Combo Meds may not be helpful Listen Read
If some is good, more must be better, right? Not so in the case of a combination medication for lowering cholesterol, where two drugs that...
|
Cold Meds in Kids Listen Read
Infants and children should not be given over the counter cold remedies, the FDA has warned recently. Robert Wood, a pediatric allergy...
|
Existing Allergies Listen Read
Moms don’t need to restrict certain foods while pregnant or breastfeeding in order to reduce their children’s chances of having food...
|
Allergic Kids Listen Read
The common wisdom used to be that moms should avoid certain foods while pregnant and breastfeeding to avoid development of food allergies...
|
Both Sides -Breast Reconstruction Listen Read
More than twice as many women are choosing a bilateral mastectomy- having both breasts removed at once when breast cancer is found in one...
|
Low Vitamin D Risk for Heart Attack Listen Read
Vitamin D levels in the blood can be low because of reduced sunlight exposure or inadequate diet, but whatever the reason, a recent study...
|
Breast Reconstruction Listen Read
Many women who need a mastectomy for breast cancer don’t hear about all their surgical options at the time of the first surgery. Gedge...
|
Good Allergy News Listen Read
Having to worry about what you or your children may eat wherever they go is no fun, but the good news is that at least for milk and eggs,...
|
Allergies Listen Read
If you’ve noticed more warnings about nuts in food labels or certain ingredients used in cooking on menus, you’ve probably concluded that...
|
Outgrowing Allergies Listen Read
Children who are allergic to milk and eggs don?t outgrow their allergies nearly as fast as previous studies say, a Johns Hopkins study led...
|
IBD Risk Listen Read
Over two million people have inflammatory bowel disease, or IBD, in the United States, a condition that requires especially careful...
|
IBD and Pregnancy Listen Read
Most people are diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease or IBD during their childbearing years, and the condition can compromise a...
|
Breast Reconstruction Listen Read
Imagine receiving a diagnosis of breast cancer but not being told of your options regarding breast reconstruction. The lack of information...
|
Weight Gain and Psych Meds Listen Read
Antipsychotic medications are one class of drugs used to treat conditions like bipolar disorder, but they often cause substantial weight...
|
Keeping Weight Off Listen Read
The combination of a diabetes drug called metformin and lifestyle changes helped folks who take medications called antipsychotics limit...
|
Latex Gloves Listen Read
Latex gloves were developed by Johns Hopkins surgeon William Halsted in the late 1800’s. Now latex gloves have been banished at Johns...
|
Bone Pain Listen Read
Bisphosphonates are very commonly prescribed and effective medications for osteoporosis, but now the FDA has issued a warning about them,...
|
Medicare Impact Listen Read
Medicare is going bankrupt. That’s one dire warning we’ve all heard, along with the predicted demise of Social Security. But a recent...
|
Healthcare Expenses Listen Read
Estimates of the amount of money spent in the United States on healthcare top 2 trillion dollars. William Brody, president of Johns...
|
Healthcare Talks Listen Read
Presidential hopefuls on both sides of the fence seem focused on lots of issues: the war in Iraq, the housing crisis, looming recession. ...
|
CT Autopsy Listen Read
Autopsies or postmortem exams are not routinely performed unless a death is suspicious or entirely unexpected, but that may change now that...
|
CT Risk Listen Read
CT just keeps improving in its ability to image the body, leading to more and more use of the technology. But some physicists are sounding...
|
CT Scans and Cancer Listen Read
CT scans cause cancer. That’s the short version of a recently reported study looking at radiation exposure related to CT and subsequent...
|
Heart Attacks in Hospital Listen Read
70% of people who had a heart attack while hospitalized received appropriate treatment within acceptable time limits, a recent study...
|
Nerve Cells and Transcendental Experiences Listen Read
Joan of Arc, St. Paul, Muhammed. All of these people experienced transcendental religious experiences. But could their experiences be...
|
Right Choices Listen Read
Controversy is swirling around how best to report safety statistics to patients so they can make informed choices regarding which hospital...
|
Reporting Standards Listen Read
Let’s say you’re about to have elective surgery, and you look at the numbers. Hospital A reports that they deliver needed antibiotics on...
|
Coronary Calcium Listen Read
Almost 95% of women are considered to be at low risk for heart disease using traditional risk assessment tools such as the Framingham...
|
OTC Statins Listen Read
Statins are a class of medications so effective at reducing cholesterol that some health care providers think they should be sold over the...
|
HIV Numbers Listen Read
How many people get infected with HIV each year in the United States? The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been working with...
|
Variations in House Calls for Seniors Listen Read
A new study says a variation on the traditional house call may be an effective way to provide low-income seniors with quality healthcare,...
|
Drugs work with HIV Listen Read
Taking a regimen of medications to keep HIV in check prolongs life and keeps people out of the hospital, the federal Agency for Healthcare...
|
Many Partners Listen Read
In spite of massive public education campaigns, free condom distribution and the like, HIV continues to infect more and more people...
|
More Than One HIV Listen Read
Recent reports on vaccines for HIV have been very disappointing, revealing that not only aren’t these candidate vaccines protective, they...
|
More Aggressive HIV Listen Read
Some strains of HIV kill people faster than others. Kenrad Nelson, an HIV expert at Johns Hopkins, and colleagues, have recently described...
|
PAP OR HPV? Listen Read
Routine Pap smears are a medical success story, identifying many women with cervical cancer at a time when treatment is fairly...
|
Cilia Import Listen Read
Just like single-celled organisms that swim in pond water, most of your body’s cells have a cilium, a single whip-like appendage extending...
|
Genetic Testing Listen Read
At least three genetic testing companies are advertising their services directly to consumers, purporting to give the latest information on...
|
Heart Failure Listen Read
Heart failure is the number one expenditure in the Medicare budget, costing the nation millions of dollars each year. The condition is...
|
PSA Dilution Listen Read
Prostate specific antigen or PSA is used to screen men for prostate cancer, with many physicians saying that looking at PSA levels over...
|
Prostate Cancer and Obesity Listen Read
Men who are obese have a multitude of health issues to deal with, among them the likelihood that if they develop prostate cancer it will be...
|
ALZHEIMER’S Management Listen Read
Keeping blood pressure under control may help slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease, a Johns Hopkins study concludes. Michelle...
|
Blood Pressure and ALZHEIMER’S Listen Read
People who have high blood pressure and Alzheimer’s disease experience more rapid cognitive decline than those whose blood pressure is...
|
Asthma Vigilance Listen Read
Asthma is an exploding problem, especially among city dwelling children. Gregory Diette, an asthma expert at Johns Hopkins, puts it in...
|
Managing Asthma Listen Read
Asthma care guidelines have recently been revised, but a Johns Hopkins study demonstrates that for kids who live in the city, what they...
|
New Tracer Listen Read
A peptide can be thought of as a very small protein. Now Johns Hopkins researchers have discovered a peptide that homes in on colon cancer...
|
Blood Pressure Changes Listen Read
Keeping blood pressure under control is known to help reduce heart disease risk, but now a new study reveals that blood pressure varies...
|
Early Fat Listen Read
Everyone knows that obesity is bad for the heart, but now a new study reveals that even in very young children who are overweight, signs of...
|
AEDs Work Listen Read
If you witness someone suffer an apparent heart attack, don’t waste time agonizing over whether your attempts to use an AED will cause more...
|
AEDs Listen Read
Automatic external defibrillators, or AEDS, those devices emblazoned with a big red heart and seen hanging on the wall in airports,...
|
New Funding Listen Read
Safeway stores have developed a new program to raise money for medical research. They simply ask at the checkout for modest donations, and...
|
Vegetables and the Prostate Listen Read
Men who consumed a diet high in vegetables and some fruits experienced less benign prostatic hyperplasia or BPH than men who consumed less...
|
Are Medications Really Needed for ADHD? Listen Read
Much of the media pans the use of medications for kids with ADHD, raising the specter of a nation of drugged children doped into compliance...
|
ADHD Prevalence Listen Read
If you think ADHD is overdiagnosed among US kids, the real incidence of mental disorders may surprise you. John Walkup, a child...
|
New Guide for ADHD Listen Read
Your child has just been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD. Now what? The American Psychiatric Association...
|
Eyes and MS Listen Read
A simple, painless eye examination using a machine many ophthalmologists already have may be able to track nerve damage experienced by...
|
CT or Angiography Listen Read
The latest generation of CT scanners, so called 64 slice CT, are capable of finding blocked arteries in the heart as well as the more...
|
Broccoli Benefit Listen Read
Broccoli sprouts are known to have large amounts of sulforophane, a chemical with anticancer effects. Now Paul Talalay and colleagues at...
|
Walking helps men who are being treated for prostate cancer in multiple ways Listen Read
Walking helps men with prostate cancer preserve their bone mass while they’re receiving treatment that may compromise their bones, a Johns...
|
Avoiding Bone Loss in Men Listen Read
One side effect of therapies used in prostate cancer to reduce the level of testosterone in a man’s blood is loss of bone mass. Such loss...
|
Blood Transfusions Listen Read
Blood transfusions are given only under dire circumstances, but sometimes they do more harm than good. One recent study suggests the...
|
CABG or Stents? Listen Read
Coronary artery bypass surgery, or so called CABG, results in less chest pain and a reduced need for additional interventions than stent...
|
Statin Benefit Listen Read
Statins are undeniably helpful in reducing cholesterol and lowering heart disease risk, but now a new study shows that years after people...
|
Uric Acid and Cognition Listen Read
Uric acid is the culprit that causes gout. When levels of uric acid are high in someone’s blood, crystals of the chemical form in joints,...
|
Bad Relationships are Bad For Your Heart Listen Read
People in so called toxic relationships suffer more heart disease, a recent study in Archives of Internal Medicine concluded. The effect...
|
Uric Acid and TIA Listen Read
People with high normal levels of uric acid, the cause of gout, suffer more transient ischemic attacks or ministrokes than those with lower...
|
Easier Colon Cancer Screen? Listen Read
Colonoscopy to screen for colon cancer is recommended by the American Cancer Society for everyone once they turn fifty. Now traditional...
|
Therapy Promotes Cancer? Listen Read
Androgen deprivation therapy is used in men with prostate cancer to reduce their levels of the hormone testosterone, which at least some...
|
Employer Clout Listen Read
Imagine being told to exercise 4 times a week or you’ll be fired. Or that failure to take cholesterol lowering medications will result in...
|
Insulin Side Effects Listen Read
Insulin can be a lifesaver for people with diabetes, helping them keep their blood sugar under control and avoid long term complications...
|
Diabetes Control Listen Read
Diabetes control sometimes requires that insulin be added to oral medications to keep blood sugar within acceptable limits, but which type...
|
TIMING BLOOD PRESSURE Listen Read
Many people experience a spike in blood pressure in the evening, even those who are taking medications to lower their blood pressure, yet...
|
Vitamin D Again Listen Read
Vitamin D supplements do appear to reduce one’s risk of developing cancer of any type, a recent large meta-analysis, where many studies are...
|
WHY JUST ONE TYPE OF CANCER? Listen Read
Consuming lots of fruits and vegetables doesn’t help women with breast cancer reduce their risk of the disease returning. Ditto for...
|
Preventing Recurrent Cancer Listen Read
Consuming a diet high in whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables and the like does seem to reduce the risk of recurrent colorectal...
|
New Diabetes Treatment? Listen Read
People with diabetes who undergo gastric bypass surgery will usually see their diabetes disappear shortly after the operation, even before...
|
Asthma Guidelines Listen Read
People who have asthma may notice a change in their care the next time they see a physician. That’s because asthma care guidelines have...
|
Younger and Younger Listen Read
Age at menarche, or the age at which a girl has her first period, has been declining in industrialized nations for decades, with girls as...
|
Genetic Test Marketing Listen Read
Should a genetic test that predicts breast cancer risk in a small subset of women be marketed directly to consumers? That’s the question a...
|
Constraints Listen Read
Warnings regarding the use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, a very effective class of antidepressant medications, in kids may be...
|
Antidepressants and Teen Suicide Listen Read
The number of teen suicides has increased for the first time in many years, recent federal data reveal. Mark Riddle, chair of child...
|
Weight Loss Surgery Helps Listen Read
Gastric bypass surgery and related operations performed to help people lose weight not only help people look and feel better, they also...
|
When to have Weight Loss Surgery Listen Read
Are you thinking of having weight loss surgery but just haven’t committed? Now new evidence published in the New England Journal of...
|
Advanced Lung Cancer Listen Read
CT scans should not be used to screen for lung cancer, recently revised guidelines state, but another study shows that more cases of lung...
|
Finasteride Use Listen Read
Finasteride can reduce a man’s risk of getting prostate cancer but also improve detection of tumors that may already exist in his prostate...
|
Finasteride Listen Read
Finasteride is a drug that interrupts the action of testosterone on the prostate gland as well as prostate tumors, but its use has been...
|
Bypass or Stent? Listen Read
More and more stents are being placed in arteries that supply the heart, and fewer and fewer bypass surgeries are being performed. That’s...
|
Bipolar Increase Listen Read
Bipolar disorder is a serious mental illness where one’s mood vacillates between periods of mania and periods of depression. It most often...
|
Who Cares About Genes? Listen Read
If finding genes related to MS doesn’t help determine who’s at risk for developing the condition, what are they good for? Peter Calabresi,...
|
MS Genes Listen Read
More genes related to multiple sclerosis have been identified. But Peter Calabresi, an MS expert at Johns Hopkins, cautions that finding...
|
MS Vaccine Listen Read
Multiple sclerosis, or MS, may soon be treated with a vaccine instead of medications that disable the immune system, if a new study...
|
Kids and High Blood Pressure Listen Read
High blood pressure is an unrecognized condition in millions of children, a recent study in the journal Pediatrics asserts. And just as in...
|
No Vitamins Listen Read
If you’re taking vitamin C, E, or beta carotene to help your heart, think again. The most recent data conclude that these vitamins don’t...
|
Best Treatment Listen Read
Many people with a cancer diagnosis aren’t even advised of the range of treatments available to them, federal data reveal, and may...
|
Getting Pharmacists Involved In Care Helps Listen Read
Pharmacists assisted by computers can help doctors avoid prescribing risky medications to their older patients, a recent study found. ...
|
Wildfires Listen Read
Each year, over 2,200 wildfires burn in the United States. In March 2006, residents of the Texas panhandle suffered from a wildfire that...
|
West Nile Virus Listen Read
West Nile virus infection is being reported in increasing numbers and may portend an epidemic, the Centers for Disease Control and...
|
Vitamins and Cancer Listen Read
Men with prostate cancer who make regular use of multivitamins and supplements may actually cause their cancers to progress faster, a...
|
Support Groups Listen Read
Being part of a support group doesn’t help people with cancer live longer, a recent study concluded, in spite of previous evidence to the...
|
Flu Lessons Listen Read
Use of public health measures to contain the flu work, a recent Journal of the American Medical Association study looking at the 1918 flu...
|
Breast Cancer Decline Listen Read
Women with breast cancer, even those with more advanced disease, are living longer than ever before, new federal data reveal. Ben Park, a...
|
Restless Leg Syndrome Listen Read
Estimates vary, but many experts say about 15 percent of the population may be affected by restless legs syndrome, or RLS. The condition...
|
Respect for Restless Legs Listen Read
Restless legs syndrome, a condition where people are seized by an uncontrollable urge to move their legs, has now been linked with certain...
|
Emergency Department Info Listen Read
Providing parents with individually tailored health information while they’re on a visit to the emergency department with their child...
|
Protecting Transplants Listen Read
Cells transplants to help people with diabetes make their own insulin have been fraught with problems, especially attacks on the cells by...
|
Diagnosing Appendicitis Listen Read
Appendicitis is a frightening condition to diagnose, since the consequences of missing the diagnosis may be death. Add to that...
|
A new Federal Website can help you make good choices when it comes to eating fish Listen Read
Fish has been called “brain food” for decades, with more recent research bolstering it’s positive health benefits. But health risks such...
|
Are your friends making you fat? Listen Read
Now you can add your friends to the list of things that make you fat, along with sedentary lifestyle and food choices high in fat and...
|
SSRIs and Birth Defects Listen Read
Use of SSRIs, or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, may be associated with an increased risk of certain birth defects when taken...
|
Depression or Fractures Listen Read
The class of antidepressant medications known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors or SSRIs may increase the risk of osteoporosis...
|
Should a woman ever take hormone replacement therapy? Listen Read
Should a woman ever take hormone replacement therapy? Hormones or no hormones- that continues to be a question women with menopausal...
|
When Should You Elect To Have a Joint Replacement? Listen Read
Many more joint replacements surgeries are taking place today than ever before, in younger and younger patients. But Tariq Nayfeh, an...
|
Vitamin D Deficiency Listen Read
Many people don’t get adequate amounts of vitamin D, a recent review in the New England Journal of Medicine concluded, and this is...
|
Once a year Treatment for Osteoporosis Listen Read
Medications to treat osteoporosis help reduce fractures, but many people find them difficult to take. Now a new formulation can be infused...
|
Joint Replacement Listen Read
The number of knee replacements has increased by almost 70% between 1997 and 2005, with hip replacements increasing by over 30% during that...
|
Breast Cancer Test Listen Read
A new molecular test has received FDA approval to help surgeons determine whether a woman’s breast cancer has spread into lymph nodes...
|
WHAT ABOUT INSULIN? Listen Read
With more reports emerging on the dangers of oral medications for type 2 diabetes, Christopher Saudek, a diabetes expert at Johns Hopkins,...
|
New or Old, Diabetes Drugs Listen Read
Tried and true may be better than new and improved when it comes to medications to treat type 2 diabetes, the federal Agency for Healthcare...
|
Avandia Risk Listen Read
In the wake of reports indicating that the diabetes drug marketed as Avandia may increase the risk of heart attacks, more than twice as...
|
Risk of CT Listen Read
Computerized tomography or CT scanning has revolutionized many medical tests, but is getting the blood vessels to your heart screened using...
|
Triglycerides Listen Read
Most people have had the experience of having to wait to eat anything until after having blood drawn for certain tests. Now triglyceride...
|
Swimming Water Listen Read
When health officials test water quality at rivers, lakes and other open water, they most often do so during the week, when relatively few...
|
Breast Cancer and Calcium Listen Read
Consuming calcium and vitamin D may help reduce a woman’s risk of breast cancer, a recent study using data from the Nurses’ Health Study...
|
Lighting Risk with Ipods Listen Read
Add iPods to your list of things not to use during a thunderstorm. A recent case report in the New England Journal of Medicine described...
|
Cancer Treatment Risk Listen Read
Reducing testosterone levels in men with prostate cancer is one strategy for helping shrink the tumor and slow down its growth. Yet...
|
Smoking and Workplace Accidents Listen Read
People who smoke are more likely than those who don’t to have a workplace injury that results in loss of activity, a huge Canadian study...
|
Pituitary Tumor Listen Read
The pituitary gland sits on the base of the brain and controls almost all the body’s hormones. Roberto Salvatori, director of the pituitary...
|
Pancreas Cancer Options Listen Read
Patients everywhere are told they must become advocates for their own healthcare, and that may be especially true in the case of pancreas...
|
Pancreas Cancer Treatment Listen Read
Pancreas cancer has a grim outlook, with single digit survival for five years. Yet 40 percent or more of patients who might benefit from...
|
Infertility Treatment Listen Read
Infertility treatments continue to achieve greater success in helping couples conceive babies, but huge gaps remain in who is able to...
|
Infant Mortality Listen Read
Infant mortality rates in the United States remain much higher than those in countries with a similar standard of living, the latest World...
|
Vitamin D and Cancer Listen Read
Vitamin D and calcium supplements may help prevent cancer. That’s the provocative finding of a study using the supplements to prevent...
|
Undertreatment? Listen Read
Women with breast cancer are routinely tested for certain genes and receptors on their tumors, and these results help determine treatment. ...
|
Counseling Benefit Listen Read
Counseling given at the time of HIV testing can help those who are positive avoid infecting others, and may influence those with negative...
|
Chemo Or No Listen Read
Once women have had surgery for breast cancer, they must then confront a host of choices regarding radiation, medications and chemotherapy...
|
Best Testing Listen Read
HIV infection remains a big problem, especially since many who are infected don’t know it. The CDC has recently made recommendations...
|
TB on Planes Listen Read
How big a threat is Tuberculosis for Air Travelers .The case of a man infected with tuberculosis who traveled internationally by plane...
|
Can a home test kit tell if it's a girl or a boy? Listen Read
Can a home test kit tell if it's a girl or a boy? A new test kit available over the Internet claims to be able to tell a woman who’s just...
|
Deaths due to heart disease have declined a lot. Listen Read
Deaths due to Heart Disease have declined , a lot. Deaths due to coronary artery disease have declined almost forty percent in recent...
|
Extreme TB Listen Read
Extremely Drug Resistant TB is often fatal. Tuberculosis now comes in at least three strains: garden variety TB, multidrug resistant TB,...
|
Colon Cancer Test Listen Read
A NEW BLOOD TEST MAY DETECT COLON CANCER. A simple blood test may soon distinguish those with colon cancer from those without, if Johns...
|
New Face Listen Read
Senior airman Michael Fletcher lost a big chunk out of the middle of his face while serving in Iraq. Patrick Byrne, a reconstructive...
|
|
Obesity and Injury |