Warning over Viagra and damage to sightMen who take drugs for impotency such as Viagra or Cialis and who have previously had a heart attack may have a 10-fold increased risk of damaging their eyesight, an American study claims today.
It warns that increasing use of the drugs could produce an increase in a rare condition that can cause irreversible loss of vision.
While doctors are advised to prescribe the drug with caution to men with cardiovascular disease, thousands buy them online.
Many... (more)
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Rise in mental illness linked to unhealthy diets, say studies· Patients benefit by cutting intake of junk food
· NHS warned of rise in £100bn bill
Changes in diet over the past 50 years appear to be an important factor behind a significant rise in mental ill health in the UK, say two reports published today.
The Mental Health Foundation says scientific studies have clearly linked attention deficit disorder, depression, Alzheimer's disease and schizophrenia to junk food and the absence of essential fats, vitamins and m... (more)
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Cure can worsen your coldIT is a staple of most medicine cabinets but doctors have warned that over-the-counter cough syrup could worsen symptoms of a common cold instead of improving them.
In new guidelines for treating coughs, the American College of Chest Physicians yesterday recommended dropping cough syrup as a treatment and instead relying on low-cost antihistamines.
"Cough syrups may suppress a cough a little bit. But they don't treat the underlying cause. They won't make you better ... (more)
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GM Foods: New study shows unborn babies could be harmedMortality rate for new-born rats six times higher when mother was fed on a diet of modified soya
Women who eat Genetically Modified foods while pregnant risk endangering their unborn babies, startling new research suggests.
The study - carried out by a leading scientist at the Russian Academy of Sciences - found that more than half of the offspring of rats fed on modified soya died in the first three weeks of life, six times as many as those born to mothers with nor... (more)
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Bird flu may be more common, less deadlyCHICAGO -- As bird flu cases rise at a disturbing pace in Turkey, new research offers a bit of hope - it's likely that many people who get it don't become seriously ill and quickly recover.
Although not definitive, the new study suggests the virus is more widespread than thought. But it also probably doesn't kill half its victims, a fear based solely on flu cases that have been officially confirmed.
"The results suggest that the symptoms most often are relatively mi... (more)
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Britons 'lead the way in drinking themselves to death'A study has found Britons are drinking themselves to death at a faster rate than people anywhere else in western Europe.
New research shows liver cirrhosis rates are soaring in the UK while falling in other European countries.
In the 1950s England and Wales had western Europe's lowest rates of deaths from liver cirrhosis, which in developed countries is caused primarily by alcohol poisoning.
But in the 1980s and 1990s cirrhosis mortality rates... (more)
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The Battle to Stop Bird Flu The pandemic has hit New Mexico. Inside the Los Alamos weapons lab, massive computer simulations are unleashing disease and tracking its course, 6 billion people at a time.
On a cold January day in 1976, Private David Lewis came down with the flu. Struck with the classic symptoms - headache, sore throat, fever - Lewis was told to go to his barracks at Fort Dix, New Jersey, and get some rest. Instead, he went on a march with other grunts, collapsed, and, after being rushed to the b... (more)
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Heart Attack Drugs Often MisprescribedTUESDAY, Dec. 27 (HealthDay News) -- Emergency room doctors treating heart attack patients often fail to administer powerful clot-preventing drugs in the proper doses, a new study finds.
One common error is to overprescribe -- giving doses large enough to cause potentially dangerous bleeding, according to researchers reporting in the Dec. 28 issue of the
Journal of the American Medical Association.
The problem is that the doctors tend to follow the ru... (more)
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Revealed: the pill that prevents cancer A daily dose of vitamin D could cut the risk of cancers of the breast, colon and ovary by up to a half, a 40-year review of research has found. The evidence for the protective effect of the "sunshine vitamin" is so overwhelming that urgent action must be taken by public health authorities to boost blood levels, say cancer specialists.
A growing body of evidence in recent years has shown that lack of vitamin D may have lethal effects. Heart disease, lung disease, cancer, diabetes, ... (more)
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Vitamin can cut cancer risk by 50% A large daily dose of vitamin D can lower the risk of developing common cancers by as much as 50%, scientists said.
Researchers found that the "natural" form of the vitamin, known as D3, can dramatically reduce the chances of developing breast, ovarian and colon cancer, as well as others.
Taking 1,000 international units (IU) of the vitamin daily could lower an individual's cancer risk by 50%, they said.
Such large doses of vitamin D must be treated w... (more)
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Scientists resurrecting use of silver as antisepticSilver, one of humankind's first weapons against bacteria, is receiving new respect for its antiseptic powers thanks to the growing ability of researchers to tinker with its molecular structure.
Doctors prescribed silver to fight infections at least as far back as the days of ancient Greece and Egypt. Their knowledge was absorbed by Rome, where historians like Pliny the Elder reported that silver plasters caused wounds to close rapidly. More recently, in 1884, a German doctor nam... (more)
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Cancer fears over sweetener in foodAn artificial sweetener found in 6,000 types of food, drink and medicines should be banned, an MP urged last night.
Politicians were warned of 'compelling and reliable' evidence that aspartame can cause cancer.
The controversial additive is found in a huge number of popular products such as cola, cereal and chocolate.
Roger Williams, a member of the parliamentary select committee on food and the environment and Liberal Democrat MP, said any items c... (more)
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Doctors told not to prescribe SeroxatDoctors have been warned not to give pregnant women a leading anti-depressant drug because it may cause birth defects.
The move follows evidence from Sweden that suggested women who took paroxetine - sold in Britain as Seroxat - during early pregnancy, were twice as likely to give birth to a child with a heart defect.
A separate study revealed that use of paroxetine, rather than other antidepressants, increased the risk of birth defects, such as cleft palate, by a t... (more)
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Good for the brain!Nicotine might be Public Enemy No. 1 for the bureaucrats who run America's local governments, but it's also a miracle drug that fights memory loss in old folks facing Alzheimer's Disease.
A new study by the University of Vermont shows that a daily dose of nicotine helps increase attention spans and short-term memory by mimicking natural chemicals in the brain that decrease over time in Alzheimer's patients.
"Nicotine can improve learning, it can improve attention pe... (more)
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Have Acne Problems? Milk May Be Culprit: Researcher Suspects Iodine In Milk Linked To Acne ProblemsMilk does a body good -- but it might not be so great for a teenager's complexion, according to new research.
Dermatologists seem to agree that something in milk and dairy products may be linked to teenage acne, but they haven't been able to pin down the reason why.
In a study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology in February 2005, researchers have pointed to hormones and bioactive molecules in milk. But Dr. Harvey Arbesman, a dermatologist... (more)
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FDA: Paxil Linked to Birth DefectsThe FDA warned doctors today that preliminary results implicate the antidepressant Paxil (paroxetine) with an increased risk of birth defects.
The FDA informed doctors that results of new studies suggest that Paxil use during the first trimester increases the risk of congenital heart defects in the developing fetus.
The FDA advised physicians to discuss the potential risk of birth defects with women taking Paxil who plan to become pregnant or who are in the first ... (more)
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Soft Drinks Reportedly Linked to Health ProblemsThe U.S. ranks No. 1 in the world in the consumption of soft drinks, with the average American drinking 150 quarts a year – but experts say these beverages can pose serious health risks.
One recent study found that women who drink one or more sugar-sweetened soft drink a day are twice as likely to develop diabetes as women who drink fewer than one per month.
Even when such factors as weight, diet and lifestyle are considered, women drinking sugary soda are still 1.3... (more)
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Cancer team make 'super-broccoli'Scientists are developing a "super-broccoli" which they hope will help people ward off cancer.
Broccoli has anti-cancer properties but an Institute of Food Research study has found some people's genetic make-up may minimise the protection they get.
IFR scientists say creating broccoli containing more of the key chemical - sulforaphane - may counter this effect.
They hope it will be ready in three years but recommend eating lots of different green vege... (more)
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Tamiflu 'useless' against avian flu: Doctor who has treated 41 victims of virus says 'we place no importance on this drug'After treating 41 victims of H5N1, the deadly form of the bird flu virus, a Vietnamese doctor has concluded Tamiflu, the drug most widely stockpiled around the world to combat a feared pandemic, is "useless."
Dr. Nguyen Tuong Van, who runs the intensive care unit of the Center for Tropical Diseases in Hanoi, followed World Health Organization guidelines in her treatment of patients but concluded it had no effect on the disease.
"We place no importance on using thi... (more)
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Anti-Depressants Cited In SuicideThe negative side effects of the anti-depressant prescription medications known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) have been long suspected, and may have contributed to several schoolyard shootings including the Columbine massacre. Now, if a pending court case goes forward, there may even be a link proven to suicide.
A story in Fortune magazine details the case of Tim "Woody" Witczak, whose wife Kimberly is claiming her husband's suicide two years ago was directly... (more)
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Outbreaks of Bird Flu Subside in Russia — Health MinistryOutbreaks of bird flu have subsided in Russia and the virus is now known to be present in only two locations in the country, a sharp decrease from the 10 zones that were affected a month ago.
“As of November 29, there are still two areas on the territory of the Russian Federation affected by bird flu,” the health ministry said in a statement, quoted by the AFP news agency.
One was in the region of Kurgan about 2,100 kilometers (1,300 miles) southeast of Moscow ... (more)
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Too fat for needlesFat-bottomed gals are driving doctors bats.
New studies prove most medicine injected in the buttocks doesn't make it to the muscle, where it's supposed to go.
Instead, the thick layers of fat on most gals' backsides prevents the needle from reaching the muscle.
A study done in Dublin, Ireland -- where gals are far less fat than Ame... (more)
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Aspartame Causes Cancer in Rats at Levels Currently Approved for HumansA statistically significant increase in the incidence of malignant tumors, lymphomas and leukemias in rats exposed to varying doses of aspartame appears to link the artificial sweetener to a high carcinogenicity rate, according to a study accepted for publication today by the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP). The authors of the study, the first to demonstrate multipotential carcinogenic effects of aspartame administered to rats in feed, called for an “urgent reevalua... (more)
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Hunger kills '6m children a year'No developing region is on track to meet the international goal of reducing the number of hungry people by half, a UN agency has warned.
Nearly six million children die from hunger or malnutrition every year, the Food and Agriculture Organisation says.
Many deaths result from treatable diseases such as diarrhoea, pneumonia, malaria and measles, the agency says.
They would survive if they had proper nourishment, the agency says in a new report on world... (more)
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373: That's the average number of painkillers we each take in a year. Is it too many?Doctors say yes. They fear the nation is becoming addicted to pills sold over the counter, with many people taking six every time they feel ill
By Steve Bloomfield
Published: 20 November 2005
One in 20 adults takes at least six painkillers every time they are feeling ill, according to a new survey.
The British Medical Association (BMA) said patients were "misusing" pills and urged doctors and pharmacists to be on the look-out for patients who t... (more)
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NM Takes Steps To Ban Aspartame In SchoolsAs VRP reported in the October 2005 VR News President's Desk, the people of New Mexico spearheaded a movement to try to ban the sale and distribution of aspartame-containing foods in New Mexico. Stephen Fox's New Mexico Nutrition Council and the people of his state won a substantial victory when the New Mexico Environmental Improvement Board (EIB) agreed to hear the aspartame rule change proposal, which would ban its sale in that state. The Board voted 4-2 to convene five days of hearings in Jul... (more)
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Doctors baffled as HIV man ‘cures’ himselfA MAN who tested positive for HIV, the virus that causes Aids, has subsequently shown up negative for the disease in a case that has mystified doctors.
It was claimed last night that Andrew Stimpson, 25, may have shaken off the virus with his own immune system after contracting HIV in 2002.
If proved, the NHS has said the case would be “medically remarkable”. It could provide vital information to researchers looking into treatments for HIV and Aids, which has killed... (more)
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