Antidepressants are ineffective for most patients, study finds
February 27, 2008
There is little reason to prescribe antidepressants to the majority of depressed patients, according to a group of experts, led by Professor Kirsch at the University of Hull.
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Family Healthcast
February 27, 2008
New Workout: Bellydancing
February 27, 2008
Out-of-whack protein may boost Parkinson’s
February 27, 2008
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A single change in a protein may play a role in whether someone develops Parkinson’s disease, say University of Florida Genetics Institute researchers writing in a recent issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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Heart attack rates fall following national smoking bans
February 27, 2008
French researchers announced a striking 15% decrease in admissions of patients with myocardial infarction to emergency wards since the public ban on smoking came into effect in restaurants, hotels and casinos in France last January. The announcement was made on 23 February by the National Sanitary Institute. Similar results were published in Italy on 12 February by the Environmental Health Authority: researchers in Rome found an 11.2 percent reduction of acute coronary events since the January 2005 smoking ban took effect in Italy.
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10-year trends in heart failure
February 27, 2008
DURHAM, N.C. – Conventional wisdom holds that as the U.S. population ages, the incidence of heart failure will continue to rise. A new study from Duke University Medical Center challenges part of that assumption, however, finding that heart failure is actually declining among the very elderly. Yet the number of heart failure cases overall continues to rise.
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Hormone therapy increases frequency of abnormal mammograms, breast biopsies
February 27, 2008
TORRANCE – Combined hormone therapy appears to increase the risk that women will have abnormal mammograms and breast biopsies, and it may decrease the effectiveness of both methods for detecting breast cancer, according to a report in the Feb. 25 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
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Many stroke, heart attack patients may not benefit from aspirin
February 27, 2008
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Up to 20 percent of patients taking aspirin to lower the risk of suffering a second cerebrovascular event do not have an antiplatelet response from aspirin, the effect thought to produce the protective effect, researchers at the University at Buffalo have shown.
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Anti-HIV gel proven safe, tolerable for women
February 27, 2008
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – An experimental anti-HIV gel is safe for women to use on a daily basis, according to researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.
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Getting to the roots of hair loss
February 27, 2008
A healthy individual loses around a hundred hairs a day. Nothing to worry about as long as they are constantly replaced and the losses occur evenly around the whole scalp. But when hair loss goes well beyond this level it can become quite a problem for those affected – not only superficially in terms of looks but also psychologically. A breakthrough on the hair front has now been made by an international research team headed by scientists at the University of Bonn. After six years of research they have succeeded in identifying a gene that is responsible for a rare hereditary form of hair loss known as Hypotrichosis simplex. The scientists are the first to identify a receptor that plays a role in hair growth. They now hope that their research findings will lead to new therapies that will work with various forms of hair loss.
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