Health & Wellness
Reuters
Thu, 25 Jan 2007 08:44 EST
Reactivating a gene that normally suppresses the growth of tumors may be an effective way to treat cancers, scientists said on Wednesday.
The gene called p53 is a leading tumor suppressor which stops damaged cells from dividing. In the majority of human cancers the gene does not work properly.
But teams of scientists in the United States have shown that reactivating, or restoring the function of the gene, can make certain types of tumors in mice shrink or disappear.
BBC
Wed, 24 Jan 2007 11:05 EST
Scientists say they have found the part of the brain that predicts whether a person will be selfish or an altruist.
Altruism - the tendency to help others without obvious benefit to oneself - appears to be linked to an area called the posterior superior temporal sulcus.
Using brain scans, the US investigators found this region related to a person's real-life unselfish behaviour.
Guy T. Saperstein
AlterNet
Tue, 23 Jan 2007 16:19 EST
Contrary to popular conceptions, the average medical bankrupt was a 41-year old woman with children, some college education; over half owned homes and over 80 percent were in the middle or working classes.
Our $2 trillion healthcare industry is not only unhealthy, it is unsustainable. Why universal Medicare is the way to get universal healthcare without collapsing the system.
Catharine Paddock
Medical News Today
Tue, 23 Jan 2007 14:49 EST
A Canadian study suggests that people over 50 on a certain type of antidepressant are twice as likely to suffer bone fractures.
Medical News Today
Tue, 23 Jan 2007 08:22 EST
Most people fixate on the wrong number in the cholesterol equation for reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). It actually may be more important to know if your good HDL cholesterol is too low (<40 for men, <50 for women) than if your bad LDL cholesterol is too high. This is the current opinion from the field of lipidology, and corroborated by the Framingham coronary prediction algorithm.
The reason LDL has attracted so much attention is because there are more effective drug options for lowering LDL than for raising HDL. Statins are usually the drugs of choice for reducing LDL levels, but are generally not effective in raising HDL more than 6 percent, or higher with some statins, but only in very high doses. And they may create unwanted side effects -- like muscle and joint pains, and depleting CoQ10 from the body, which can actually increase the risk of CVD. Perfectly low LDL levels do not guarantee immunity from strokes and heart attacks.
Reuters
Mon, 22 Jan 2007 18:30 EST
Drinking, bathing or swimming in chlorinated water may increase the risk of bladder cancer, a new study shows.
The findings are the first to suggest that these chemicals can be harmful when they are inhaled or absorbed through the skin, as well as when they are ingested, Dr. Cristina M. Villanueva of the Municipal Institute of Medical Research in Barcelona, and colleagues note.
Catharine Paddock
Medical News Today
Mon, 22 Jan 2007 18:26 EST
A UK study reveals that owning a dog is good for your health. And having a pet dog improves your physical and mental wellbeing more than having a cat.
This is the conclusion of a study by a senior lecturer, Dr Deborah Wells, from the Canine Behaviour Centre of Queens University, Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Dr Wells has published her study in the British Journal of Health Psychology.
LiveScience
Mon, 22 Jan 2007 18:24 EST
Sponges and kitchen scrub brushes can be loaded with disease-causing viruses and bacteria.
So microwave them, scientists say.
Researchers soaked sponges and scrubbers in a disgusting brew of raw wastewater containing fecal bacteria, viruses, protozoan parasites and bacterial spores, including Bacillus cereus spores - known for being very hard to kill with heat, chemicals and even radiation.
Jacqueline Stenson
MSN BC
Sun, 21 Jan 2007 12:16 EST
If you're banking on a daily vitamin to make up for any deficiencies in your diet, you may be getting a whole lot more - or less - than you bargained for.
Of 21 brands of multivitamins on the market in the United States and Canada selected by ConsumerLab.com and tested by independent laboratories, just 10 met the stated claims on their labels or satisfied other quality standards.
Most worrisome, according to ConsumerLab.com president Dr. Tod Cooperman, is that one product, The Vitamin Shoppe Multivitamins Especially for Women, was contaminated with lead.
Robin Lloyd
LiveScience
Sun, 21 Jan 2007 08:37 EST
Winners live longer, at least when it comes to the Nobel Prize, new research shows.
An analysis of 524 nominees for the Nobels in physics and in chemistry between 1901 and 1950 showed that the group's 135 winners lived about two years longer than the also-rans. The finding points to the health benefits of social status and suggests that status benefits the bodies of the cerebrally normal too.
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