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Short and simple interventions can reduce drinking in the general population

Five minutes of straight talk between doctors and problem drinkers could help reduce the toll of alcohol-related injuries, violence and accidents.

19 Apr 2007

Vaccines to prevent or slow the growth of cancerous tumors

Mayo Clinic researchers have designed a new strategy in the promising field of cancer vaccine research that's proven to be successful in boosting T cells - the immune builders akin to a super defense force against cancer cells.

19 Apr 2007

Breast cancer incidence continues to trend low in 2004

An extended analysis of cancer rates reinforces a strong association between use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and increased breast cancer incidence, according to research led by scientists at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center and published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

19 Apr 2007

Bike helmet legislation could make cycling safer

Legislation that requires people to wear bicycle helmets appears to increase use and decreases injury rates, according to the results of a Cochrane Review.

19 Apr 2007

Exposure to Agent Orange causes genetic disturbances in war veterans

A study published in the journal "Cytogenetic and Genome Research" shows that exposure to Agent Orange, and other defoliants, has led to genetic disturbance in New Zealand Vietnam War veterans which continues to persist decades after their service.

19 Apr 2007

Providing emergency contraception before it is needed does not reduce pregnancy rates

Women who have unprotected sexual intercourse or experience contraceptive failure can seek emergency contraception to reduce their chance of unintended pregnancy.

19 Apr 2007

ADVENTRX announces positive data from multidrug therapy with cofactor

ADVENTRX Pharmaceuticals has announced positive results from preclinical studies using a multidrug treatment regimen including ANX-510 (CoFactor) at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting.

19 Apr 2007

Brief meetings with healthcare workers curb excessive drinking in men

Between one and four standard appointments with a general practitioner or nurse can reduce a patient's alcohol consumption by an average of five standard drink units a week, according to a Cochrane Review.

19 Apr 2007

Drop in HRT use linked to decrease in breast cancer rates

According to the latest report the drop in the use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in mid-2002, following the results of the Women's Health Initiative study (WHI), is linked with a steep decline in new breast cancer diagnoses.

19 Apr 2007

HRT responsible for 1000 deaths in Britain from ovarian cancer

In the latest scare over hormone replacement therapy (HRT) it is thought a thousand British women may have died from ovarian cancer since 1991 because they were using the therapy.

19 Apr 2007

Electronic mosquito repellents just don't do it!

Scientists in Iran have found that electronic mosquito repellents which are marketed as being able to drive insects away with high-pitched sounds do not work.

19 Apr 2007

Modafinil which improves intelligence under scrutiny by Health Department

The British government is examining the impact of a new generation of drugs that are claimed to make people more intelligent.

19 Apr 2007

Caterpillar robot performs heart operations

Scientists in the United States have designed a device which is able to crawl across the surface of the heart and perform precision heart operations.

19 Apr 2007

No one gets the blame but turkey company gets compensated for bird flu scare

A turkey producer in Britain has been awarded compensation to the tune of almost 600,000 pounds following an outbreak of bird flu at a farm there earlier in the year.

19 Apr 2007

Natural blood ingredient prevents HIV

Scientists in Germany scientists say they have discovered a natural ingredient in human blood that prevents the HIV-1 virus from infecting immune cells.

19 Apr 2007

New bill to train more preventive medicine doctors

U.S. Senators Tom Harkin (D-IA), Johnny Isakson (R-GA), Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), and Joe Lieberman (I-CT) joined together to take a major step toward stemming the tide of America's eroding preventive medicine and public health workforce.

18 Apr 2007

Average U.S. resident is exposed to nearly six times as much radiation from medical devices than in 1980

Data from the first large-scale study of U.S. population radiation exposure since 1989 show the annual per capita radiation dose increased 5.9 times, from 0.54 millisieverts in 1980 to 3.2 millisieverts in 2006.

18 Apr 2007

Twin studies identify genes that influence human health in unexpected ways

Daniel O'Connor, M.D., Professor of Medicine and Pharmacology at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine has studied about 265 twin pairs over the past few years, which has led him to some surprising discoveries.

18 Apr 2007

Treatment costs fall and quality improves when patients use self-treatment tools

Encouraging patients to become involved in providing their own care can reduce the cost and improve the quality of long-term medical treatment, say researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital and Massachusetts Institute of Technology in PLoS Medicine this week.

18 Apr 2007

Grave warning about the state of AIDS treatment scale-up

The new AIDS treatment access numbers released by the World Health Organization (WHO) today are a grave warning about the state of AIDS treatment scale-up.

18 Apr 2007