Two recent studies offer a strong incentive for patients at risk of a heart attack to quit smoking and keep taking their daily dose of aspirin. An Italian study, led by Dr. Furio Colivicchi of San Filippo Neri Hospital in Rome and just published in the American Journal of Cardiology, found that the resumption of smoking after a heart attack can raise a patient s risk of dying as much as five-fold.
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The findings of the newest study on the link between childhood brain cancer and cell phone use will be a dropped call to those convinced that heavy cell phone users are a few minutes away from developing cancer.
It would seem that the chest pain many patients fear to be a heart attack in the making does not accurately predict one s risk of having acute coronary syndrome or a heart attack (acute myocardial infarction, AMI), says a new study published in the Annals of Emergency Medicine.
In a co-authored commentary for the Archives of Internal Medicine, New York City Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley and Dr. Lynn Silver, director of the Office of Science and Policy, call on the FDA to provide consumers with a public, product-specific national nutritional database containing information similar to what can now be found on individual products in the grocery or supermarket. Because obesity and other food-related ailments, including diabetes, are on the rise, Dr.
Resistance to acknowledging one s age may be what s keeping many elderly folk from heeding heat warnings meant for older populations. According to a Kent State University study of those over the age of 65, 90 percent were aware of heat warnings issued for the elderly, yet only 15 percent took them personally.
We ve said it before, and we ll say it again: consumers, not the government, will ultimately dictate the recipes used by food manufacturers, and in this case, the public has spoken: Campbell Soup Co. will now be adding some salt back into its 31 Select Harvest soups in order to improve their taste and increase sales. After reducing the soup s salt levels to approximately 480 mg from 700 to 800 mg per serving, the levels will now increase back up to 650 mg.
Dr. Gary Gutting, a professor of philosophy at the University of Notre Dame, is tired of opening the paper only to read about yet another new study describing the purported health benefits of various vitamins, supplements, or lifestyle habits. In an article for The New York Times, Dr. Gutting explains to readers the differences between observational studies and randomized controlled trials.
Speaking of how the media is prone to broadcasting flawed observational studies, an article in yesterday s The New York Times reports on research claiming that eating even a little daily meat may increase a person s risk of Type 2 diabetes.
In yesterday s Huffington Post, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) writes how she was shocked to learn that regulators have been prevented from testing all of the 70,000 chemicals found in everyday home products.
Findings of a study sponsored by the National Cancer Institute last year showed that screening current and former smokers with spiral CT scans can reduce lung cancer deaths by 20 percent, compared to standard chest X-rays. The results were so striking that the study was actually halted early and hailed by the American Cancer Society, the American Lung Association, and other prominent health organizations.
Most people are aware that smoking is associated with various cancers, including cancer of the lung and mouth, yet many may be surprised to learn that the risk of bladder cancer in current smokers is more than three times greater than it is for non-smokers.
An article in the current issue of TIME magazine poses the question, How Safe is Tobacco that Melts in Your Mouth? They are referring, of course, to new dissolvable tobacco products currently being assessed by the FDA. Since R.J.
For those who wish to adhere to the new U.S. dietary guidelines, a new study published in the journal Health Affairs finds that eating the recommended amount of nutrients such as potassium, fiber, and vitamin D can add a substantial amount to the yearly grocery bill.
Where does a chemical go to get its reputation back? an editorial in Wednesday s The Wall Street Journal asks. The question is posed amid the recent release of credible scientific reports that have all determined that bisphenol A (BPA) the chemical that lines cans to prevent food-borne illness and is found in certain plastics is safe, despite inflammatory anti-BPA campaigns initiated by chemophobic activist groups and eagerly spread by complicit media and demagogic politicians.
Federally funded clinical trials may soon become less bureaucratically bound and more efficient if changes announced by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) come to pass. These federal rules regulating clinical trials were instated in 1981, but they have not kept pace with evolving practices and needs. While the majority of U.S. clinical trials once took place in academia, as a result of burdensome regulatory costs, now 70 percent of them are commercial and nearly half take place outside the U.S.
A study from the Georgetown School of Medicine confirms what most of us already know: so-called colon cleansing is not only worthless, but can be dangerous as well. Also called colonic hydrotherapy, the procedure consists of inserting a tube into the rectum and flushing the large intestine with volumes of water that may or may not be mixed with various chemicals, including laxatives.
The medical community has gradually become aware of a difference between the care that black and white women with invasive breast cancer receive. It had been typically assumed that the discrepancy was due largely to reduced access to care. Now, however, a new study shows that, even when both groups have equal access to health care, the disparity remains.
Glaucoma is a threat to vision caused by elevated fluid pressure in the eye. The most common type, open-angle glaucoma, affects more than two million people annually and can lead to optic nerve damage. Now, a study just published in the Archives of Ophthalmology has found that more frequent visual tests result in earlier discovery thus allowing earlier treatment of the progression of glaucoma.
Josh Bloom, New York Post August 16, 2011
Running Out of Common Drugs
In one month, it will become increasingly difficult to find a sugar-sweetened beverage in any city-owned building in Boston. And in the meantime, to prime residents for this phase-out ordered by Mayor Thomas M. Menino, a $1 million federally funded campaign will urge them to reduce their consumption of these beverages. The city-wide media campaign is funded by the U.S.
Two new studies have discredited the common belief that mastectomy should be the standard treatment for breast cancer in women under 40. In fact, say both teams of researchers, the practice of lumpectomy in which just the cancerous tumor and a small amount of surrounding tissue is removed carries no higher risk of recurrence or mortality than a mastectomy.
A prescription-grade formula of an otherwise common over-the-counter remedy holds the possibility of some relief for those who suffer from osteoarthritis of the hand, reports a new study in the journal Arthritis and Rheumatism.
A Cleveland hospital has reduced its incidence of bloodstream infections to one-third of what it used to be and the radical improvement has nothing to do with antibiotics. Instead, the Metrohealth Medical Center strictly enforces handwashing among its staff.
In the current issue of The American, science writer Jon Entine takes a look at the comprehensive list of scientific institutions world-wide that have found no cause for concern about bisphenol A (BPA), and asks why politicians are nevertheless imposing bans on the substance. Anti-BPA campaigners have created a straw man in the way they portray the research landscape, Entine observes.
When it comes to following food safety guidelines, master chef Michael Ruhlman is a bit of a culinary maverick. In an article for The New York Times, journalist Harold McGee chronicles the steps Ruhlman takes as he prepares his chicken stock which seems ordinary enough, except when he gets to the part where Ruhlman lets his stock sit on the stovetop all week, ladling out portions to make soups and sauces daily.
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