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A 12-year-old schoolgirl has been left paralysed from the waist down by a mystery illness that came on 30 minutes after she was given the new anticervical cancer jab.
Washington - For years, the federal government has recommended that pregnant women and young children limit their consumption of fish to avoid exposure to potentially harmful amounts of mercury.
Now, two top consumer protection agencies are at odds on whether that advice should be reconsidered to encourage all people to eat more fish, in order to promote healthy hearts.
The Food and Drug Administration has been circulating a draft report within the government that argues the health benefits of eating fish outweigh the potential ill effects of mercury. But the Environmental Protection Agency has fired off a memo to the White House calling the 270-page FDA study "scientifically flawed and inadequate" and an "oversimplification" lacking analytical rigor.
Now, two top consumer protection agencies are at odds on whether that advice should be reconsidered to encourage all people to eat more fish, in order to promote healthy hearts.
The Food and Drug Administration has been circulating a draft report within the government that argues the health benefits of eating fish outweigh the potential ill effects of mercury. But the Environmental Protection Agency has fired off a memo to the White House calling the 270-page FDA study "scientifically flawed and inadequate" and an "oversimplification" lacking analytical rigor.
San Antonio - Taking menopause hormones for five years doubles the risk for breast cancer, according to a new analysis of a big federal study that reveals the most dramatic evidence yet of the dangers of these still-popular pills.
Even women who took estrogen and progestin pills for as little as a couple of years had a greater chance of getting cancer. And when they stopped taking them, their odds quickly improved, returning to a normal risk level roughly two years after quitting.
Collectively, these new findings are likely to end any doubt that the risks outweigh the benefits for most women.
Even women who took estrogen and progestin pills for as little as a couple of years had a greater chance of getting cancer. And when they stopped taking them, their odds quickly improved, returning to a normal risk level roughly two years after quitting.
Collectively, these new findings are likely to end any doubt that the risks outweigh the benefits for most women.
© YES! Magazine Interactivegraphic, 2008. Photo by Niko Guido, istock.
© Photo by Jade GordonCut me some lines of that white stuff I crave.
Chocoholism may no longer be a joke. A Princeton University psychologist is today presenting new evidence that sugar can be physically addictive.
Bart Hoebel, whose research focuses on behavior patterns, addiction and the functioning of the nervous system, has been studying the addictive power of sugar in rats for several years. His previous studies have demonstrated in the rodents one of commonly understood component of addiction: a pattern of increased intake followed by signs of withdrawal.
In his most recent experiments, lab rats were allowed to binge on sugar, then denied the sweet substance for a prolonged period. When it was reintroduced into their diet, they ate more sugar than they had before - behavior that will sound familiar to many dieters.
Ominously, the rats increased their consumption of alcohol after their sugar fix was cut off. They also showed extreme sensitivity to a tiny dose of amphetamine. Both findings suggest their bingeing changed the way their brains function - and not in a good way.
Long-term use of GlaxoSmithKline's Avandia and Takeda's Actos doubles the risk of bone fractures in women with type 2 diabetes, according to a study released on Wednesday. Scientists already knew the two thiazolidinedione (TZD) drugs for diabetes were associated with fractures, but the magnitude of the risk had not been evaluated.
"This study shows that these agents double the risk of fractures in women with type 2 diabetes, who are already at higher risk before taking the therapy," said Sonal Singh of North Carolina's Wake Forest University School of Medicine.
Singh and colleagues at Wake Forest, working with researchers at Britain's University of East Anglia, based their findings on a pooled analysis of 10 previous clinical studies lasting at least a year involving 14,000 patients.
"This study shows that these agents double the risk of fractures in women with type 2 diabetes, who are already at higher risk before taking the therapy," said Sonal Singh of North Carolina's Wake Forest University School of Medicine.
Singh and colleagues at Wake Forest, working with researchers at Britain's University of East Anglia, based their findings on a pooled analysis of 10 previous clinical studies lasting at least a year involving 14,000 patients.
A rare genetic abnormality found in people in an insular Amish community protects them from heart disease, a discovery that could lead to new drugs to prevent heart ailments, U.S. researchers said on Thursday.
About 5 percent of Old Order Amish people in Pennsylvania's Lancaster County have only one working copy rather than the normal two of a gene that makes a protein that slows the breakdown of triglycerides, a type of fat that circulates in the blood, the researchers wrote in the journal Science.
"People who have the mutation all have low triglycerides," said Toni Pollin of the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, who led the study.
"This gives us clues that ultimately could develop future treatments."
Triglycerides naturally disappear more quickly in these people than in people without this gene mutation.
About 5 percent of Old Order Amish people in Pennsylvania's Lancaster County have only one working copy rather than the normal two of a gene that makes a protein that slows the breakdown of triglycerides, a type of fat that circulates in the blood, the researchers wrote in the journal Science.
"People who have the mutation all have low triglycerides," said Toni Pollin of the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, who led the study.
"This gives us clues that ultimately could develop future treatments."
Triglycerides naturally disappear more quickly in these people than in people without this gene mutation.
About four in 10 U.S. adults and one in nine children are turning to unconventional medical approaches for chronic pain and other health problems, health officials said on Wednesday.
Back pain was the leading reason that Americans reported using complementary and alternative medicine techniques, followed by neck and joint pain as well as arthritis, according to the survey by the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
About 38 percent of adults used some form of complementary and alternative medicine in 2007, compared to 36 percent in 2002, the last time the government tracked at the matter.
For the first time, the survey looked at use of such medicine by children under age 18, finding that about 12 percent used it, officials said. The reasons included back pain, colds, anxiety, stress and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, according to the survey.
Back pain was the leading reason that Americans reported using complementary and alternative medicine techniques, followed by neck and joint pain as well as arthritis, according to the survey by the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
About 38 percent of adults used some form of complementary and alternative medicine in 2007, compared to 36 percent in 2002, the last time the government tracked at the matter.
For the first time, the survey looked at use of such medicine by children under age 18, finding that about 12 percent used it, officials said. The reasons included back pain, colds, anxiety, stress and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, according to the survey.
Deaths and addictions involving the opioid painkiller methadone are rising faster than those from all other prescription narcotics, says the National Drug Intelligence Center, surpassing even OxyContin and Vicodin, which are major players in America's epidemic of prescription drug addiction.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), methadone prescriptions increased 715% between 2001 to 2006. And in November 2006, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a Public Health Advisory about the dangers of methadone, following the CDC's release of abuse and death statistics.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), methadone prescriptions increased 715% between 2001 to 2006. And in November 2006, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a Public Health Advisory about the dangers of methadone, following the CDC's release of abuse and death statistics.
Scientists believe a transplant of brain cells may one day be able to reverse a common form of hearing loss.
Damage to hair cells in the inner ear due to ageing and overstimulation causes hearing problems in 10% of people worldwide.
The cell loss is irreversible, but US scientists believe it may be possible to replace them with stem cells from a region of the brain.
Damage to hair cells in the inner ear due to ageing and overstimulation causes hearing problems in 10% of people worldwide.
The cell loss is irreversible, but US scientists believe it may be possible to replace them with stem cells from a region of the brain.
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