Alcohol magnifies the rewarding effects of smoking, even for light smokers
...ing. "However, we showed that the desire to smoke sharply increased within a half hour after drinking, which is when alcohol's stimulant-like as opposed to sedative-like effects are usually observed. It also appears that smoking urges may increase rapidly after a person engages in binge drinking, that is...Brain imaging study explains Williams syndrome language gifts
...drome affects the cerebral cortex. The study finds sharply defined cortical thickening and complexity in the area of the brain important to language. Impact: The isolated, thickened cortical region in language areas is remarkable because patients with Williams syndrome show marked strengths in language an...Is the vaccine industry ailing?
...ve grown. Finally, product liability lawsuits have sharply raised costs to vaccine manufacturers. A 1986 lawsuit claiming that pertussis vaccine caused paralysis in a child yielded a jury award of $1.1 million--more than half of the entire market for pertussis vaccine at the time. Although no scientific evid...Within six months, one in three patients fail to take medications as prescribed
...both anti-hypertensive and lipid-lowering declined sharply over the course of the study, with 44.7 percent maintaining their treatment regimen at three months, 35.9 percent at six months and 35.8 percent at twelve months. At each time interval, an additional 25.3 to 29.6 percent were taking one, but not both...Psychiatric illnesses are common in children with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes
...d still most common in adults, has been increasing sharply among children over the past decade, in parallel with growing numbers of overweight and obese children. Type 2 diabetes has especially been rising among African American adolescents, who comprised a majority of the patients in the current study. Alth...Do singlehanded general practices have a future?
...o 6% of all general practitioners). This contrasts sharply with the United States, where 46% of family practitioners and 34% of general internists were practising alone in 1998. Ever since the foundation of the NHS, singlehanded general practitioners have made an important contribution in the UK, particularl...Routine vaccination could eliminate Hib disease in children in developing countries
...ate of meningitis in infants in The Gambia dropped sharply from over 200 per 100 000 to 21 per 100 000 in the first 2 years of vaccination. The incidence declined further to 0 per 100 000 in the fifth year after the introduction of routine immunisation. The authors note that the reduction was achieved despit...Decline in performance of candidates taking a postgraduate medical examination between 1997 and 2001
...-leg' shape, which rises until 1997 and then drops sharply in the subsequent years. In the second part of the study, the researchers compared the performance in an examination that took place in 1996 and another one that was held in 2001. The results show that fewer candidates who passed the examination in ...Calcium may prevent polyps, but effect on cancer still not known, study finds
...The risk begins to increase after age 40 and rises sharply between 50 and 55 years old. Calcium has been suggested as a protective agent against colorectal cancer because it is thought to inhibit processes considered critical to the growth of colon cancer cells. While calcium has been shown to have a protect...Sharper picture of major depression and alcohol disorders
... authors. Risk for the onset of MDD increases sharply between age 12 and age 16 and more gradually up to the early 40s when it begins to decline, with mean age of onset about age 30. Women are twice as likely as men to experience MDD and somewhat more likely to receive treatment. About 60 percent of p...CT scan can spare some head and neck cancer patients surgery
...5 centimeters or smaller and had borders that were sharply defined on the CT scan, rather than fuzzy. In the current study, UF researchers examined the medical records of 549 patients who were treated with radiotherapy at UF for advanced head and neck cancer between 1990 and 2002; 341 patients later underwen...Largest survey on depression suggests higher prevalence in U.S., reports Mailman school
... Dr. Hasin. Risk for the onset of MDD increases sharply between age 12 and age 16 and more gradually up to the early 40s when it begins to decline, with mean age of onset about age 30. Women are twice as likely as men to experience MDD and somewhat more likely to receive treatment. About 60 percent of p...New studies show young African Americans at much higher risk for pre-cancerous polyps
...8 percent, while the prevalence in other races was sharply lower: 29 percent in Caucasians and 27 percent in Hispanics. Additionally, African Americans in this study experienced a larger number of polyps proximally or on the right side of the colon. Researchers at Coney Island Hospital in Brooklyn, NY loo...A few squares of dark chocolate a day may stave off artery hardening in smokers
... halved platelet activity. Antioxidant levels rose sharply after two hours. White chocolate had no effect on endothelial cells, platelets, or antioxidant levels. Dark chocolate has more antioxidants per gram than other foods laden with the substances, such as red wine, green tea, and berry fruits, say the au...Psychotropic drug prescriptions for teens surge 250 percent over 7 year period
...percent between 1994 and 2001, rising particularly sharply after 1999, when the federal government allowed direct-to-consumer advertising and looser promotion of off-label use of prescription drugs, according to a new Brandeis University study in the journal Psychiatric Services. This dramatic increase in a...Pay cuts lead to worker insomnia, but supervisor training helps
...pay did not change. But insomnia symptoms dropped sharply for nurses whose supervisors were trained to offer emotional support and full information to those suffering the salary cut. "There's both bad news and good news in these results," said Jerald Greenberg, author of the study and professor of manageme...Men in their 50s have more satisfying sex lives than men in their 30s
...atisfaction with erections averaged 2.83, dropping sharply once men reached their fifties. Men in their twent...wed a more measured decline with age, falling more sharply for men in their sixties and seventies. Men in their twenties averaged 3.85 while men in their seven...Diabetes epidemic could erase reductions in deaths & hospitalizations due to heart disease
...surprised by the magnitude of the increase and the sharply rising trend indicated by these findings. "The incidence of diabetes has been increasing at an alarming rate in this country over the past decade," adds Dr. Alderman. "Diabetes itself is an important cause of death. But in addition, people with diabe...Whites more likely than blacks to die soon after spouse's death
...ercent for women and 52 percent for men, declining sharply until the third month of widowhood for women and the sixth month for men. Among both genders, the risk of death then continues to fall until the second year of bereavement, from which point it remains steady and elevated relative to married individua...5,000 rare diseases need drugs, but Europe only approves a handful each year
...n Europe. "The experience in Europe also contrasts sharply with the USA, where there are more incentives - 1,100 drugs and biological products were designated orphan products there between 1983 and 2002 and 231 were approved." Dr Aronson, Reader in Clinical Pharmacology at Oxford University, also points out ...