Category: Health Problems

10 Ways to Limit Your Period’s Affect On Your Asthma

It’s that time of the month. Do you have your inhaler handy? You may need it, because according to recent studies, your asthma is likely to get worse during your period. Sounds a little strange, but when you think about how hormones fluctuate during a woman’s cycle, you can kind of understand. What you’re probably

Drug combination slows growth of most common type of advanced breast cancer

The combination of taselisib and fulvestrant has shown to slow the growth of cancer in post-menopausal women with estrogen receptor (ER)-positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER2) negative, PIK3CA-mutant, inoperable, locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer. Researchers from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) presented this data, from the SANDPIPER trial, in a press conference

Some people with advanced kidney cancer could avoid surgery

The targeted drug sunitinib (Sutent) is as effective alone as when it’s combined with surgery for some people with advanced kidney cancer, according to a clinical trial. This means some people whose kidney cancer has spread could in future avoid having surgery to remove the affected organ. Average survival times were as good in patients

Study shows taking aspirin before or after coronary artery bypass graft is associated with a lower risk of death

New research presented at this year’s Euroanaesthesia congress in Copenhagen, Denmark shows that in patients undergoing a coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery, taking aspirin before and after surgery is associated with an 18% to 34% reduced mortality risk after 4 years. The study is by Professor Jianzhong Sun, Director of Clinical Outcomes Research at

Where the brain processes spiritual experiences

Yale scientists have identified a possible neurobiological home for the spiritual experience—the sense of connection to something greater than oneself. Activity in the parietal cortex, an area of the brain involved in awareness of self and others as well as attention processing, seems to be a common element among individuals who have experienced a variety

Blood test shows potential for early detection of lung cancer

A test that analyzes free-floating DNA in the blood may be able to detect early-stage lung cancer, a preliminary report from the ongoing Circulating Cell-Free Genome Atlas (CCGA) study suggests. The findings, from one of the first studies to explore whether sequencing blood-borne DNA is a feasible approach to the early cancer detection, will be

Ob-gyns should ID gynecologic symptoms of eating disorders

(HealthDay)—Obstetrician-gynecologists should be aware of the gynecologic concerns and symptoms of eating disorders, according to a committee opinion published in the June issue of Obstetrics & Gynecology. Nancy Sokkary, M.D., from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists Committee on Adolescent Health, and colleagues address gynecologic care for adolescents and young women with eating disorders.

Research reveals underappreciated role of brainstem in epilepsy

New research from Vanderbilt suggests that repeated seizures reduce brainstem connectivity, a possible contributor to unexplained neurocognitive problems in epilepsy patients. The brainstem has been rarely studied in epilepsy because seizures typically originate in the temporal lobe or other areas of the cortex. Noting that people with temporal lobe epilepsy often lose consciousness even though

Happiness at work doesn’t just depend on your employer

When Google promoted a software engineer named Chade-Meng Tan to the role of “Jolly Good Fellow”, his career – and the entire culture of Silicon Valley – took a sharp turn. Meng, a cheerful employee valued for his motivational qualities, went from developing mobile search tools to spreading happiness across the organisation. Happiness became his

A nasty germ that can lurk in favorite foods

(HealthDay)—Recalls of assorted foods and different brands of ice cream over the past few years have put a spotlight on the germ known as listeria. And though many of these cases happened during manufacturing, the potential for contamination is actually greater for foods after they’ve arrived at supermarkets and other food stores. And one item

Study gauges impact of dengue virus on Ethiopia

Dengue, a mosquito-borne RNA virus, is one of the most serious and rapidly spreading arboviral diseases in the world. Now, researchers reporting in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases have provided the first baseline data on the prevalence and risk factors of the virus in Ethiopia. It is estimated that more than 390 million dengue virus (DENV)

Bigger human brain prioritizes thinking hub—at a cost

Some human brains are nearly twice the size of others—but how might that matter? Researchers at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and their NIH grant-funded colleagues have discovered that these differences in size are related to the brain’s shape and the way it is organized. The bigger the brain, the more its additional