Mothers who breastfeed should be sure to have enough calcium in their diet, or may risk bone loss around their teeth and gums, according to a new study that appears in the January issue of the Journal of Periodontology.
Tests on volunteers showed that black tea significantly improves the ability of the arteries to relax and expand, but adding milk completely blunts the effect. Supporting tests on rat aortas (aortic rings) and endothelial (lining) cells showed that tea relaxed the aortic rings by producing nitric oxide, which promotes dilation of blood vessels. But, again, adding milk blocked the effect.
New research suggests that the pharmacological effects of taking medications such as statins and beta-blockers as prescribed following a heart attack is associated with living longer, according to a study in the Jan_10 issue of JAMA.
Researchers at the University of Southern California (USC) recently made significant strides toward settling a decades-old debate centering on the role played by stem cells in cancer development. According to the study’s findings, which appear in an upcoming issue of Nature Genetics and now available online, genes that are reversibly repressed in embryonic stem cells are over-represented among genes that are permanently silenced in cancers; this link lends support to the increasingly discussed theory that cancer is rooted in small populations of stem cells.
Evidence-based medicine is widely accepted among researchers as the “gold-standard” for scientific approaches. Over the years, EBM has both supported and denied the value of allopathic medicine practices, while having less association with complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) practices. Since most CAM practices are complex and focus on healing rather than cure the question arises as to whether EBM principles are sufficient for making clinical decisions about CAM.
Supermarket “grocery store tours” could be the key to healthier lifestyles and prevent chronic diseases such as coronary heart disease concludes a study published in the Health & Fitness Journal.
Results from the NHLBI Growth and Health Study of more than 2,300 girls suggest that girls as young as age 9 who are overweight are at increased risk for short-term and long-term problems that increase the chances of developing cardiovascular disease. Those who were overweight were more likely to have elevated blood pressure and cholesterol levels compared to girls who were not overweight. The study also provides insight into differences between African-American and Caucasian girls.
Utilization of cancer treatments with limited evidence of benefit may depend on the therapy’s availability according to a new study. The study reveals that patients with pancreatic cancer were almost twice as likely to receive radiotherapy, for which there is more controversy regarding efficacy, when the treating hospital had radiotherapy available compared to patients who were treated at centers where radiotherapy was not available.
Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY) believes it is inaccurate to imply that any single factor — including medication — was the cause of the unfortunate death of the patient profiled in New York Times – Jan_4.
Academic researchers reported that all five standard hospital-based performance measures used to gauge quality of care for hospitalized heart failure patients may not be the best benchmarks, since none were significant predictors of patient mortality during the critical 60 to 90 days immediately following hospital discharge.