Over the past half-century, the social terrain of health and illness has been transformed. What were once considered normal human events and common human problems — birth, aging, menopause, alcoholism and obesity — are now considered medical conditions. For better or worse, medicine increasingly permeates daily life.
Two University of Adelaide researchers have been awarded more than $3 million from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) for research into the social, environmental and hereditary factors that impact on the health of Australian children.
A University of Melbourne longitudinal family study investigating risk factors for childhood allergic disorders and their consequences, has received $850,000 from the National Health and Medical Research Council, announced by the Commonwealth Government last week.
Folic acid supplements can reduce the risk of stroke by up to 30 percent, revealed by researchers in a new study.
Based on clues provided by a study with transgenic mice, a research group at the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has developed a strategy that will be tested as the first treatment for people with hereditary inclusion body myopathy (HIBM), a rare, degenerative muscle disease.
A computerised decision analysis programme which helps women decide on the type of birth that is most appropriate for them could cut the number of caesarean sections performed in England and Wales by 4000 a year, according to a study published on bmj.com today.
A new report in the June 1 issue of the journal Cell, a publication of Cell Press, confirms the existence of some apparently uncommitted stem cells amongst cells responsible for generating the bulging biceps of body builders and the rippling abs of fitness buffs.
Taking iron during pregnancy has been recommended in the past as a preventive treatment to help promote fetal and placental growth.
A University of South Australia study shows that school children between the ages of 10 and 15 years are averaging at least 30 minutes less sleep than children of the same ages did more than 20 years ago.
Screening pregnant women with newer, rapid syphilis tests would improve the survival and health of babies, according to research from Haiti.