Researchers at Mississippi State University are busy collecting perspiration samples in an effort to link excess sodium loss through sweating to chronic cramping among athletes.
Changes in student attitudes about marijuana, not a general rise in rebellious or delinquent behavior among the teen-age children of baby boomers, are driving recent increases in the use of the drug. One of the key findings from a University of Michigan analysis of the reasons behind historic fluctuations.
A 59-year-old patient who underwent a rare simultaneous liver transplant and coronary artery bypass surgery is doing exremely well a year later. His case is featured in a recent issue of the Annals of Thoracic Surgery.
Lighthouse and other leading researchers, ophthalmologists and professionals from across the country will present key findings on Friday, June 12, 1998, about recent advances in the research, diagnosis, and treatment of macular degeneration, one of the leading causes of vision loss among Americans over age 60.
Zeneca Pharmaceuticals has launched a new prostate cancer educational web site (www.prostateinfo.com) for individuals and medical professionals who are affected by prostate cancer.
American Journal of Public Health: June 1998 Highlights. Trends in Student Marijuana Use. Smoking and Breast-feeding Increases Infant's Exposure to Tobacco Products 10-Fold. Teens Have Less Sex And Use Condoms More Often. Aerobic Exercise at School Lowers Blood Pressure in High-Risk Girls.
A link has been found between leptin, a protein product of the obesity gene, and risk for coronary heart disease, the cause of heart attacks, say researchers in a study published today in an American Heart Association journal.
Eating a "Western" diet with lots of processed or fried foods can raise blood levels of "oxidized" cholesterol -- a particularly damaging form of cholesterol -- and could increase heart attack risk, scientists say.
Johns Hopkins physicians have designed a series of implants that restore bulk to weakened vocal cords, returning the power of speech to those who have lost their voices from paralysis associated with throat cancers, strokes or other conditions. The patented implants were approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in early spring.
Results from a phase II dose ranging trial presented today suggest that the investigational drug alosetron hydrochloride provides adequate relief of pain and discomfort for females with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS).
Chronic pot smokers may find their drug use holds more than psychological addiction according to a study in progress at the University of Connecticut Health Center.
Pain and tingling resulting from HIV or AIDS associated peripheral neuropathy were significantly reduced in patients treated with LamictalÆ (lamotrigine), according to preliminary results from a small study (n=42) presented today at the Eighth Annual Neuroscience of HIV Infection meeting in Chicago.
Leading headache specialists recently convened in New York City to develop a step system to help migraine sufferers communicate more effectively with their health-care providers. The results of this summit are being released as part of National Headache Awareness Week, June 7 - 13, which is themed ìMaking Headway in Headache Relief.î
Two major clinical studies presented today at the Digestive Disease Week meeting add important new information about the anti-viral drug, lamivudine, in the treatment of patients with chronic hepatitis B.
Viruses are normally all together too good at entering our cells. But when scientists alter them to carry desirable genes for genetic therapy, they usually have difficulty getting into the cells where their cargo is needed. Harvard Medical School researchers seem to have overcome this obstacle by building these weighty, less pugnacious viruses a bridge.
Dr. David Driscoll, a member of the American Heart Association's writing group which issued the nation's first set of standardized recommendations for screening young athletes for potentially fatal cardiovascular disease, will be available on June 8 and 9 to speak to reporters about the JAMA paper. The AHA guidelines were issued in August 1996.
Animal studies using human cancer cells show that a natural sugar-phosphate compound found in rice and wheat bran and in legumes slows or stops teh growth of several kinds of cancer and shrinks existing tumors, a University of Maryland pathologist reports.
Scientists at the Penn Medical Center and NIH identified a new molecular target that could lead to novel therapies for ischemic cardiovascular disease. The research team found that a receptor for adenosine found on the surface of ventricle cells exerts a powerful, sustained protection against injury during exposure to ischemia.
A minimally invasive procedure for repairing abdominal aortic aneurysms gets people back on their feet sooner -- and with fewer complications -- than traditional open surgery, a Stanford surgeon reports.
A type of drug that lowers high blood pressure improves a person's odds of surviving after a heart attack, say researchers reporting on a study of nearly 100,000 heart attack patients that appears in today's Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.
DALLAS, June 9 -- The American Heart Association and the American College of Sports Medicine today announced a new health-screening tool to help fitness clubs keep their clients' interests at heart.
Urologists at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas will soon test whether severe incontinence can be improved by applying electrical stimulation to a spot near the ankle to stimulate the nerves that affect bladder control.
A leading advocacy group for improved mental health care, the National Mental Health Association, today expressed public support for new quality measures for depression treatment released by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA).
Two of the biggest nuisances of having braces -- the monthly visit to the orthodontist and the tooth and gum tenderness that lasts for days after a tightening -- can be eased thanks to a new type of brace system being used at the Temple University School of Dentistry.
Behavioral healthcare benefit costs have been slashed 670 percent more than general healthcare benefit costs over the past 10 years (1988-1997), according to a new study by the Hay Group, an actuarial and benefits consulting firm in Washington, DC.
As part of a Sandia National Laboratories-led effort to create a worldwide disease tracking network, hospital emergency rooms in three New Mexico cities and in a formerly secret Russian city this week began gathering and posting on the Internet information about an emerging disease, hepatitis C, that physicians say could have major world health implications.The primary goal of the international project, though, is to show how monitoring unusual outbreaks of disease can serve as a worldwide early-warning system for covert biological weapons development.
Too much of a good thing, even exercise may be dangerous for some people. Young women who are compelled to exercise at excessive levels are at risk for developing eating disorders and general psychological unhappiness, according to the first study focusing on the role of exercise as a way bulimic women avoid gaining weight.
Lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer deaths in North America. Innovative technology at RPCI will enable physicians to detect premalignant and preinvasive neoplastic lesions in the lung and initiate appropriate curative treatments such as surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy or in many cases, photodynamic therapy using the photosensitzer, Photofrin.
The Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Researcher will hold its third annual press seminar, ìBrain and Psyche: The Neurobiology of the Self,î June 11 and 12, 1998. The event is being co-sponsored by the Massachusetts General Hospital and McLean Hospital.
Speakers will debate the realistic prospects for designing medicines personalized according to a patients genetic makeup and the practicality of implementing these treatments in the clinic of the future.
Power lawn mowers can turn lawn debris into dangerous missiles. In the June issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings, Mayo Clinic surgeons report on a case of a 4-year-old Iowa boy who was "shot" through the abdomen by a piece of metal propelled by a power lawn mower.
"Arthritis of the Hip & Knee: the Active Person's Guide to Taking Charge" raises expectations for those suffering from hip or knee arthritis, and Ronald Allen, one of the nation's leading criminal law scholars, shows how.
Are kids with mental health needs in the juvenile justice system treated fairly? How can adults with severe mental illnesses negotiate a world of managed care? Is mental illness a barrier to serving in Congress? The answers to these questions and many others can be found June 6-10 in Crystal City, Va., at the joint conference of the National Mental Health Association (NMHA) and the National Mental Health Consumers' Self-Help Clearinghouse.
Researchers at Harvard Medical School have identified a protein that partners with the mammalian CLOCK protein to regulate circadian rhythms. Together, the two proteins appear to induce transcription of circadian rhythm genes. Their findings are published in the June 5 Science.
Two-day session at the National Institutes of Health offers research findings which demonstrate why developmental biology can help stop the growth of cancers of embryonic-type cells. More than 300 of the world's leading cancer research scientists will be attending the General Motors Cancer Research Foundation Annual Conference, "Developmental Biology and Cancer," June 9-10, 1998, in Bethesda, MD.
Instead of sliding X-ray films on light boxes, physicians at the University of Maryland Medical Center will now read X-rays and other radiological images on computer screens and the Internet, providing faster medical diagnoses and reducing costs.
APA Annual Meeting Highlights - Thursday, June 4, 1998. Note: All presentations are embargoed from broadcast, publication, and electronic dispersement until the day of the presentation.
Researchers at Virtually Better Inc. and Emory University are beginning a new study aimed at helping individuals with a fear of flying. Fear of flying is a serious problem which often adversely affects sufferers' personal and occupational lives; an estimated 10-25 percent of the population suffers from this fear.
Using novel assays described as the new "gold standard" for measuring specific immune responses to viruses, Emory University School of Medicine researchers have found that the response of CD8+ T cells, which provide the front line of protection against invading viruses, is considerably larger and much more targeted to specific viral antigens than scientists previously believed.
In the June 4, 1998, issue of The New England Journal of Medicine, researchers report findings indicating that as the number of cardiovascular risk factors increase, so does the severity of atherosclerosis in young people.
By simply streamlining care of stroke patients, a hospital "stroke team" can save more lives, reduce hospital stays and create substantial cost savings, according to a study in an American Heart Association journal.
1) Sleeping Pills - Getting a good nights sleep may prove hazardous to your health if you use prescription sleeping pills every night, according to a new study from researchers at the UCSD School of Medicine. 2) Pain and Seniors -- Many seniors believe that pain is a normal part of growing older and that they must learn to live with it.
Johns Hopkins scientists have developed a vaccine that, in mice, can alert the immune system to the presence of stray cancer cells and significantly reduce their blood-borne spread.
Baltimore Orioles third baseman, Cal Ripken, Jr., and Sinai Health System have opened Cal Ripken, Jr. Sports Acceleration. The new center, which offers advanced, sports-specific training programs for athletes, is located at One-Hundred Business Center in Columbia, Maryland. Tim Bishop, strength and conditioning coach of the Orioles, is also involved in the new venture. He and Ripken will provide professional review of all training programs.
It is the size of a laptop computer, but it is as powerful as far larger systems that cost ten times as much and perform the same function -- providing neurosurgeons with a tool for navigating one of the most important, and complex, organs of the body, the human brain.
Study shows that health risk behaviors account for only a small part of the excess mortality among Americans with low levels of income and education, according to Paula Lantz, assistant professor of health management and policy at the U-M School of Public Health.