New studies show mixed results on epilepsy drugs and birth defects
... epilepsy drug valproic acid, or sodium valproate, does increase the risk of birth defects. Both studies were published in the March 22 issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Another study in the same issue found that children ages 6 to 16 who had been exposed to ...Aloe vera: Natural, home remedy treats canker and cold sores
...which are blisters on the lips or mouth. Aloe vera does not have a bad taste or sting when applied. The journal article, written by Richard L. Wynn, PhD, mentions a study done on a patient with lichen planus, a disease affecting the skin and oral mucus membranes. The patient drank 2.0 ounces of aloe vera ...Energy and sports drinks attack enamel
...cids are sometimes present. Drinking the beverages does not automatically mean a mouth full of cavities. There are ways to minimize the harmful effects, says Dr. von Fraunhofer. "The major problem with any of these drinks is not chugging it down, it's sipping continuously over a long period," says Dr. von...Storage time and temperature effects nutrients in spinach
... State researcher. Also, an attractive appearance does not mean that the spinach is still rich in nutrien...he first month of pregnancy when the spinal column does not close completely. Carotenoids are most commonly associated with carrots and other red and orange...Physicists find patterns within seemingly random events of physiological systems
...ls with heart disease. Circadian rhythm, however, does not affect motor activity dynamics, according to their recent analyses, leading the researchers to speculate that the early-morning peak in cardiac risk is not related to circadian-mediated influences on motor activity. In research on the dynamical f...New thrust needed to tackle health inequalities globally says UCL scientist
...nditions have a huge impact on mortality rates, as does education. It isn't always health policy that impacts on the health of a nation. Key facts set out in Professor Marmot's paper include: Life expectancy at birth ranges from 34 in Sierra Leone to 81.9 in Japan. Differences in adult mortality among ...The European Society of Cardiology launches Women at Heart
... That's because in women it strikes later, but it does strike. And then it is often too late, after years of unhealthy living, such as insufficient exercise and inappropriate diet. So women need to be better educated on the importance of heart-healthy lifestyles and sufficiently screened for risk facto...Virginity pledges do not reduce STD risk: May encourage high risk sexual behavior
...d. "Putting a condom on after getting an infection does not make the infection go away," said Brckner. Ple...TD rates as non-pledgers who are married. Marriage does not cause STDs; unprotected sex does. Knowing how to protect oneself from STDs is important. Since ...US life expectancy about to decline, researchers say
...equences of our prediction is that Social Security does not appear to be in nearly as bad a shape as we think," Olshansky said. "The obese may be inadvertently 'saving' Social Security, but the obese themselves and the health care system that cares for them will pay a very heavy price in terms of higher d...Mechanism of RNA recoding: New twists in brain protein production
...rmined or how they may have evolved. His new study does both. By comparing the same highly edited RNA from over 30 insects, Reenan uncovered some general rules of A-to-I recoding. He observed that the RNA of different insects folds into unique structures. These shapes single-handedly determine the species...Dealing with conflict in caring for the dying patient
...d dementia whose advance directive states that she does not want artificial nutrition or hydration. Over the course of her illness, her family and physicians conflict about the use of a short-term feeding tube and intravenous hydration. From this case study, authors Robert M. Arnold M.D., Leo H. Criep ch...Researchers say breast cancer in Africa may provide clues to the disease in African-Americans
...tumor biology, genetics, and inheritance patterns, does demonstrate epidemiological and clinical similarities between Africans and African Americans. African women are diagnosed most often between 35 and 45 years, and more than fifteen years earlier than women in Europe and North America. The mortality ra...Medicaid enrollment at late stages may partly explain poor outcomes for cancer
...tudies demonstrate that access to healthcare alone does not improve survival rates for many cancers. A recent study showed, for instance, that Medicaid-supported breast cancer patients have similarly poor outcomes to uninsured patients. However, there is little research to explain the surprising lack of s...HIV-1 spread through six transmission lines in the UK
...e impacted on transmission rates, but our evidence does not demonstrate this. You would expect growth rates to decrease in the late rather than early 1990s around the time that potent therapy became widely used if this was the case. Instead, we see little correlation between widespread availability of tr...Brain imaging studies investigate pain reduction by hypnosis
...pnosis or might be non-specific, but it definitely does something to reduce the pain signal input into the cortical structure." The pain network functions like a relay system with an input pain signal from a peripheral nerve going to the spinal cord where the information is processed and passed on to the ...Short-term effects of spit tobacco suggest long-term health risks
...sing heart rate and dilating the blood vessels. It does this by "shutting down" the sympathetic nervous system, so that heart rate is slower, and the widening of blood vessels starts to bring blood pressure down. The researchers demonstrated this by giving another group of subjects an intravenous medica...New fingerprint visualization method uses X-rays to reveal missing clues
... reveal useful crime clues, he says. The technique does have limitations, Worley says. Some fingerprints will not contain enough detectable material to be seen. In addition, MXRF fingerprint visualization cant detect every element. In general, the heavier the individual element, the more easily it is dete...Finances, not having a dentist are primary barriers to seniors receiving needed dental care
...loss of driving ability increases with age, so too does the need for transportation assistance to the dentist. And in rural areas, the dentist may be more than an hour away. Distance, coupled with difficult winters, may make it even more difficult to get to the dentist." A breakdown of the data showed ...Drug that hinders blood vessel growth under study in ovarian cancer
...ar of chemotherapy, which may delay recurrence but does not always translate to a longer life, Dr. Ghamande says. Also, the side effects of chemotherapy often mean well-intended patients never complete that second year. A6 may one day offer another option for these women. The current study explor...End AIDS drug waiting lists, HIV care providers tell policymakers
...AIDS Drug Assistance Program. "However, Ryan White does not currently give medical care and basic medical services the priority they should receive in the era of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART)," says Paul Volberding, MD, chair of the HIVMA Board of Directors. "Two million years of life have...