Unpasteurized milk, touted as the ultimate health food by some, is 150 times more likely to cause food-borne illness outbreaks than pasteurized milk, and such outbreaks had a hospitalization rate 13 times higher than those involving pasteurized dairy products, a study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finds. The survey found 121 outbreaks linked to dairy products in which it was known...
February 22, 2012
Women who have heart attacks are much less likely than men to develop classic symptoms of chest pain, so they are more likely to die in the hospital, says a groundbreaking new study that tracked more than 1.1 million patients. Because women more often lack those telltale symptoms, they're less likely to get immediate treatment to stop a heart attack in its tracks. The gap in treatment in part contributes...
February 22, 2012
Patients with ovarian cancer and other deadly tumors will regain access to an important chemotherapy drug, Food and Drug Administration officials told USA TODAY in an exclusive interview Monday. The drug, Doxil, has been in short supply since last June. There are no generic versions of the drug, which is also used to treat multiple myeloma and AIDS-related Kaposi's sarcoma. The agency says it will...
February 21, 2012
Next month's challenge to the Obama-sponsored health care law could affect the care available to most Americans, alter the balance of power between Washington and the states and remain a flash point through this presidential campaign. Yet there is a path the Supreme Court could take when it hears the case that could delay for years any resolution of a main point of contention. The core of the law is...
February 21, 2012
Children whose activity choices, interests and pretend play don't conform to expected gender roles face an increased risk of abuse and future trauma, a new study finds. One in 10 kids display gender non-conformity before age 11 and, on average, are more likely to experience physical, psychological and sexual abuse and experience post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) by early adulthood, says the study...
February 20, 2012
Some days are better than others for Leon Spinks. At 58, he has dementia, difficulty maintaining balance and short-term memory impairment, says his wife, Brenda. Muhammad Ali, who twice fought Spinks in the 1970s, has his own well-documented medical issues. At 70, without complaint or regret, Ali wages a courageous fight against Parkinson's disease, a neurological disorder. Their unsteady paths will...
February 17, 2012
When the 2010 health care law comes to the Supreme Court for a crucial test next month, the voice defending it will be a new one. Donald Verrilli, who is less than a year into his post as U.S. solicitor general, did not argue the case in lower courts. And unlike officials who have been public boosters of President Obama's initiatives, Verrilli has worked mostly behind the scenes. "I settled in Washington...
February 17, 2012
Some drugs don't work in pills, but patients hate injections. How about an alternative? In a medical first, researchers reported Thursday that they've been able to deliver bone-building drugs to seven osteoporosis patients with a novel microchip implant. The microchips worked inside patients as drug-delivering pacemakers, following a prescription regimen sent by radio signal. "This is equivalent to...
February 17, 2012
If you're a Baby Boomer, you may have noticed that your contemporaries aren't as spry as they used to be. Your favorite classic rock band's tour is being sponsored by Geritol. And everyone you knew from the Weather Underground is, well, underground. The aging of the 77 million Boomers is one reason that the health care sector has fared so well recently. The Standard & Poor's health care index has gained...
February 17, 2012
Feb. 15 - In just a few years, the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health has become one of the nation's leading facilities for the research and treatment of neurodegenerative disorders, and the Las Vegas-based clinic is showing no signs of slowing down. In the past year, the center, which serves as the command center of a national research network that includes Cleveland Clinic campuses...
February 15, 2012
Can a healthy diet help you breathe easier? Some research says yes. But there are also a lot of unproven dietary strategies touted to help manage allergies and asthma. What works? What doesn't? Find out here. (Of course, if you have allergies or asthma, you should always follow the advice of your health care provider.) *Snacking on fruit to prevent asthma? Worth a try! Eating fruit could lower your...
February 14, 2012
Berlin (dpa) - You feel a twinge in your stomach and there is no obvious explanation. Or maybe, for no apparent reason, you get a stabbing headache. To whom - or to what - do you turn first? According to various studies, there is a good chance it is the internet. "About 65 per cent of respondents now state that they have recently searched for health content on the internet," said Marie-Luise Dierks,...
January 3, 2012
Many people rolled out of bed this week determined to kick-start the new year by losing weight. Some want to shed pounds because they're on the brink of developing type 2 diabetes, their knees hurt or their blood pressure is too high. Others want their clothes to fit less snugly. Still others were shocked by the number on the bathroom scale. If you are one of these people, experts have some helpful...
January 3, 2012
Many smokers will resolve to quit on New Year's Day - and if some health educators have their way, increasing numbers of quitters will be teenagers, on Jan. 1 and throughout the year. The National Cancer Institute is rolling out a new quitting program aimed at teens. It now includes a website (teen.smokefree.gov) and texting support, and in January it will add a smartphone application, says Erik Auguston,...
January 2, 2012
Many smokers will resolve to quit on New Year's Day - and if some health educators have their way, increasing numbers of quitters will be teenagers, on Jan. 1 and throughout the year. The National Cancer Institute is rolling out a new quitting program aimed at teens. It now includes a website (teen.smokefree.gov) and texting support, and in January it will add a smartphone application, says Erik Auguston,...
January 2, 2012
Dec. 29 - Even before it went on the market in 2002, doctors were talking about how the back surgery product known as bone morphogenetic protein-2 would revolutionize medicine. It did - but in ways no one imagined. Instead of offering 100% success in fusing ailing spines with virtually no complications, BMP-2 became a biotech breakthrough associated with skepticism and scandal, epitomizing questions...
December 30, 2011
Dec. 29 - Maryland doctors are once again pushing a tanning-bed ban for teenagers in hopes of fighting skin cancer. Med-Chi, an organization of Maryland physicians, announced earlier this month that it plans to advocate - for the second year in a row - a ban on tanning for anyone under 18. "The legislation will protect youth from melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer," MedChi CEO Gene Ransom...
December 30, 2011
Dec. 30 - You've heard "a minute on the lips, years on the hips," or some variation. But did it make you put down that frosted butter cookie? No? OK, here's another bit of research to snack on: After humans and rodents eat a high-fat diet, their brains begin to show evidence of injuries in just 24 hours. If they keep eating that yummy fatty stuff continuously, the area of their brains that regulates...
December 30, 2011
Dieters lose twice as much weight when they go to Weight Watchers than they do when they get diet advice from professionals in their doctors' offices, a new study shows. People in three countries who followed Weight Watchers lost an average of 15 pounds in a year, while dieters who got guidance from nurses and physicians lost only 7. "This is modest weight loss, but we have to be realistic," says lead...
December 29, 2011
The electric acupuncture needles stung her scalp, and the drugs bloated her weight, gave her heart palpitations and brought on premature menopause. But Wu Chunxia consented to the treatments at the psychiatric hospital because if she didn't, she knew she would be strapped to her bed and left vulnerable to assaults from violent inmates. "It was worse than hell in there," says Wu, 37, of the Henan provincial...
December 29, 2011
Diabetes can affect how your body uses blood glucose, commonly called blood sugar. Glucose is the brain's main source of fuel and provides critical energy for the cells. If you have diabetes, it means that eating too many carbohydrates can spike blood sugar, leading to health issues. But what if there was a natural product that effectively reduced blood sugar and calories and could be added to the...
December 29, 2011
Diabetes can affect how your body uses blood glucose, commonly called blood sugar. Glucose is the brain's main source of fuel and provides critical energy for the cells. If you have diabetes, it means that eating too many carbohydrates can spike blood sugar, leading to health issues. But what if there was a natural product that effectively reduced blood sugar and calories and could be added to the...
December 29, 2011
Dec. 29 - Even before it went on the market in 2002, doctors were talking about how the back surgery product known as bone morphogenetic protein-2 would revolutionize medicine. It did - but in ways no one imagined. Instead of offering 100% success in fusing ailing spines with virtually no complications, BMP-2 became a biotech breakthrough associated with skepticism and scandal, epitomizing questions...
December 29, 2011
Dec. 29 - Steven Watters sat in a cushy leather arm chair in the Houston living room of a fellow ALS sufferer and asked the man across from him hawking stem cell therapy if there was a cure for his disease. "If I opt for the permanent fix, will I avoid a feeding tube?" Watters asked. "Will it keep me out of a wheelchair?" "Oh yeah," the man replied. "Absolutely. We've gotten people out of wheelchairs."...
December 29, 2011
Today the American College of Surgeons (ACS) expressed its deep disappointment in Congress' inability to enact comprehensive and politically viable legislation to fix the Medicare physician payment system. ACS points out that despite having an entire year to address the 27.4 percent cut in Medicare reimbursement rates to physicians, Congress waited until the final two weeks of the year to engage in...
December 29, 2011