Diseases/Conditions News

SUNDAY, July 20 (HealthDay News) -- A sweeping genetic analysis suggests that the activity of certain genes might someday allow doctors to predict which lung cancer patients need more aggressive therapies and which do not.

CHICAGO - Viagra's effect in women has been disappointing, but a new small study finds those on antidepressants may benefit from taking the little blue pills. The research involving 98 premenopausal women found Viagra helped with orgasm. But the benefits did not extend to other aspects of sex such as desire, researchers report in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association.

TUESDAY, July 22 (HealthDay News) -- The drug that turned around the sex lives of many older men has proven in a small trial to also help women on antidepressants who experience sexual dysfunction.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Tuesday it will soon release long-awaited revised estimates of how many Americans become infected with the AIDS virus every year.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - People infected with parasitic worms may be much more susceptible to the AIDS virus, according to a study published on Tuesday that may help explain why HIV has hit sub-Saharan Africa particularly hard.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Seventy-five percent of children with cow's milk allergy will be able to tolerate it if it is heated extensively, according to a report in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

PARIS (AFP) - A nearly forgotten Russian-made drug, formulated to combat hay fever, helps improve cognitive abilities in patients with Alzheimer's disease, according to the results of a year-long trial published on Thursday.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Asthma flare-ups early in pregnancy may raise the risk of birth defects, a new study suggests -- highlighting, researchers say, the importance of good asthma control in pregnant women.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Patients with chronic asthma who use the salmeterol on a daily basis are at increased risk for serious adverse events, researchers conclude in the latest issue of The Cochrane Library.

MONDAY, July 21 (HealthDay News) -- Patients are being recruited for a clinical trial of a new targeted radiation and chemotherapy protocol for pleural mesothelioma, a cancer of the lung's lining that's almost always caused by exposure to asbestos.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The results of a study in the current issue of the journal Stroke suggest that there is an association between depression and an increased risk of having a first stroke in elderly patients.

CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - Researchers in South Africa are investigating whether taking AIDS drugs daily will prevent infections among gay and bisexual men, in the latest effort to combat the epidemic.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A new study shows that some women with breast cancer fail to complete their radiation therapy, pointing to a need to help more women to see their treatment through to the end.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Viagra, a popular anti-impotence pill, may help some women on antidepressants have better sex, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday.

GENEVA (AFP) - The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) launched Tuesday a multi-million dollar appeal for an AIDS treatment programme in five African countries.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - In patients with hay fever, a nasal ointment containing the antibiotic mupirocin can eliminate Staphylococcus aureus bacteria in the nose, but this does not improve symptoms, Israeli researchers report.

CHICAGO (AFP) - Researchers have developed a plant-based cancer vaccine capable of kick-starting the body's immune response and being tailored to a patient's specific tumor type, according to a study released Monday.

FRIDAY, July 18 (HealthDay News) -- Scientists may have found more evidence that a person's genetic make-up may help determine whether or not they respond to the antidepressant Celexa (citalopram).

A large government trial of the most promising HIV vaccine candidate to date has been canceled. Does that leave any hope for prevention?

TUESDAY, July 15 (HealthDay News) -- If you've got a strong family history of food allergies or allergic asthma, you might want to think twice before munching a handful of nuts when you're pregnant.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - A personalized vaccine made using tobacco plants -- normally associated with causing cancer rather than helping cure it -- could aid people with lymphoma in fighting the disease, U.S. researchers said on Monday.

FRIDAY, July 18 (HealthDay News) -- Giving up your few drinks a day may lead to health issues, including depression, a new study says.

Researchers discover a genetic variant found almost exclusively in people of African descent that may increase the chances of developing AIDS

TUESDAY, July 15 (HealthDay News) -- A stomach bacterium called Helicobacter pylori may reduce a child's risk of developing asthma by as much as 50 percent, a new study suggests.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Vytorin cholesterol fighter sold by Merck & Co and Schering-Plough has not been linked to cancer or cancer deaths in two large ongoing studies of the medicine, an epidemiologist said on Monday during a medical meeting in London.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Long-term users of so-called tricyclic antidepressants are at increased risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), new research confirms.

WARSAW (AFP) - A Cameroonian poet and activist living in Poland as a refugee since 1999 went on trial Friday in Warsaw charged with having "knowingly infected" 11 women with the HIV virus, his lawyer said.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A bacterium that is a major cause of ulcers and stomach cancer may help protect children from developing asthma, U.S. researchers reported on Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. and Canadian researchers have taken steps toward developing a gene test to determine whether a patient's lung cancer is especially aggressive, or whether radical treatment can be avoided.