Health & Wellness
The voice on the phone spoke with the confidence of authority: he had called to say that the people of Libby, Montana, were being screwed over once again. The culprit, however, was not the W.R. Grace & Co., whose asbestos-contaminated vermiculite mine had been the source of death and disease for these folks for most of the 20th century. This time, the anonymous caller asserted, the Environmental Protection Agency was to blame.
Atlanta, Georgia - Bucking the trend in many other wealthy industrialized nations, the United States seems to be experiencing a baby boomlet, reporting the largest number of children born in 45 years.
The nearly 4.3 million births in 2006 were mostly due to a bigger population, especially a growing number of Hispanics. That group accounted for nearly one-quarter of all U.S. births. But non-Hispanic white women and other racial and ethnic groups were having more babies, too.
The nearly 4.3 million births in 2006 were mostly due to a bigger population, especially a growing number of Hispanics. That group accounted for nearly one-quarter of all U.S. births. But non-Hispanic white women and other racial and ethnic groups were having more babies, too.
A fundamental difference in the way males and females respond to chronic liver disease at the genetic level helps explain why men are more prone to liver cancer, according to MIT researchers.
"This is the first genome-wide study that helps explain why there is such a gender effect in a cancer of a nonreproductive organ, where you wouldn't expect to see one," said Arlin Rogers, an MIT experimental pathologist and lead author of a paper that appeared last month in the journal Cancer Research.
Men develop liver cancer at twice the rate of women in the United States. In other countries, especially in Asia, the rate for men can be eight or 10 times that for women.
"This is the first genome-wide study that helps explain why there is such a gender effect in a cancer of a nonreproductive organ, where you wouldn't expect to see one," said Arlin Rogers, an MIT experimental pathologist and lead author of a paper that appeared last month in the journal Cancer Research.
Men develop liver cancer at twice the rate of women in the United States. In other countries, especially in Asia, the rate for men can be eight or 10 times that for women.
Britain's tap water should be monitored for powerful medicines after traces of cancer and psychiatric drugs were detected in samples, a report has warned.
The 100-page statement, commissioned by the drinking water watchdog, the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI), reveals that pharmaceuticals are finding their way into the water supply despite extensive purification treatments used by water companies.
Trace levels of bleomycin, a cancer chemotherapy drug, and diazepam, a sedative, have been found during tests on drinking water, the report reveals.
The 100-page statement, commissioned by the drinking water watchdog, the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI), reveals that pharmaceuticals are finding their way into the water supply despite extensive purification treatments used by water companies.
Trace levels of bleomycin, a cancer chemotherapy drug, and diazepam, a sedative, have been found during tests on drinking water, the report reveals.
The intellectual difference between the sexes is all in the mind, according to a leading psychologist who claims that men overstate how clever they are whereas woman underplay their intelligence.
Prof Adrian Furnham, of University College London, has analysed the results of 25 studies of sex differences in IQ. His overview backs the idea of what is known as the "male hubris, female humility" effect.
The studies show women tend to give significantly lower estimates than men of their own intelligence - about five IQ points - while men tend to overestimate their brain power.
"Whether men are brighter is another matter," Prof Furnham said.
Men appear to be more confident, not brighter, he says, which ''can have beneficial effects in the interview and even the examination room".
Prof Adrian Furnham, of University College London, has analysed the results of 25 studies of sex differences in IQ. His overview backs the idea of what is known as the "male hubris, female humility" effect.
The studies show women tend to give significantly lower estimates than men of their own intelligence - about five IQ points - while men tend to overestimate their brain power.
"Whether men are brighter is another matter," Prof Furnham said.
Men appear to be more confident, not brighter, he says, which ''can have beneficial effects in the interview and even the examination room".
Washington - The Supreme Court refused Monday to review a ruling that terminally ill patients have no constitutional right to be treated with experimental drugs - even if that means the patient will likely die before the medicine is approved.
Binge drinking is blamed for a 76 per cent increase in 10 years in those needing a new liver, while the demand for kidney replacements is up 55 per cent. This week, a 14-point plan will try to tackle the donor shortage.
The UK is in the grip of a chronic organ donation crisis which is set to get worse as Britain's culture of excess drives a burgeoning obesity epidemic. The gap between the numbers of suitable donor organs and patients desperately needing them is getting wider every year.
The UK is in the grip of a chronic organ donation crisis which is set to get worse as Britain's culture of excess drives a burgeoning obesity epidemic. The gap between the numbers of suitable donor organs and patients desperately needing them is getting wider every year.
Gordon Brown has thrown his weight behind a move to allow hospitals to take organs from dead patients without explicit consent.
Writing in The Sunday Telegraph, the Prime Minister says that such a facility would save thousands of lives and that he hopes such a system can start this year.
Writing in The Sunday Telegraph, the Prime Minister says that such a facility would save thousands of lives and that he hopes such a system can start this year.
The case studies are scattered around in the medical journals: a 62-year-old woman with acute psychosis; a 73-year-old man with "severe delirious psychotic features"; a woman of 47 suffering from insomnia and barely able to stand or walk; a 62-year-old woman who ruptures her Achilles tendon; a man, 75, struck with repeated seizures; a 64-year-old diabetic woman with life-threatening hypoglycemia.
All of those people had suffered the side effects of a specific class of antibiotics known as fluoroquinolones. Because they target bacteria and not our own tissues, antibiotics are often not scrutinized for side effects by the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) or manufacturers as carefully as are, say, psychiatric drugs. But in the bodies of people, cats, rats, and mice, fluoroquinolones not only kill bacteria but also appear to attach to certain brain and nerve receptors, kill tendon cells, and cause other kinds of havoc.
All of those people had suffered the side effects of a specific class of antibiotics known as fluoroquinolones. Because they target bacteria and not our own tissues, antibiotics are often not scrutinized for side effects by the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) or manufacturers as carefully as are, say, psychiatric drugs. But in the bodies of people, cats, rats, and mice, fluoroquinolones not only kill bacteria but also appear to attach to certain brain and nerve receptors, kill tendon cells, and cause other kinds of havoc.
People from different cultures use their brains differently to solve the same visual perceptual tasks, MIT researchers and colleagues report in the first brain imaging study of its kind.
Psychological research has established that American culture, which values the individual, emphasizes the independence of objects from their contexts, while East Asian societies emphasize the collective and the contextual interdependence of objects. Behavioral studies have shown that these cultural differences can influence memory and even perception. But are they reflected in brain activity patterns"
To find out, a team led by John Gabrieli, a professor at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT, asked 10 East Asians recently arrived in the United States and 10 Americans to make quick perceptual judgments while in a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanner--a technology that maps blood flow changes in the brain that correspond to mental operations.
The results are reported in the January issue of Psychological Science. Gabrieli's colleagues on the work were Trey Hedden, lead author of the paper and a research scientist at McGovern; Sarah Ketay and Arthur Aron of State University of New York at Stony Brook; and Hazel Rose Markus of Stanford University.
Psychological research has established that American culture, which values the individual, emphasizes the independence of objects from their contexts, while East Asian societies emphasize the collective and the contextual interdependence of objects. Behavioral studies have shown that these cultural differences can influence memory and even perception. But are they reflected in brain activity patterns"
To find out, a team led by John Gabrieli, a professor at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT, asked 10 East Asians recently arrived in the United States and 10 Americans to make quick perceptual judgments while in a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanner--a technology that maps blood flow changes in the brain that correspond to mental operations.
The results are reported in the January issue of Psychological Science. Gabrieli's colleagues on the work were Trey Hedden, lead author of the paper and a research scientist at McGovern; Sarah Ketay and Arthur Aron of State University of New York at Stony Brook; and Hazel Rose Markus of Stanford University.
