Scientists have shown for the first time a link between two types of heart problems and one of the most commonly prescribed classes of antibiotics.

In a study published today in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, researchers at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in partnership with the Provincial Health Services Authority's (PHSA) Therapeutic Evaluation Unit found that current users of fluoroquinolone antibiotics, such as Ciprofloxacin or Cipro, face a 2.4 times greater risk of developing aortic and mitral regurgitation, where the blood backflows into the heart, compared to patients who take amoxicillin, a different type of antibiotic. The greatest risk is within 30 days of use.

Recent studies have also linked the same class of antibiotics to other heart problems.

Some physicians favour fluoroquinolones over other antibiotics for their broad spectrum of antibacterial activity and high oral absorption, which is as effective as intravenous, or IV, treatment.

"You can send patients home with a once-a-day pill," said Mahyar Etminan, lead author and associate professor of ophthalmology and visual sciences in the faculty of medicine at UBC. "This class of antibiotics is very convenient, but for the majority of cases, especially community-related infections, they're not really needed. The inappropriate prescribing may cause both antibiotic resistance as well as serious heart problems."

A multinational team of scientists have made a startling, world-first discovery in Russia which could change the lives of tens of millions of people: they accidentally identified a mechanism to neutralize the HIV virus.

Originally, the team of Russian, Swiss, British, American and Finnish scientists was developing polysulfur heterocycles to tackle cancer when they suddenly realized the implications of the drug's mechanism were much bigger than anticipated.

"From the very beginning, the most promising direction of the study seemed to us to study the anticancer activity of this class of compounds, but it unexpectedly turned out that such compounds can also have high and selective activity against feline immunodeficiency virus, which is the closest analogue of the human immunodeficiency virus," Rakitin said.

A press release from South Ural State University (SUSU) claims the discovery could pave the way for a whole new class of antiviral drugs which could be used for numerous diseases.

In the grips of his alcohol addiction, David Reichmann was told by his doctor that he would be dead within a year.

"I'd suffered two minor strokes, but it didn't stop me from going to hotels every night and drinking until stumps. Then I'd take a bottle of bourbon home with me," the 53-year-old Victorian father of two said.

He would keep a bottle of whiskey next to his bed, but if he couldn't afford spirits that week, he'd mix methylated spirits with soft drink.

"I couldn't keep down a morning coffee," he said. "I'd have to have alcohol to settle me for the day."

Alcohol causes the most overall harm to the Australian community, surpassing crystal methamphetamine (ice) and heroin, a new national study suggests.

The ongoing destruction of the globe's rainforests has been brought into devastating focus by the Amazonian blazes. One of the chief mainstream responses has been: "Stop eating meat."

On the face of it, that's an understandable response. Much forest destruction is caused by agriculture, mostly livestock farming. About 80% of Amazonian soya grown is for cattle feed. About 60% of the cleared land is used for pasture. Horrendous. But "Stop eating meat" is a simplistic response that ignores the bigger problem: destructive agriculture.

We've been increasingly dividing diets into plant vs animal. It's a split that fits nicely into social media virtue-signaling and current (insanely misguided) nutritional advice. It's an ideological division. Viewing this sort of compartmentalising through the prism of rainforest concerns highlights its unhelpfulness.

A mystery disease is estimated to have killed dozens of dogs in Norway in the last few days - with officials unsure what is causing the spread of the illness.

The Norwegian Food Safety Authority confirmed another six cases of dogs falling ill on Saturday, of which two had already died.

The illness has struck pets across the country from the northern province of Nordland to cities like Trondheim Bergen and Oslo, where the majority of cases have been reported.

All of those to have died experienced the same symptoms of vomiting and diarrhoea.

Autopsies of the first three dogs to have died is yet to prove what is causing the sickness, with veterinarians considering the potential for viral, bacterial, fungal and parasitic causes.

U.S. health officials are urging people to avoid e-cigarettes while the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention investigates 450 cases of lung illness and five deaths that may be linked to chemical exposure while vaping.

The cases span 33 different states, with deaths confirmed in California, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota and Oregon, according to the CDC.

The disease has not been connected to a specific e-cig device, liquid, pod or cartridge, but officials said all reported cases involve people with a history of vaping. Many of the sufferers said they had been inhaling THC, the primary element of marijuana. It's unclear whether the illness is a new phenomenon, or if cases before this year were unreported.

"We're all wondering if this is new or just newly recognized," Dr. Dana Meaney-Delman of the CDC told reporters Friday, according to the Associated Press.

New York state, which has reported 34 cases of severe lung disease, said its health department is investigating vitamin E acetate, which it found in both nicotine- and THC-based products. Vitamin E acetate is a commonly available nutritional supplement, and while it's not known to cause harm when ingested as a vitamin supplement or applied to the skin, the health effects of inhaling the oil are unclear.

People who eat vegan and vegetarian diets have a lower risk of heart disease and a higher risk of stroke, a major study suggests.

They had 10 fewer cases of heart disease and three more strokes per 1,000 people compared with the meat-eaters.

The research, published in the British Medical Journal, looked at 48,000 people for up to 18 years.

However, it cannot prove whether the effect is down to their diet or some other aspect of their lifestyle.

Welcome to GMO 2.0, a new generation of genetic modification that promises even more than the previous GM technologies. Scientists using the "second generation" of genetic manipulation technology have used gene-editing to alter the DNA of breed of cattle so that they supposedly do not grow horns. At around the same time another group of scientists claim to have injected human cells into monkeys to create chimeras, who they say have increased intelligence. Earlier this year a group of Chinese researchers claimed to have deliberately gene-edited monkey clones with a mental disturbance.

Most will remember the Chinese scientist last year who shocked the world claiming to have genetically modified human embryos to be immune to HIV infection. What was shocking was not the science, which many experts claimed was underwhelming and sloppy, but the simple fact that he had undertaken this endeavor under the radar.

Few people realized then, but this incident has brought it home, that all this is taking place almost entirely without any serious health and safety regulation, nor have the ethical implications been fully explored. GMO 2.0 makes the process of genetic modification much simpler and, as a result, much more in reach for those with less training and understanding. It really seems like we're on the precipice of home genetic modification kits, designer babies and all the other horror stories science fiction has been warning us of for decades.

Join us on this episode of Objective:Health as we discuss the implications of this new gene tech. Do we really want to be on this train?

And stay tuned for Zoya's Pet Health Segment as she tells us all about the ups and downs of pet hedgehogs.


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Two deaths in the US have now been attributed to vaping-related lung conditions, and state governments are taking actions to crack down on the types of e-cigarettes available. Here's what you need to know about this mysterious illness and the response to the outbreak.

How did these deaths occur?

In July, an Illinois resident developed a lung infection and died after using a vaping device that contained marijuana oil. Yesterday, officials in Oregon said that a resident of the state who used e-cigarettes had also died after being hospitalised for a severe lung infection. It's not clear why these respiratory problems led to the people's deaths. It could be that something either in the e-cigarette or the substances smoked through them caused serious inflammation of the lungs.

Has anyone else got ill from vaping?

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says that as of 27 August, 215 possible cases of vaping-related severe lung disease have been reported by 25 states. In addition to the deaths in Illinois and Oregon, this multistate outbreak includes people who have reported coughs, shortness of breath, chest pain, fever, fatigue, nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea. These symptoms developed over days or weeks. Some people turn up to hospital with symptoms that look like pneumonia, and have been put on ventilators or treated in intensive care units.

Here's some less-than refreshing news about soda: even sugar-free versions were associated with a higher risk of death in a study of 452,000 people in 10 countries.

The study, published Tuesday by the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that people who drank two or more glasses of soft drinks per day were more likely to die from all types of ailments, compared with people who drank less than one glass per month.

"Results of this study appear to support ongoing public-health measures to reduce the consumption of soft drinks," the researchers concluded.