Health News

Health News for 10/07/11

October 07, 2011

As One Life Starts, Another May Be Saved

A mother cuddling her newborn baby may not know it, but the process that created a new life also has given her the chance to save another.

Leukemia Survivor Credits Her Life to Tiny Blood Donors

Jennifer Jones Austin works as a lawyer and child advocate in Brooklyn, N.Y., devoting her talents to protecting at-risk children. So it may be fitting that in Austin's own hour of need, her life was saved by donations from two newborn children.

Health Tip: Managing an Anxiety Disorder

If you think you may have an anxiety disorder -- characterized by an intense fear of a person, place or situation -- you should visit your doctor to have your condition evaluated and confirmed.

Health Tip: Store Medications Safely

Storing medications properly can help preserve them and help keep them from getting into the wrong hands.

Community-Wide Effort May Help Tame Troubled Teens

A community-based prevention system may lead to lasting reductions in teen smoking, drinking, violence and other bad behavior, according to a new study.

Men Develop Diabetes With Less Body Fat Than Women: Study

Men develop type 2 diabetes at a lower body-mass index (BMI) than women, and this finding helps explain why men have higher rates of diabetes in many parts of the world, researchers report.

ER Crowding May Encourage Poor Hand Hygiene

Emergency room patients who are transported between departments or given hallway beds are more likely to come into contact with health care workers who have not properly washed their hands, according to a new study.

Boys With Autism May Grow Faster as Babies

Boys with autism tend to grow faster as babies, with differences from typically developing infants seen in their head size, height and weight, a new study says.

Winning May Take All Your Brain Power

Nearly your entire brain is engaged in striving for success when you play games, according to a new study.

Traffic-Related Pollution Tied to Raised Risk of Preemie Birth

Traffic-related air pollution may put pregnant women at risk for a premature birth, according to a new study.

Bicycle May Speed Up Parkinson's Diagnosis

A patient's ability to ride a bicycle can help doctors determine whether the patient has Parkinson's disease or atypical parkinsonism, regardless of the terrain or riding situation, a new study indicates.

Is Female Hormone Disorder Tied to Familial Heart Risk?

Women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), an endocrine disorder that often leads to infertility, are more likely to have parents with some form of heart disease, according to a new study.

Melanoma May Be More Aggressive in Kids

Some children with melanoma are more likely to have invasive disease than adults with this potentially deadly type of skin cancer, a new study indicates.

Simple MRIs Safe for Children, Study Says

Exposing children to MRIs during pediatric clinical trials is not unduly risky to their well-being as long as sedation and injectable dyes aren't used, new Canadian research concludes.

FDA OKs Impotence Drug Cialis to Treat Enlarged Prostate

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced late Thursday that it had approved using the erectile dysfunction drug Cialis as a treatment for enlarged prostate.

Report: Task Force to Recommend Against PSA Test

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force is preparing to recommend that men no longer get screened for prostate cancer by undergoing prostate specific antigen -- or PSA -- testing, CNN reported Thursday evening, citing a "source privy to the task force deliberations."

Health Highlights: Oct. 7, 2011

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

Blood Infection Costliest U.S. Hospital Condition: Report

Septicemia was the single most expensive condition treated in U.S. hospitals in 2009, with a cost of about $15.4 billion, according to a federal government report.

Cialis Approved to Treat Enlarged Prostate

The erectile dysfunction drug Cialis (tadalafil) has received new approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), the medical term for an enlarged prostate.

Panel's Rejection of PSA Test Spurs Mixed Reaction From Experts

News that a key government advisory panel will give a thumbs-down next week to a controversial blood test for prostate cancer is garnering both praise and condemnation from experts.

Juvisync Approved for Type 2 Diabetics With High Cholesterol

Juvisync (sitagliptin and simvastatin) has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for people with type 2 diabetes who also have high cholesterol.

FDA Approves First Combo Drug for Diabetes, Cholesterol

A first-of-a-kind pill that treats both type 2 diabetes and high cholesterol was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday.

21 Deaths From Cantaloupe-Linked Listeria Outbreak: CDC

The death toll from an outbreak of listeria first linked to tainted cantaloupes has risen to 21, and a total of 109 people have been sickened across 23 states, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported late Friday.