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Anti-Obesity diet drug from cannabis works!

For those whose New Year's resolution was to yet again try to lose those extra kilos help may be at hand in the form of a new wonder drug derived from cannabis.

17 Jan 2006

FDA warns against buying prescription drugs on the net or overseas

According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), consumers and healthcare professionals who fill out their prescriptions abroad are putting themselves at risk.

17 Jan 2006

Turmeric and cauliflower prevents prostate cancer

According to researchers at Rutgers University, New Jersey, the curry spice turmeric has the potential for the treatment and prevention of prostate cancer.

17 Jan 2006

Mental illness linked to diet

According to new research released this week, mental health is linked to diet and changes to diets over the last 50 years may hold the key to the rise of mental illness.

17 Jan 2006

EU pumps $120 million into fight against bird flu

The European Union has promised to increase it's budget in the fight against bird flu to 100 million euros ($120.9 million), the figure includes an extra 20 million euros for research funds into avian and pandemic influenza.

17 Jan 2006

New "reality" program will help those close to lung cancer victims quit smoking

Doctors in the U.S. have come up with a program which they hope will encourage the relatives and friends of lung cancer victims to quit smoking.

17 Jan 2006

Regular exercise slows down onset of dementia and Alzheimer's

According to a new study published this week regular exercise can slow down the onset of dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

17 Jan 2006

More deaths in Turkey and Indonesia from bird flu

The World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed Turkish health officials tests that show a fourth person, a young girl, has died from the H5N1 virus.

17 Jan 2006

Coffee may impair peak heart function

In healthy volunteers, the equivalent of two cups of coffee reduced the body's ability to boost blood flow to the heart muscle in response to exercise, and the effect was stronger when the participants were in a chamber simulating high altitude, according to a new study in the Jan. 17, 2006, issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

16 Jan 2006

Identification of bipolar risk gene

A collaboration, led by scientists at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research and the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Sydney, has discovered the first risk gene specifically for bipolar disorder, also known as manic-depressive illness. This means that people who have a particular form of this gene are twice as likely to develop the disease.

16 Jan 2006

Systemic spread of avian influenza virus in cats

Researchers at Erasmus Medical Center have demonstrated systemic spread of avian influenza virus in cats infected by respiratory, digestive, and cat-to-cat contact.

16 Jan 2006

Emergency angioplasty better than clot-busting drugs

Across America, hospitals large and small have been racing to offer angioplasty and other minimally invasive treatments to open blocked heart arteries. But not all of them have the ability to do it on an emergency basis, performing angioplasty around the clock on heart attack patients. So, during evenings and weekends, many hospitals use clot-busting drugs instead.

16 Jan 2006

Duration of anesthesia as an indicator of morbidity and mortality in office-based facial plastic surgery

The length of time patients spend under anesthesia during outpatient facial plastic surgery procedures does not appear to be linked to their risk of injury or death, according to a study in the January issue of Archives of Facial Plastic Surgery.

16 Jan 2006

Bisphosphonate use in dermatology patients receiving long-term oral corticosteroid therapy

In a small study from a referral center for dermatology, most patients receiving prolonged oral corticosteroids for chronic skin diseases were not receiving therapies to prevent osteoporosis that may be caused by the drug, according to an article in the January issue of Archives of Dermatology.

16 Jan 2006

Quality of life after treatment for head and neck cancer associated with longer-term survival

Several studies have provided evidence that quality of life (QOL) might be associated with long-term survival in cancer patients, according to background information in the article.

16 Jan 2006

Tissue-specific RNAi reveals that WT1 expression in nurse cells controls germ cell survival and spermatogenesis

Researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center say they have jumped a significant hurdle in the use of RNA interference (RNAi), believed by many to be the ultimate tool to both decode the function of individual genes in the human genome and to treat disease.

16 Jan 2006

Flu - not the only germ threat this time of year!

The flu hasn't even hit hard yet this year, but it seems like everyone's getting sick. What's the deal?

16 Jan 2006

Genome-wide prediction of mammalian enhancers for control of gene expression

Molecular biologists, developmental biologists and computer scientists at the Universtity of Helsinki, Finland, came together to advance towards cracking the code for how gene expression is controlled. The results of this work are published in Cell, in January 2006.

16 Jan 2006

Thiamin supplements may help protect heart failure patients

Among patients hospitalized with heart failure, about one in three has deficient levels of thiamin, although thiamin deficiency was less common among those patients who were taking vitamin supplements, according to a new study in the Jan. 17, 2006, issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

16 Jan 2006

Acetazolamide improves central sleep apnea in heart failure

Since sleep apnea is associated with heart failure, patients who take a single dose of acetazolamide - a mild diuretic and respiratory stimulant - before going to bed exhibit less sleep apnea, improved blood oxygen levels and fewer daytime symptoms of sleepiness.

16 Jan 2006