Health Problems News

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

When it first starts to develop, the heart is a simple tube. Reporting in the journal Nature Communications, researchers at MDC have now described how it forms itself into a its characteristic S-shape and how the ventricles and atria finally develop. Their findings will help scientists to better understand the development of congenital heart diseases.

Researchers at the RIKEN Center for Brain Science in Japan have discovered that a gene associated with human intellectual ability is necessary for normal memory formation in mice. Published in Nature Neuroscience, the study shows that mice with only one copy of the gene replay shorter fragments of their previous experiences during periods of rest,

A program that helps low-income parents prepare their children for school has benefits that extend beyond kindergarten and into into third grade, according to Penn State researchers. The researchers found that the preschoolers of parents who participated in the program performed better academically, acquired better social emotional skills and needed fewer additional school services when

Premenopausal women with hormone receptor-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer and a high risk of recurrence who are treated with an aromatase inhibitor plus ovarian function suppression may gain 10 to 15 percent improvement in freedom from distant recurrence at eight years, according to a new clinical trial analysis reported at the annual meeting of the American

Adele has been hailed as "an artist who comes around once every generation". She is a vocal force whose emotional ballads are masterpieces composed of powerful belts and airy falsettos. For many, it may be hard to imagine that the Grammy Award-winning singer would have trouble nailing any song, especially one of her own. But

Heavy rainfall in Kenya has left a trail of destruction in parts of the country, leading to deaths and rendering roads impassable. Some rivers have burst their banks and dams have overflown for the first time in many years. The heavy rains present an additional danger: a higher chance of outbreaks of Rift Valley fever,

Since 2013, severely ill psychiatric patients in Denmark have been able to decide when to admit themselves to hospital without having to first go to the emergency department for evaluation. Now, scientists in Denmark have assessed whether or not the scheme works. Pervious pilot studies have suggested that patient-controlled admissions, as they are called, reduced

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

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

Today Americans live in a world that thrives on being busy, productive and overscheduled. Further, they have developed the technological means to be constantly connected to others and to vast options for information and entertainment through social media. For many, smartphones demand their attention day and night with constant notifications. As a result, naturally occurring

Asthma and respiratory viruses don’t go well together. Weakened by the common cold or the flu, a person suffering an asthma attack often responds poorly to emergency treatment; some must be hospitalized. This is especially true for preschoolers. But what if there were a simple solution to help ward off the double whammy of an

A key recommendation in a new Canadian guideline on managing chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) is to screen all people born between 1945 and 1975 for the disease, a departure from previous guidelines. The guideline, which contains comprehensive recommendations for diagnosing and managing the disease in diverse patient populations, is published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical

New research presented at this year’s Euroanaesthesia congress in Copenhagen, Denmark, shows that the quality of chest compressions during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) can be improved by using either a smartphone app or by using the song “La Macarena” as a mental memory aid. The study is by Professor Enrique Carrero Cardenal and colleagues at the

New research presented at this year’s Euroanaesthesia congress in Copenhagen, Denmark, shows that giving women different types of virtual reality (VR) sessions prior to sedation for IVF treatment reduces their anxiety and could improve successful pregnancy rates. The study was conducted by Professor Fabienne Roelants, Saint-Luc Hospital, Catholic University of Louvain, Brussels, Belgium, and colleagues.

Medicare recipients filled fewer prescriptions for pricey brand-name drugs—but spent more on such meds anyway, says a government report due out Monday. It blames rising manufacturer prices for squeezing older people and taxpayers. The Health and Human Services inspector general’s office says it found a 17 percent drop in the overall number of prescriptions for

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

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

New research at this year’s Euroanaesthesia congress in Copenhagen, Denmark, suggests that nail treatments such as acrylic nails or nail polishes do not, as previously thought, affect readings from digital pulse oximetry (DPO) devices used to monitor patients’ blood oxygen saturation (SpO2) levels in hospital. DPO is used to measure blood oxygen levels in patients,

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