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Human immune system has not adapted to changes in the environment

It seems that the current "allergy epidemic" is due not so much to an increase in allergenic risk factors as to the disappearance of factors protecting people against allergies.

25 Jan 2007

Children participating in sports feel pressure

Many children feel pressure and discomfort in connection with their participation in sports. Adults in general think that children are exposed to tough pressure from their parents.

24 Jan 2007

Multiple behavioral risk factors among adolescent cancer survivors

A significant number of young survivors of childhood cancers smoke, are physically inactive and/or don't use sunscreen, according to researchers at Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center.

23 Jan 2007

Inhaled steroids best treatment for children with asthma

Although several medications are available to help children maintain asthma control, clinical trials directly comparing them have not been conducted.

23 Jan 2007

House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee will make Medicare prescription drug benefit oversight priority in 2007

The House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health will examine oversight of the Medicare prescription drug benefit among other priorities for the 110th Congress, House Ways and Means Committee Chair Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) and ranking member Jim McCrery (R-La.) wrote in a letter sent last Wednesday to leaders of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and the House Administration Committee, CQ HealthBeat reports.

23 Jan 2007

Doubt cast on the psychological health gains from orthodontic treatment

A major 20-year study by psychologists and dentists has cast doubt on the assumption that orthodontic treatment improves psychological well-being.

From The University of Manchester 23 Jan 2007

Lap band surgery effective in combating obesity in adolescents

It is the first study to evaluate the lap band in patients under the age of 17, and it revealed that patients on average lost about 50% of their excess weight by one year after surgery.

23 Jan 2007

Measles Initiative exceeds goals

Measles deaths have fallen by 60% worldwide since 1999 - a major public health success. This exceeds the United Nations goal to halve measles deaths between 1999 and 2005 and is largely due to an unprecedented decline in measles deaths in the African region.

22 Jan 2007

Stem cell research discovery could mean 'big things' for cancer

A new discovery in stem cell research may mean big things for cancer patients in the future. Gary Van Zant, Ph.D., and a research team at the University of Kentucky published their findings in Nature Genetics.

14 Jan 2007

UK education system "fails" children from poorer backgrounds

One the UK's most comprehensive investigations into fairness in education has uncovered disturbing failures in the way the system treats children from poorer backgrounds.

From The University of Manchester 14 Jan 2007

Euroscience calls for support for convicted health workers in Libya

Euroscience calls on other academic and scientific organisations to protest at the conviction of six foreign medical workers, by a Libyan court of conspiring to deliberately inject 426 Libyan children with HIV virus.

14 Jan 2007

Younger children capable of handling contact lenses

Children 8 to 12 years old are just as adept as teenagers at handling and wearing contact lenses.

10 Jan 2007

Stem cells derived from human amniotic fluid appear to offer many of the benefits of embryonic stem cells

...including the ability to grow into brain, muscle, bone and other tissues -- according to a study published in the Jan. 7 online edition on the journal Nature Biotechnology, the Washington Post reports.

9 Jan 2007

New hope for Krabbe disease sufferers

By all expectations, it shouldn't have worked as well as it did. A combination of bone marrow transplantation and gene therapy greatly lengthened the lives of laboratory mice doomed by a rapidly progressing, fatal neurodegenerative disorder also found in people.

9 Jan 2007

Kenya's progress at reducing HIV/AIDS prevalence could be undermined by funding delays

Although Kenya has recorded a decrease in HIV/AIDS prevalence from 6.1% to 5.9% during the past year, the country's HIV/AIDS control efforts could be undermined by delays in funding disbursement and other challenges, the Lancet reports.

9 Jan 2007

Outdated physical education syllabus is failing school children

An outdated physical education syllabus is failing the fitness of our school children according to Olympic and physical education expert Sheila Wigmore from Sheffield Hallam University.

From Sheffield Hallam University 9 Jan 2007

WHO tackles rabies, snake bites and scorpion stings

Although more than 12 million people each year are bitten by dogs or snakes, or stung by scorpions, the world's capacity to treat them is inadequate.

9 Jan 2007

Modified skin cells that may help protect cultured skin substitutes from infection

Cincinnati burn researchers have created genetically modified skin cells that, when added to cultured skin substitutes, may help fight off potentially lethal infections in patients with severe burns.

9 Jan 2007

Does industry sponsorship undermine nutrition research?

Researchers from the Children's Hospital, Boston, USA and the Center for Science in the Public Interest, Washington, D. C., USA, have found that there is a high potential for research findings into non-alcoholic drinks to be affected by bias from companies providing funding.

8 Jan 2007

Red tide toxins may trigger respiratory symptoms

The ecological phenomenon, known as Florida red tide, can be harmful for people with asthma. Florida red tides, an annual event in areas along the Gulf of Mexico, are blooms of the ocean organism, Karenia brevis (K brevis), that are concentrated along shorelines and produce highly potent aerosolized toxins.

8 Jan 2007