Obesity and its many related health hazards have become a serious and growing problem worldwide. While environmental and lifestyle factors play a key role in the development of obesity, genetic variation may determine an individual’s susceptibility to weight gain and to the rise of obesity-related health risks.
The reduction of body iron stores through phlebotomy (blood removal) in patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD) does not appear to decrease the risk of death plus nonfatal cardiovascular events, according to a study published in the February 14 issue of JAMA.
Parents and practitioners should know more about garlic before using it to treat children, according to a review of data conducted in part by the University of Alberta.
A CNRS team headed by Philippe Froguel (CNRS, University of Lille 2, Pasteur Institute, Imperial College London) and Rob Sladek (McGill University, Montreal, Canada) in a French-British-Canadian collaboration that accounts for about 70 percent of the genetic risk for patients with type two diabetes.
Changing the way women are treated for breast cancer could improve their overall chance of survival, according to research published today in the Lancet. The new paper shows that switching to a drug called exemestane, two to three years after commencing standard therapy with the drug tamoxifen, can cut the risk of death for certain women by a further 17 percent compared with using tamoxifen alone.
The long-term safety of the CYPHER(R) Sirolimus-eluting Coronary Stent, specifically in terms of death, myocardial infarction (heart attacks) and stent thrombosis (also known as blood clots), is comparable to that of bare metal stents when used according to product labeling, according to a variety of studies appearing today in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today announced it has cleared for marketing in the U.S. the TephaFLEX Absorbable Suture?the first absorbable polymer suture made from material isolated from bacteria modified by recombinant DNA technology.
The Scripps Research team, led by neuroscientists Manuel Sanchez-Alavez and Tamas Bartfai, discovered that mice genetically altered to lack a molecule known as the EP3 receptor tend to be more active during their normal sleep cycle and to eat more. In the study, this led to weight increases of up to 30 percent relative to mice with the receptors.
According to a new survey, 81 percent of adults in the United States agree adolescents are more likely to smoke if they watch actors smoke in movies. Also, 70 percent support a new R-rating for any movies with on-screen tobacco imagery, unless the film clearly demonstrates the dangers of smoking.
A new oral blood thinner is being compared to an old standby to see if it works as well and is easier to manage long term, researchers say.