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.

(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.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. health regulators ordered stronger warnings for prescription drugs to treat rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease and other conditions on Thursday after dozens of patients contracted severe fungal infections and died.

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.

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.

THURSDAY, Sept. 4 (HealthDay News) -- The vast majority of American children are getting their recommended vaccinations, federal health officials said Thursday.

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.

(HealthDay News) -- Treatment for cancer takes an emotional and physical toll on your body. But you can take steps to prepare for the treatment that will help make the process easier.

FRIDAY, Sept. 5 (HealthDay News) -- A new lung cancer risk assessment designed specifically for black Americans suggests that chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a much greater lung cancer risk factor for blacks than for whites.

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.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Some of the harmful effects on early child development attributed to postpartum depression may be caused in part by depression during pregnancy, a UK study shows for the first time.

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.

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.

A radioactive tracer that "lights up" cancer hiding inside dense breasts showed promise in its first big test against mammograms, revealing more tumors and giving fewer false alarms, doctors reported Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Cancer experts who probed every gene in tumors from two of the hardest-to-treat cancers found that cancer is much more complicated than anyone thought -- and say they found why a cure is so unlikely after a tumor has spread.

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.