the American College of Physicians is suggesting after a new review of research. Docs point to danger from radiation and unnecessary biopsies, surgery and chemotherapy, thanks in part to a high rate of false positives. "We don't think the evidence...

Docs Too Quick to Cry
Depression

Apr 3, 2007 6:58 AM CDT

Docs Too Quick to Cry Depression

Study finds almost any negative emotion seems to prompt medication

(Newser) - Shrinks are too quick to term patients clinically depressed, says a new study reported in the Washington Post. Researchers argue that a quarter of "acute grief reactions," the standard symptom of depression, may in fact constitute normal responses to stress; they blame the bloated psychopharmaceutical industry, in part,...

How We Fight: In Public and
In Private

Apr 2, 2007 4:15 PM CDT

How We Fight: In Public and In Private

Jonathan Alter relives his own struggle with cancer

(Newser) - Fit and under fifty when diagnosed with a rare form of lymphoma, Newsweek reporter Jonathan Alter talks about his own battle with cancer in the wake of a week of high-profile recurrences. Now in remission, as Elizabeth Edwards and Tony Snow were until last week, Alter describes managing the fear...

Hospitals
Dial 911

Apr 2, 2007 2:57 PM CDT

Hospitals Dial 911

Small, specialized facilities unprepared for emergencies

(Newser) - Believe it or not, some small, physician-owned hospitals are calling in paramedics to revive their patients in emergencies. Already accused of cherry picking patients and focusing on profit-maximizing procedures, the facilities are now drawing fire for literally relying on other hospitals to rescue patients when complications arise, reports Reed Abelson...