The National Institute on Aging and the Alzheimer’s Association are issuing new medical guidelines today that divide Alzheimer’s disease into three stages. The first stage, which may be considered pre-clinical — meaning before any mental dysfunction is apparent — is the most recently characterized phase.
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With his website ranked the 390th most popular, Dr. Joseph Mercola uses his online notoriety to tout thermograms as diagnostic screening tools for early breast cancer detection. Marketed as the Med2000, this thermogram takes digital images of skin surface temperatures using a special camera, which Dr.
Hopefully the recent whooping cough epidemic in California and now a measles outbreak in Europe will convince anti-vaccine activists that their propaganda is putting thousands of lives at risk.
Anti-vaccine hysteria is coming to Times Square. CBS has sold ad space to the so-called National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) on its Times Square JumboTron. That group — whose mission is to spread anti-vaccine hysteria far and wide — will, if CBS allows it, run a video clip sponsored by known anti-vaccine activist Joe Mercola.
Josh Bloom, Medical Progress Today Spotlight Feature April 14, 2011
The Real Reason Drug Companies are Failing?
Yet another new study will have people questioning the safety of medications long believed to be as harmless as rainwater. Researchers from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle studied about 65,000 older men and women in Washington state and asked them about their use of painkillers in the past decade.
We reported on a study in November about the marked efficacy of Gilead Sciences, Inc.’s HIV drug Truvada for protection against the transmission of HIV between male partners. Now a new trial carried out by researchers with the HIV Prevention Trials Network shows that such preventive anti-retroviral protocols dramatically reduce HIV transmission in heterosexual couples.
An article appearing in the Los Angeles Times reveals the extremes to which desperate parents will go to help their autistic children. These all too often include alternative and unproven therapies, purveyed by charlatans seeking to exploit their legitimate fears and even guilt.
Although this concern seemed alarmist from the start, it is comforting to know that the results of a just-released 35-year study conducted by scientists on the Committee of the Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment (COMARE) find that there is no increased risk for leukemia among children living near nuclear power plants in the U.K.
ACSH gives two cheers to the New Zealand Ministry of Health for acknowledging that electronic cigarettes are “far safer” than traditional cigarettes. This statement was made to Members of Parliament (MPs) as they prepare to vote on the Smoke-Free Environments (Controls and Enforcement) Amendment Bill, which includes a proposal to legislate electronic cigarettes containing nicotine as a tobacco-related product.
An article yesterday in USA Today — which has apparently decided to become the bête noir of chemicals — demonstrates that even so-called “science journalists” are ill-informed about the risks (or, rather, lack thereof) associated with flame retardants used in household products. Unfortunately, their misinformation helps the public stay confused and afraid of useful and safe chemicals.
A large study from the Harvard School of Public Health indicates that regularly drinking even one cup of coffee daily may reduce a man’s risk of developing high-grade prostate cancer. Published in Wednesday’s issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, the study monitored nearly 48,000 U.S. men from the Health Professionals Follow-up Study to evaluate a potential association between coffee consumption and prostate cancer risk.
ACSH staffers would like to take our hats off to Coca-Cola CEO Muhtar Kent, who announced in an annual company meeting Wednesday in Atlanta that he does not believe there exists sufficient scientific evidence to stop using BPA in the epoxy linings of the company’s iconic cans.
U.S. health secretary Kathleen Sebelius has announced the World Health Organization (WHO) assembly decision not to recommend the destruction of the last known smallpox virus stockpiles — located in Russia and the U.S. CDC in Atlanta — for at least another five years.
Measles cases in the U.S. this year are at their highest since 1996, the CDC reports. In only the first four months of 2011, 118 cases have already been reported, 89 percent of which can be attributed to importation of the disease — and, significantly, 105 of those cases occurred in unvaccinated people. Travelers returning from Europe and Southeast Asia make up the bulk of the diagnoses. Although the disease has been considered eliminated in the U.S.
What to say of the humble potato? Beneath its skin is potassium, vitamin C, fiber, B vitamins, Thiamin, Niacin, Riboflavin, Folate, B6, fiber, and a full complement of eight essential amino acids. It’s also among the cheapest items in any grocery store. So why has the potato been made a member of the U.S.
Listen to ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross talk chemophobia, radiation scares, and the promotion of sound science with beloved chemistry professor and radio show host Dr. Joe Schwarcz on The Dr. Joe Show.
An eight-year study led by Dr. Saundra Buys of the Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah Health Sciences Center has found that annual screening for ovarian cancer does not reduce disease-specific mortality in women. In fact, the research team actually found that annual screenings with either cancer antigen 125 (CA-125) or transvaginal ultrasound increased harms associated with subsequent and unnecessary invasive medical procedures.
During a season when insect repellent is, of necessity, many people's signature fragrance, consumers may be drawn to sprays with more benign-sounding names and scents. An array of these “natural” repellents is widely available — there’s everything from citronella to soybean oil — but their effectiveness at actually keeping the bugs away is still in question.
The list of reasons why no one should take up smoking is endless, and a new study from the Annals of Internal Medicine, led by Dr. Eruna Pradham, assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, should provide us with yet another such disincentive.
Two preliminary studies published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology suggest that common blood pressure drugs known as beta-blockers may increase survival in women with breast cancer, or make it less likely that they develop aggressive breast cancer or die from it.
Flu vaccination isn't the only pregnancy advice being reported on — a recent study finds that women who lost the excess weight they gained during pregnancy were less likely to develop gestational diabetes (borderline or actual diabetes that appears only during pregnancy) in a subsequent pregnancy.
Look no further than the warnings on your prescription drug labels, and you'll find the side effects of defensive medicine.
Existing guidelines suggest that new mothers breastfeed exclusively for at least the first six months, and a new study may persuade even more women to do so. The study, in the July issue of Pediatrics, suggests that breastfeeding can significantly reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Dr.
Infectious diseases that used to claim the lives of one in six children before their fifth year are making an alarming comeback in the US, writes ACSH s Dr. Gilbert Ross in yesterday s Guardian. Dr. Ross, along with ACSH friend Dr. Henry I. Miller of Stanford s Hoover Institution, observes, The culprits are parents who should know better and the politicians who bend over backwards to accommodate them. In their op-ed, Drs.
Pagination
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