Health News

Health News for 12/22/10

December 22, 2010

Memo to Men: To Live Longer, Take Better Care of Your Body

As a general rule, men take lousy care of their health.

For One Man, It's All About Prevention and Wellness

Adam Dougherty is laying the groundwork for a long and healthy life.

Health Tip: Do You Have a Phobia?

While fear is a normal reaction to a perceived danger, a phobia may be diagnosed when a fear is exaggerated or irrational.

Health Tip: Help Prevent Antibiotic Resistance

Preventing or treating bacterial infections are what antibiotics were designed to do.

Recurrence of Oral Cancer Found to Signal Poor Outcome

How people fare when oral cancer recurs depends on where and when the cancer returns, a new study has found.

Timely Surgery Appears to Cut Infection Risk, Costs

Delaying elective surgery after a patient is admitted to the hospital increases the risk of complications from infections and results in higher hospital costs, according to a new study.

Gene Mutation Suggests New Treatment Target for Specific Lymphoma

Researchers have identified a gene mutation that may offer a target for new treatments for a type of lymphoma.

Cancer Cells May Be Able to Urge Their Own Death

New research suggests that many cancer cells are equipped with a kind of suicide pill: a protein on their surfaces that gives them the ability to send an "eat me" signal to immune cells.

Gene Mutation Found in One of Four Cases of Deadly Brain Cancers

A gene mutation that is present in one of every four patients with glioblastoma brain cancer has been identified by researchers.

Too Much Fried Fish Might Help Make South the 'Stroke Belt'

Southerners living in the area of the United States known as the "stroke belt" eat twice as much fried fish as people living in other parts of the country do, according to a new study looking at regional and ethnic eating habits for clues about the region's high stroke rate.

New Anti-Clotting Drug May Work Better After Hip Replacement

A new drug, apixaban, may be better for preventing dangerous blood clots in the legs and lungs after hip replacement surgery than a commonly used older drug, a new study finds.

Placebos Work -- Even if Patients Are in on the Secret

Confronting the "ethically questionable" practice of prescribing placebos to patients who are unaware they are taking dummy pills, researchers found that a group that was told their medication was fake still reported significant symptom relief.

New Drug Strategy Shows Promise Against HIV

Scientists are reporting early but promising results from a new drug that blocks HIV as it attempts to invade human cells.

Death Rates Higher for Those With Lasting Epilepsy: Study

People with childhood epilepsy who continue to have seizures into adolescence and beyond face a significantly higher risk of death than people who've never had epilepsy, new research suggests.

Health Highlights: Dec. 22, 2010

Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by the editors of HealthDay:

Single Embryo Beat Double Embryo Transfer in IVF Study

Women who undergo in-vitro fertilization (IVF) are almost five times more likely to give birth to a single healthy baby following the implantation of a single embryo than are women who choose to have two embryos implanted at the same time, an international team of experts has found.

Clinical Trials Update: Dec. 22, 2010

Here are the latest clinical trials, courtesy of ClinicalConnection.com:

U.S. Food-Safety Laws Overhauled

President Barack Obama is expected to sign, perhaps as early as Wednesday, new legislation that gives the U.S. Food and Drug Administration unprecedented powers to keep the nation's food supply safe.

Gardasil Approval Expanded to Include Anal Cancer

U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval of Gardasil (human papillomavirus vaccine) has been widened to include prevention of anal cancer and associated precancerous lesions, the agency said Wednesday in a news release.