University of California at Los Angeles chancellor Gene Block yesterday announced that the campus will go tobacco-free on April 22, 2013, which is Earth Day.
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A new study published in The Lancet supports the use of radiation therapy to prevent recurrence after surgery to remove the prostate (radical prostatectomy).
The iconic 90-year-old perfume Chanel No.5 is one of the most well known perfumes worldwide. Now, this world-famous perfume along with other famous brands such as Shalimar may soon be banned by the European Union after scientists found that some of the ingredients may cause allergies.
If you have high blood pressure, watch out. You may be putting your brain at risk even if you re under 40.
The Voice of the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH) presents a sampling of its press and internet media coverage from January 2012 June 2012.
The American College of Physicians Clinical Guidelines Committee has released a new evidence-based clinical policy paper revising the guidelines for upper endoscopy use in most patients. During the procedure, known as EGD among clinicians for esophago-gastro-duodenoscopy, a tiny flexible camera called an endoscope is inserted down the patient s throat so the physician can visualize the upper GI tract: esophagus, stomach and duodenum.
Teen pregnancy is a hot topic in the media and pop culture these days, as attested to by movies including "Juno" to "Teen Mom 2" to "16 and Pregnant." Events of recent weeks may indicate this concern is finally cracking the shell around our public health leaders as well better late than never.
It has long been said that salt contributes to high blood pressure and thus, the government s dietary guidelines recommend that the general population consume less than 2,300 milligrams of sodium per day (about a teaspoon of table salt). This relationship, while unequivocally accepted by almost all of the public health and cardiology authorities, is again being questioned; it may be the case that these recommendations are not warranted for everyone.
There may be yet another reason for individuals with elevated levels of blood cholesterol (especially LDL, the bad cholesterol) to jump on the exercise bandwagon, according to new research. A study which included over 10,000 veterans with such lipid abnormalities, classified individuals into four fitness levels ranging from least fit to highly fit.
Does anyone remember when CBS used to be a respected news organization that did its own research or at least quoted independent experts? Or even conducted interviews? When it comes to health and science news, alas, it seems like they ve been reduced to rewriting alarmist or sensationalist press releases.
It s the law of unintended consequences. In the 1990s, the U.S. switched from a whole-cell vaccine for pertussis (whooping cough) in favor of the acellular Tdap vaccine, in which the a represents acellular which also protects against diphtheria and tetanus.
As recently as the 2009 swine-flu outbreak, authorities had to warn people against panic-buying Tamiflu over the Internet. My how the tide has turned these days Roche is under fire for not providing certain clinical data on the drug after researchers say there s little evidence it works.
Childhood obesity is a serious problem in the United States, affecting almost 18 percent of boys and 16 percent of girls aged between 2 and 19.
Weight loss surgery may not be a long-term solution for many patients with type II diabetes, as was once thought. A study published in the journal Obesity Surgery found that many of the obese type II diabetics who had gastric bypass surgery did not go into remission and of those who did, a third redeveloped diabetes within five years. This is a stark contrast from what has been publicized in the past.
Survivors of colon cancer whose diets are heavy in complex sugars and carbohydrate-rich foods are more likely to have a recurrence of the disease than are patients who eat a better balanced diet, according to a new study from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
Starving yourself overnight before having your blood taken for a cholesterol test may not be necessary after all. A new study finds there s only a slight difference between fasting and nonfasting cholesterol levels. There was some fluctuation with diet for triglyceride levels and blood sugar, however, but even that was slight.
Is the goal of eradicating breast cancer by 2020 unrealistic and overly ambitious? We were inclined to agree with a Nature editorial that said so, but one of our readers says no. Dr.
For most women who have been treated for breast cancer, taking tamoxifen (an estrogen blocker in breast tissue) can cut their odds of recurrence but for how long to take the drug to maximize benefit, has not been clear. Now a new study shows 10 years of tamoxifen treatment is better than five, lowering the risk of recurrence by a quarter and the risk of dying by 29 percent.
An estimated one in every 15 hospital patients receive more than the safe daily dose of the common pain-reliever acetaminophen, according to a new study.
Women should be able to get birth control pills without a prescription, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommended last week. Over-the-counter birth control availability has the potential to reduce unintended pregnancies which make up half of all pregnancies in the United States because lack of access to the pill is one of the main reasons that women fail to use contraception.
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force is recommending that all Americans aged 15 to 64 get tested for HIV at least once, regardless of their risk status. This sentiment has been echoed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, especially since CDC data suggests that fewer than half of adults under 65 have been tested.
Researchers investigating breast cancer are reassessing the effects that alcohol can have on the disease, as ACSH s Dr. Gilbert Ross explains in his latest column for Examiner.com.
A new method of prostate cancer testing could potentially put an end to painful prostate biopsies that often miss the actual tumor.
The small size of the prostate gland makes it very difficult to reach, forcing doctors to do a so-called blind biopsy, in which multiple chunks of tissue are removed. A doctor can only hope that one of those chunks is a piece of the tumor that will allow them to determine the state of the cancer. But often, this is not the case.
A new analysis of the Nurse s Health Study has quantified just how much smoking contributes to sudden cardiac death and how quitting can potentially reduce or eliminate that risk.
We have yet another candidate for the silliest scientific study of the year, although it will probably just win for this week. A new study, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, claims that heavy coffee drinkers those who drink more than four cups of regular (caffeinated) coffee a day may cut their risk of dying from cancers of the mouth and throat by nearly half.
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