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| Red wine's resveratrol may help battle obesity |
| Resveratrol, a compound present in grapes and red wine, reduces the number of fat cells and may one day be used to treat or prevent obesity, according to a new study. The results will be presented at The Endocrine Society's 90th Annual Meeting in San Francisco. |
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| Woman aquires new accent after stroke. Rare case of foreign-accent syndrome reported in Canada. |
| A woman in southern Ontario is one of the first cases in Canada of a rare neurological syndrome in which a person starts speaking with a different accent, McMaster University researchers report in the July issue of the Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences. |
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| Is it time to revisit the current protein recommendations? Many Americans may benefit from eating a higher-protein diet, says a summit of protein... |
| Current protein recommendations were established with the goal of preventing deficiency, but newer research indicates that many adults may benefit from eating more than the minimum requirement. These findings are presented in a supplement in the May issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition1 describing the conclusions of a Protein Summit held last spring, which brought together the world's leading scientists in protein research. |
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| CHILDREN WITH HEALTHIER DIETS DO BETTER IN SCHOOL. A NEW STUDY REVEALS THAT CHILDREN WITH HEALTHY DIETS PERFORM BETTER IN SCHOOL. |
| A new study in the Journal of School Health reveals that children with healthy diets perform better in school than children with unhealthy diets. |
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| VEGAN DIET PROMOTES ATHEROPROTECTIVE ANTIBODIES IN PATIENTS WITH RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS |
| A gluten-free vegan diet may improve the health of patients with rheumatoid arthritis, according to new research from Karolinska Institutet. The diet has a beneficial effect on several risk factors for cardiovascular disease. |
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| RESEARCHERS CONFIRM LINK BETWEEN COMMON COLD AND EAR INFECTION |
| A new five-year study at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston confirms the suspected close link between the two most common diseases of young children: colds and ear infections. |
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| IBUPROFEN DESTROYS ASPIRIN'S POSITIVE EFFECT ON STROKE RISK |
| Stroke patients who use ibuprofen for arthritis pain or other conditions while taking aspirin to reduce the risk of a second stroke undermine aspirin’s ability to act as an anti-platelet agent, researchers at the University at Buffalo have shown. |
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| MOUNTAIN LIFE IS GOOD FOR YOU |
| If you want to live longer and lower the risk of heart disease, a move to the mountains may help. |
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| LAUGHTER'S GOOD FOR THE HA-HA-HEART |
| A daily dose of laughter may be good for the heart because, like exercise, it makes blood vessels work more efficiently, US researchers say. |
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| MILK NOT ALWAYS BEST FOR KIDS' BONES |
| Children who drink more milk do not necessarily develop healthier bones, researchers say in a report that stresses exercise and modest consumption of calcium-rich foods like tofu. |
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| DOES SHAMPOO POSE RISK TO PREGNANT WOMEN? |
| A preservative commonly found in cosmetics such as shampoo and moisturizers harms developing nerve cells, according to a controversial study. |
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| LAPTOPS MAY FRY YOUR SPERM |
| The increasing use of laptop computers could produce a generation of men with fertility problems, a new study suggests. |
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| TRANS-FATS COME UNDER FIRE |
| Now there is a new reason to avoid a side of fries. The latest food culprits are called trans-fatty acids, or "trans-fats", and a campaign is being launched today to purge these molecules from the United States' cakes, snacks and fast foods. |
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| DIETING AND EXAMS DON'T MIX |
| If you've got exams coming up and want to perform at your peak, then new research suggests you shouldn't diet. |
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| ACRYLAMIDE CROPS UP IN MORE FOODS |
| Acrylamide, a cancer-causing substance that led to scares when it was found in fried potatoes and other popular foods, is also found in olives, prune juice and teething biscuits, the U.S. food safety regulator says. |
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| LIQUORICE DRUG BOOSTS MEMORY IN ELDERLY |
| A compound based on a liquorice extract improves memory in older men, shows a new study. |
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| HOUSEHOLD ACTIVITIES RELEASE A CLOUD OF DUST, INCREASING EXPOSURE TO PARTICULATE POLLUTION |
| Ordinary household activities, from dusting to dancing, can increase your exposure to particulate pollution, according to a new study. Whether you are cutting the rug or just vacuuming it, you may be inhaling tiny dust particles that could be harmful to your health. |
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| PIERCING THE UPPER EAR MAY BE RISKY |
| Piercings in the upper part of the ear are more likely to get infected than ones in the lobes, say U.S. researchers. |
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| ORAL SEX LINKED TO MOUTH CANCER |
| Oral sex has been linked to a tiny risk of mouth cancer, an international team of scientists say. |
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| SHYNESS CAN BE DEADLY |
| How you react to stress influences how easily you resist or succumb to disease, including viruses like HIV, discovered UCLA AIDS Institute scientists. Reported in the Dec.15 edition of Biological Psychiatry, the new findings identify the immune mechanism that makes shy people more susceptible to infection than outgoing people. |
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| A LITTLE STRESS MAY BE GOOD FOR YOU |
| We've often heard that red wine and dark chocolate in moderation can be good for you. Now it appears that a little stress may be beneficial, too. |
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| HARD MATTRESSES A PAIN IN THE BACK |
| People who have a painful lower back are better off sleeping on a medium-firm mattress, a new study shows. |
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| AHHHH! BETTER THAN RED WINE OR GREEN TEA, COCOA FROTHS WITH CANCER-PREVENTING COMPOUNDS, CORNELL FOOD SCIENTISTS SAY. |
| Beyond the froth, cocoa teems with antioxidants that prevent cancer, Cornell University food scientists say. Comparing the chemical anti-cancer activity in beverages known to contain antioxidants, they have found that cocoa has nearly twice the antioxidants of red wine and up to three times those found in green tea. |
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| HUNT FOR SPINA BIFIDA GENE PICKS UP SPEED |
| A gene in mice has been linked to the congenital birth defect spina bifida and the hunt is now on to see if the equivalent human gene is altered in sufferers, say Australian researchers. |
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| CHILDCARE TAKES A TOLL ON GRANNY |
| Taking care of grandchildren can give women more than a headache - it can raise their risk of heart attack, say U.S. researchers. |
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| STONED SPERM TOO SPEEDY TO FERTILISE |
| Heavy marijuana users have sperm that move too fast, too soon, and become burnt out, reducing the chance of fertilisation, according to new U.S. research. |
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| ‘SLEEP ON IT’ IS GOOD ADVICE TO IMPROVE MEMORY |
| Nothing beats a good night's sleep, especially to retrieve memory or to boost the ability to learn language, says US research.
The benefits of sleep are well known, but researchers at the University of Chicago have published research in the journal Nature which shows that while we sleep, brain activity encourages higher types of learning. |
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| TAI-CHI BOOSTS IMMUNITY: STUDY |
| The Chinese exercise practice of Tai-Chi can significantly boost the body's immune system response to virus infection and may, in particular, help ward off painful shingles outbreaks in older people, a new study has found. |
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| DISPUTE OVER TOXIC SHOCK SYNDROME |
| A TAMPON maker says it may try to develop a test for genetic susceptibility to toxic shock syndrome, based on the results of a study announced last week. But critics dispute the study's conclusions, and warn that the work might be used to help companies fight lawsuits from women who contract the illness after using tampons. |
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| BELLIES: IT'S MORE THE BINGE THAN THE BEER |
| The unhealthy 'beer belly' might be better known as a 'binge belly', according to a new U.S. study on how drinking alcohol affects the accumulation of abdominal fat. |
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| BAD TEETH RAISES PRE-TERM BIRTH RISK |
| Pregnant women with periodontal disease have a much higher chance of having a pre-term baby, but a new American study has found that a simple clean can reverse that statistic. |
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| INFANTS MORE VULNERABLE TO SERIOUS BRAIN INJURY FROM FALLING THAN PREVIOUSLY THOUGHT |
| Babies are more vulnerable to serious head injury during a fall than had been previously thought, according to new research that may also begin to help child abuse investigators distinguish between accidental and intentional injury. |
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| GREEN TEA’S CANCER-FIGHTING ALLURE BECOMES MORE POTENT |
| Green tea's ability to fight cancer is even more potent and varied than scientists suspected, say researchers who have discovered that chemicals in green tea shut down one of the key molecules that tobacco relies upon to cause cancer. It's a find that could help explain why people who drink green tea are less likely to develop cancer. |
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| MUTANT SPERM MORE SELFISH WITH AGE |
| Sperm mutate more often as men get older - not because it helps their resulting offspring, but because it appears to help sperm survive in the testes, researchers have found. |
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| MUSIC IMPROVES LANGUAGE AND MEMORY |
| Learning an instrument can help children improve their linguistic skills, and may even help people recover from memory loss after brain injury, researchers have found. |
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| TIGHT NECKTIES BOOST GLAUCOMA RISK |
| Wearing a tight necktie can increase the chances of developing glaucoma, a group of serious eye diseases, researchers have found. |
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| TOO MUCH WATER DURING EXERCISE CAN KILL |
| Drinking too much fluid when exercising vigorously - often recommended in training - can actually kill you, sports medicine experts have warned. |
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| CAN MASTURBATING KEEP THE DOCTOR AWAY? |
| IT WILL make you go blind. It will make your palms grow hairy. Thankfully, such myths about masturbation are largely a thing of the past. But the latest research has even better news for young men: frequent self-pleasuring could protect against the most common kind of cancer. |
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| KARAOKE BAD FOR YOU: STUDY |
| It's official. Listening to and participating in karaoke is bad for your health, Korean and Hong Kong studies have found. |
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| GM VICTIM OF 'MYTHS AND LIES': EXPERT |
| Myths and lies spread by the green movement about the consequences of genetic modification (GM) are preventing the use of new crops that could alleviate third-world famine, an international conference has been told in Melbourne. |
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| THE SCIENCE OF SUMMER HAIRCUTS: HAIR RESEARCHERS BACK UP TIME-HONORED PARENTAL ADVICE |
| As school-age children begin their summer vacation, many parents traditionally urge them to get extra-short haircuts for the hot months ahead. For those parents who receive resistance to this idea, science offers several reasons to back them up. |
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| FRIED FOOD CAN MUTATE YOUR GENES, STUDY FINDS |
| Acrylamides, cancer-causing agents recently found in some fried and baked foods, can damage the DNA by causing a spectrum of mutations, researchers have reported. |
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| CHILDREN OF ALCOHOLICS SENSE TASTE DIFFERENTLY |
| The children of alcoholic fathers may perceive salty and sour tastes differently from those with no alcoholic parents, American scientists report. |
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| COLOUR VISION MEANS PHEROMONES UNNECESSARY |
| Forget about using those expensive sprays to try and attract the opposite sex – humans don't have the ability to detect pheromones, and American research concludes it is due to our colour vision. |
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| CADMIUM STUDIES SUGGEST NEW PATHWAY TO HUMAN CANCER |
| Researchers at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences today reported that cadmium – a naturally occurring metal which shows up in food, water and cigarette smoke – disturbs a DNA repair system that is important in preventing cancer. |
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| MULTIPLE LIFESTYLE CHANGES EFFECTIVELY LOWER BLOOD PRESSURE |
| The combination of weight loss, exercise, reduced salt intake and a healthy diet can dramatically lower blood pressure, according to a national study, called PREMIER, conducted at Johns Hopkins and three other institutions. |
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| WHEN PATTING THE DOG CAN SEND YOU BLIND |
| People can become infected from a worm that causes blindness simply by stroking a dog that carries the parasite, according to new research. |
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| DRINKING CONCORD GRAPE JUICE MAY REDUCE BLOOD PRESSURE IN HYPERTENSIVE MEN. |
| Men with elevated blood pressure who drank Concord grape juice for twelve weeks experienced a significant drop in both their systolic and diastolic blood pressures, according to results from a preliminary study presented at Experimental Biology 2003. |
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| NEW STUDY FINDS YOGURT MAY HELP BURN BODY FAT. YOGURT EATERS LOST 61% MORE BODY FAT. |
| While some calorie-conscious people may drop dairy products when they're dieting, a new study suggests this strategy could backfire. |
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| TRANSPLANTED ORGANS POSE CANCER RISK |
| Cancer-causing cells can be transferred from one person to another in donated organs, an international team of scientists have found. |
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| LOW DOSES OF X-RAYS MAY BE DAMAGING TO GENES |
| Even low doses of radiation may cause damage to genes, German researchers have discovered, questioning the safety of routine X-rays and current models of risk assessment. |
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| HIGH MEAT DIETS MAY POSE A KIDNEY RISK |
| People with even a mild kidney condition could damage them by taking up a high protein diet, a large-scale American study has found. |
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| ALCOHOL DEPENDENCE LINKED TO CHEMICAL DEFICIT |
| Anxiety has long been linked to substance abuse. It is the key psychological factor driving the impulse to drink alcohol and one of the first symptoms of alcohol withdrawal. |
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| DIARRHOEA BACTERIA MAY PROTECT AGAINST COLON CANCER |
| Call it Montezuma's Revenge, traveler's trot or just a real pain, diarrhoea may do at least one good deed: protecting people against colon cancer, researchers report. |
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| RESEARCH SHEDS LIGHT ON WHY PROTEIN-RICH DIETS AID WEIGHT LOSS |
| As nutrition experts debate the ideal combination of protein, carbohydrates and fat that people should eat, new research explains for the first time how and why a moderately high protein diet may be the best for losing weight. |
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| STRESS DURING PREGNANCY CAN AFFECT FETAL HEART RATE |
| Stress-related changes in a pregnant woman's heart rate and blood pressure, along with chronic anxiety, can affect the heart rate of her developing fetus, a new study concludes. |
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| POOR MEMORY WITH AGE LINKED TO HIGH BLOOD SUGAR |
| Losing memory as you age may not be inevitable, according to U.S. research which suggests that maintaining low blood sugar levels through diet and exercise may keep memories intact longer. |
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| DRINKING WATER CAN HELP YOUR DIET |
| Drinking water can help you in your efforts to lose weight, says a Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center nutritionist. |
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| ALCOHOL'S EFFECTS ON TESTOSTERONE |
| Most research has shown that alcohol inhibits testosterone secretion in male animals and humans.
A new study has found that acute administration of alcohol can increase testosterone biosynthesis in some male rodents.
These results provide evidence for individual differences in behavioral reactions to alcohol. |
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| TOO MUCH GRAPE JUICE COULD CAUSE IRON DEFICIENCY |
| The same antioxidant compounds in dark grape juice that are noted for their health benefits in fighting heart disease may have a downside, according to new research in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. In cell studies, scientists with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Cornell University found that polyphenols in purple (also called red) grape juice can inhibit the uptake of iron, which could increase the risk of iron-deficiency anemia. |
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| DEPRESSION MORE DANGEROUS FOR ELDERLY MEN THAN WOMEN |
| Depression is more dangerous for elderly men than women, with depression starting in old age representing the greatest risk for men, according to a long-term study. |
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| RESEARCH REVEALS A CELLULAR BASIS FOR A MALE BIOLOGICAL CLOCK |
| Researchers at the University of Washington have discovered a cellular basis for what many have long suspected: Men, as well as women, have a reproductive clock that ticks down with age. |
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| WANT HYPERTENSION? HURRY UP! |
| Young adults who fume at the slowpoke ahead of them on the freeway may be racing toward high blood pressure, researchers reported today at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2002. |
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| BREAD CRUST AND STUFFING RICH IN HEALTHY ANTIOXIDANTS |
| The best thing since sliced bread may be bread crust: Researchers in Germany have discovered that the crust is a rich source of antioxidants and may provide a much stronger health benefit than the rest of the bread. |
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| FOLIC ACID CAN HELP PREVENT HEART DISEASE, STROKE - UU RESEARCH. |
| Folic acid is not only a safeguard against spina bifida and other birth defects in babies - it may also prevent heart disease and strokes, two of Northern Ireland’s biggest killers. |
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| GREEN TEA MAY FIGHT ALLERGIES |
| Allergy sufferers may want to add green tea to their sniffle-fighting arsenal. New evidence suggests that drinking the popular brew may provide some relief. |
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| ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE MAY ORIGINATE IN THE BRAIN'S WHITE MATTER |
| Changes in the brain's white matter may play a major role in the onset of Alzheimer's disease, whose baffling origin has traditionally been blamed on the gray matter. The new findings could provide a fresh direction for Alzheimer's research in this neglected part of the brain, offering the potential for early diagnosis and enhanced therapies. |
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| VITAMINS C AND E SUPPORT BREATHING FOLLOWING AN OPERATION |
| Patients who have recently undergone an operation experience less breathing problems after being given a cocktail of vitamins C and E. This is the conclusion reached by researchers from the Leiden University Medical Center following experiments with patients and healthy volunteers. |
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| MULTIPLE PETS MAY DECREASE CHILDREN’S ALLERGY RISK |
| Children raised in a house with two or more dogs or cats during the first year of life may be less likely to develop allergic diseases as compared with children raised without pets, according to a study in the August 28 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. The study was supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS). |
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| HONEY FIGHTS CHOLESTEROL AS WELL AS SOME FRUITS AND VEGETABLES |
| Don't like spinach? Try honey. It contains about the same level of plaque-fighting antioxidants as the leafy green stuff. And according to research presented at the national meeting of the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society, the range of antioxidants in honey is comparable to that in apples, bananas, oranges and strawberries. |
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| CHEMICALS AFFECT HAIRDRESSERS' BABIES |
| Hairdressers are slightly more likely to have babies born small or with major defects, according to a Swedish study. |
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| DIETARY CHANGE MAY PREVENT THE MOST SERIOUS FORM OF PROSTATE CANCER |
| A fat-laden diet and high calcium consumption are both well-known suspected risk factors for prostate cancer. However, new findings from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center suggest that fat and calcium themselves may not cause prostate cancer, as previously thought, but instead may fuel its progression from localized to advanced disease. |
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| CAFFEINE MAY AFFECT FERTILITY |
| Men and women undergoing infertility treatment should re-think their coffee habit, recent evidence suggests. |
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| LIGHT COULD REPAIR EYE INJURIES |
| HOW do you treat people blinded by light? With more light. Shining near-infrared radiation on damaged retinal cells can keep them alive and prevent permanent blindness.
The US Defense Advance Research Projects Agency is funding research into the method and hopes to use it to treat people whose eyes are damaged by lasers. A number of US military personnel, including a helicopter pilot over Bosnia in 1998, have suffered laser eye injuries. |
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| HEART-FELT STRESS CAN BE MORE DANGEROUS TO IMMUNE SYSTEM |
| People who react to stress more in their heart than in their vascular system are more likely to suffer immune system problems, according to a new study. |
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| NEW RESEARCH SUGGESTS A POTENTIALLY DAMAGING EFFECT OF EXTREMELY LOW FREQUENCY ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS |
| The effect of extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields (ELF-EMF), such as those emitted around high-voltage transmission lines on human health, is controversial. Some studies suggest an association between exposure to ELF-EMF and incidence of leukaemia, although little direct evidence exists that exposure causes damage to biological molecules. |
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| GRAB A NAP FOR GOOD PERFORMANCE |
| Sleeping and napping are good for memory, say two new US studies - and short naps are best of all, says an Australian expert. |
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| BLADDER-SPARING PROCEDURE FOUND EFFECTIVE FOR TREATING INVASIVE BLADDER CANCER |
| For patients with the most serious form of bladder cancer, the standard of care has been to completely remove the bladder and adjacent organs. Now scientists at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) have shown that therapeutic strategies aimed at sparing the bladder have long-term cure rates just as good as does bladder removal. The findings, which appear in the July issue of Urology, could offer a better quality of life for many patients. |
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| MORE WARNINGS AGAINST 'EXCESSIVE CLEANLINESS' |
| An over-hygienic environment during childhood can increase a child's risk of developing asthma and eczema, say UK researchers. |
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| SMOKING DECREASES MEN'S CHANCES OF FATHERHOOD BY IVF AND ICSI |
| Men who smoke reduce their chances of successfully fathering a child by either standard IVF techniques or by ICSI, according to research carried out in Germany.
Dr Michael Zitzmann told the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology annual conference in Vienna that smoking altered the DNA of sperm and he believed this hampered the development of the embryo. |
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| BREAKTHROUGH IN CREATING BIO-ARTIFICIAL ORGANS AT HEBREW UNIVERSITY-HADASSAH DENTAL SCHOOL |
| Today people often must wait for months when they need an organ transplant. In the future, they may be able to simply give a tissue sample and then wait a week or two as the sample is used to custom-build the necessary organ, thanks to research conducted by Hebrew University Ph.D. candidate Gadi Pelled, DMD. He received the prestigious Kaye Award this year for his work. |
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| SEMEN MAKES YOU HAPPY |
| Semen makes you happy. That's the remarkable conclusion of a study comparing women whose partners wear condoms with those whose partners don't.
The study, which is bound to provoke controversy, showed that the women who were directly exposed to semen were less depressed. The researchers think this is because mood-altering hormones in semen are absorbed through the vagina. They say they have ruled out other explanations. |
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| NEW STUDY FINDS VASECTOMY DOES NOT INCREASE PROSTATE CANCER RISK |
| Contrary to some earlier studies, a new study funded in part by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) found that men who undergo vasectomies are no more likely to develop prostate cancer than are men who do not. |
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| BONE - HEAL THYSELF |
| At last! Good news for people who have broken their shin bone – an Australian team is developing a material that will help the bone heal in months without the need for a traction machine. |
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| COULD THE WESTERN DIET CAUSE SHORT-SIGHTEDNESS? |
| The modern western diet may be causing more myopia in children, according to an Australian researcher.
Dr Jennie Brand-Miller, a nutrition scientist at the University of Sydney working in a team led by Dr Loren Cordain, an evolutionary biologist at Colorado State University suggests that more processed food in the diet is increasing insulin production and distorting the normal growth of the eyeball. |
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| BLACK RASPBERRIES A POTENTIALLY POWERFUL AGENT IN FIGHT AGAINST COLON CANCER |
| There is a potentially powerful biological weapon for health -- a mix of compounds suspected of thwarting colon cancer -- hiding deep inside the juicy sweetness of a black raspberry. And if it can be harnessed, it could play a major role in preventing the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States. |
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| ACCIDENTAL OVERDOSE WITH ACETAMINOPHEN (PARACETAMOL) CARRIES A GREATER RISK OF DEATH BY LIVER FAILURE |
| New research published in the latest issue of Critical Care shows that patients who are admitted to hospital because of accidental poisoning with acetaminophen (paracetamol) are at greater risk of liver failure and death than those whose take an overdose intentionally. This is because people who poison themselves accidentally often attend hospital much later and are more likely to be alcohol abusers, two factors that greatly increase the chances of death. |
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| INTERMITTENT SUN A PROBLEM FOR SKIN CANCER |
| Sitting behind your desk all week and then spending your weekends out in the sun is more likely to give you skin cancer than getting the same amount of sun spread out over the week.
This is the message behind a series of public lectures that summarise the last 100 years of research into the causes of cancer, being held over the next month at the University of Sydney. |
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| STUDY BOOSTS SUSPECTED LINK BETWEEN MOTHERS’ GUM DISEASE AND BOTH PREMATURE BIRTH, LOW BIRTH WEIGHT |
| Mothers who suffer from gum disease are significantly more likely to deliver their babies prematurely than women without that illness, which also is known as periodontal disease, a new University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill study shows. Such women also are more likely than others to deliver babies whose weight is less than normal. |
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| COFFEE MAY HELP PREVENT CAVITIES |
| A new research study indicates that coffee might help prevent cavities. The finding is reported in the Feb. 27 print issue of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, a peer-reviewed publication of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society. |
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| BEYOND SWEET AND SOUR - THE TASTE OF PROTEIN |
| Our understanding of taste has been given a boost by American scientists, who have identified an amino-acid taste receptor. |
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| GENETIC LINK TO ENDOMETRIOSIS – UNIQUE ICELANDIC STUDY PROVIDES FURTHER PROOF |
| A woman has more than five times the normal risk of developing endometriosis if her sister has the disease, according to research published today (Thursday 28 February) in Europe’s leading reproductive medicine journal, Human Reproduction* (full-text article). |
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| SCIENCE BACKS COD LIVER OIL AS CURE FOR ARTHRITIS |
| Scientists at Cardiff University (Wales, UK) have confirmed what thousands of people with arthritis have believed for years. Cod Liver Oil really is effective in treating joint pain and can slow, even reverse, the destruction of joint cartilage. |
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| TANNING LAMPS MAY INCREASE RISKS OF SKIN CANCERS |
| Users of tanning lamps may have an increased incidence of skin cancers and younger users may be at greatest risk, report Dartmouth Medical School (DMS) researchers. |
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| UT SOUTHWESTERN SPACE RESEARCHERS PINPOINT MECHANISM INVOLVED IN LOSS OF CONSCIOUSNESS AFTER SPACE FLIGHT |
| In one of the most ambitious medical experiments ever conducted aboard a space shuttle, UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas space researchers have pinpointed the mechanism responsible for the brief loss of consciousness and lightheadedness that many astronauts experience in the upright posture after space flight. |
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| SMOKING INCREASES LIKELIHOOD OF IMPOTENCY |
| Men who smoke are more likely to suffer from erectile dysfunction than nonsmokers, reports an international group of impotency experts in the November issue of the Journal of Urology. |
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| BEST TO BE BORN LAST |
| Hormonal changes in women over successive pregnancies could partly explain why firstborns are more likely to develop allergies than their younger brothers and sisters. |
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| WEAK SPERM COUNT DOES NOT ALWAYS MEAN INFERTILITY, STUDY SAYS |
| The nation's most in-depth study of the quality of sperm in nearly 1,500 men shows that sperm counts previously thought to be abnormal do not always mean infertility. The University of Rochester Medical Center research is published in the November 8, 2001 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine. |
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| BLACK RASPBERRIES SHOW MULTIPLE DEFENSES IN THWARTING CANCER |
| A cup of black raspberries a day may help keep esophageal cancer at bay.
Researchers found evidence in rats that black raspberries may both prevent the onset of esophageal cancer as well as inhibit precancerous growth already underway. |
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| SEX, SMELL AND THE CONTRACEPTIVE PILL |
| Italian scientists have found that the contraceptive pill makes a woman less sensitive to smell at ovulation time - and they're wondering whether this in turn may affect her libido. |
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| ANIMAL-BASED NUTRIENTS LINKED WITH HIGHER RISK OF STOMACH AND ESOPHAGEAL CANCERS |
| Yale School of Medicine researchers have found that a diet high in cholesterol, animal protein and vitamin B12 is linked to risk of a specific type of cancer of the stomach and esophagus that has been increasing rapidly. |
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| EXCESS IRON INTAKE INCREASES RISK OF INTESTINAL INFECTIONS, STUDY SUGGESTS |
| Researchers here believe that an overdose of iron in the nation's diet could be rendering thousands of otherwise healthy people prone to intestinal infection. The scientists found that cells containing high levels of iron were more easily invaded by the bacteria. |
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| VITAMIN C: THE FINAL WORD? |
| A new Australian study reports that megadoses of vitamin C do not treat the common cold, but the findings are unlikely to end a long-standing controversy. |
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| COUNSELING CAN HELP LOWER BLOOD PRESSURE |
| Counseling programs can help people control their blood pressure according to a new analysis of studies on behavioral strategies that can be used in conjunction with medication. |
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| TELEVISION CAN ENHANCE CHILDREN'S INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT, STUDY FINDS |
| Television is so commonly criticized as being bad for children that an important fact sometimes gets overlooked: some types of television viewing may actually enhance children's intellectual development, according to a study. |
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| STUDY PROVIDES NEW EVIDENCE THAT CHEMICAL IN TOMATO SAUCE MAY HELP FIGHT PROSTATE CANCER, PARTICULARLY IN BLACK MEN |
| A new study involving African-American men - who as a group have the highest incidence of prostate cancer in the world - provides further evidence that lycopene, a chemical found in abundance in tomato sauce, may help prevent or slow the development of the disease. The clinical study was reported 29/08 at the 222nd national meeting of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society. |
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| TOO MUCH SOY COULD LEAD TO KIDNEY STONES |
| New research indicates that soybeans and soy-based foods, a staple in the diets of many health-conscious consumers, may promote kidney stones in those prone to the painful condition. The finding will be published in the September issue of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society. |
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| BREASTFEEDING FOR LESS THAN 3 MONTHS MAY AFFECT A CHILD'S INTELLIGENCE |
| Breastfeeding for less than 3 months may affect a child's intellectual development, finds research in the Archives of Disease in Childhood. |
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| BRAIN TRAUMA MAY INCREASE THE RISK OF ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE |
| New research published in the online journal BMC Neurology suggests that brain injury leads to an increased risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. This is the first study to use autopsy brain material to study the connection between traumatic brain injury and Alzheimer's and confirms similar findings gained from clinical studies. |
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| ARE BIGGER BABIES BRIGHTER? |
| Smaller babies tend to have lower IQs, even if the children are in the normal weight range, a new study shows. While the differences are too small to have any practical significance for individuals, they might be important at a population level. |
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| CIGS AND BOOZE A BAD COMBINATION |
| The interactive effects of smoking and drinking are not good news for smokers.
People who drink and smoke have to drink more booze to feel drunk than non-smoking drinkers – placing them at greater risk of damage to their brains, livers and hearts, a new study suggests. |
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| SORTING THE GIRLS FROM THE BOYS |
| IVF couples wanting a baby girl now have a 90 per cent chance of having their wishes fulfilled if the man's sperm is treated with a special sex-sorting technique before conception. The odds are the latest results from an ongoing clinical trial of the technique known as MicroSort, which can selectively sift out sperm cells carrying the X-chromosome. |
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| LIVER REGROWTH DEPENDS ON PROSTAGLANDINS |
| Small fatty molecules called prostaglandins promote liver regrowth after injury, according to a study by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. |
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| FIREWORKS RELEASE THE POLLUTANT OZONE. A CAUSE FOR CONCERN? |
| The spectacular fireworks that mark public events like the Olympics and the new millenium, leave a nasty afterglow of the air pollutant ozone according to new research. |
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| VITAMIN C PRODUCES GENE-DAMAGING COMPOUNDS, TEST-TUBE STUDY IN SCIENCE REPORTS |
| Vitamin C, known to be a DNA-protecting "antioxidant," is a switch hitter, also capable of inducing the production of DNA-damaging compounds, suggests a study in the 15 June issue of the international journal, Science. Mutations caused by these compounds have been found in a variety of tumors. |
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| ELDERLY WOMEN HAVE BETTER MENTAL ABILITY THAN MEN, DESPITE LESS FORMAL EDUCATION |
| Elderly women have a better mental function than men despite their lower level of formal education, conclude Dutch researchers in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry. These findings challenge the view that a limited formal education is associated with lower mental ability and suggest that biological differences between men and women may be an alternative explanation. |
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| HEIGHT HAS BEEN LINKED TO LONG LIFE FOR MANY CENTURIES |
| It is now well known that tall people tend to live longer, but has this always been the case? A study of skeletal remains dating back to the 9th century published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health concludes that short bones have always been a marker of a short life, despite disease patterns being quite different today from those in pre-industrial Britain. |
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| CHRONIC FATIGUE IS LINKED WITH OTHER ILLNESSES |
| Chronic fatigue syndrome is likely to be connected with an increased risk of having other physical illnesses. That’s the result of a study of the development of monozygotic and hetero-ovum twins. |
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| COFFEE IS LIKELY TO REDUCE A RISK OF PARKINSON'S DISEASE DEVELOPMENT |
| According to a study published in the American Neurology Academy's journal on November 14, coffee drinking might result in Parkinson's disease development. The research covered 196 healthy people and 196 patients, suffering from the Parkinson's disease; difference in the amount of coffee these people drank was 9%. 83% of the patients, suffering from the Parkinson's disease, and 92% of the healthy people group regularly drank coffee. |
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| ALL LIPSTICKS ARE HARMFUL TO LIPS |
| All types of lipstick are harmful to lips and oral cavity. Up to 30 kinds of lipstick have been examined; out of them, one-third contained a grease derived from a poor quality oil. This grease is not harmful for health if put on a skin, but not on lips. |
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| DO NOT CHANGE LATITUDES TO STAY HEALTHY |
| Specialists noticed that when a man travels (with a high speed, at least not less than a speed of a passenger train) over the world to the North-South, his physical condition is changing. People with a high blood pressure sharply rising during such trips feel this phenomenon better than others. |
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| ARE MORNING EXERCISES WORTH DOING? |
| Discussions on this issue are in
the full swing so far, but the number of scientists opposing to this practice
keeps growing. There is a suspicion that
intensive and rhythmic morning exercises induce and then develop hypertonia. |
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