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Open angle glaucoma (OAG), one of the leading causes of blindness, affects about 45 million individuals worldwide - about three million in the US - with that number projected to increase to 53 million by 2020. It is most commonly treated using prostaglandin analogue drops, which can lower the increased pressure in the eye,

This past year has not been a great one for the National School Lunch program. The new government requirements for school lunch composition were met with so much resistance that some have already been

In his NYTimes op-ed, Dr. Ezekiel J. Emanuel states that in the new year and years to come, he will continue to get an annual flu shot, eat healthy, exercise, and get a colonoscopy every 10 years. But one thing will change his medical routine will no longer include an annual

We ve noted before that sitting for extended periods of time is bad for health. Now a new study just published in the Annals of Internal Medicine adds some support to earlier work in this area.

In the public gets the shaft again department, there is yet another example of a failure of generic drugs to control healthcare costs one that would make companies like Pfizer, Merck, and the others green with envy.
And, of course, it s all about green, and we don t mean recycled shopping bags.

Every year, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases develops a new flu vaccine protecting against several different strains of the flu virus based on predictions made early in the year. The vaccine is usually about 60 percent effective, although effectiveness varies from year to year. According

A new report based on responses to an online survey conducted by Penn State tobacco and nicotine expert Jonathan Foulds and colleagues confirms the

Caffeine, a naturally occurring ingredient found in coffee and tea, has also been added of late to everything from energy drinks to candy. Now, it is even being sold as pure caffeine in powder form, a teaspoon of which is equivalent to 25 cups of coffee. This powder can be purchased online or in stores that sell supplements and may

Parents try to provide their children with healthful diets, and thus many avoid full calorie soft drinks because they re concerned about the sugar such beverages contain. Instead, they often turn to fruit drinks because everyone knows that fruits are healthy.

This month s meeting in Lyon, France, of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) the branch of the UN s World Health Organization that studies the relationship between environmental and lifestyle risk factors and

Energy drinks can pose a health risk to children and adolescents, due to their high caffeine content. And a recent review from a consumer advocacy group says these drinks should not be sold or marketed at all to children under age 18.

If the FDA finds that a dietary supplement is adulterated with a drug or any potentially harmful contaminant it can issue what is known as a class I recall to protect consumers from such products. According to a recent research letter in JAMA, such products don t necessarily disappear immediately.

If you believe what you read about BPA and its harmful effects on human health, a topic that we here at ACSH have taken on many times, the latest development from Frederick vom Saal, Professor of Biological Sciences at

It is a very sad day at ACSH. Our good friend Jimmy Capuano passed away yesterday after a seven-year battle with colon cancer. His battle was nothing short of extraordinary.

ACSH advisor and expert on nuclear energy and ionizing radiation, Dr. Jerry Cuttler, gave a presentation at a recent 7th International School on Nuclear Power in Warsaw. His forceful, science-based campaign to demystify nuclear issues is a must-see.

A large study from Japan shows no significant protective effect of low-dose aspirin against cardiovascular mortality among people with risk factors (but no prior CVD history). Now what should doctors advise?

Dengue and chikungunya are both viruses spread by a species of mosquito known as Aedes aegypti. Dengue sickens 50 million people worldwide and chikungunya infected

We have perennially been on opposite sides of the table from the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) on virtually every issue, for example, artificial sweeteners, trace chemicals,

A bipartisan coalition of Aussie lawmakers, led by P.M. Tony Abbott, has proposed that financial penalties be levied on parents who fail to get their children vaccinated against viral contagions

The initial promise of agricultural GMOs was to breed better crops more efficiently than we had been doing through techniques like selective breeding, mutagenesis and radiation. These are all relatively clumsy and inefficient. Genetic engineering allows us to do what we have been doing since the dawn of agriculture: improve our crops in a more directed and specific way that only affects a couple of genes. The development of GMOs was never about helping Monsanto sell more Roundup. It was about efficiently engineering crops to be able to grow and flourish on undesirable land, as well as, in many cases, improving their nutritional characteristics.

Your Daily Brain: 24 Hours in the Life of Your Brain is the new book from Marbles: the Brain Store and Garth Sundem, a regular Science 2.0 writer. The book provides insight to what exactly is going on in your brain throughout the day starting from the moment your alarm clock goes off to falling asleep at night, and everything in between, from losing your car keys, going to the gym, and interacting with your family.

Even in the archives of successful vaccine campaigns, this one really stands out.
In only one year, a vaccine that is astoundingly effective against Ebola, the highly contagious and often lethal virus that has gripped much of the world in fear, was miraculously discovered by an multinational group that consisted of scientists from 12 research centers, as well as the World Health Organization (WHO). The vaccine is manufactured by Merck.

In our modern industrialized food society, it's easy to lose awareness of how food is made. In the 19th century, when food was just becoming industrialized, it was fascinating to city dwellers. Factories gave tours, but it was certainly not without shock to the public who witnessed the process.

Fear of nuclear energy is ingrained in us, thanks to the A-bomb and the Cold War chill when nuclear winter seemed very real. Now however we should realize that nuclear energy means cleaner and actually safer energy for our growing needs, despite fear-mongering such as that in the Lancet last week.

In 1954 the German company Chemie Grunenthal first synthesized the drug thalidomide to be used as a sedative that provided sound sleep. The drug seemed safe when tested on rats it wasn t found to be toxic at all. Indeed, no matter how much was given, the rats survived.