Health News

FRIDAY, Sept. 5 (HealthDay News) -- New research shows that obese people who have asthma are nearly five times more likely to be hospitalized for the problem and to have lower quality of life and worse control of the disease than those with asthma who are normal weight.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Most parents find it acceptable to be told about their child's weight status, and the feedback has "minimal" adverse effects for most families, researchers from the UK report.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - For people with asthma, those who are obese are nearly five times more likely than their non-obese peers to be hospitalized for asthma, new research indicates.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The rapid and substantial control of diabetes seen after gastric bypass surgery is due, at least in part, to the intestinal rearrangement involved in the procedure, the results of an animal study suggest.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Obese people with diabetes are just as likely to go undiagnosed as their slimmer peers with the disease, Harvard Medical School researchers report.

PHILADELPHIA - Calling all ninth-grade boys! Raise your hand if this school sounds like fun: wearing jackets and ties every day, staying until 5 p.m., learning Latin and — to top it all off — no girls.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Sexual activity other than intercourse carries some risk of sexually transmitted disease, and doctors should make sure their patients understand that, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG).

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Teenagers arrested for juvenile offenses have a high rate of sexually transmitted diseases, so screening these teens soon after arrest may help catch many cases, a new study suggests.

SYDNEY (AFP) - Older women who take hormone replacement therapy (HRT) have improved sexual function, less insomnia and fewer hot flushes, a study released Friday has found.

TUESDAY, Aug. 19 (HealthDay News) -- A daily dose of the erectile dysfunction drug tadalafil (Cialis) helped relieve lower urinary tract symptoms in men with signs of enlarged prostates, according to a new study.

WASHINGTON - The government on Friday began posting a list of prescription drugs under investigation for potential safety problems in an effort to better inform doctors and patients.

List of medications with potential safety problems

(HealthDay News) -- Here are the latest clinical trials, courtesy of CenterWatch:

THURSDAY, Sept. 4 (HealthDay News) -- Cocaine and methamphetamine use among young adults in the United States fell significantly in 2007, while abuse of prescription drugs increased fairly dramatically, according to a new U.S. survey.

WASHINGTON - The Food and Drug Administration ordered stronger warnings Thursday on four medications widely used to treat rheumatoid arthritis and other serious illnesses, saying they can raise the risk of possibly fatal fungal infections.

WEDNESDAY, Sept. 3 (HealthDay News) -- Fever in young children can be reduced for a longer period of time by giving them ibuprofen, according to British researchers.

FRIDAY, Sept. 5 (HealthDay News) -- Variations of two new genes appear to increase the risk of developing inflammatory bowel disease in childhood, researchers say.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Newborns who breastfeed while doctors obtain a blood sample from a heel experience much less discomfort than babies given sugar water during this routine newborn procedure, new research shows.

THURSDAY, Sept. 4 (HealthDay News) -- Vaccine safety experts say that almost all kids who are allergic to vaccines can receive vaccinations with close monitoring and a set of standard precautions.

THURSDAY, Sept. 4 (HealthDay News) -- The more places that sell alcohol in a neighborhood, the greater the number of injuries that occur to children who live there, a new study reports.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Age should not preclude people who have suffered a stroke or TIA (transient ischemic attack) from being treated with a "statin" drug to lower the risk of a recurrence, US and European investigators report.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Participation in an at-home physical activity program can modestly improve cognition in older adults with memory problems, but who do not have dementia, new research shows.

FRIDAY, Aug. 29 (HealthDay News) -- Canadian researchers are challenging the widely held belief that flu shots help protect older people from potentially deadly diseases such as pneumonia.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - While influenza vaccination does provide protection against catching the flu, it does not have a major impact on death in the elderly, contrary to what some studies have suggested, a new study suggests.

THURSDAY, Aug. 28 (HealthDay News) -- A group of researchers has described hourly changes in a protein in the brain that is thought to play a key role in Alzheimer's disease.

SATURDAY, Sept. 6 (HealthDay News) -- Women who receive an MRI after a new diagnosis of breast cancer not only delay the start of treatment, but they are also more likely to have a mastectomy, as opposed to breast-conserving surgery.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Women with newly diagnosed breast cancer who get an MRI scan wait about three weeks longer before their surgery and are far more likely to get a mastectomy than women who have only a mammogram, U.S. researchers said on Saturday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. health officials have disclosed safety probes into over 20 medicines by companies such as Eli Lilly and Co and Biogen Idec, a step required by Congress to address concerns the agency had been slow to warn of risks.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Rates of depression, and possibly some types of anxiety disorder, are high among people with inflammatory bowel disease or IBD -- conditions such as Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis -- Canadian researchers report.

THURSDAY, Sept. 4 (HealthDay News) -- The virus that causes AIDS infects one form of immune T-cell by rearranging its inner skeleton, allowing it access to the cell, scientists have discovered.

WASHINGTON - The Food and Drug Administration ordered stronger warnings Thursday on four medications widely used to treat rheumatoid arthritis and other serious illnesses, saying they can raise the risk of possibly fatal fungal infections.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Scientists reported this week new evidence that low doses of the chemical bisphenol A (BPA), widely used to make plastic food and drinking containers, can impair brain function in primates, extending the findings of previous research conducted in rats.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Women with newly diagnosed breast cancer who get an MRI scan wait about three weeks longer before their surgery and are far more likely to get a mastectomy than women who have only a mammogram, U.S. researchers said on Saturday.

List of medications with potential safety problems

WASHINGTON - Scientists have mapped the cascade of genetic changes that turn normal cells in the brain and pancreas into two of the most lethal cancers. The result points to a new approach for fighting tumors and maybe even catching them sooner. Genes blamed for one person's brain tumor were different from the culprits for the next patient, making the puzzle of cancer genetics even more complicated.