Health & WellnessS


Bomb

Egypt reports new human bird flu case

CAIRO, June 23 (Xinhua) -- Egypt Health Ministry on Saturday confirmed that a new bird flu case was detected in the upper Egypt, which became the 37th case of human bird flu in the country.

Red Flag

And Now The Scientific Evidence - Thimerosol and Autism

Last week in hundreds of written news articles, television segments and talk radio shows we heard that all the "scientific evidence" supports the claim that thimerosal does not cause autism. This week that evidence will finally be presented. Now, will anyone from the mainstream media be paying attention?

Health

Prescription drugs cause obesity

Thousands of people who take prescription medicines for everyday conditions are gaining large amounts of weight as an unexpected side effect, scientists have warned.

Researchers, who found that some patients were putting on up to 22lbs in a year, say that the drugs may even be contributing to the nation's rocketing obesity epidemic.

Wine

Could gene therapy help alcoholics stay on the wagon?

Struggling to give up the drink? Gene therapy might be the answer. Rats bred to crave alcohol will drink 50 per cent less for more than a month after being injected with viruses engineered to disrupt the gene for a key enzyme involved in alcohol metabolism.

Many people in east Asia react badly to alcohol because of mutations in the gene for aldehyde dehydrogenase. But these mutations also reduce the risk of succumbing to alcoholism by two-thirds or more.

Attention

Poland: Trichinellosis epidemic spreading in Szczecin

The trichinellosis epidemic, caused by infected sausage, is spreading in the city of Szczechin, northwestern Poland, said in a provincial deputy veterinarian doctor in Szczecin.

The number of people, afflicted by the disease, has topped 180, with nearly 70 of them are being hospitalised. Medics assess the state of most of them as "moderate to serious".

Light Saber

Campaign to outlaw aspartame in schools

Food Safety campaigners are calling for a ban on diet drinks and other artificially sweetened products in schools after a Wellington woman said she was poisoned by sugar-free chewing gum.

Abigail Cormack, 25, said she began suffering muscle cramps, heart palpitations, anxiety, depression and skin rashes after chewing gum that contained the artificial sweetener aspartame.

Her symptoms disappeared when she stopped her four-pack-a-day habit.

Health

A jab to halt Alzheimer's could be available within a few years

A revolutionary drug that stops Alzheimer's disease in its tracks could be available within a few years.

It could prevent people from reaching the devastating final stages of the illness, in which sufferers lose the ability to walk, talk and even swallow, and end up totally dependent on others.

The jab, which is now being tested on patients, could be in widespread use in as little as six years.

©Daily Mail

Attention

Medical Error Is The Fifth-Leading Cause Of Death In The U.S.

Millennium Research Group (MRG), the global authority on medical technology market intelligence has conducted a detailed and thorough analysis of the acute care clinical information systems (CIS) market and finds that a major driver in the US is the demand for improvement in patient safety. Medical errors are the fifth-leading cause of deaths in the US, with up to 98,000 deaths annually. According to the new report entitled US Markets for Acute Care Clinical Information Systems, hospitals are adopting CIS to help them provide adequate, timely care and reduce the frequency of preventable errors.

"Medical errors in the healthcare system arise from miscommunication, physician order transcription errors, adverse drug events, or incomplete patient medical records," says David Plow, Senior Analyst at MRG. "Generally, medical errors are caused by overcrowded, understaffed clinical areas with complex workflow patterns, and incomplete or inefficient communication between clinical areas. Through the use of a CIS, professionals within each clinical area are able to access and use information pertinent to a patient's medical profile and history. As a result, CIS can effectively help prevent errors and enhance patient safety.

Crusader

No Hiding For Child Abusers, Australia

People who shake children hard enough to cause brain damage will soon be unable to hide behind false defences in court, thanks to new UQ research.

Researchers from the University of Queensland have conducted tests on a true-to-life model of a baby to show exactly how shaking damages the infant brain.

The researchers have successfully tested a numerical model that accurately predicts the type and extent of injuries based on real brain scans from cases of alleged child abuse.

Until now, it has been difficult for doctors looking at scans to say whether brain damage in a baby was caused from shaking or from other causes such as an accidental fall or asphyxiation.

Health

US: Gallbladder removed through woman's mouth

An Oregon doctor is the first surgeon in the United States to remove a woman's gallbladder through her mouth.

Dr. Lee Swanstrom performed the surgery last month at Legacy Good Samaritan Hospital and Medical Center in Portland, Ore.

Using special endoscopic tools that include a camera, Swanstrom cut a hole in the patient's stomach to reach the gallbladder. He cut away the diseased gallbladder and pulled it through the incision and her throat and out her mouth, the Oregonian newspaper said Friday.

Swanstrom said the surgery has been performed in Brazil but this was the first time it was performed in the United States.