Over a romantic candlelit dinner, the eyes may be the windows to the soul. In a more prosaic light, they’re windows to the heart, according to the March issue of the Harvard Heart Letter. A look into the eye can reveal the silent damage wrought by high blood pressure and diabetes and reflect the risk of a future stroke or heart attack.
Although statin drugs successfully lower LDL cholesterol for most people, a small subset of patients don’t respond well to these medications or need to stop taking them because of side effects. “All told, the statins are the safest and best tolerated of all cholesterol-lowering medications, but the second- and third-choice drugs can have first-rate benefits, either alone or together,” says Dr. Harvey Simon, editor of the Harvard Men’s Health Watch.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced the approval of Baraclude (entecavir) tablets and oral solution for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B in adults.
Warts, also called verrucas, are small growths caused by human Papilloma viruses. The viruses invade skin cells and encourage them to multiply thus creating thickened areas of skin. Warts usually occur on the hands or feet and are generally harmless. However, some types affect the genitals and are more serious. Thus the source of infection is other infected individuals. These occur both in adults and children.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today approved a new device that is intended to prevent ruptures of descending thoracic aneurysms by making a new path for blood flow. The GORE TAG Endoprosthesis System is the first endovascular grafting system approved to treat aneurysms of the thoracic aorta, the main artery that carries blood in the body.
As part of an agency-wide initiative to speed development of new medical products through the science of pharmacogenomics, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a final guidance titled “Pharmacogenomic Data Submissions.”
Overall obesity, measured by high body mass index (BMI) — the height-to-weight ratio, and abdominal obesity, measured by a large waist circumference, each strongly and independently predict the risk of type 2 diabetes in men, but abdominal obesity appears to be the better predictor, new research shows.
Mice that lack a protein made by the PCSK9 gene have only half the “bad” cholesterol of normal mice, which researchers say may lead to new drugs for humans.
Perhaps because of increased interaction with healthcare providers, overweight and obese men are more likely than their normal weight counterparts to be diagnosed with prostate cancer at a younger age and to have lower-risk disease.
Annual screening for lung cancer using computed tomography (CT) can help detect the disease at its earliest, most curable stage, but it does not reduce mortality from the disease and could actually result in more harm than good, according to a new study.