Health & WellnessS


Health

330 Ugandans monitored as Ebola death toll hits 22: official


Agence France-Presse
Fri, 07 Dec 2007 07:03 UTC
KAMPALA - Some 330 people are being monitored for possible Ebola infection in western Uganda, health authorities announced Thursday, as the national death toll hit 22.

But authorities faced hurdles probing the extent of the outbreak in Bundibugyo district, home to 250,000 people and epicentre of the disease, with many villagers unwilling to cooperate with medical detectives, they said.
Read More...
Bulb

The Health Industry's Secret History of Delaying the Fight Against Cancer

Christine Wenc
AlterNet
Thu, 06 Dec 2007 04:04 UTC


©n/a

In her new book, Devra Davis exposes scientists and government officials who have worked to downplay or dismiss preventable causes of cancer.
Read More...
Life Preserver

Cranberry Sauce: Good for What Ails You


Mercola.com
Thu, 06 Dec 2007 16:59 UTC


©n/a

Compounds in cranberries are able to alter E. coli bacteria so that they are unable to initiate an infection. E. coli are responsible for illnesses ranging from kidney infections, to gastroenteritis, to tooth decay.

Beneficial health effects that have long been attributed to cranberries and cranberry juice include, in particular, the ability to prevent urinary tract infections (UTIs).
Read More...
Syringe

Would you like a "flu" shot before we strap you into that plane?

Daniel Yee
Associated Press
Thu, 06 Dec 2007 16:27 UTC
After taking off their shoes, emptying their pockets and passing through the security checkpoint, travelers at some major U.S. airports can now roll up a sleeve and get a flu shot.

Comment: The idea of a herd of people lined up at security gates followed by injections and then being escorted through a winding passage and a door into a waiting chamber brings one image to mind.

©AP



Read More...
Arrow Up

First Rise in U.S. Teen Births Since '91

Mike Stobbe
Associated Press
Thu, 06 Dec 2007 05:33 UTC
ATLANTA - In a troubling reversal, the nation's teen birth rate rose for the first time in 15 years, surprising government health officials and reviving the bitter debate about abstinence-only sex education.
Read More...
Syringe

Mysterious illness attracts experts

Bryan Clapper
AlbertLeaTribune.com
Wed, 05 Dec 2007 04:40 UTC
The outbreak of a mysterious illness that has affected 11 Quality Pork Processors employees over the last year is so rare, it is attracting the attention of neurological disorder experts and national and international foundations.
Read More...
Health

Deadly Staph Infection 'Superbug' Has a Dangerous Foothold in U.S. Jails

Silja J.A. Talvi
AlterNet
Tue, 04 Dec 2007 03:43 UTC
With 19,000 deaths attributed to staph infections annually, there's cause for serious alarm. So why aren't we talking about our nightmarish prison system, the biggest incubator of them all?

Dr. Jeff Duchin, the communicable diseases chief for Seattle/King County Department of Public Health holds his soap-lathered hands in an attention-grabbing newspaper cover photo. Above his dignified image is a highly magnified picture of fuzzy bacterium. The bacterium doesn't appear to be particularly frightening, but it is. This "superbug," known as methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), has the power to disable, disfigure and kill the people who come into contact with it.
Read More...
Health

All I Want for Christmas Are Some Lead-Free Toys

Mike Shriberg
AlterNet
Wed, 05 Dec 2007 03:23 UTC
It's not just imported toys that carry harmful chemicals, but brand-name, U.S.-manufactured ones too. One organization is helping shoppers identify non-toxic toys.

Are the toys on your holiday gift list safe? Are they already on a recall list or should they be? As a parent, I am more than a little alarmed at recent developments. In August, Fischer Price recalled almost one million Chinese-made Dora the Explorer and Sesame Street character toys due to "impermissible levels of lead." Mattel followed in September with the callback of 675,000 Barbie accessory toys for the same reason.
Read More...
Health

Let's have a quieter night in: it's all in the snore

Esther Walker
The Independent
Tue, 27 Nov 2007 01:27 UTC
Snoring is a health hazard, as well as a marriage wrecker. But few sufferers know it can be cured

There's no sound quite as annoying as that of a snore; it's right up there with the noise of a jackhammer or a baby crying. Anyone who has tried to sleep near a snorer will agree that the worst part about a snore is the silence in between when you think that it might have stopped... only for it to start again.
Read More...
Bulb

Flashback Pain in the brain: It's not what you imagine


University College London
Sun, 08 Aug 2004 21:23 UTC
Researchers are one step closer to unravelling the mystery of medically unexplained pain such as chronic low back pain, which continues to baffle doctors. A study exploring the experience of pain in hypnotised volunteers has found that some types of pain which cannot be traced to a medical condition may have its origins in our brains, not in our bodies.

The study by University College London and University of Pittsburgh Medical Centre found that volunteers who felt pain as a result of hypnotic suggestion showed strikingly similar brain activity to those subjected to physical pain via pulses of heat at 49 degrees Celsius.

The study, to appear in the next issue of NeuroImage, also found that when the volunteers were asked to simply imagine that they felt the same pain, they had significantly different brain activity than under hypnotised and physical pain conditions.

Dr. David Oakley, Director of UCL's Hypnosis Unit, says: "The fact that hypnosis was able to induce a genuine painful experience suggests that some pain really can begin in our minds. People reporting this type of pain are not simply imagining it."
Read More...