Most Americans Still Not Eating Enough Fruits, Veggies
THURSDAY, Sept. 9 (HealthDay News) -- In 2000, the U.S. government set modest goals for the amount of fruit and vegetables people should eat, but a decade later the majority of Americans are not even close to reaching those thresholds, health officials said Thursday.
In fact, according to...
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Smoking Could Harm Sperm, Study Finds
THURSDAY, Sept. 9 (HealthDay News) -- Two new studies provide evidence that smoking can harm sperm - both in smoking men who may become fathers, and in sons born to women who smoked during pregnancy.
The research also suggests that both men and women who hope to conceive should kick the h...
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Decline in Adult Smoking Stalls, Alarming Experts
TUESDAY, Sept. 7 (HealthDay News) -- Although the hazards of smoking are well known, 20 percent of Americans still light up, U.S. health officials said Tuesday.
The number of adult smokers dropped between 2000 and 2005, but the decline has leveled out, according to a new report from the U...
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Heart Health Rises With Education in Rich Nations
TUESDAY, Sept. 7 (HealthDay News) -- A higher level of education is associated with reduced risk of heart disease and stroke for people who live in rich countries, but not for those in low- and middle-income nations, finds a new study.
Highly educated men in high-income countries had the...
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Low-Carb Diets Heavy on Meat May Raise Health Risks
MONDAY, Sept. 6 (HealthDay News) -- A low-carbohydrate diet that derives fats and proteins from vegetable sources rather than meats is probably healthier, new research finds.
Comparing the two types of diets over two decades, researchers found that the low-carb,...
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No Surprise: Walking, Cycling Linked to Healthier Weights
SATURDAY, Sept. 4 (HealthDay News) -- A new study confirms what seems obvious: people who live in communities where walking and cycling are common are less likely to be overweight or obese.
The researchers analyzed statistics about walking and cycling in 14 countries, and also studied dat...
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Proximity Affects Influence of Online 'Health Buddies'
THURSDAY, Sept. 2 (HealthDay News) -- When it comes to online social networking, people are more likely to change habits that might affect their health when encouraged to do so by cyber conversations with friends they already know well and with whom they are in close contact, new research suggest...
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Lower Blood Pressure May Help Sicker Kidney Patients
WEDNESDAY, Sept. 1 (HealthDay News) -- Aggressive treatment to lower high blood pressure may help preserve kidney function and prevent the need for dialysis in some black patients with chronic kidney disease.
That's the finding of a study published Sept. 2 in the New England Journal of...
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'DASH Diet' Shown to Lower Heart Attack Risk Almost 20%
TUESDAY, Aug. 31 (HealthDay News) -- Eating a diet rich in fruits and vegetables and low in saturated fats can significantly lower the risk of heart attack for people with mildly elevated blood pressure, Johns Hopkins University researchers say.
The diet they examined -- called the DASH...
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Active Lifestyle May Help Counter Obesity Genes
TUESDAY, Aug. 31 (HealthDay News) -- Exercise can reduce a person's genetic predisposition to obesity by 40 percent, finds a new English study.
Researchers looked at 20,430 people in Norwich and focused on genetic variants known to increase the risk of obesity. Most people had inherited 1...
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In Triathletes, Heart Adapts for Efficiency, Scans Show
TUESDAY, Aug. 31 (HealthDay News) -- The hearts of triathletes adapt to the rigors of training and competition by becoming more efficient, which suggests that combining endurance and resistance training may be the best way to achieve optimal heart health, researchers say.
German researche...
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Review Finds No Statin-Cancer Link
TUESDAY, Aug. 31 (HealthDay News) -- There's no evidence that popular cholesterol-lowering statins cause cancer, says a review that challenges earlier research raising concerns that the drugs may be associated with an increase in cancer and cancer-related deaths.
The findings should reass...
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Stent Implantation Linked to Blood Clot Risk in Black Patients
MONDAY, Aug. 30 (HealthDay News) -- Black patients are at increased risk of developing life-threatening blood clots after receiving a drug-coated stent to prop open narrowed arteries, U.S. researchers have found.
The new study included more than 7,200 patients w...
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Breast-Feeding May Lower Women's Risk for Type 2 Diabetes
FRIDAY, Aug. 27 (HealthDay News) -- A new study finds that mothers who don't breast-feed their children are at greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes later in life compared to those who do breast-feed.
Type 2 diabetes occurs when the body's cells gradually lose their sensitivity to in...
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Older Diabetes Patients Still Sexually Active, Study Finds
FRIDAY, Aug. 27 (HealthDay News) -- Most older adults with diabetes are sexually active but the disease does cause some problems with intimacy, a new study found.
U.S. researchers surveyed 1,993 people, aged 57 to 85, and found that nearly 70 percent of partnered men with diabetes and 62...
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Record Heat Requires Exercise Precautions
THURSDAY, Aug. 26 (HealthDay News) -- Autumn may be waiting in the wings, but the continuing summer heat and humidity means that you need to be careful when exercising outdoors.
"It's great to get outside and exercise before the cold weather sets in, but this year's record heat makes it...
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Widely Used Plastics Chemical Linked to Testosterone Boost
THURSDAY, Aug. 26 (HealthDay News) -- Exposure to the plastics chemical bisphenol A (BPA) can affect men's testosterone levels, a new study has found.
BPA is used in a large number of consumer products, including food and drink containers. A number of countries have moved to ban the use o...
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Initial Savings May Hide True Cost of Prostate Cancer Care
MONDAY, Aug. 23 (HealthDay News) -- The initial treatment given to prostate cancer patients has a major impact on short- and long-term costs of care, a new study has found.
For example, while some may opt for an initial treatment that is less expensive in the short-term, the long-term cos...
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Green, Leafy Vegetables Linked to Lower Type 2 Diabetes Risk
FRIDAY, Aug. 20 (HealthDay News) -- A new analysis of existing research suggests that eating more green, leafy vegetables can significantly reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, but more study is needed.
An estimated 6.4 percent of people in the world have diabetes, and the rates...
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Health Tip: Make Time for Healthy Meals
(HealthDay News) -- Dinnertime is often rushed, and it may seem that there's little time to prepare a healthy meal for the family.
The American Academy of Pediatrics suggests how to prepare healthy meals, despite a hectic schedule:
Try to plan and cook upcoming meals when y...
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Kidneys From Dead Patients as Durable as Ones From Those Deemed Brain-Dead
THURSDAY, Aug. 19 (HealthDay News) -- A new British study finds that transplanted kidneys from patients whose hearts have stopped beating perform just as well as those from patients who are brain-dead but still alive.
Surgeons have been concerned that kidneys from patients whose hearts ha...
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Testing of Brothers May Boost Family's Prostate Cancer Rates
THURSDAY, Aug. 19 (HealthDay News) -- Men who have a brother with prostate cancer are more likely than other men to be diagnosed with the disease, but the reason may have more to do with greater surveillance than genetics, a new study suggests.
Swedish researchers analyzed data from 22,51...
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Reminders Spur Hospital Staff to Remove Patient Catheters
WEDNESDAY, Aug. 18 (HealthDay News) -- Systems that remind hospital staff when to remove catheters from patients can reduce the rate of catheter-associated urinary tract infections by 52 percent, a new study has found.
Catheter-associated urinary tract infection...
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Less Invasive Biopsies Gain Favor
TUESDAY, Aug. 17 (HealthDay News) -- Less invasive biopsies done with the help of imaging to guide the needle now make up the majority of biopsies being done, a new study finds.
In fact, the use of these minimally invasive biopsies increased from 59 percent to 67 percent of all biopsies b...
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When Doctors Admit Mistakes, Fewer Malpractice Suits Result, Study Says
TUESDAY, Aug. 17 (HealthDay News) -- When doctors make mistakes, admitting the error, saying "I'm sorry" and offering compensation may go a long way toward preventing malpractice lawsuits, new research shows.
In 2001, University of Michigan Health System launched a program encouraging he...
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Weight-Loss Surgery May Cut Type 2 Diabetes Medication Use
MONDAY, Aug. 16 (HealthDay News) -- Bariatric weight-loss surgery in obese people with type 2 diabetes can have an unexpected, yet positive side effect -- nearly 3 out of 4 patients in one study were able to stop taking their insulin and other diabetes medications within six months of surgery.
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FDA Approves Emergency Contraceptive
FRIDAY, Aug. 13 (HealthDay News) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved the ella (ulipristal acetate) emergency contraceptive pill, which prevents pregnancy if taken within five days of unprotected intercourse or contraceptive failure.
The prescription-only drug, whic...
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A Good Doctor's Visit Starts With a Little Homework
FRIDAY, Aug. 13 (HealthDay News) -- Whether buying a toothbrush or a new car, it's become routine for shoppers to research before buying so they know all the options and can strike the best possible bargain.
Far less often, though, do people apply those tactics to one of their most import...
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Docs Shying Away From Drug That May Prevent Prostate Cancer
THURSDAY, Aug. 12 (HealthDay News) -- Even though a major study found that the drug finasteride could reduce the risk of prostate cancer by 25 percent, it is still not being widely prescribed for that purpose, Veterans Administration researchers report.
Under the name Proscar, finasteride...
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Health Tip: Controlling Urinary Incontinence
(HealthDay News) -- Urinary incontinence is the inability to control the urge to urinate. It tends to become more of a problem as people age.
The womenshealth.gov Web site suggests these potential methods for controlling urinary incontinence:
Performing exercises to strength...
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Monitoring of Kidney Health Urged for Injection Drug Users
THURSDAY, Aug. 12 (HealthDay News) -- Injection drug users, particularly those with HIV, need to be carefully monitored for poor kidney function and considered for medical treatments when appropriate, researchers report.
In a new study, U.S. scientists analyzed the presence of proteinuria...
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Lithium of No Benefit in ALS, Study Finds
WEDNESDAY, Aug. 11 (HealthDay News) -- A new study appears to dash hopes that the psychiatric drug lithium can benefit patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
The investigation involving 171 people with ALS was stopped early, in November 2009, because of high dropout rates from...
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Health Tip: Eat Lots of Fiber
(HealthDay News) -- Eating a high-fiber diet can help control constipation and maintain a healthy body weight.
The U.S. National Library of Medicine mentions these foods that are high in fiber:
Uncooked carrots, lettuce, broccoli, sweet potatoes and cooked asparagus.
<...
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Food Labels Lead to Healthy Food Choices
MONDAY, Aug. 9 (HealthDay News) -- People who read food labels have healthier diets than those who don't pay attention to such information, a new study shows.
Researchers analyzed data from the 2005-06 U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, and found that 61.6 percent of r...
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Wider Waist May Raise Death Risk Later in Life
MONDAY, Aug. 9 (HealthDay News) -- Among middle-aged and older adults, having a large waist can significantly raise the risk for dying prematurely, new research indicates.
The association appears to apply to both men and women, the study authors noted. What's more, having a normal weight...
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Depression Linked to Slow Healing of Diabetic Foot Ulcers
FRIDAY, Aug. 6 (HealthDay News) -- The healing of diabetes-related foot ulcers is affected by patients' coping styles and their levels of depression, new research shows.
The study included 93 diabetic patients with foot ulcers who were monitored for 24 weeks. The size of each patient's ul...
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Statins, Painkillers May Upset PSA Test Results
FRIDAY, Aug. 6 (HealthDay News) -- Some of the most widely prescribed drugs in the United States may skew results of prostate cancer screening tests, possibly causing errors in diagnoses, a new study finds.
A prostate cancer diagnosis is typically based on an elevated PSA (prostate-speci...
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Pre-Dialysis Procedure Often Delayed in Poorer Communities
THURSDAY, Aug. 5 (HealthDay News) -- Kidney disease patients in poor communities are less likely than patients in wealthier areas to receive optimal care before they start dialysis, a U.S. study has found.
Researchers analyzed data from 28,135 patients treated at 1,127 dialysis centers in...
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Using Multiple Tobacco Products Ups Hazards: CDC
THURSDAY, Aug. 5 (HealthDay News) -- People who smoke cigarettes and also use other forms of tobacco have higher levels of nicotine addiction, find it more difficult to quit using tobacco, and are at greatly increased risk for tobacco-related health problems such as cancer, heart disease and stro...
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Poll Shows Rise in 'Cyberchondriacs'
WEDNESDAY, Aug. 4 (HealthDay News) -- The debate about health care reform may be one reason why the number of "cyberchondriacs" in the United States increased from 154 million last year to 175 million this year, a new survey suggests.
The term "cyberchondriacs" refers to people who use t...
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Weight Gain Eroding Americans' Quality of Life
TUESDAY, Aug. 3 (HealthDay News) -- As Americans' average weight keeps rising, their quality of life is falling, according to new research.
The nationwide study found that the number of healthy days per year that Americans lose due to obesity has more than doubled over the past two decade...
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Low Carb-, Low-Fat Diets Tied for Long-Term Weight Loss
MONDAY, Aug. 2 (HealthDay News) -- If you're overweight, should you cut carbs or fat?
A new two-year study suggests that it may not matter in the long run: When combined with extensive guidance about eating and exercise, people lost about the same amount of weight whether they were on an...
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Meat Compounds May Boost Bladder Cancer Risk
WEDNESDAY, July 28 (HealthDay News) -- Certain compounds used in meat processing may increase the risk of bladder cancer, a new study from the National Institutes of Health and the AARP shows.
U.S. researchers analyzed data from about 300,000 men and women, aged 50 to 71, from eight state...
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More Women to Get Health Insurance Under Affordable Care Act
FRIDAY, July 30 (HealthDay News) -- The new Affordable Care Act is likely to help 30 million women obtain better health insurance or coverage if they don't already have any, a new report shows.
Under the new provisions, which are already taking effect, 15 million uninsured women will gain...
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Why Cancer Screening Campaigns Can Backfire
FRIDAY, July 30 (HealthDay News) -- Health campaigns that highlight the problem of low screening rates for prostate cancer to promote such screenings seem to have an unintended effect: They discourage men from undergoing a prostate exam, a new German study suggests.
The finding, reported...
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Doctors, Patients Rarely on Same Page
THURSDAY, July 29 (HealthDay News) -- Doctors and patients are often out of sync with each other when it comes to what patients believe about their illnesses, including to what extent the patient is to blame and what's the best way to manage the problem, new research shows.
The underlying...
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Experts Support FDA Panel's Backing of New Blood Thinner
THURSDAY, July 29 (HealthDay News) -- Following a federal health panel's endorsement of the new blood thinner Brilinta Wednesday, cardiologists say the drug could be a welcome addition to treatments for heart patients.
In a 7-to-1 vote, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Cardiovascul...
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Complications From Weight-Loss Surgery 'Relatively Low'
TUESDAY, July 27 (HealthDay News) -- Weight-loss surgery, also known as bariatric surgery, in the state of Michigan has a relatively low rate of serious complications, a new study suggests.
The lowest rates of complications are associated with surgeons and hos...
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To Help Keep Weight Off, Turn to the Web
TUESDAY, July 27 (HealthDay News) -- Worried about whether the weight you just lost will stay lost? Seeking out the right Web site might help, a new study suggests.
People who shed pounds and then consistently logged on to a specially designed Internet site for weight maintenance were b...
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Most Men With Low-Risk Prostate Cancer Treated Aggressively, Study Shows
MONDAY, July 26 (HealthDay News) -- Too many men with low-risk prostate cancers, those whose level of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is normal or below normal, still receive aggressive treatment, a new study shows.
Recent evidence has shown that among older men with low-risk prostate can...
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Health Tip: Reduce Your Sugar Consumption
(HealthDay News) -- Sugar added to foods makes them taste sweeter, but a healthy diet can sour from too much of it.
The American Academy of Family Physicians suggests how you can limit added sugar:
Cut back on candy, desserts, baked goodies and other sweet treats.
S...
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Study Suggests Painters Face Increased Risk of Bladder Cancer
TUESDAY, July 20 (HealthDay News) -- Professional painters may face an increased risk for bladder cancer and that risk seems to rise with the number of years they work, a new study suggests.
Researchers analyzed nearly 3,000 cases of bladder cancer in professional painters that were repor...
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Study Suggests Higher Cancer Rate Among IVF Babies
MONDAY, July 19 (HealthDay News) -- Children conceived using in vitro fertilization have a higher risk of developing cancer than do children who were conceived naturally, new research shows.
While the study found the risk of cancer was increased by 42 percent for Swedish youngsters concei...
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U.S. Health Reform Starts to Take Hold
FRIDAY, July 16 (HealthDay News) -- Seniors whose drug costs push them into Medicare's "donut hole" and parents whose children are uninsurable due to pre-existing health conditions are among the first Americans to see tangible effects of the nation's historic health reform law.
The public...
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Diabetics Urged to Confer With Their Doctor About Avandia Use
THURSDAY, July 15 (HealthDay News) -- One day after a U.S. advisory panel recommended that the controversial diabetes drug Avandia stay on the market -- albeit with added restrictions -- several medical organizations are urging patients not to change their medications before consulting a health-c...
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No-Shame Programs May Appeal to Obese
THURSDAY, July 15 (HealthDay News) -- Obese people prefer lifestyle change programs to help them shed excess pounds, rather than strategies that focus only on weight loss, a new study finds.
Australian researchers conducted a telephone survey of 142 obese people and asked their opinions a...
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Health Tip: Take Steps Toward a Healthier Lifestyle
(HealthDay News) -- Everyone wants to live a healthier lifestyle, but where do you begin?
The American Diabetes Association says you can't do everything at once. It suggests taking these small steps toward a healthier you:
Make just one change at a time, and only when you're...
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Sleep Plays Important Role in Chronic Disease: Report
WEDNESDAY, July 14 (HealthDay News) -- Too much or too little sleep may increase your risk of developing chronic conditions such as obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease, research shows.
"Seven to eight hours of sleep each night appears to be the ideal amount t...
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Avandia Heart Risks Buried by Drug Company: Report
TUESDAY, July 13 (HealthDay News) -- The pharmacy company that makes Avandia knew more than a decade ago that the blockbuster diabetes drug caused an increased risk of heart problems but covered up the information, according to a report published Tuesday in The New York Times.
In a...
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History of Pregnancy-Linked Diabetes Helps Predict Its Return
MONDAY, July 12 (HealthDay News) -- Women who had gestational diabetes in their first and second pregnancies are at greatly increased risk for the condition in future pregnancies, a new study finds.
Gestational diabetes can lead to early delivery, cesarean section and type 2 diabetes in t...
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Health Tip: Taming Irritable Bowels
(HealthDay News) -- If you suffer from irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), you know how discomforting it can be. Sometimes it's so disabling that you're unable to work, go to social events, or even travel short distances.
The disorder, which interferes with the normal functions of the large...
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Health Tip: Managing Dietary Fat
(HealthDay News) -- Some fats are an essential part of a balanced diet, but there are "good" fats and "bad" fats.
The American Academy of Family Physicians suggests how to manage your consumption of fat:
Avoid fast foods that contain unhealthy trans fats.
Don't eat...
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Heart Beat Could Provide Marker for Kidney Health: Study
THURSDAY, July 8 (HealthDay News) -- A person's heart beat may offer insight into their future kidney health, a new study suggests.
A high resting heart rate and low beat-to-beat heart rate variability were noted in study patients with an increased risk for kidney disease, according to a...
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Doctor-Patient E-Mails Are a Healthy Addition, Research Shows
WEDNESDAY, July 7 (HealthDay News) -- Patients with diabetes or hypertension or both who communicated with their doctors via e-mail got better care and better health outcomes, new California research contends.
The improvements as a result of the e-mail exchanges included such measures as...
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Monitoring Blood Pressure at Home May Help Keep It Low
WEDNESDAY, July 7 (HealthDay News) -- With proper training, people with high blood pressure may be able to control it more effectively on their own at home than through conventional methods, British researchers contend.
Through telemonitoring of their blood pressure and adjusting their me...
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Changes in Fat Cells May Pave Way for Type 2 Diabetes
TUESDAY, July 6 (HealthDay News) -- Cellular changes in fat tissue play a major role in the development of type 2 diabetes, a new study shows.
University of Cincinnati researchers found that these changes in fat cells -- not the immune system, as previously thought -- are linked to the "h...
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Tight Blood Pressure Control Doesn't Help All Diabetics: Study
TUESDAY, July 6 (HealthDay News) -- Lower may not be better when it concerns blood pressure levels in type 2 diabetics who also have heart disease.
New research finds that patients with diabetes and coronary artery disease did not have fewer strokes or heart attacks, and actually were mor...
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Drugs Like Viagra Linked to Higher Rates of STDs
MONDAY, July 5 (HealthDay News) -- Middle-aged and older men who take erectile dysfunction drugs such as Viagra are more likely to have sexually transmitted diseases, a new study of more than 1.4 million men finds.
Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital and the University of Southe...
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Drug May Shrink Fibroids, Preserve Fertility
THURSDAY, July 1 (HealthDay News) -- Preliminary research suggests that a new drug treatment shrinks uterine fibroids and helps women with the non-cancerous tumors retain their fertility.
Uterine fibroids, which cause abdominal pain and heavy menstrual bleeding, are a leading cause of hys...
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Testosterone Gel Could Raise Heart Risks in Frail, Older Men
WEDNESDAY, June 30 (HealthDay News) -- Older men in poor health who use testosterone gel to boost their mobility may raise their odds of high blood pressure or heart attack, new research suggests.
The problems observed were concerning enough to cause the researchers to put an early stop t...
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Community-Based Diabetes Prevention Program Promising: Study
TUESDAY, June 29 (HealthDay News) -- A community-based diabetes prevention program helps people lose weight and lower blood sugar as effectively as individual counseling from health professionals, finds a new study.
Participants in the Healthy Living Partnerships to Prevent Diabetes study...
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Taking Public Transit Might Help You Stay Slim
TUESDAY, June 29 (HealthDay News) -- When cities create or improve light rail public transit systems, citizens' waistlines may benefit, a new study shows.
By getting people out of their cars and having them walk to and from transit stations, calories get burned, the researchers noted....
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Statins May Lower Rates of Prostate Cancer Recurrence
MONDAY, June 28 (HealthDay News) -- A new study suggests that men who take the cholesterol-lowering drugs known as statins are a third less likely to suffer from recurrences of prostate cancer.
But don't demand that your doctor prescribe a statin -- drugs such as Crestor, Lipitor and Zoc...
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Artificial Pancreas Continues to Show Promise
SUNDAY, June 27 (HealthDay News) -- New research suggests that artificial pancreas technology can help diabetics gain greater blood sugar control overnight, even when they have eaten a big meal or had wine for dinner.
The promise of this emerging technology is to free diabetics from the n...
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More Genes Implicated in Type 2 Diabetes
SUNDAY, June 27 (HealthDay News) -- Scientists have located 12 new genes that seem to be linked with a predisposition for type 2 diabetes, bringing the total number of genetic locations implicated in the condition to 38.
At this point, the findings don't mean much for patients or doctors...
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Outdated Meds Pose Problems If Kept or Tossed
FRIDAY, June 25 (HealthDay News) -- It's a common find in medicine cabinets and bathroom drawers: a prescription vial containing years-old medication or an over-the-counter cold remedy that's embarrassingly past its sell-by date.
But unless they're spring-cleaning, many people don't bothe...
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U.S. Report Finds Too Few Clinics Target Diabetes, Obesity
THURSDAY, June 24 (HealthDay News) -- Too few local health clinics in the United States offer diabetes screening or obesity prevention programs, according to a nationwide study from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The clinics, which tend to serve poor clients, need to...
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Drug Helps Tackle Type 2 Diabetes in New Way, Study Says
THURSDAY, June 24 (HealthDay News) -- A new drug, the first in its class, gives added blood sugar control to people with type 2 diabetes who are already taking the glucose-lowering medication metformin.
The new agent, dapagliflozin, which also helped patients lose weight, is novel in that...
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Mouse Study Sheds Light on Diabetes-Heart Disease Link
WEDNESDAY, June 23 (HealthDay News) -- A potential link between diabetes and a heightened risk of heart disease and sudden cardiac death has been spotted by researchers studying mice.
In the new study, published in the June 24 issue of the journal Neuron, the investigators found th...
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Gaining Weight Later in Life Ups Diabetes Risk
TUESDAY, June 22 (HealthDay News) -- Gaining weight when you're over age 50, especially around the waist, significantly increases your risk of type 2 diabetes, new research suggests.
Compared to people whose weight remained stable after age 50, people who gained the most weight after 50 (...
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Age, Race May Affect Type 2 Diabetes Screening Results
MONDAY, June 21 (HealthDay News) -- Despite its endorsement last year by the American Diabetes Association as an effective way to diagnose type 2 diabetes, new research out of Singapore suggests that the hemoglobin A1c blood test may not accurately identify the disease among elderly Asians....
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Plastics Chemical BPA Tied to Ovarian Cysts
MONDAY, June 21 (HealthDay News) -- There may be more troubling news about the ubiquitous plastics chemical bisphenol A (BPA): Women with polycystic ovary syndrome have higher levels of the chemical in their bloodstream, a study finds.
The ovaries of women with polycystic ovary syndrome (...
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Vitamin D Deficiency Linked to Diabetes, Metabolic Syndrome in Studies
SATURDAY, June 19 (HealthDay News) -- A pair of new studies has uncovered evidence that low levels of vitamin D could lead to poor blood sugar control among diabetics and increase the risk of developing metabolic syndrome among seniors.
Both findings are slated to be presented Saturday at...
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'Watchful Waiting' Often Best Strategy for Slow-Moving Prostate Cancer
FRIDAY, June 18 (HealthDay News) -- For patients with prostate cancer that has a low risk of progression, active surveillance, also known as "watchful waiting," may be a suitable treatment option, according to a large-scale study from Sweden.
The issue of how (or whether) to treat localiz...
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FDA Panel Weighs OK of 'Female Viagra'
FRIDAY, June 18 (HealthDay News) -- A U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory panel on Friday was considering whether to approve a drug dubbed the "female Viagra" for premenopausal women with a diminished sex drive.
Called flibanserin, the drug is related to the antidepressant family a...
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Patients Could Use More Help Quitting Smoking
FRIDAY, June 18 (HealthDay News) -- Many U.S. health professionals fail to offer programs, plans or prescriptions to help patients quit smoking, finds a new study.
Researchers surveyed different types of health care providers -- primary care and emergency physicians, psychiatrists, nurses...
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Jevtana Approved for Advanced Prostate Cancer
THURSDAY, June 17 (HealthDay News) -- The chemotherapy drug Jevtana (cabazitaxel) has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat advanced prostate cancer that worsens despite use of a standard drug therapy, docetaxel.
In some cases of prostate cancer, the male hormone...
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Low Testosterone in Older Men Less Common Than Thought
WEDNESDAY, June 16 (HealthDay News) -- In describing a set of concrete symptoms for "male menopause" for the first time, British researchers have also determined that only about 2 percent of men aged 40 to 80 suffer from the condition, far less than previously thought.
Male menopause, al...
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Scientists Tease Out Links Between Diabetes, Cancer
WEDNESDAY, June 16 (HealthDay News) -- People with diabetes may have something else to be concerned about -- an increased risk of cancer, according to a new consensus report produced by experts recruited jointly by the American Cancer Society and the American Diabetes Association.
Diabet...
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Key Blood Sugar Test Seems to Differ By Race
TUESDAY, June 15 (HealthDay News) -- The hemoglobin A1C test is supposed to give doctors a sense of diabetics' long-term blood sugar levels, but new research suggests the test may have different results depending on race, even if daily blood sugar levels are the same.
What's more, those d...
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'Good' HDL Cholesterol Now Tied to Lower Cancer Risk
MONDAY, June 14 (HealthDay News) -- Higher blood levels of HDL cholesterol, the "good" kind that protects against heart disease, are also strongly associated with a lower risk of cancer, a new review of studies suggests.
"For about a 10-point increase of HDL, there is a reduced risk of ca...
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Brown Rice Bests White for Diabetes Prevention
MONDAY, June 14 (HealthDay News) -- Substituting brown rice or another whole grain for white rice can help reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes, new research suggests.
Five or more servings of white rice a week increased the risk of type 2 diabetes by 17 percent, according to the study, w...
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Drug That Stops Bleeding Could Save Lives
MONDAY, June 14 (HealthDay News) -- A drug commonly used to prevent excess bleeding in surgeries could keep thousands of people from bleeding to death after trauma, a new study suggests.
The drug, tranexamic acid (TXA) is cheap, widely available around the world and easily administered,...
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Health Tip: Packing Prescriptions for Travel
(HealthDay News) -- If you're planning to pack prescription drugs when traveling by air, there are steps you can take to avoid trouble taking them on board.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control offers this advice:
Put your prescription medications in your carry-on bag, rathe...
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After Vasectomy, Single Test Might Give All-Clear
FRIDAY, June 11 (HealthDay News) -- A single semen test three months after a man's vasectomy may be enough for him to get the all-clear, a new study finds.
Researchers analyzed semen samples from a group of men three months after they had a vasectomy and found that 51 percent of the sampl...
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Health Tip: Coping With Stress
(HealthDay News) -- Who isn't stressed these days? Whether it's your job, family, finances, social life, or illness, no one is immune.
Learning to manage the stress in your life can help you live healthier and happier; enjoy your job, family and friends more; and focus your energies on th...
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Least Healthy More Apt to Think Genes Explain Disease Risk
FRIDAY, June 11 (HealthDay News) -- A new survey shows that the recent deluge of scientific discoveries of links between specific genes and many chronic diseases might be providing the least healthy people with something they don't need: an excuse for their medical woes.
"We wanted to kn...
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Common Cancer Drug Tied to Kidney Damage
THURSDAY, June 10 (HealthDay News) -- The widely used cancer drug bevacizumab (Avastin) is associated with a more than fourfold increased risk of severe urinary protein loss, a new review finds.
This major loss of protein from the kidney into the urine can lead to significant kidney damag...
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Exercise Helps Reduce Falls in Young and Old
THURSDAY, June 10 (HealthDay News) -- Regular exercise reduces the risk of falls in both young and old, a new study shows.
Falls are a major hazard in the United States, with about 19,000 people dying from them each year and an estimated 8 million seeking treatment in emergency rooms annu...
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Not Smoking After Bone Surgery May Speed Healing
THURSDAY, June 10 (HealthDay News) -- Smokers recover better from surgery to repair a broken bone if they quit smoking, according to Swedish researchers.
The new study included daily smokers who underwent emergency surgery for an acute fracture and were offered a smoking cessation program...
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Quitting Smoking Before Pregnancy Could Save Babies' Lives
THURSDAY, June 10 (HealthDay News) -- Women who quit smoking before they get pregnant may save their babies' lives, says a new study of more than 3 million births.
Looking at the data, researchers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that smoking during pregnancy...
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Female Caregivers Face a Heavier Toll: Study
TUESDAY, June 8 (HealthDay News) -- A new Canadian review finds that adult daughters suffer more than adult sons from poor relationships with ailing and aging parents who need their care.
"Adult daughters place greater emphasis on their relationships with their parents, and when those rel...
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40-Year-Old Gout Drug Shows Promise Against Angina
MONDAY, June 7 (HealthDay News) -- A new British study suggests that a standard treatment for gout, already in use for four decades, could be an effective and less expensive alternative to conventional drugs targeting chronic stable angina.
Following work with 65 heart disease patients be...
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Glucose 'Tattoo' Could Track Blood Sugar Levels for Diabetics
FRIDAY, June 4 (HealthDay News) -- In the future, people with diabetes may be able to monitor their blood sugar levels using a glucose "tattoo."
This new type of continuous glucose monitor relies on fluorescent nanoparticle ink injected under the skin to detect blood sugar levels with a w...
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Wii Games Can Get Seniors Moving
FRIDAY, June 4 (HealthDay News) -- Certain kinds of video games -- like Nintendo's Wii Sports -- may help overweight seniors become more physically active and burn calories, new research suggests.
Although not an improvement on real-life gaming and sports activity, the study team found th...
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1 in 4 Patients Undergoes Revolving-Door Hospitalizations
THURSDAY, June 3 (HealthDay News) -- About one-quarter of all U.S. hospital patients are readmitted over a two-year period for the same conditions that led to their original hospitalization, a new study finds.
These revolving-door figures came from the federal Agency for Healthcare Resear...
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Black Men at Greater Risk of Aggressive Prostate Tumors: Study
WEDNESDAY, June 2 (HealthDay News) -- Black men are already known to be at higher risk of developing prostate cancer than white men, but now a new study reports that they also appear to be more likely to develop aggressive forms of the disease.
Researchers analyzed biopsies from 131 men -...
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Clean House Linked to Better Fitness
WEDNESDAY, June 2 (HealthDay News) -- People with tidy homes are more likely to be physically active than those with messy dwellings, new findings suggest.
Indiana University researchers assessed the physical activity levels of 998 residents of St. Louis, aged 49 to 65, who were participa...
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New Tests for Prostate Cancer Might Bring More Certainty
WEDNESDAY, June 2 (HealthDay News) -- Two new tests promise to cut down on the number of biopsies now taken from men suspected of having prostate cancer, researchers report.
The tests -- still in the early stages of development -- might also offer better clues about which cancers require...
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Size of Prostate Tumor Linked to Patients' Weight
WEDNESDAY, June 2 (HealthDay News) -- Tumor size among prostate cancer patients appears to be linked to patient weight, with heavier men having larger tumors, a new study reveals.
The finding stems from work involving more than 3,300 prostate cancer patients with an average age of 60 who...
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Being Young and Sedentary Raises Hypertension Risk Later
TUESDAY, June 1 (HealthDay News) -- Low levels of physical activity and fitness significantly increase the risk of developing high blood pressure, a 20-year study of young adults shows.
The study, released online June 1 in advance of publication in the July print issue of the journal H...
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Dog Sniffs Out Prostate Cancer in Small Study
TUESDAY, June 1 (HealthDay News) -- New research suggests that dogs can sniff out signs of prostate cancer in human urine, adding to the ongoing debate over the disease-detecting powers of man's best friend.
Some scientists have questioned similar reports of dogs with such diagnostic po...
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Dual Therapy Best for Preventing Bleeding After Heart Procedures
TUESDAY, June 1 (HealthDay News) -- The risk of bleeding in patients undergoing procedures such as balloon angioplasty and stent implants to open blocked arteries can be lowered best through the combined use of vessel-closing devices and a blood thinner, researchers say.
Bleeding is a com...
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Health Tip: Treating Kidney Stones
(HealthDay News) -- Kidney stones are usually small crystallized masses that pass through the ureters -- the tubes that allow urine to empty into the bladder. They can lead to significant lower back pain and painful urination.
The U.S. National Library of Medicine says possible treatment...
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Tracking PSA Test Results Over Time Gives Clues to Cancer
TUESDAY, June 1 (HealthDay News) -- Doctors could do a better job of assessing the severity of prostate cancer by analyzing changes in prostate-specific antigen(PSA) blood tests over time, a new study suggests.
Researchers from Innsbruck, Austria, report that the rate of increase in PSA,...
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TV Food Ads Promote Bad Diets
TUESDAY, June 1 (HealthDay News) -- If you let TV ads determine what you eat, you'll end up with huge amounts of fat and sugar but precious few vegetables and fruits in your diet.
That's the finding of a new study that analyzes what would happen if a person were to eat 2,000 calories of f...
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Value of Monitoring Low-Risk Prostate Cancer Assessed
TUESDAY, June 1 (HealthDay News) -- New research is offering more insight into the value of closely monitoring patients who appear to have low-risk forms of prostate cancer instead of immediately treating them.
There's been a debate in recent years over whether doctors are treating prosta...
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Dangers Lurk in Impotence Drugs Sold on Web
MONDAY, May 31 (HealthDay News) -- Internet-based companies market them, men continue to buy them and experts continue to warn of the dangers of counterfeit drugs for erectile dysfunction.
A new study, conducted in South Korea and slated for presentation Monday at the American Urological...
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Prostate Cancer Vaccine Shows Few Side Effects
MONDAY, May 31 (HealthDay News)-- The newly approved therapeutic prostate cancer vaccine, Provenge, is safe and has few side effects, a new study finds.
In April, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the vaccine for use in men with advanced prostate cancer who had failed hormone...
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Sexual, Urinary Health Boosted in Exercisers, Nonsmokers
MONDAY, May 31 (HealthDay News) -- For people who need more reasons to start exercising and steer clear of smoking, new research finds that moving around and rejecting cigarettes can improve urinary health in women and sexual health in men.
In one study, researchers surveyed more than 2,0...
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Club Drug 'Special K' Could Leave Users Incontinent
SUNDAY, May 30 (HealthDay News) -- Long-term abuse of the recreational drug ketamine, often called "Special K" by the young partygoers who use it, is now linked to a heightened risk for pelvic pain and urinary incontinence.
The finding is based on a 2009 survey conducted by a team of res...
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Frequent Urination at Night Linked to Raised Death Risk
SUNDAY, May 30 (HealthDay News) -- People who wake up frequently during the night to urinate are at an increased risk of death even after accounting for chronic conditions that are known to cause the problem, two new studies show.
The findings, scheduled to be presented Sunday at the Amer...
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Radiation for Prostate Cancer May Boost Fracture Risk
SUNDAY, May 30 (HealthDay News) -- A new study suggests that prostate cancer patients who undergo three-dimensional external-beam radiation therapy may be at increased risk of breaking their hips, but they can take action to strengthen their bones after treatment.
Doctors already know tha...
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Vitamins Fail to Protect Men Against Bladder Cancer
SUNDAY, May 30 (HealthDay News) -- New research suggests that vitamins may do nothing to protect men against bladder cancer and might even raise the risk of another type of cancer.
In one study examining vitamin use, researchers analyzed more than 10,000 questionnaires that men filled out...
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Bursts of Vigorous Activity Appear to Be a 'Stress-Buffer'
FRIDAY, May 28 (HealthDay News) -- Short bouts of exercise can go a long way to reduce the impact stress has on cell aging, new research reveals.
Vigorous physical activity amounting to as little as 14 minutes daily, three day per week would suffice for the protective effect to kick in, a...
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Caring for Diabetic Pets Helps Humans Get Healthier
FRIDAY, May 28 (HealthDay News) -- Daniela Trnka had been living with type 1 diabetes for almost 20 years when she noticed telltale signs of the disease in her Siberian Husky, Cooper. He was thirsty, urinating often and at times, lethargic.
So she took out her blood sugar test kit, opened...
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Experts Advise At-Risk Diabetics to Begin Daily Aspirin Later
THURSDAY, May 27 (HealthDay News) -- Three major medical groups have pushed upwards the recommended age at which diabetics should start taking low-dose aspirin to prevent a first heart attack or stroke.
According to a joint statement by the American Heart Association, the American Diabete...
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Fit People Release More Fat-Burning Molecules During Exercise
THURSDAY, May 27 (HealthDay News) -- A new study provides tantalizing clues about how exercise helps ward off heart disease and other ills: Fit people have more fat-burning molecules in their blood than less fit people after exercise.
And the very fittest are even more efficient, on a bi...
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Healthier Fats Replacing Trans Fats, Study Finds
WEDNESDAY, May 26 (HealthDay News) -- Fears that removing harmful trans fats from foods would open the door for manufacturers and restaurants to add other harmful fats to foods seem to be unfounded, a new study finds.
A team from Harvard School of Public Health analyzed 83 reformulated pr...
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Many Supplements Said to Contain Toxins, Make False Health Claims
WEDNESDAY, May 26 (HealthDay News) -- A Congressional investigation of dietary herbal supplements has found trace amounts of lead, mercury and other heavy metals in nearly all products tested, plus myriad illegal health claims made by supplement manufacturers, The New York Times reported W...
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Rare Cases of Liver Damage Tied to Weight-Loss Drug
WEDNESDAY, May 26 (HealthDay News) -- Responding to reports of rare but sometimes severe cases of liver damage, U.S. health officials on Wednesday announced revised labels for a widely used weight-loss drug.
The drug, orlistat, is available by prescription under the trade name Xenical and...
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Frequent Doctor Visits Help Diabetics Control Blood Pressure
MONDAY, May 24 (HealthDay News) -- Frequent doctor visits may help diabetics get their high blood pressure back to normal faster, a new study says.
Current guidelines suggest that patients with high blood pressure return for doctor visits within a month, but patients often wait longer.<...
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Parents Want Electronic Access to Their Childrens Docs: Survey
SATURDAY, May 22 (HealthDay News) Half of all American parents polled say they would like to be able to communicate with their child's physician via the Internet, a new survey reveals.
Yet fewer than 15 percent of those said they are currently able to do so to make appointments for vacci...
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Common Diabetes Drug Linked to Vitamin B-12 Deficiency
FRIDAY, May 21 (HealthDay News) -- Diabetics who take the drug metformin over the long term should get their vitamin B-12 levels checked regularly to see if they are developing a vitamin deficiency, a new report suggests.
Metformin, also known by several brand names including Glucophage,...
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Health Reform Should Provide Insurance to Many Young Adults
FRIDAY, May 21 (HealthDay News) -- Most of the 13.7 million younger Americans who currently lack health insurance could gain coverage under the health reform package signed into law by President Barack Obama in March, a new report from The Commonwealth Fund says.
Starting in September, m...
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Scientists Spot Real 'Smoking Gun' in Prostate Cancer
FRIDAY, May 21 (HealthDay News) -- The primary cause of prostate cancer could be the fusion of two genes and the subsequent abnormal prostate cell growth that results when receptors for the hormone androgen get blocked, a new study reveals.
The implication is that standard efforts to trea...
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Health Tip: Factors that Increase Risk of Ovarian Cancer
(HealthDay News) -- About 3 percent of cancer cases that affect women are ovarian cancer, the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists notes.
The organization says the following factors increase a woman's risk of cancer of the ovary:
Being 40 or older.
...
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Statin Use Tied to Eye, Kidney, Liver Troubles
THURSDAY, May 20 (HealthDay News) -- People taking cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins may be at heightened risk for liver dysfunction, acute kidney failure and cataracts, British researchers report.
Statins, which include the blockbuster drugs Lipitor, Pravachol, Crestor and Zocor,...
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Confiding Eases Older Men's Stress Over Sexual Problems
WEDNESDAY, May 19 (HealthDay News) -- A new study of older people found that it's a good idea for men to confide to friends about their sexual problems -- it reduced their stress and unhappiness -- but the same was not necessarily true for women.
Researchers at Oregon State University loo...
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Female Incontinence Surgeries Look Equally Effective
WEDNESDAY, May 19 (HealthDay News) -- Two common surgical procedures for female stress incontinence appear to be equally effective, a new study reveals, but each option carries its own side effects.
Known as mid-urethral slings, the techniques are often used to address stress incontinence...
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IVF, Fertility Drugs Might Boost Autism Risk
WEDNESDAY, May 19 (HealthDay News) -- Children whose mothers took fertility drugs were almost twice as likely to have autism as other children, new research finds. Being conceived by in vitro fertilization (IVF) or born prematurely also seemed to up the risk of autism, according to another study....
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Viagra Linked to Hearing Loss
WEDNESDAY, May 19 (HealthDay News) -- The erectile dysfunction drug Viagra, and possibly other similar medications, may prompt long-term hearing loss among users, a new study suggests.
In the May 18 issue of the Archives of Otolaryngology -- Head and Neck Surgery, researchers from...
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Technique Might Boost Women's Fertility
MONDAY, May 17 (HealthDay News) -- Scientists have found a way to awaken dormant ovarian follicles, possibly making more eggs available for reproduction during a woman's lifespan.
In mice, the technique resulted in live pups. In humans, the technique was successful in producing mature e...
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The Best Diet? That Depends on You
THURSDAY, May 13 (HealthDay News) -- You know you need to lose weight. And you know you're ready, whcih is more than half the battle. But you still have to pick from a seemingly endless array of weight-loss plans.
How to decide?
Experts who counsel overweight patients say there ar...
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Impotence Drugs May Aid Brain Tumor Treatment
WEDNESDAY, May 12 (HealthDay News) -- A drug already approved for the treatment of erectile dysfunction may actually help boost the effectiveness of treatments for brain tumors tied to both lung and breast cancer, research shows.
The finding stems from an animal study that indicated that...
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New Alzheimer's Risk Genes Identified
TUESDAY, May 11 (HealthDay News) -- Scientists have pinpointed two genes that are linked to Alzheimer's disease and could become targets for new treatments for the neurodegenerative condition.
Genetic variants appear to play an important part in the development of Alzheimer's since having...
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Once-A-Year Vitamin D Megadose Ups Fracture Risk: Study
TUESDAY, May 11 (HealthDay News) -- A large once-a-year dose of vitamin D, while convenient, doesn't offer the same protection against falls and fractures in older women that smaller, more frequent doses may, a new study has found.
What's more, the research suggests that when older women t...
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Strenuous Exercise May Stop Cellular Death
TUESDAY, May 11 (HealthDay News) -- Strenuous exercise appears to stop the body's cells from killing themselves as they're programmed to do, a new study suggests.
Researchers found that cells of people who had just run a marathon didn't engage in what is called apoptosis -- the natural d...
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6 to 8 Hours of Shut-Eye Is Optimal for Health
MONDAY, May 10 (HealthDay News) -- People who sleep less than six hours a night are 12 percent more likely to die prematurely than those who get the recommended six to eight hours of slumber, a new study has found.
The team of British and Italian researchers also found that sleeping too m...
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Bran Intake Helps Those With Diabetes
MONDAY, May 10 (HealthDay News) -- Women with diabetes who ate a diet rich in bran-containing foods had a significantly lower death rate in a long-term study, researchers report.
"Many studies before have found some protective effect in the general population,"...
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Kidney Removal May Be Ill-Advised for Some Elderly
MONDAY, May 10 (HealthDay News) -- Removing a kidney does not seem to extend the life of elderly people with kidney cancer that has not spread, a new study finds.
Instead, it suggests, people with such cancer should undergo more conservative treatments that preserve the non-cancerous part...
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Does Mom Need Help to Stop Smoking?
SUNDAY, May 9 (HealthDay News) -- If your mother is a smoker, you might consider giving her a Mother's Day gift that could help her kick the habit and live a longer, healthier life, suggests the American Lung Association.
Freedom From Smoking Online is a self-paced program that's availabl...
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Diabetes Test Results May Be Deceptive in Black Children
FRIDAY, May 7 (HealthDay News) -- Black children with type 1 diabetes score higher than whites with similar blood glucose levels on a critical test, potentially leading their physicians to give them the wrong treatment, a new study says.
The test "can be deceptive in African-American chil...
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Study Disputes Link Between Milk and Kidney Cancer
THURSDAY, May 6 (HealthDay News) -- If you were worried about drinking milk because of a reported link with a type of kidney cancer, you can relax. A new study suggests no such association exists.
"The data in this study provide no concrete evidence of a need to alter milk drinking in any...
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Anemia Drugs Hold Dangers for Kidney Patients
WEDNESDAY, May 5 (HealthDay News) -- The powerful drugs used to fight anemia caused by kidney failure increase the risk for cardiovascular problems such as heart attack, a major study has found.
A meta-analysis of 27 trials, which included more than 10,000 people who were given the drugs,...
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As FDA Eyes Prostate Cancer Drugs, Experts Urge Caution
TUESDAY, May 4 (HealthDay News) -- When the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced Monday it was investigating possible links between widely used hormonal prostate cancer drugs and an slight rise in risk for diabetes and heart disease, thousands of men who rely on these drugs to extend thei...
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FDA Reviews Side Effects From Prostate Cancer Therapy
MONDAY, May 3 (HealthDay News) -- A widely used class of prostate cancer drugs called gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonists increases the risk of diabetes, heart attack, stroke and sudden death in men, a U.S. Food and Drug Administration review has found.
Based on initial finding...
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Prostate Cancer Test a Flop in Study
MONDAY, May 3 (HealthDay News) -- A technique that urologists had hoped would make it possible to distinguish men with prostate cancer who need treatment from those who would only need watchful waiting didn't work well, researchers report.
The technique, called PSA kinetics, measures chan...
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Radiation Risks Nearly Double for Younger CT Scan Patients
MONDAY, May 3 (HealthDay News) -- Radiation risks associated with abdominal and pelvic CT scans are twice as high for younger patients as older patients, a new study finds.
"Estimating the risks associated with ionizing radiation is complex," study author Dr. James Koonce, of the Medical...
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Americans Still Split Over New Health Reform Law
FRIDAY, April 30 (HealthDay News) -- One month after President Barack Obama signed the historic health-reform bill into law, Americans remain divided on the measure, with many people still unsure how it will affect them, a new Harris Interactive/HealthDay poll finds.
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Genome Scan Gives Man Insight Into Future Health Risks
FRIDAY, April 30 (HealthDay News) -- Stephen Quake, a Stanford University professor of bioengineering, now has a very good sense of his own genetic destiny.
Quake's DNA was the focus of the first completely mapped genome of a healthy person aimed at predicting future health risks. The sc...
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Why Spouses of Dialysis Patients Get Kidney Disease Too
FRIDAY, April 30 (HealthDay News) -- A shared home environment and similar health habits may help explain why spouses of kidney dialysis patients are at increased risk for developing kidney disease, according to a new study.
"We were surprised to find that the r...
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Cancer Risk After Kidney Transplant Unaffected by Type of Drug Treatment
THURSDAY, April 29 (HealthDay News) -- The type of drug treatment used to prevent organ rejection in kidney transplant patients doesn't affect cancer risk, a new study finds.
Kidney transplant patients are at increased risk for cancer, likely because of patients' long-term use of immunosu...
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Low Testosterone Raises Heart Death Rates in Impotent Men
THURSDAY, April 29 (HealthDay News) -- Among men with erectile dysfunction, those who also have low testosterone levels face a higher than normal risk of dying from cardiovascular disease, a new study has found.
In a second study, the same team of researchers also found a link between ob...
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Prostate Cancer Vaccine Gains FDA Approval
THURSDAY, April 29 (HealthDay News) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday granted approval to Provenge, a therapeutic vaccine aimed at preventing the spread of prostate cancer in men with an advanced form of the disease.
The new approval is limited to "the treatment of asy...
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Provenge Approved for Advanced Prostate Cancer
THURSDAY, April 29 (HealthDay News) -- Provenge (sipuleucel-T), a therapy designed to boost the immune system's ability to combat prostate cancer, has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The therapy is produced by obtaining the person's own immune cells, exposing them...
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New Clues Shed Light on Sperm Function, Male Fertility
WEDNESDAY, April 28 (HealthDay News) -- Two proteins in a family of proteins called PLA2s play a vital role in sperm function and fertility in mice, say two teams of researchers.
The findings could improve understanding of male infertility and lead to new types of male birth control and t...
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Tight Blood Sugar Control May Not Harm Diabetics
WEDNESDAY, April 28 (HealthDay News) -- The Action to Control Cardiovascular Risk in Diabetes (ACCORD) study was abruptly halted in 2008 when researchers noticed an increase in deaths in the group of type 2 diabetics who were being intensively treated to bring their blood sugar levels down to nea...
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High-Dose Vitamin B Risky for Diabetics With Kidney Disease
TUESDAY, April 27 (HealthDay News) -- High-dose vitamin B therapy is dangerous for diabetics with kidney disease, and patients on this regimen should stop immediately, says a new study.
When the researchers began the study, they believed it would show that high-dose vitamin B therapy (fol...
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Prostate Cancer Vaccine May Get FDA Approval
TUESDAY, April 27 (HealthDay News) -- The anticipated approval this week of a therapeutic prostate cancer vaccine by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration could be a milestone against the disease and cancer in general, experts say.
The vaccine, called Provenge, appears to extend survival...
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Scalpels in Hand, Robots Take to the ER
TUESDAY, April 27 (HealthDay News) -- People facing surgery often imagine themselves under the care of a trained surgeon wielding a scalpel with a steady hand and a cool disposition.
But that picture is changing.
The surgeon will still be there, but the steady hand might very well...
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Arteries Age Twice as Fast in Smokers
MONDAY, April 26 (HealthDay News) -- It's well-known that smoking is bad for the heart and other parts of the body, and researchers now have chronicled in detail one reason why -- because continual smoking causes progressive stiffening of the arteries.
In fact, smokers' arteries stiffen...
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Four Unhealthy Behaviors Linked to Premature Death
MONDAY, April 26 (HealthDay News) -- A combination of four unhealthy behaviors -- smoking, lack of exercise, poor diet and substantial alcohol consumption -- greatly increases the risk of premature death, a new study has found.
The study, published in the April 26 issue of Archives of...
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Smoking May Be in Your Genes
SUNDAY, April 25 (HealthDay News) -- For some people, quitting smoking could be especially difficult because their dependence may be explained in part by genetics, three new studies suggest.
One of the reports, part of a trio of findings published online April 25 in Nature Genetics
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Noncardiac Chest Pain May Warrant More Management: Study
SATURDAY, April 24 (HealthDay News) -- People discharged from the hospital with noncardiac (not heart-related) chest pain may require more aggressive cardiovascular risk management than they typically receive, a new study has found.
Noncardiac chest pain can be caused by a number of probl...
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Injection Helps Treat Hard-to-Control Type 2 Diabetes
FRIDAY, April 23 (HealthDay News) -- Patients with type 2 diabetes who can't control their blood glucose levels with the drug metformin alone do better after adding injections of the drug liraglutide compared to oral doses of another drug called sitagliptin, researchers report.
In the stu...
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FDA to Broaden Disclosure on Advisers' Conflicts of Interest
WEDNESDAY, April 21 (HealthDay News) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday proposed new guidelines to help give the public more information on the experts the agency places on its all-important advisory committees, which help approve drugs and devices.
The FDA has in the p...
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Voluntary Ethics Code Set for Medical Organizations
WEDNESDAY, April 21 (HealthDay News) -- A new voluntary ethics code for how medical organizations should interact with private companies was released Wednesday by the Council of Medical Specialty Societies (CMSS).
"Physicians and patients count on medical societies to be authoritative, in...
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Experts Urge FDA to Lower Salt in American Diet
TUESDAY, April 20 (HealthDay News) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration should take steps to lower the amount of salt in the American diet over the next decade, an expert panel advised Tuesday.
In a report from the Institute of Medicine, an independent agency created by Congress to re...
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Meat Lovers Face Greater Risk of Bladder Cancer
TUESDAY, April 20 (HealthDay News) -- Eating meat frequently, especially when it's well-done or cooked at high temperatures, can boost the risk of bladder cancer, a new study suggests.
"It's well-known that meat cooked at high temperatures generates heterocyclic amines that can cause canc...
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Olive Oil May Be Key to Mediterranean Diet's Benefits
TUESDAY, April 20 (HealthDay News) -- The heart-healthy effects of the famous "Mediterranean diet" may have something to do with components of virgin olive oil that repress genes that promote inflammation, a new study reports.
"These findings strengthen the relationship between inflammati...
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Recordings of Pre-Surgery Meetings Ease Anxieties
TUESDAY, April 20 (HealthDay News) -- Giving people slated for heart surgery recordings of their pre-surgery consultations not only increased their knowledge about the procedure and their health but reduced their anxiety and depression as well, a new study has found.
Researchers at the Ro...
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Tailored Therapy May Help More Stop Smoking
TUESDAY, April 20 (HealthDay News) -- New research suggests that a set length of time for using the nicotine patch may not work for all smokers trying to kick the habit.
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have already discovered that some people -- about thre...
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Weather Might Influence Prostate Cancer
TUESDAY, April 20 (HealthDay News) -- A new study links dry, cold weather to higher rates of prostate cancer.
While the findings don't confirm a direct link, researchers suspect that weather may affect pollution and, in turn, boost prostate cancer rates.
"We found that colder weat...
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Weight Gain, Smoking May Make Prostate Cancer More Deadly
TUESDAY, April 20 (HealthDay News) -- Men treated for prostate cancer who smoke or put on excess pounds raise their odds of disease recurrence and of dying from the illness, two new studies show.
The findings were presented Tuesday at the American Association for Cancer Research's annua...
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Kids Could Overdose From Nicotine-Laced 'Candy'
MONDAY, April 19 (HealthDay News) -- In 2009, tobacco giant R.J. Reynolds launched Camel Orbs, dissolvable nicotine pellets flavored with cinnamon or mint that are intended for use by smokers who find themselves in smoke-free surroundings.
But researchers writing in the April 19 online ed...
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New Test May Predict Prostate Cancer's Aggressiveness
MONDAY, April 19 (HealthDay News) -- An updated version of the standard prostate cancer test can help improve predictions about which men might not require immediate treatment, researchers report.
The basic test measures blood levels of prostate-specific androgen (PSA), a protein produced...
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Secondhand Smoke Boosts Sinusitis Risk
MONDAY, April 19 (HealthDay News) -- Exposure to secondhand smoke appears to substantially raise the risk for chronic sinusitis, a new Canadian study has found.
In fact, it might explain 40 percent of the cases of the condition, said study author Dr. C. Martin Tammemagi, a researcher at B...
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Obesity Epidemic May Cut Life Spans of Young Adults
FRIDAY, April 16 (HealthDay News) -- Because Americans are getting heavier at an earlier age and failing to lose the extra pounds for longer, researchers now believe that chronic illness and life expectancy will be worse than previously estimated.
The study authors report that one in fiv...
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Health Tip: It Hurts When I Urinate
(HealthDay News) -- Painful urination is a common sign of an infection of the urinary tract. But you don't have to have an infection to experience painful urination, which should be evaluated by a doctor without delay.
The American Academy of Family Physicians suggests these possible caus...
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Protein May Help Control Weight
THURSDAY, April 15 (HealthDay News) -- Even on a high-fat diet, mice that lack a protein involved in the response to low levels of oxygen stay lean and healthy, says a new study.
The protein, called FIH, could offer a new target for drugs to help control weight, according to the Universit...
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Artificial Pancreas for Type 1 Diabetes Moves Closer to Reality
WEDNESDAY, April 14 (HealthDay News) -- The first human trials of the latest design of an artificial pancreas for people with type 1 diabetes found the device worked without causing low blood sugar (hypoglycemia).
Ideally, this type of automated device would finally free people with type...
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Depression and Smoking Go Hand in Hand in U.S.
WEDNESDAY, April 14 (HealthDay News) -- The link between depression and smoking, long observed by health-care experts, is real and strong, a new government report shows.
People aged 20 and older with depression are twice as likely as others to be cigarette smokers, the researchers from th...
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Hormone Therapy May Fight Resistant Prostate Cancer
WEDNESDAY, April 14 (HealthDay News) -- Preliminary research suggests that a new hormone treatment could be a weapon for doctors in the battle against a form of prostate cancer that's resistant to surgical removal of the testicles.
Only two of the three phases of research required for ne...
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Play Creatively as a Kid, Be a Healthier Adult
WEDNESDAY, April 14 (HealthDay News) -- Children who engage in creative and active play may grow up to be healthier adults, suggests a British study.
The finding comes from a study that involved 505 young adults who provided information about their health and their childhood play experien...
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Prostate Cancer Patients at Higher Risk of Blood Clots
WEDNESDAY, April 14 (HealthDay News) -- Men with prostate cancer are at greater risk for developing blood clots, especially if they're undergoing hormone therapy, new research shows.
"Our findings indicate that it is important to consider thromboembolic [blood-clotting] side effects when...
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Study Explores Possibility of a Female Viagra
WEDNESDAY, April 14 (HealthDay News) -- New research might be bringing science a bit closer to a female version of Viagra.
In a study that explored the underlying processes of female sexual arousal, British-based researchers say they have learned more about how new treatments might be dev...
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Hormones Tied to Diabetes Might Also Influence Fertility
TUESDAY, April 13 (HealthDay News) -- A new study in mice suggests that the hormones leptin and insulin work together in the brain to control blood sugar levels and, in a surprise to researchers, female fertility.
The findings also appear to suggest that diabetes and obesity aren't alway...
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Smoking Bans May Be Boosting Public Health
TUESDAY, April 13 (HealthDay News) -- Since Toronto banned smoking in public places such as restaurants in 2001, there has a major slide in hospital admissions for cardiovascular and respiratory conditions, Canadian researchers report.
The 10-year population study found 39 percent fewer a...
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Smoking May Erase Heart Benefits of Light Drinking
TUESDAY, April 13 (HealthDay News) - If you indulge in moderate drinking, you've probably heard that it might reduce your risk for heart trouble, including stroke.
A new British study supports that notion, but it also finds that light drinking's benefit in lowering stroke risk does not ap...
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Health Tip: Ward Off Hypoglycemia
(HealthDay News) -- Hypoglycemia, the medical term for low blood sugar, is uncommon in older children and adults, except among those who have diabetes.
The U.S. National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse suggests how diabetics can help prevent hypoglycemia:
Always take diab...
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Hepatitis C Tied to Higher Kidney Cancer Risk
FRIDAY, April 9 (HealthDay News) -- People infected with the hepatitis C virus are at much higher risk of developing kidney cancer, new research suggests.
A study of more than 67,000 patients enrolled in the Henry Ford Health System from 1997-2008 found that 0.6 percent of patients with h...
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If Your Doctor Prescribes an HbA1c Test
(HealthDay News) -- If you are diabetic, your doctor may prescribe an HbA1c test to measure your blood sugar control during the prior several months.
The U.S. National Library of Medicine says an abnormally high HbA1c result may signal that you're at greater risk of serious diabetes compl...
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Mild Exercise Good for the Critically Ill
FRIDAY, April 9 (HealthDay News) -- Critically ill patients in the intensive care unit may reduce their use of sedatives and speed their recovery by engaging in mild exercise, a new study has found.
The amount of prescription sedatives had to be slashed by half to enable patients to exerc...
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Even Mild Sleep Apnea Raises Stroke Risk in Men
THURSDAY, April 8 (HealthDay News) -- The nighttime breathing disorder known as obstructive sleep apnea more than doubles the risk for stroke in men who are middle age and beyond, new research has found.
U.S. researchers looked at more than 5,400 people, age 40 and older and with no histo...
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Low-Cal Diets May Make You Gain Weight
THURSDAY, April 8 (HealthDay News) -- If losing weight feels like a never-ending battle, new research may explain why: Diets that restrict calories can actually make it harder to lose weight and keep it off.
Cutting calories increases production of cortisol, the stress hormone, which is...
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Simple Memory Test May Detect Early Alzheimer's
THURSDAY, April 8 (HealthDay News) -- A researcher has developed a brief memory test to help doctors determine whether someone is suffering from the early memory and reasoning problems that often signal Alzheimer's disease.
In a study in the journal Alzheimer Disease and Associated Di...
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Single Genetic Factor Key to Cardiovascular System
THURSDAY, April 8 (HealthDay News) -- Reduced levels or lack of a certain genetic factor are associated with heart failure and aortic aneurysm, say U.S. researchers.
This factor -- known as Kruppel-like Factor 15 (KLF15) -- protects the heart and aorta's ability to maintain structural and...
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Kids Need Parents' Help in Managing Type 1 Diabetes
WEDNESDAY, April 7 (HealthDay News) -- Children and teens with type 1 diabetes are less likely to adhere to their treatment plan if their parents become lax about monitoring their treatment or if there is a poor mother-child relationship, new research has found.
Failure to properly manage...
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Sitting Docs Have Happier Patients
WEDNESDAY, April 7 (HealthDay News) -- When it comes to doctor-patient relationships, new research suggests that patients would be happier if their doctors would just sit down and stay awhile.
And for doctors, taking a seat doesn't necessarily have to add time to their day. The research...
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Vitamins C, E Won't Cut Risk of Pregnancy-Linked Hypertension
WEDNESDAY, April 7 (HealthDay News) -- Mothers-to-be who take vitamin C and E supplements do not reduce their risk of the dangerous high blood pressure condition called preeclampsia, a new study finds.
Although other studies have suggested that these antioxidant vitamins could prevent pr...
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Gene May Boost Risk of Kidney Transplant Failure
TUESDAY, April 6 (HealthDay News) -- Researchers have identified a gene variant in kidney donors that's associated with increased risk that the organ will stop working (graft failure) after it's transplanted into a recipient.
The variation occurs in the CAV1 gene, which normally inhibits...
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Medical Misinformation Can Spread Quickly Via 'Tweets'
FRIDAY, April 2 (HealthDay News) -- Medical misinformation can spread quickly on Twitter, although social networks also offer the potential for sharing vital and correct health information, a new study shows.
Researchers from Columbia University and MixedInk in New York City identified mo...
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Unvaccinated Boys at Risk of Mumps-Linked Testicular Problem
FRIDAY, April 2 (HealthDay News) -- A new study reports a significant increase in the number of young males with a mumps-related testicle condition called mumps orchitis, which causes one or both testicles to swell and can lead to fertility problems.
The measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vacci...
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FDA Hears Views on Risks of High Tech Scanners
WEDNESDAY, March 31 (HealthDay News) -- Fears that popular medical imaging technologies are exposing Americans to too much radiation are getting a public airing this week as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration concludes two days of meetings on Wednesday that have focused on how to increase the...
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Study Revives Debate on Prostate Drug
WEDNESDAY, March 31 (HealthDay News) -- A new study to determine whether a drug prescribed to fight the problems of an enlarged prostate gland can also reduce the risk of prostate cancer promises to prolong a debate that started with an earlier study of a similar drug.<...
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TV Doctors Bring Unethical Behavior to Prime Time
WEDNESDAY, March 31 (HealthDay News) -- In a hospital in Seattle, a doctor overly involved with a patient attempted to worsen that patient's condition so she could go higher on the list of people eligible for an organ transplant.
Fortunately, the physician was fired and, even more fortuna...
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Diabetes Screening Should Start Sooner
TUESDAY, March 30 (HealthDay News) -- Current recommendations suggest that screening for type 2 diabetes start at age 45, especially for those who are overweight, but new research shows cost-effective screening can begin between the ages of 30 and 45 for everyone.
When screening be...
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Health Tip: Drink Enough Water
(HealthDay News) -- Drinking plenty of water is important, particularly among people who exercise vigorously.
The American Council on Fitness offers these recommendations for how much to drink:
Two or three hours before you start to exercise, drink 17-to-20 ounces of water.<...
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Novel Method Eyed for Normalizing Blood Sugar
TUESDAY, March 30 (HealthDay News) -- A potential new method of normalizing blood sugar levels in diabetes has been discovered by U.S. researchers.
The Children's Hospital Boston team identified a cellular pathway that fails because of obesity. Artificial activation of this pathway normal...
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Too Much Radiation? The FDA Wants to Know
TUESDAY, March 30 (HealthDay News) -- Fears that Americans are being exposed to too much radiation will get a public airing this week as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration holds two days of meetings on what should be done to increase the safety of increasingly popular imaging procedures....
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Heavy Daily Drinking Linked to Worse Health
FRIDAY, March 26 (HealthDay News) -- Heavy drinkers take worse care of themselves than other people, but moderate drinkers actually appear to be healthier than those who don't imbibe, researchers have found.
"The main finding here is that risky drinkers also engage in other behaviors -- s...
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Many Americans Unaware They Have Chronic Kidney Disease
THURSDAY, March 25 (HealthDay News) -- Among Americans with prediabetes and undiagnosed diabetes, millions may have chronic kidney disease and not know it, new research has found.
In the study, researchers looked at a nationally representative sample of about 8,200 people included in the...
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Poll Finds Americans Blame Insurers, Drug Companies for Rising Health Costs
WEDNESDAY, March 24 (HealthDay News) -- Nearly half of Americans are "extremely" or "very worried" about rising costs for health care and health insurance, and a majority place the blame on drug and insurance company profits, a new Harris Interactive/HealthDay poll finds.
The poll was con...
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Researchers Identify 2 Genes Linked to Fatty Liver Disease
WEDNESDAY, March 24 (HealthDay News) -- Researchers have identified two gene variants that increase the risk of both the most common chronic liver disease in the United States as well as type 2 diabetes.
People who carry the variants of a gene for apolipoprotein C3 (APOC3), which produces...
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Being Active an Hour a Day Puts Brakes on Weight Gain
TUESDAY, March 23 (HealthDay News) -- An hour a day of moderate-intensity exercise will prevent weight gain in normal-weight women, middle age and older, according to a new study.
"'Moderate intensity' means brisk walking, casual bicycling, ballroom dancing, playing with the grandchildren...
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Weight Counseling Plus Drug Helps Women Quit Smoking
TUESDAY, March 23 (HealthDay News) -- Behavioral therapy with a focus on weight-counseling combined with the smoking-cessation medicine bupropion (Zyban) is more effective than standard counseling alone in helping women quit smoking, according to a new study.
The research, published March...
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House Democrats Approve Health-Care Reform Bill
MONDAY, March 22 (HealthDay News) -- After a year of fierce partisan debate, the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives late Sunday night passed the landmark $940 billion health-care reform bill, which would extend health insurance coverage to 32 million uninsured Americans, prevent insuran...
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Infertility Raises Risk of More Aggressive Prostate Cancer
MONDAY, March 22 (HealthDay News) -- Infertility increases the risk that a man will develop the aggressive, potentially fatal form of prostate cancer, a new study suggests.
"To my knowledge, this is the first study to identify a link between male factor infertility and prostate cancer," s...
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Light Drinking Good for the Heart
MONDAY, March 22 (HealthDay News) -- Two major studies confirm the current medical consensus that moderate drinking appears to be good for the heart but heavy drinking is bad for health in general.
"This would not change our current guidelines, which provide an upper limit and not a lower...
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With Infertility May Come Sexual Dysfunction
FRIDAY, March 19 (HealthDay News) -- Infertile women face an increased risk for sexual dysfunction, a new study reports.
Stanford University researchers compared a group of infertile women, who averaged about 36 years old, with a group of fertile women, who averaged about 33 years old. Th...
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Online, Phone Tests Assess Diabetes Risk
WEDNESDAY, March 17 (HealthDay News) -- About 20 percent of Americans have prediabetes and are at high risk for developing type 2 diabetes, the American Diabetes Association reports.
"Look around you. We are surrounded by [diabetes] risk," Christine T. Tobin, president of health care and...
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Widespread Public Defibrillators May Save Lives
WEDNESDAY, March 17 (HealthDay News) -- The availability of public automated external defibrillators (AEDs) increases the odds of surviving a heart attack with little neurological consequences, suggests new research.
In Japan, where AEDs are available nationwide, a study found that about...
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A New Way to Zap Away Uterine Fibroids
TUESDAY, March 16 (HealthDay News) -- Focused ultrasound is an effective way to get rid of uterine fibroids, the noncancerous but troublesome tumors that can grow inside the uterus, new research shows.
Uterine fibroids are a common condition that can lead to a host of problems, including...
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Blood Vessels Bounce Back Once Smokers Quit
TUESDAY, March 16 (HealthDay News) -- Blood vessel function rapidly recuperates after smokers kick the habit, leading to a reduced risk of heart disease and heart attack, new research shows.
The study included more than 1,500 people taking part in a clinical trial to help them quit smokin...
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Freezing Tumors Shows Promise Against Prostate, Breast Cancer
TUESDAY, March 16 (HealthDay News) -- Researchers have succeeded in freezing away breast and prostate tumors in a small number of patients, opening a promising door to a new generation of cancer treatments.
In two separate studies to be presented Tuesday at the Society of Interventional R...
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Newer Blood Thinner Beats Plavix for Bypass Patients
TUESDAY, March 16 (HealthDay News) -- In a trial comparing two anti-clotting drugs, patients given Brilinta before cardiac bypass surgery were less likely to die than those given Plavix, researchers found.
Both drugs prevent platelets from clumping and forming clots, but Plavix, the more...
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Prostate Cancer Radiation Side Effects May Subside With Time
TUESDAY, March 16 (HealthDay News) -- The balance between using enough radiation to shield patients from prostate cancer's return while keeping side effects at bay may not be as tricky as once thought, new research shows.
That's because radiation-linked side effects appear to lessen with...
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Arthritis Drug May Fight Diabetes, Too
MONDAY, March 15 (HealthDay News) -- A generic drug widely prescribed for arthritis shows promise in treating type 2 diabetes, according to U.S. researchers.
They found that salsalate -- an atypical non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, chemically similar to as...
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Adding Garlic Might Cut Cancer Risk
FRIDAY, March 12 (HealthDay News) -- A new type of urine test shows that eating plenty of garlic may lower levels of a cancer-causing process within the body.
This process, called nitrosation, converts some substances found in foods or contaminated water into cancer-causing compounds. Nit...
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Health Tip: Symptoms of Ketoacidosis
(HealthDay News) -- Ketoacidosis occurs when diabetic people develop dangerously high levels of ketones, which are produced when stored fat is burned for energy.
Ketoacidosis, a sign that diabetes is uncontrolled, requires immediate medical attention.
The American Diabetes Associa...
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Start Metformin Early for Best Results
FRIDAY, March 12 (HealthDay News) -- If diabetics start the drug metformin early -- within three months of diagnosis -- it appears the drug will remain effective longer, a new study finds.
"This study suggests that to gain full benefit from metformin, patients should start taking it as s...
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U.S. Minorities Especially Vulnerable to Kidney Failure
FRIDAY, March 12 (HealthDay News) -- Poor, minority adults with moderate to severe chronic kidney disease are far more likely to progress to kidney failure than are whites with the disease, a new U.S. study has found.
The finding came from an analysis of data on 15,353 adults who had non-...
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Body's Response to Foods' Smell, Taste Could Be Diabetes Risk Factor
THURSDAY, March 11 (HealthDay News) -- A mutation that affects how the body responds when a person smells or tastes food may play a role in the development of type 2 diabetes in some people, U.S. researchers report.
"Our study showed there is a novel genetic mutation through which some ty...
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Scientists Find Key to Hormone-Resistant Prostate Tumors
WEDNESDAY, March 10 (HealthDay News) -- Though hormone therapy has proven useful in treating late-stage prostate cancer, it often results in the development of fatal secondary tumors that are resistant to such therapy.
Now, however, researchers working with mice believe they have uncovere...
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Doctor's Specialty Often Steers Prostate Cancer Care
TUESDAY, March 9 (HealthDay News) -- The kind of treatment received by a prostate cancer patient often depends on the type of specialist providing the patient's care, new research shows.
U.S. researchers analyzed data on more than 85,000 Medicare beneficiaries aged 65 and older who were d...
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Kidney Donors Go On to Lead Long, Healthy Lives
TUESDAY, March 9 (HealthDay News) -- Giving a kidney carries few health risks, with donors living just as long or sometimes even longer than those who don't donate, the largest study to date of donors has found.
Using data on more than 80,000 U.S. residents who donated a kidney between 1...
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Diet, Exercise Can Improve Thinking
MONDAY, March 8 (HealthDay News) -- A good diet and regular exercise may help the mind function better, a new study suggests.
"It looks like exercise and diet improve the range of cognitive function," said Patrick Smith, an intern in clinical neuropsychology and a member of a Duke Univers...
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Sunlight May Help Protect Men From Kidney Cancer
MONDAY, March 8 (HealthDay News) -- Men with jobs that expose them to high levels of sunlight are less likely to develop kidney cancer than those with little or no sunlight exposure at work, says a new study.
Previous research suggests that vitamin D, which is obtained from sun exposure a...
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Health Tip: Symptoms That May Indicate a Urinary Tract Infection
(HealthDay News) -- The urinary tract includes the kidneys, bladder, urethra and ureters -- parts of the body that create, store and remove urine. A bacterial infection of the urinary tract is common.
The National Women's Health Information Center says a urinary tract infection (UTI) may...
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Increasing Soda Consumption Fuels Rise in Diabetes, Heart Disease
FRIDAY, March 5 (HealthDay News) --Increasing consumption of sugary soft drinks contributed to 130,000 new cases of diabetes, 14,000 new cases of heart disease and 50,000 more life-years burdened with heart disease in the last decade, a new U.S. study finds.
"The finding suggests that any...
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More Info Needed on Problems With Insulin Pumps
FRIDAY, March 5 (HealthDay News) -- The makers of insulin pumps used to treat diabetes should try to supply more information to U.S. officials when filing reports about potential problems with the devices, an advisory panel to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Friday.
Makers of m...
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New Prostate Cancer Guidelines Aim to Empower the Patient
FRIDAY, March 5 (HealthDay News) -- New American Cancer Society guidelines on prostate cancer screening mean that many men will be faced with a cascade of decisions, with a growing responsibility for those decisions falling on their shoulders.
The guidelines, issued Wednesday, de-emphasiz...
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Health Tip: Why You May Need an MRI
(HealthDay News) -- Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) uses a strong magnetic field and computerized technology to compose detailed pictures of the organs and other soft tissue inside the body.
The Radiological Society of North America says an MRI can be used to help diagnose:
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New Drugs, Approaches Offer Hope Against Prostate Cancer
WEDNESDAY, March 3 (HealthDay News) -- Scientists are making headway in finding ways to treat and detect stubborn forms of prostate cancer.
The new hope comes from three studies being presented this week at the annual Genitourinary Cancers Symposium in San Francisco.
"Genitourinar...
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New Prostate Cancer Screening Guidelines Unveiled
WEDNESDAY, March 3 (HealthDay News) -- For the first time in almost a decade, the American Cancer Society has revamped its recommendations for prostate cancer screening.
In new guidelines released Wednesday, annual screening is now recommended for men whose prostate-specific antigen, or...
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Newer Blood Test Predicts Diabetes, Heart Disease
WEDNESDAY, March 3 (HealthDay News) -- The newer hemoglobin A1C test predicts diabetes as well as the traditional fasting blood sugar test, but it beats that old standard in predicting a patient's future risk of heart disease and stroke, new research shows.
After adjusting for common card...
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Whole Grains Take a Bite Out of Type 2 Diabetes Risk
WEDNESDAY, March 3 (HealthDay News) -- Brown rice is better than white rice at reducing the risk of type 2 diabetes, but whole grains are the most effective at lowering the risk, study findings show.
U.S. researchers analyzed data from 39,765 men in the Health Professionals Follow-up Stud...
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Fitness May Boost Kids' Grades
TUESDAY, March 2 (HealthDay News) -- Fit bodies may bring kids better test scores in school, a new study finds.
''Children's physical fitness is associated with their academic performance," said study author Lesley Cottrell, an associate professor of pediatrics at West Virginia University...
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For Some on Dialysis, Anemia Drugs Pose Risks
TUESDAY, March 2 (HealthDay News) -- Powerful drugs that treat the anemia caused by kidney failure yield mixed results, depending on the severity of the anemia, a new study has shown.
People on dialysis with severe anemia, according to the study, tend to live longer when given high doses...
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Generic Flomax Approved for Enlarged Prostate
TUESDAY, March 2 (HealthDay News) -- The first generic version of Flomax (tamsulosin hydrochloride) capsules has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), the medical term for an enlarged prostate.
California-based IMPAX Laboratori...
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Secondhand Smoke Starts Damaging Arteries in Childhood
TUESDAY, March 2 (HealthDay News) -- Kids exposed to secondhand smoke face a higher risk of developing early signs of clogged arteries by the time they're 13, and are also more likely to have other risk factors for heart disease, Finnish researchers warn.
The authors of the new study exam...
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Workplace Wellness Programs Work
TUESDAY, March 2 (HealthDay News) -- Workplace wellness programs help employees lose weight and reduce their risk of heart disease, a new study shows.
U.S. researchers followed 757 hospital workers who took part in a voluntary 12-week, team-based wellness program that focused on diet and...
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Low-Fat Diets Beat Low-Carb Regimen Long Term
MONDAY, March 1 (HealthDay News) -- Three years after going on a diet, obese men and women on low-carbohydrate "Atkins"-type plans had gained back nearly all their weight, while those on low-fat diets continued to lose, new research finds.
Neither group ended up model-thin, however: Three...
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Twice as Many Women May Soon Be Diagnosed With Gestational Diabetes
FRIDAY, Feb. 26 (HealthDay News) -- New measurements for determining dangerous blood sugar levels for pregnant women and their unborn babies mean that two to three times as many women will be diagnosed with gestational diabetes, a new study suggests.
Instead of 5 percent to 8 percent of p...
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Fatigue May Predict Heart Attack in Dialysis Patients
THURSDAY, Feb. 25 (HealthDay News) -- Fatigue in dialysis patients may be a warning sign of an impending heart attack or other serious heart problems, a new study suggests.
Japanese researchers had 788 dialysis patients complete a fatigue questionnaire and found that about 16 percent of t...
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New Bone Drug May Prevent Fractures But Raise Clot Risk
WEDNESDAY, Feb. 24 (HealthDay News) -- A new drug to fight osteoporosis, the bone condition associated with aging and debilitating fractures, reduces the risk of fractures and the risk of some breast cancers, heart disease and stroke, according to a new study.
But, like other anti-osteopo...
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Excessive Weight Gain During Pregnancy Raises Gestational Diabetes Risk
MONDAY, Feb. 22 (HealthDay News) -- Excessive weight gain during pregnancy, especially the first trimester, may increase a woman's risk of gestational diabetes, say U.S. researchers.
Their three-year study included 345 pregnant women with gestational diabetes and 800 pregnant women withou...
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Genetic Mutation Linked to Prostate Cancer in Blacks
MONDAY, Feb. 22 (HealthDay News) -- Researchers have identified a mutation in a small number of black American men with a family history of prostate cancer.
This germline mutation of the androgen receptor (AR) may prove to be a genetic biomarker for familial prostate cancer in the black A...
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ICU Patients Gain From Team Approach to Care
MONDAY, Feb. 22 (HealthDay News) -- Intensive care patients are less likely to die if they're looked after by a multidisciplinary health care team that includes doctors, nurses, respiratory therapists, clinical pharmacists and others, says a new study.
Research...
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Statins May Benefit Prostate Cancer Patients
MONDAY, Feb. 22 (HealthDay News) -- Cholesterol-lowering statins significantly reduce prostate tumor inflammation, which may help lower the risk of disease progression, new study findings suggest.
Duke University Medical Center researchers found that the use of statins before prostate can...
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Testicular Cancer Survivors May Have Hormone Deficiency
MONDAY, Feb. 22 (HealthDay News) -- Testosterone deficiency in young male cancer survivors often causes low energy levels and reduced quality of life, and these patients may benefit from testosterone replacement therapy, a new study suggests.
About 15 percent of male cancer survivors expe...
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Two Surgical Methods Equally Successful for Prostate Cancer
MONDAY, Feb. 22 (HealthDay News) -- Results are similar for men with prostate cancer whether they have open surgery or laparoscopic surgery, a new study has found.
Currently, open radical prostatectomy (ORP) is considered the standard treatment but the use of laparoscopic radical prostate...
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As Temperature Plummets, It's Still Safe to Exercise
SATURDAY, Feb. 20 (HealthDay News) -- Cold weather shouldn't keep you from exercising outdoors.
"If you are concerned about hypothermia, you don't need to be unless the temperatures are extreme," Gary Sforzo, a professor of exercise and sports sciences at Ithaca College, said in a news re...
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Remove Diabetes Drug Avandia From Market: FDA Reports
SATURDAY, Feb. 20 (HealthDay News) -- The blockbuster type 2 diabetes drug Avandia raises users' odds for heart attack and heart failure and should be removed from the market, according to confidential government reports.
The New York Times on Saturday reported on documents from th...
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FDA Approved Diabetes Drug Despite Hints at Cancer Risk
THURSDAY, Feb. 18 (HealthDay News) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is defending its decision in late January to approve a new diabetes drug, Victoza (liraglutide), even though animal studies suggest it might increase the risk for a rare thyroid cancer.
Victoza, among a class of m...
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Bilberry Seems to Act Against Blood Sugar
WEDNESDAY, Feb. 17 (HealthDay News) -- Bilberry extract helps control blood sugar levels in mice, researchers have found.
Bilberry and other brightly colored foods such as blueberries, purple grapes, cherries and cranberries contain anthocyanins, which are thought to reduce blood sugar, i...
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Rising Use of Medical Technologies Extending Americans' Lives
WEDNESDAY, Feb. 17 (HealthDay News) -- Surging use of improved medical technology, including new drugs, is driving up life expectancy for Americans and driving down rates of major killers such as heart disease and cancer, a new national health report finds.
At the same time, some things a...
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Added Drug Aids MS Treatment
TUESDAY, Feb. 16 (HealthDay News) -- Adding the drug daclizumab to standard treatment with interferon beta may reduce multiple sclerosis disease activity more than interferon beta alone, a new study reports.
Previous non-randomized studies found that daclizumab -- a humanized monoclonal a...
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'Fishy Smell' May Keep Patients From Diabetes Drug
MONDAY, Feb. 15 (HealthDay News) -- The commonly used diabetes medication metformin sometimes has such an unpleasant odor that people may stop taking it, experts say.
But they recommend that people let their doctors know if the smell of this oral drug is an issue for them, because differen...
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Cigars, Pipes No 'Healthy' Alternative to Cigarettes
MONDAY, Feb. 15 (HealthDay News) --People who think they're protecting their lungs by smoking pipes or cigars instead of cigarettes are kidding themselves, a new study shows.
"Inhalation of tobacco smoke by any means is deleterious," said Dr. R. Graham Barr, assistant professor of medicin...
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Diabetes Drugs Avandia, Actos Tied to Fractures in Women
MONDAY, Feb. 15 (HealthDay News) -- Women who take diabetes drugs known as thiazolidinediones, which include Avandia and Actos, are at a greater risk of bone fractures, a new study finds.
Women who took a thiazolidinedione drug for a year were 50 percent more likely to suffer a bone fract...
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Advance Toward Test for Aggressive Prostate Cancer
SUNDAY, Feb. 14 (HealthDay News) -- Harvard researchers report what they say is a major advance toward the long-sought goal of a genetic test that can distinguish between aggressive prostate cancers that require urgent treatment and slow-growing tumors that can safely be left alone.
Today...
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ICU Patients at Risk for Rare Heart Rhythm Problem
TUESDAY, Feb. 9 (HealthDay News) -- Doctors and other health-care professionals need to be aware that certain medications can cause a rare, potentially deadly heart rhythm problem called Torsade de Pointes (TdP), says a joint scientific statement by the American Heart Association and the American...
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'Third-Hand Smoke' Could Be Troublesome, Too
MONDAY, Feb. 8 (HealthDay News) -- Tobacco smoke residue found on indoor surfaces -- so-called "third-hand smoke" -- can interact with airborne compounds to form new, potentially cancer-causing substances, research suggests.
Details about the potential role such third-hand smoke might pla...
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Genome Mapped for Type 2 Diabetes
FRIDAY, Feb. 5 (HealthDay News) -- Scientists have completed a map of areas of the human genome that control which genes are switched on or off in type 2 diabetes, a finding that may advance understanding of the genetic basis of this and other common diseases.
"Most of the human genome i...
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Kidney Function May Be Tied to Bone Loss
WEDNESDAY, Feb. 3 (HealthDay News) -- Even a slight loss of kidney function is associated with increased loss of bone mineral density and greater risk of disabling fractures that can lead to premature death, researchers say.
"Our findings highlight the importanc...
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Health Tip: Benefitting From Cross-Training Exercises
(HealthDay News) -- A well-designed cross-training program includes a variety of alternating exercises that stress different methods of workout and affect different parts of the body.
The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons offers this list of cross-training benefits:
I...
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Prostate Cancer Diagnosis Raises Suicide Risk
TUESDAY, Feb. 2 (HealthDay News) -- A diagnosis of prostate cancer can be unnerving enough to up a man's odds for either suicide or fatal heart attack, new research indicates.
"Unfortunately, the study results didn't surprise us," said study co-author Dr. Lorelei A. Mucci, an assistant pr...
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Protein Levels in Urine Help Predict Kidney Function
TUESDAY, Feb. 2 (HealthDay News) -- High protein levels in urine can signal trouble for people who are at risk for kidney failure and associated problems, a new study suggests.
The researchers reporting the findings in the Feb. 3 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association...
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Smoker's Own Secondhand Smoke Adds to Health Risks
TUESDAY, Feb. 2 (HealthDay News) -- In addition to the risks associated with directly inhaling cigarette smoke, smokers also face significant risk from their own secondhand smoke, researchers say.
The finding, published online Jan. 29 in Environmental Health, challenges the widely...
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Using Nicotine Patch Longer Boosts Efforts to Quit
TUESDAY, Feb. 2 (HealthDay News) -- Extended use of nicotine patches improves the likelihood that smokers will be able to kick the habit and reduces the risk that they'll start smoking again, a new study has found.
The study included 568 adults who smoked 10 or more cigarettes a day for a...
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Experts Issue Warning on Prostate Hormone Therapy
MONDAY, Feb. 1 (HealthDay News) -- Men with prostate cancer and the physicians who treat them are being warned that the androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) commonly used against the malignancy might increase the risk of heart attack and cardiac death.
"There is a substantial amount of data...
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Over 70 and Overweight May Add Years to Life
THURSDAY, Jan. 28 (HealthDay News) -- Despite the warnings that being overweight will kill you, a new Australian study finds that overweight adults over the age of 70 are less likely to die over a 10-year period than their normal-weight peers.
The study, published Jan. 28 in the Journa...
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New Scan May Help Find Aggressive Prostate Tumors
WEDNESDAY, Jan. 27 (HealthDay News) -- A new imaging technology promises to achieve the long-sought goal of singling out prostate cancers that are life-threatening and require the most aggressive treatment, researchers report.
Magnetic resonance spectroscopy, which provides information ab...
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Flame-Retardant Chemical Linked to Conception Problems
TUESDAY, Jan. 26 (HealthDay News) -- Women who are exposed to a common chemical that's used as a flame retardant may take longer to become pregnant, a new study finds.
The chemicals, called PBDEs (polybrominated diphenyl ethers), are found in a variety of products including foam furniture...
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New Drug Slows Advanced Kidney Cancer
TUESDAY, Jan. 26 (HealthDay News) -- Treating advanced kidney cancer patients with the drug pazopanib (Votrient) slowed their disease progression by 54 percent, a new study has found.
The phase 3 study included 233 patients with previously untreated kidney cancer (also known as renal cell...
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Tight Blood Sugar Control May Raise Risk of Death
TUESDAY, Jan. 26 (HealthDay News) -- Very tight blood sugar control may raise the risk of premature death in people with type 2 diabetes, with the risk even higher among patients taking insulin, a new study reveals.
The study authors, from Cardiff University School of Medicine in Wales,...
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For Lower Blood Pressure, Low-Carb Diet May Be Best
MONDAY, Jan. 25 (HealthDay News) -- A low-carbohydrate diet helps people shed as many pounds as a low-fat diet plus the weight-loss drug orlistat does, and the low-carb plan may be better at helping lower blood pressure, researchers report.
Their study, published in the Jan. 25 issue of t...
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More Proof Exercise Leads to Healthier Aging
MONDAY, Jan. 25 (HealthDay News) -- Just in case the world needed more evidence on the matter, along come four new studies verifying that exercise is indeed good for you, even critical if you plan to survive to a vigorous, hardy and tough-boned old age.
All four studies appear in the Jan...
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Prostate Cancer Care Varies By Hospital Type
MONDAY, Jan. 25 (HealthDay News) -- The type of treatment received by prostate cancer patients is influenced by the kind of health care facility where they receive care, a new U.S. study has found.
Surgery was more common among patients treated in county hospitals, while patients in priv...
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Discrimination May Lead to Smoking in Boys
FRIDAY, Jan. 22 (HealthDay News) -- Minority teen boys smoke more when they suffer discrimination, but that's not the case for minority teen girls, a U.S. study finds.
Perceived discrimination had no effect on smoking rates among minority girls aged 12 to 15 and was associated with lower...
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Health Tip: Controlling Diabetic Nephropathy
(HealthDay News) -- Diabetic nephropathy is damage to the kidneys that occurs from uncontrolled diabetes.
The American Academy of Family Physicians suggests what you can do to help slow the damage:
Keep blood pressure below 130 over 80.
Keep blood glucose under con...
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Obesity Tied to Common Kidney Cancer
FRIDAY, Jan. 22 (HealthDay News) -- Obesity increases the risk of developing a common and virulent form of kidney cancer, a new study finds.
Researchers looked at 1,640 patients, average age 62, with kidney tumors and found that obese patients were 48 percent more likely to develop a clea...
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1 in 5 U.S. Kids Has High Cholesterol
THURSDAY, Jan. 21 (HealthDay News) -- Twenty percent of U.S. children and teens have abnormal lipid levels, an indication of too much bad cholesterol, too little good cholesterol or high triglycerides, federal health officials report.
These abnormal levels can raise the risk for heart dis...
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As Obesity Increases, So Does Stroke Risk
THURSDAY, Jan. 21 (HealthDay News) -- The more overweight you are, the more likely you are to have a stroke, a new study reports.
The study, which followed 13,549 middle-aged Americans for 19 years, looked at stroke risk associated with several measures of obesity, emphasizing body mass i...
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FDA Warns of Heart Risks With Diet Drug
THURSDAY, Jan. 21 (HealthDay News) -- The weight-loss pill Meridia should not be used by people with a history of heart problems because the drug can increase the risk of heart attack and stroke in such people, U.S. drug regulators said Thursday.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration sai...
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Rocking Embryos Might Boost IVF Success
THURSDAY, Jan. 21 (HealthDay News) -- Scientists say they boosted the success of in vitro fertilization in mice by gently rocking embryos before implanting them into the womb.
No evidence yet proves that the same technique would work with human embryos, but authors of a new study hope it...
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Senate Upset Foils Democrats' Health Reform Agenda
WEDNESDAY, Jan. 20 (HealthDay News) -- House and Senate Democrats' ambitious plans to revamp the nation's health-care system were torpedoed Tuesday night in the wake of a Massachusetts special election that delivered the seat long held by the late Sen. Edward Kennedy to a Republican.
Stat...
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Erectile Dysfunction Predicts Heart Disease
MONDAY, Jan. 18 (HealthDay News) -- Erectile dysfunction is a strong warning sign that a man might be at increased risk for heart attack, stroke and other cardiovascular problems, a long-running study indicates.
"We saw that adjusting for age and Framingham [Hea...
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For Very Obese, Gastric Bypass May Extend Life
MONDAY, Jan. 18 (HealthDay News) -- Gastric bypass surgery could have life-extending benefits for most of the five percent of Americans who are very obese, a new study suggests.
The study, led by researchers at the University of Cincinnati, concluded that the benefits of this form of weig...
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Most Fast-Food French Fries Cooked in Unhealthiest Oil
MONDAY, Jan. 18 (HealthDay News) -- Most French fries served in U.S. restaurants are immersed in corn-based oil -- usually considered the worst oil for human health -- before they're fried, according to the authors of a new study.
Corn oil contains copious amounts of saturated fat, known...
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Newly Identified Gene Variants Linked to Diabetes
MONDAY, Jan. 18 (HealthDay News) -- Researchers have identified 10 new gene variants associated with blood sugar or insulin levels, which they believe could lead to new treatments for type 2 diabetes.
"Only four gene variants had previously been associated with glucose metabolism, and jus...
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Blacks With Diabetes Urged to Cut Calories, Salt
FRIDAY, Jan. 14 (HealthDay News) -- Blacks with diabetes who consume too many calories and too much sodium increase their risk for eye disease, a new study finds.
The research involved 469 black participants who had type 1 diabetes. Six years later, they underwent blood testing, had a com...
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Diabetes Drug Looks Safe for Heart Failure Patients
FRIDAY, Jan. 15 (HealthDay News) -- The diabetes drug metformin is safe for diabetes patients with advanced heart failure, say U.S. researchers.
The study included 401 patients, average age 56, with type 2 diabetes and advanced systolic heart failure who were followed for 14 years in a he...
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From Risky Health Status to a Better Life
FRIDAY, Jan. 15 (HealthDay News) -- It's easy to roll your eyes when a doctor prescribes diet and exercise as a cure for what ails you.
But it works. It worked for me.
In the past year, I used diet and exercise to lose more than 60 pounds, beat back pre-diabetes and lower my chol...
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Race, Weight May Influence Success of Prostate Surgery
FRIDAY, Jan. 15 (HealthDay News) -- Race and obesity may affect the outcome of men with diabetes who have prostate cancer surgery, a new U.S. study reveals.
"We found that diabetes was significantly associated with more aggressive disease in obese white men and less aggressive disease for...
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CT Scans Spot Many Kidney Abnormalities
THURSDAY, Jan. 14 (HealthDay News) -- About 25 percent of healthy people have abnormalities in the kidneys and their blood vessels, but most of these abnormalities aren't serious enough to prevent a person from donating a kidney, a new study shows.
More research is needed to determine how...
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Lawmakers Getting Closer to Health Care Reform
THURSDAY, Jan. 14 (HealthDay News) -- An agreement in principle on the landmark overhaul to the U.S. health care system could come as early as Friday, lawmakers said Thursday.
The agreement in principle, which would cover major issues such as how to pay for health coverage and how many Am...
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Mail-Order May Help People Stick to Med Regimens
THURSDAY, Jan. 14 (HealthDay News) -- Using mail-order pharmacies makes it easier for people to stick with their doctor's prescribed medication regimens, a new study suggests.
Researchers analyzed medication refill data from 2006 and 2007 from 13,922 people with diabetes, high blood pre...
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Could a Bigger Bottom Boost Health?
TUESDAY, Jan. 12 (HealthDay News) -- Big-bottomed women, take heart.
Fat that settles around the thighs and buttocks may be better for you than a tummy tire, experts say. In fact, a new review of the data on the subject suggests it may even help protect your health.
"It is the pro...
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Health Tip: Track What You Eat
(HealthDay News) -- A food diary can help you track how much food -- and how many calories -- you're taking in. This can help make it easier to lose those extra pounds.
The American Academy of Family Physicians offers these suggestions for keeping a food diary:
Don't change...
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Genetic Marker for Aggressive Prostate Cancer Found
MONDAY, Jan. 11 (HealthDay News) -- A focused search of the entire human genome has found a genetic variant associated with the aggressiveness of prostate cancer, in a discovery that marks an important first step toward singling out cancers that need intensive treatment from those that can simply...
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To Circumcise or Not?
MONDAY, Jan. 11 (HealthDay News) -- As a major organization of pediatricians considers revising its recommendations on circumcision of newborn boys, two new reviews of existing research offer conflicting conclusions about the bitterly debated procedure.
One review, from Australia, says th...
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Very Low Levels of Lead Harm Kids' Kidneys: Study
MONDAY, Jan. 11 (HealthDay News) -- Even very low levels of lead may harm children's kidneys, say U.S. researchers.
The lead level of concern for children is 10 micrograms per deciliter of blood, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention....
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Blood Pressure Drugs Might Fight Diabetic Retinopathy
FRIDAY, Jan. 8 (HealthDay News) -- New research in mice suggests that some drugs used to treat high blood pressure might help prevent and treat a disorder that causes people with diabetes to lose their vision.
The researchers tested candesartan (Atacand), a dru...
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Calorie Counts on Food Labeling Often Off
THURSDAY, Jan. 7 (HealthDay News) -- Many reduced-calorie restaurant and packaged foods in the United States have more calories than indicated on their nutritional labeling, a new study reports.
Tufts University researchers analyzed 29 quick-serve and sit-down restaurant foods and found t...
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Childhood Cancer Survivors Targets for Heart Disease
THURSDAY, Jan. 7 (HealthDay News) -- Childhood cancer survivors are at increased risk for diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure, all of which predispose them to heart disease, say U.S. researchers.
They analyzed data on almost 8,600 survivors and close to 3,000 of their sibli...
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Diabetes Meds May Be Falling Through 'Doughnut Hole'
THURSDAY, Jan. 7 (HealthDay News) -- Medicare's so-called "doughnut hole" could be forcing many American seniors to skip their diabetes medications, a new study suggests.
The doughnut hole refers to a gap in the Medicare Part D prescription drug coverage plan. Medicare covers the cost of...
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For Fitness, Cutting Calories May Not Be Enough
THURSDAY, Jan. 7 (HealthDay News) -- If you're vowing to lose weight this year, consider adding a regular exercise program while you're cutting calories.
Combining the two results in better health outcomes -- such as lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels -- than simply cutting calor...
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Could Your Cell Phone Help Shield You From Alzheimer's?
WEDNESDAY, Jan. 6 (HealthDay News) -- Cell phone addicts of the world, listen up: Electromagnetic waves emanating from these ubiquitous gadgets may prevent or even reverse Alzheimer's disease, researchers say.
Normal mice who had long-term exposure to such electromagnetic waves avoided de...
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New Brain Scan May Help Spot Alzheimer's
WEDNESDAY, Jan. 6 (HealthDay News) -- A new type of brain scan might give doctors more insight into whether patients with memory loss are suffering from Alzheimer's disease, researchers say.
The findings are published in the Jan. 6 online edition of the journal Neurology.
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Fat Hormone Controls Gene Linked to Diabetes
TUESDAY, Jan. 5 (HealthDay News) -- A fat hormone known as leptin controls a gene in the liver that's linked to the dampening of diabetes in animals, researchers have found.
The finding suggests that the hormone could potentially have the same effect in people.
Earlier research ha...
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Hazards of Obesity Now Rival Smoking in U.S.
TUESDAY, Jan. 5 (HealthDay News) -- Obesity now poses as great a threat to Americans' quality of life as smoking, a new study shows.
Researchers at Columbia University and The City College of New York analyzed 1993-2008 data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System that include...
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Restless Legs Linked to Erectile Dysfunction
TUESDAY, Jan. 5 (HealthDay News) -- Men with restless leg syndrome are more likely to have erectile dysfunction, new research suggests, but it's not clear how the two conditions are related.
"There is an association, but we don't know which one comes first," said study author Dr. Xiang Ga...
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Experimental Drug May Help in Brain, Prostate Cancers
MONDAY, Jan. 4 (HealthDay News) -- An experimental drug called imetelstat shows promise in treating glioblastoma brain cancer and prostate cancer, according to the results of preclinical studies in which the drug was tested on human prostate cancer cells and in rodents with glioblastoma.
...
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For Better Health in New Year, Add Exercise to Your Day
MONDAY, Jan. 4 (HealthDay News) --
Want to feel more fit in 2010?
A professor of health and exercise science at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C., says adding a half hour of exercise a day is the key to a healthier lifestyle.
"People don't realize you can get tremendo...
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Genes May Put Black Americans at Risk for Diabetes
MONDAY, Jan. 4 (HealthDay News) -- Inherited genetic variations could explain why blacks develop type 2 diabetes at a higher rate than whites, new research suggests.
"We found gene expression profiles that suggest that carbohydrate metabolism should be different in the African-Americans...
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Quitting Smoking Can Raise Diabetes Risk
MONDAY, Jan. 4 (HealthDay News) -- Smokers who give up the habit have an increased risk of developing diabetes over the next few years, a new study finds.
The finding wasn't a surprise, since smokers typically gain weight when they quit, and weight gain is associated with diabetes, noted...
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Using Kitchen Spoons Ups Risk of Dosing Errors
MONDAY, Jan. 4 (HealthDay News) -- New research suggests that you should steer clear of using ordinary spoons when taking or giving liquid medicines, because the practice raises the risk of potentially dangerous dosing mistakes.
"Clearly we know that there are a lot of people -- despite a...
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Health Tip: Fight Fatigue
(HealthDay News) -- You can combat fatigue -- that feeling of tiredness and lack of energy -- without drinking caffeinated coffee or taking stimulants, the U.S. National Library of Medicine says.
Here are its suggestions:
Stick to a regular sleep schedule, making sure you g...
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Diabetics Less Prone Now to End-Stage Kidney Disease
TUESDAY, Dec. 29 (HealthDay News) -- The incidence of end-stage kidney disease, one of the most serious complications of diabetes, rose steadily in people with diabetes for decades. But, in 1996, the rate of diabetes-related end-stage kidney disease finally began to decline.
Since that t...
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New Guidelines Urge A1C Test for Diabetes Diagnosis
TUESDAY, Dec. 29 (HealthDay News) -- In its latest set of clinical guidelines, the American Diabetes Association is promoting a more prominent role for the hemoglobin A1C blood test in the diagnosis of type 2 diabetes and prediabetes.
Long used in the management of diabetes, the A1C blood...
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Senate Passes Health Reform Package
THURSDAY, Dec. 24 (HealthDay News) -- Senate Democrats gave President Barack Obama a Christmas Eve gift on Thursday with passage of a landmark health care bill that would extend coverage to 31 million uninsured Americans.
Obama said the Senate bill contains 95 percent of the health reform...
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Health Tip: Eat Healthier This Holiday Season
(HealthDay News) -- The holidays are a time of celebrating with fattening foods, cocktails and lots of parties with friends and family. But you can take steps to prevent gaining too much weight during the holiday season.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services offers these heal...
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Diabetes Insight Could Lead to Better Treatments
MONDAY, Dec. 21 (HealthDay News) -- Scientists have identified a protein that may be involved in the development of type 2 diabetes, a finding that could lead to new drugs to fight this growing worldwide scourge.
This same group of researchers recently showed that inhibiting this pathway...
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Health Tip: At the Heart of a Stent
(HealthDay News) -- A coronary stent is a hollow tube-shaped device that is surgically inserted into a blood vessel to keep it open.
The U.S. National Library of Medicine says a coronary stent may be used to treat the following conditions:
Coronary heart disease.
P...
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Health Tip: Blueberries Are Good for You
(HealthDay News) -- Blueberries are more than a tasty, decorative addition to a fruit plate.
One serving of blueberries contains a cup full of goodness, says Moses Taylor Hospital in Pennsylvania.
Here's why they are good for you:
One cup of blueberries has 15 percen...
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Kids in Home-Based Day Care Lack Exercise
FRIDAY, Dec. 18 (HealthDay News) -- Most home-based child-care providers meet nutrition standards but don't give children enough physical activity, allowing them to spend too much time in front of the TV, a new study contends.
Oregon State University researcher Stewart Trost surveyed abou...
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Natural Heart Drugs May Combat Colon Cancer
FRIDAY, Dec. 18 (HealthDay News) -- A family of naturally derived heart drugs called cardiac glycosides shows promise in fighting colon cancer, new research has found.
As part of a larger study to screen and identify natural substances that might be effective against colon cancer, Swedish...
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Spiritual Needs Rank High as Death From Cancer Nears
FRIDAY, Dec. 18 (HealthDay News) -- Addressing the spiritual needs of someone with advanced cancer could be just as important as taking care of their medical needs, a new study suggests.
When asked what was important to them at the end of their lives, people dying of cancer ranked two f...
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Health Tip: Signs That You May Have Diabetic Nephropathy
(HealthDay News) -- Diabetic nephropathy is damage to the kidneys caused by complications of diabetes. In cases of diabetic neuropathy, the kidneys don't function properly, and may even stop working completely, the American Academy of Family Physicians warns.
The academy offers this list...
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Fat Hormone May Protect Against Alzheimer's
TUESDAY, Dec. 15 (HealthDay News) -- High blood levels of leptin, a hormone that regulates appetite, may guard against Alzheimer's disease, new research suggests.
"Hopefully, in 10 or 15 years this may be one of many agents that we use to reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease," said seni...
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Coffee, Tea Might Stave Off Diabetes
MONDAY, Dec. 14 (HealthDay News) -- Here's good news for people who can't start their morning without a cup or two of java: Coffee and tea consumption may decrease the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
That's the conclusion of an Australian study that also found the more coffee you dri...
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Cutting TV Time Burns More Calories
MONDAY, Dec. 14 (HealthDay News) -- James Crouse was watching 25 or 26 hours of television a week until he enrolled in a study that required him to cut his tube time in half.
During his enforced period of deprivation, Crouse burned considerably more calories each day, and not necessarily...
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Studies Quantify Cancer Risks From CT Scans
MONDAY, Dec. 14 (HealthDay News) -- Commonly performed CT scans are exposing patients to far more radiation than previously thought and in doses that could cause tens of thousands of cancers a year, two new studies claim.
Based on the findings, reported in the Dec. 14/28 issue of the A...
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Most Hospital Patients Don't Know What Meds They're Taking
THURSDAY, Dec. 10 (HealthDay News) -- A small study finds that even adults who know what medicines they take at home can't accurately name the drugs they're getting in the hospital.
Forty-four percent of patients believed they were receiving a medication in the hospital that was not actua...
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Beer Ingredient Eyed in Prostate Cancer Prevention
WEDNESDAY, Dec. 9 (HealthDay News) -- An ingredient of beer may someday help ward off prostate cancer, new animal experiments suggest.
The compound in question, xanthohumol, is found in hops -- the bitter flavoring agent in beer -- and is known to block the male hormone testosterone, whic...
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Coffee, Exercise Fight Prostate Cancer
TUESDAY, Dec. 8 (HealthDay News) -- Having a few more cups of coffee and running that extra mile each day can reduce a man's risk of dying of prostate cancer, two studies indicate.
The case for coffee and physical activity as prostate cancer preventatives is far from proven, according to...
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Many Dialysis Patients Get Wrong Blood Thinners for Angioplasty
TUESDAY, Dec. 8 (HealthDay News) -- More than one-fifth of patients on dialysis who undergo angioplasty are given blood thinners they should not be given, new research shows.
As a result, these patients are subject to a higher rate of bleeding during their hospital stay and may even be at...
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Testosterone Gets Bad Rap: Study
TUESDAY, Dec. 8 (HealthDay News) -- People associate testosterone with aggressiveness, but the male sex hormone actually encourages a sense of fair play, a new study finds.
Testosterone does not cause aggression, said lead researcher Michael Naef, of the department of economics at Royal H...
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Asthmatics Who Quit Smoking May Reverse Lung Damage
MONDAY, Dec. 7 (HealthDay News) -- People who have asthma and who also smoke could reverse some of the damage to their lungs by saying no to cigarettes, new Dutch research suggests.
"We found that exposure to cigarette smoke appears to increase the thickness of the epithelium, or lining,...
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Prostate Hormone Therapy May Up Heart Risks
MONDAY, Dec. 7 (HealthDay News) -- Diabetes, heart attacks and other cardiovascular problems appear to be more common in men with prostate cancer who are treated with androgen deprivation therapy, which reduces or eliminates the male sex hormones that can promote cancer growth, a new study has fo...
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Hormonal Drugs Cool Hot Flashes From Prostate Cancer Therapy
SUNDAY, Dec. 6 (HealthDay News) -- Hot flashes caused by androgen suppression therapy for prostate cancer are best controlled by the hormonal treatments cyproterone acetate and medroxyprogesterone acetate, according to a new study.
Androgen suppression is considered the gold standard trea...
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Early Morning Smokers May Be More Dependent on Nicotine
THURSDAY, Dec. 3 (HealthDay News) -- Do you like a cigarette first thing in the morning? If so, take note: A new study suggests that those who rise and smoke inhale more nicotine than other smokers.
It's not clear why this might be so, but one of the researchers said he thinks it could be...
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Health Gains From Lowered Smoking Rates in Jeopardy
WEDNESDAY, Dec. 2 (HealthDay News) -- The overall health of the U.S. population has improved over the past three decades, largely because people have quit smoking in droves, but a new study suggests those gains might soon be wiped out if the rising obesity rates among Americans don't level off or...
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Sugary Colas Tied to Gestational Diabetes
WEDNESDAY, Dec. 2 (HealthDay News) -- Women who drink five or more servings of sugar-sweetened cola per week before they conceive increase their risk of developing diabetes during pregnancy, a new study indicates.
"Previous studies have shown an association with other chronic metabolic pr...
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Exercise Guards White Blood Cells Against Aging
MONDAY, Nov. 30 (HealthDay News) -- Studies have shown that exercise can help ward off heart disease and cancer, and now new research shows that the reason why may be found within cells themselves.
Endurance athletes had longer telomeres -- DNA at the tips of chromosomes that protect th...
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Sleep Apnea May Cause Nighttime Urination
SUNDAY, Nov. 29 (HealthDay News) -- People who wake up during the night to urinate shouldn't automatically blame a urological problem. Sleep apnea, a breathing-related sleep disorder, could be the cause.
A new study suggests that nighttime urination, or nocturia, is comparable to loud sno...
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Diabetes Cases Expected to Double in 25 Years
FRIDAY, Nov. 27 (HealthDay News) -- The number of people with diabetes in the United States is expected to double over the next 25 years, a new study predicts.
That would bring the total by 2034 to about 44.1 million people with the disease, up from 23.7 million today.
At the sam...
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Long-Term Problems Linked to Testicular Cancer Chemo
WEDNESDAY, Nov. 25 (HealthDay News) -- Neurological side effects are among the potential problems faced by long-term survivors of testicular cancer who were treated with cisplatin-based chemotherapy, a new study has found.
The study included 1,409 Norwegian men treated for unilateral test...
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For Chest Pain in the ER, CT Angiography May Be Best
THURSDAY, Nov. 19 (HealthDay News) -- Compared to standard emergency room triage, CT angiography is quicker, more accurate and much less expensive for screening patients with chest pain who have low to moderate enzyme and EKG scores, according to a new study.
The study included 749 acute...
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Great American Smokeout '09: Time to Quit
THURSDAY, Nov. 19 (HealthDay News) -- The less you smoke, the more birthdays you'll have, says the American Cancer Society as it encourages smokers to quit on Thursday, the day of the 34th Great American Smokeout.
Research shows that smokers who quit at age 35 gain an average of eight yea...
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Kidney Transplant, Sleep Disorder May Add Up to Trouble
THURSDAY, Nov. 19 (HealthDay News) -- Kidney transplant patients with sleep apnea are at increased risk for high blood pressure, heart disease and stroke, Hungarian researchers say.
The study of 100 kidney transplant recipients found that 25 percent had moderate to severe sleep apnea, a r...
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Moderate Drinking Guards the Heart
THURSDAY, Nov. 19 (HealthDay News) -- A Spanish study has found that long-term moderate drinking decreased the risk of heart disease by up to one-third in men and to a lesser degree in women.
The type of alcohol -- beer, wine or spirits -- made no difference, the researchers reported in t...
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Spray May Delay Ejaculation
THURSDAY, Nov. 19 (HealthDay News) -- A spray touted as the first potential treatment for premature ejaculation has proved effective in a second study, according to the company that developed it.
PSD502 -- which combines the drugs lidocaine and prilocaine -- is sprayed on the head of the...
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Toddlers, Obese Kids Suffer Most From Smoke
WEDNESDAY, Nov. 18 (HealthDay News) -- Secondhand smoke harms the cardiovascular health of children, especially toddlers and obese youngsters, U.S. researchers say.
Their study of 52 toddlers (aged 2 to 5) and 107 adolescents (aged 9 to 18) found an association between the amount of secon...
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Incidence of High Cholesterol Drops in U.S.
TUESDAY, Nov. 17 (HealthDay News) -- The good news is that a new report shows the percentage of American adults with high LDL cholesterol, the "bad" kind that clogs arteries, decreased by about one-third between 1999 and 2006.
The bad news is that too many of those who have dangerously hi...
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Study Touts Success With 'Female Viagra' Drug
MONDAY, Nov. 16 (HealthDay News) -- New industry-funded research suggests that the antidepressant flibanserin, which has been touted as a female version of Viagra, can enhance libido in women with low sex drives.
The research compiles the results of several trials, the first to test a tre...
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Health Tip: What Causes Urinary Tract Infections in Women?
(HealthDay News) -- A urinary tract infection occurs when certain bacteria invade the urinary tract. Symptoms may include itching, burning, and painful urination.
The National Women's Health Information Center lists these common causes of urinary tract infections in women:
...
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Progress in Stamping Out Smoking Has Stalled
THURSDAY, Nov. 12 (HealthDay News) -- After decades of progress, the number of Americans who smoke hasn't budged over the last five years and actually rose slightly from 2007 to 2008, according to a new report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Over the longer term...
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Quitting Smoking Simplifies Surgical Recovery
THURSDAY, Nov. 12 (HealthDay News) -- Want to boost the odds that you'll thrive after surgery and avoid complications?
The American Society of Anesthesiologists has a recommendation: Drop that butt.
Quitting smoking will make it more likely that you'll recover from an operation wi...
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BPA Tied to Impotence in Men
WEDNESDAY, Nov. 11 (HealthDay News) -- Exposure to high levels of the controversial plastics chemical bisphenol A (BPA) significantly raised the risk of sexual dysfunction, including impotence and low sex drive, among Chinese factory workers, a new study has found.
The researchers stress...
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Health Tip: Check Your Blood Glucose
(HealthDay News) -- The American Diabetes Association says anyone who is diabetic can benefit from blood glucose checks, especially if the person:
Takes insulin or medication to manage diabetes.
Is pregnant.
Has difficulty keeping blood glucose stable and under con...
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Anemia Drugs May Cause Deadly Blood Clots
TUESDAY, Nov. 10 (HealthDay News) -- New research on cancer patients adds to the controversy surrounding anemia drugs such as Procrit and Aranesp, concluding that they increase the risk of venous thromboembolism, potentially fatal blood clots.
These drugs, called erythropoiesis-stimulati...
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Doctors Spending More Time Now With Patients
MONDAY, Nov. 9 (HealthDay News) -- Family doctors are now taking more time consulting with adult patients, seeing them more often and improving the quality of visits, a new study suggests.
"Patients spent more time with their primary care physicians during office visits in 2005 than they...
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Scientists Grow New Penile Tissue in the Lab
MONDAY, Nov. 9 (HealthDay News) -- Researchers were able to restore sexual function to rabbits with damaged penises by growing new penile tissue in the lab and implanting it, a new study reports.
Though a human application is a ways off, researchers say the technique could one day be used...
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PSA Reading Could Predict Post-Radiation Survival
WEDNESDAY, Nov. 4 (HealthDay News) -- Prostate cancer patients whose prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels rise within 18 months after radiotherapy have an increased risk of death, say U.S. researchers.
Their study included more than 2,100 patients with clinically localized prostate canc...
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FDA Issues Warning for Diabetes Drug
TUESDAY, Nov. 3 (HealthDay News) -- Reports about possible kidney problems, including renal failure, in people taking the diabetes drug exenatide (Byetta) have prompted changes to the drug's prescribing information, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Monday.
From April 2005 to Oct...
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Living With Less TV, More Sweat Boosts Weight Loss
TUESDAY, Nov. 3 (HealthDay News) -- If you want to lose weight, exercise and diet are crucial. But a new study says other factors appear to play a role, too -- including the number of TVs in your house and the presence of exercise equipment.
"The home environment really came out as a str...
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Low Cholesterol May Help Prevent Cancer
TUESDAY, Nov. 3 (HealthDay News) -- Low blood cholesterol levels reduce the risk not only of heart disease but also of cancer, two new studies show.
The findings should help ease longstanding fears that low cholesterol is associated with an increased risk of cancer, said Dr. Demetrius Alb...
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Switch to 'Light' Cigarettes Makes Quitting Tougher
TUESDAY, Nov. 3 (HealthDay News) -- Experts have long known that "low-tar" and "light" cigarettes aren't any healthier than regular cigarettes, and new research suggests they have another drawback: People who switch to them are less likely to quit, even those who switch specifically because they...
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Diet Soda, Sodium Tied to Kidney Trouble: Studies
MONDAY, Nov. 2 (HealthDay News) -- A diet high in salt or artificially sweetened drinks increases the risk of kidney function decline, two studies show.
"There are currently limited data on the role of diet in kidney disease," researcher Dr. Julie Lin, of Brigham and Women's Hospital in B...
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Hormone Therapy Can Help Some With Prostate Cancer
MONDAY, Nov. 2 (HealthDay News) -- A brief course of hormone-blocking therapy can provide small benefits to a specific group of men who get radiation therapy for prostate cancer, a long-running study shows.
Ten-year survival was 62 percent in men with cancers graded as intermediate risk w...
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Nicotine Patch Plus Lozenge Best for Quitting Smoking
MONDAY, Nov. 2 (HealthDay News) -- The first head-to-head comparison of different quit-smoking products finds that a nicotine patch combined with a nicotine lozenge had the most success.
More than other methods, including antidepressants, this combination best mimics the actual highs and...
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For People on Dialysis, Too Thin Can Be Risky
SUNDAY, Nov. 1 (HealthDay News) -- Dialysis patients with very low body fat are much more likely to die than other people on dialysis, even those with the highest levels of body fat, a new study has found.
Researchers measured body fat percentage in 671 dialysis patients in California. In...
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Anemia Drug May Raise Stroke Risk in Kidney Patients
SATURDAY, Oct. 31 (HealthDay News) -- A drug designed to fight anemia appears to double the risk of stroke in patients with diabetes and kidney disease without substantially improving their quality of life, a new study finds.
Darbepoetin alfa, marketed as Aranesp and known as an erythro...
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Traveling While on Dialysis Could Be Risky
FRIDAY, Oct. 30 (HealthDay News) -- Travel can jeopardize the health of people on dialysis, a U.K. study has found.
Researchers at the Imperial College Kidney and Transplant Institute in London analyzed health information on 69 dialysis patients who had traveled in Europe, the Middle East...
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Veggies in Pregnancy Lowers Child's Diabetes Risk
FRIDAY, Oct. 30 (HealthDay News) -- Children born to mothers who ate plenty of vegetables during pregnancy are less likely to have type 1 diabetes, Swedish researchers say.
"This is the first study to show a link between vegetable intake during pregnancy and the risk of the child subseque...
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Diet, Exercise Thwart Diabetes: Study
WEDNESDAY, Oct. 28 (HealthDay News) -- Diet and exercise can keep diabetes at bay for a decade, cutting the risk for the disease by more than a third in the most susceptible people, a new study finds.
About 11 percent of U.S. adults (24 million) have diabetes, mostly type 2, which is link...
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Preventive Antibiotics Help Some Kids Fend Off Urinary Infections
WEDNESDAY, Oct. 28 (HealthDay News) -- Children who are predisposed to recurrent urinary tract infections are commonly treated with preventive antibiotics, and a new Australian study suggests that such prophylactic therapy may have at least a modest effect.
Only 13 percent of youngsters...
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Testicular Cancer Survivors Face Other Ills
WEDNESDAY, Oct. 28 (HealthDay News) -- For men with testicular cancer, survival comes at a price: New research suggests that those who recover from the disease face higher risks of long-term illness unrelated to tumors.
"Current patients with testicular cancer should be informed about the...
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All New Dialysis Patients at Increased Risk of Death
TUESDAY, Oct. 27 (HealthDay News) -- A higher risk of cardiovascular-related death isn't the reason why kidney failure patients starting dialysis are at increased risk of death, according to new research that challenges previous thinking.
A number of studies have found that cardiovascular...
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Bladder Problems May Often Be Related to Mental Health
FRIDAY, Oct. 23 (HealthDay News) -- Psychiatric disorders and sexual trauma in women increase the risk of lower urinary tract symptoms, such as incontinence and overactive bladder, a new study finds.
U.S. researchers analyzed the answers in two questionnaires -- the Urogenital Distress I...
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Health Tip: What's Causing Urinary Incontinence?
(HealthDay News) -- Urinary incontinence is the medical term that describes the frequent or significant leakage of urine.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists offers this list of common causes among women:
A urinary tract infection.
Weakened or s...
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Guidelines Urge Use of Erectile Dysfunction Drugs
THURSDAY, Oct. 22 (HealthDay News) -- Doctors should prescribe oral phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE-5) inhibitor drugs, such as Viagra, Cialis and Levitra, for men with erectile dysfunction, unless the patient is on nitrate therapy, according to a clinical practice guideline issued by the American...
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Red-Grape Compound May Improve Diabetes
THURSDAY, Oct. 22 (HealthDay News) -- New research provides further insight into how a health-boosting compound found in red grapes may help the body fend off type 2 diabetes.
But scientists have only seen the effect in mice who received injections in the brain, and no evidence has emerge...
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For Obese, Weight Gained in Pregnancy May Not Leave
WEDNESDAY, Oct. 21 (HealthDay News) -- Obese women who gain more than 15 pounds during pregnancy tend to retain much of it long after delivery, a new U.S. study finds.
Oregon researchers collected data on almost 1,700 obese women (their body mass index was 30 or higher) who gave birth bet...
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Radiation Treatments Made Safer for Cancer Patients
WEDNESDAY, Oct. 21 (HealthDay News) -- U.S. researchers say they may have found a way to protect healthy tissue and also increase tumor death when cancer patients undergo radiation therapy.
The key is a biochemical signaling pathway that can influence how radiation exposure affects both h...
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Super Obesity Ups Risk of Dying After Weight-Loss Surgery
WEDNESDAY, Oct. 21 (HealthDay News) -- People who are super obese and those with the most chronic health problems face an increased risk for dying within a year after weight-loss surgery, a new U.S. study has found.
The research involved 856 men and women who had bariatric (weight-loss) s...
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Votrient Approved for Advanced Kidney Cancer
TUESDAY, Oct. 20 (HealthDay News) -- Votrient (pazopanib) has been approved to treat advanced renal cell carcinoma, a form of kidney cancer in which cancerous cells invade the lining of small tubes in the kidney called tubules, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said in a news release.
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PSA 'Nanotest' May Spot Prostate Cancer's Return After Surgery
MONDAY, Oct. 19 (HealthDay News) -- A new test that could revolutionize the treatment of men following prostate cancer surgery has worked well in a small, early trial, researchers report.
Using nanotechnology, the researchers were able to detect prostate-specific antigen (PSA), the cancer...
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Docs May Be Overdoing Some Invasive Procedures
FRIDAY, Oct. 16 (HealthDay News) -- A new study calls into question the increasing use of invasive procedures as first-line treatment for patients with renal artery stenosis, a narrowing of blood vessels in and around the kidneys.
New medical technology has made...
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Heart Test Deemed OK Before Kidney Transplant
THURSDAY, Oct. 15 (HealthDay News) -- A test to determine whether a person's heart is healthy enough for a kidney transplant is safer than previously thought, according to a British study.
Chronic kidney disease can contribute to the development of heart disease, which means that doctors...
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Smog Tougher on the Obese
THURSDAY, Oct. 15 (HealthDay News) -- Air pollution appears to hit the obese hardest, causing significant increases in blood pressure, a new study finds.
Air pollution has been linked to a variety of health problems including asthma, heart disease and diabetes, but this is the first time...
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Smoking Bans Reduce Heart Attacks: Study
THURSDAY, Oct. 15 (HealthDay News) -- Bans on smoking in public places really do work at reducing heart attacks from secondhand smoke, a major study finds.
Smoke-free policies can reduce the risk of heart attack by up to 47 percent and significantly reduce the likelihood of other heart...
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Impotence, Incontinence Risk Casts Doubt on High-Tech Prostate Surgery
TUESDAY, Oct. 13 (HealthDay News) -- Heightened risks for post-operative incontinence and impotence may outweigh any benefits from minimally invasive "keyhole" surgery for prostate cancer, a new study suggests.
The presumed good stemming from the robotic technique are being oversold to a...
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Health Tip: Why Don't You Exercise?
(HealthDay News) -- People always have excuses for why they don't exercise. But the American Diabetes Association says for every typical excuse not to get active, there's a solution:
Think you don't have time? Start out exercising about 10 minutes per day. Before you know it, you'll...
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Healthier Neighborhoods Help Keep Diabetes at Bay
MONDAY, Oct. 12 (HealthDay News) -- People who live in neighborhoods that promote physical activity and offer access to healthy foods may be less likely to develop type 2 diabetes, researchers say.
Their study included 2,285 people, aged 45 to 84, living in neig...
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Stop-Smoking Vaccine in the Works
MONDAY, Oct. 12 (HealthDay News) -- The National Institute on Drug Abuse has given a $10 million grant to a Maryland company to help it in the final phases of research regarding a possible anti-nicotine vaccine.
Nabi Biopharmaceuticals of Rockville will launch a phase III study of a pote...
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With Hormone Therapy, Tender Breasts May Signal Cancer Risk
MONDAY, Oct. 12 (HealthDay News) -- Breast tenderness in women taking estrogen/progestin hormone replacement therapy could signal increased chances of developing breast cancer, a new study says.
Women taking estrogen plus progestin who reported developing breast tenderness after starting...
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Body Clock, Blood Sugar Control Seem Linked
FRIDAY, Oct. 9 (HealthDay News) -- A strong link exists between the body's biological clock and blood sugar control, say U.S. researchers who conducted lab experiments on mouse and human stem cells, as well as genetically engineered mice.
"The most surprising part of our findings is that...
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Exercise Extends Life of Kidney Patients
THURSDAY, Oct. 8 (HealthDay News) -- Exercise may help extend the lives of people with kidney disease, a new study finds.
Many patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) die prematurely, but many of those deaths aren't directly related to kidney problems, according to background informati...
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Shingles Raises Stroke Risk: Study
THURSDAY, Oct. 8 (HealthDay News) -- Adults with the skin disease shingles appear to be at raised risk for stroke, especially when it affects the area around the eyes, researchers report.
Previous reports have linked shingles with stroke risk, but "the exact frequency and risk for these...
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Headphones May Threaten Heart-Device Performance
TUESDAY, Oct. 6 (HealthDay News) -- A U.S. study offers more evidence that portable headphones can create magnetic interference that might make implanted defibrillators and pacemakers malfunction.
Using the headphones over the ears doesn't appear to be a problem, but storing them in a sh...
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Drug Combo May Prevent Heart Attacks, Strokes
FRIDAY, Oct. 2 (HealthDay News) -- Giving daily doses of a statin and a blood pressure-lowering ACE inhibitor to people at high risk for a heart attack or stroke reduced their incidence by more than 60 percent in two years, researchers report.
People in the study all had diabetes or a his...
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Study Urges Treatment for Even Mild Gestational Diabetes
WEDNESDAY, Sept. 30 (HealthDay News) -- Pregnant women who receive treatment for the mildest forms of gestational diabetes -- including diet and exercise intervention, self-monitoring of blood glucose levels and possibly insulin therapy -- are less likely to have serious birth complications or de...
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Workplace Wellness Seems to Really Work
WEDNESDAY, Sept. 30 (HealthDay News) -- Workplace wellness programs are an effective way to reduce major risk factors for heart disease, such as smoking, obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes, says a new American Heart Association policy statement.
Each year, heart disease costs the...
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Exercise 30 Minutes a Day? Who Knew!
TUESDAY, Sept. 29 (HealthDay News) -- Despite 14 years of public education campaigns, only one-third of Americans know about national recommendations for a minimum of 30 minutes of exercise a day, and fewer than half meet that goal, a new study has found.
The lack of awareness is greatest...
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Health Tip: Evaluating Signs of Kidney Stones
(HealthDay News) -- Kidney stones occur when there's too much of certain substances in the urine, which crystallize and form stones.
The U.S. National Library of Medicine offers this list of symptoms that could indicate kidney stones:
Pain in the abdomen or side of the back...
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Health Tip: Get Enough Sleep
(HealthDay News) -- You feel better when you're well-rested, but insufficient sleep can affect more than your cheerful disposition.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says lack of sleep has been linked to development or worsening of these chronic health conditions:...
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Docs Miss Test Results -- Even With Alerts
MONDAY, Sept. 28 (HealthDay News) -- Even an advanced, computerized medical-record system with alerts cannot guarantee that patients will receive timely follow-up care when imaging tests turn up signs of trouble, new research suggests.
"Our findings suggest that an electronic medical rec...
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Men Not Being Told Enough About PSA Tests
MONDAY, Sept. 28 (HealthDay News) -- Most men are not being told the pros and cons of PSA tests, two new studies find.
Although PSA tests can detect prostate cancer, they can't predict which cancers are aggressive and which are so slow-growing that they don't need to be treated. This lead...
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Exercise May Prevent Prostate Cancer: Study
FRIDAY, Sept. 25 (HealthDay News) -- Regular exercise may help protect men from prostate cancer, says a new study.
U.S. researchers looked at 190 men who had a prostate biopsy and found that those who were moderately active -- anything equivalent to walking at a moderate pace for several...
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Spider Venom -- The Next Way to Treat Impotence?
FRIDAY, Sept. 25 (HealthDay News) -- Scientists may have discovered a novel way to treat erectile dysfunction -- using the venom of a deadly spider.
The bite from the Brazilian wandering spider (Phoneutria nigriventer) causes a painful erection that can last for many hours and later lead...
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Studies Find PSA Screening Unreliable
FRIDAY, Sept. 25 (HealthDay News) -- The inability of the prostate specific antigen (PSA) test to distinguish between deadly and harmless prostate cancers makes it unusable as a population-wide screening tool, new research claims.
Because of its unreliability, results from the test lead t...
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Fructose Boosts Blood Pressure, Studies Find
THURSDAY, Sept. 24 (HealthDay News) -- America's sweet tooth may be contributing to the ever-increasing number of people with high blood pressure.
Two new studies link fructose, the kind of sugar in soft drinks and many sweetened foods, to high blood pressure, which is a major risk facto...
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Hormone Therapy for Prostate Cancer Raises Heart Risks
TUESDAY, Sept. 22 (HealthDay News) -- Hormone therapy to treat advanced prostate cancer can increase the risk of heart disease, but some types of hormone therapy appear to be safer than others, new research has found.
The study included 30,642 Swedish men with either locally advanced pros...
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Diet, Exercise May Slow Kidney Disease Progression
FRIDAY, Sept. 18 (HealthDay News) -- Shedding pounds may be good for most people, but especially for those with kidney disease, a new study has found.
A review of previously published studies on weight loss through diet, exercise or surgical intervention found that the weight loss had a p...
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Progress Made Toward Vaccine for Urinary Infections
FRIDAY, Sept. 18 (HealthDay News) -- A vaccine to prevent urinary tract infections shows early promise in tests on mice, according to University of Michigan researchers.
For two decades, researchers have been trying to develop a vaccine to prevent urinary tract infections, which afflict a...
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Extended Antiviral May Benefit Kidney Transplant Patients
THURSDAY, Sept. 17 (HealthDay News) -- A longer period of preventive treatment after kidney transplant can help reduce the risk that the patient will become infected with a virus that can cause devastating problems, new research suggests.
Healthy people can usually fight off the virus, c...
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More Whole Grains May Mean Less Fat
THURSDAY, Sept. 17 (HealthDay News) -- Eating more whole-grain foods may help reduce body fat in older adults, says a new U.S. study.
The study looked at the eating habits -- including the consumption of whole-grain bread, brown rice, popcorn and other whole grains as well as fruits and v...
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Trouble With Daily Activities Could Point to Alzheimer's Risk
THURSDAY, Sept. 17 (HealthDay News) -- Problems carrying out daily chores or enjoying hobbies could predict which people with "mild cognitive impairment" will progress more quickly to Alzheimer's dementia, U.S. researchers report.
According to the Alzheimer's Association, mild cognitive...
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Exercise Benefits Even the Oldest Old
WEDNESDAY, Sept. 16 (HealthDay News) -- Older adults who get regular exercise may live longer and be at lower risk for physical disabilities, according to an Israeli study.
The research included almost 1,900 people born in 1920 and 1921 who were assessed at ages 70, 78 and 85. Those who...
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Health Tip: Eat Your Fruits and Veggies
(HealthDay News) -- Since childhood, lots of people have heard the parental plea to eat their fruits and vegetables.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offers this insight on why eating fruits and veggies is so important:
Eating lots of fruits and vegetab...
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Diabetes Medications Don't Lower Inflammation
TUESDAY, Sept. 15 (HealthDay News) -- In people with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes, the glucose-lowering medications metformin and insulin don't appear to reduce the inflammation associated with heart disease, new research suggests.
Even though these medications helped reduce glucose le...
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Watchful Waiting Works for Older Men With Prostate Cancer
TUESDAY, Sept. 15 (HealthDay News) -- Older men diagnosed with prostate cancer who choose watchful waiting are doing better these days than in the era before screening with a test for prostate-specific antigen (PSA) became common, a new study finds.
"The most important message is that the...
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