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Reviewed by Brunilda Nazario, MDAre there really certain foods that can help you lose weight and keep it off? We're not talking about any so-called miracle food that "melts the fat" (does the cabbage soup diet ring any bells?). These are foods that really can help you lose or maintain weight, either by helping you to eat less or to burn more calories -- or, in some cases, maybe even helping to decrease your body fat.Experts say there are two basic categories of foods that can be considered "keeping it off superfoods" because they fill your tummy without piling on...

Genes alone don’t make the man — after all, humans and chimps share roughly 98 percent of their DNA. But where, when and how much genes are turned on may be essential in setting people apart from other primates. A stretch of human DNA inserted into mice embryos revs the activity of genes in the developing thumb, toe, forelimb and hind limb. But the chimp and rhesus macaque version of this same stretch of DNA spurs only faint activity in the developing limbs, reports a new study in the Sept. 5 Science. The research supports the notion that changes in...

British citizens suffering from lung cancer are half as likely to survive for five years compared with Americans diagnosed with the disease. The American survival rate for leukemia is almost 50% while the European rate is significantly lower, just 35%. Esophageal carcinoma is often deadly, but compared with their European counterparts, American patients are more than twice as likely to survive the disease for five years...

20 Drugs the FDA Is Watching First New Quarterly Report IDs Drug Side Effects Under FDA Investigation By Daniel J. DeNoonWebMD Health News Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD Sept. 5, 2008 -- The FDA is "evaluating" new adverse-event reports for 20 drugs, the agency announced today.A 2007 federal law requires the FDA to disclose all its investigations into reports of possibly drug-related adverse events. Today's list is the first of this series of quarterly reports.The list includes adverse events reported between Jan. 1 and March 31, 2008. FDA officials say it will be "weeks or months" before more recent reports...

Observatory Marijuana may be something of a wonder drug — though perhaps not in the way you might think. Researchers in Italy and Britain have found that the main active ingredient in marijuana — tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC — and related compounds show promise as antibacterial agents, particularly against microbial strains that are already resistant to several classes of drugs. It has been known for decades that Cannabis sativa has antibacterial properties. Experiments in the 1950s tested various marijuana preparations against skin and other infections, but researchers at the time had little understanding of marijuana’s chemical makeup.

A common household substance may be the key to reducing the number of babies born each year with cerebral palsy, a study being published today has found. Researchers at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine found that infusing pregnant women at risk of premature birth with magnesium sulfate -- commonly known as Epsom salts -- just before they delivered cut their chances of having a baby with cerebral palsy in half. The study's authors say the findings could translate into immediate application by doctors in clinical settings, where about 3 of every 1,000 babies end up being diagnosed...

Scientists have for the first time recorded individual brain cells in the act of summoning a spontaneous memory, revealing not only where a remembered experience is registered but also, in part, how the brain is able to recreate it. The recordings, taken from the brains of epilepsy patients being prepared for surgery, demonstrate that these spontaneous memories reside in some of the same neurons that fired most furiously when the recalled event had been experienced. Researchers had long theorized as much but until now had only indirect evidence. Experts said the study had all but closed the case: For the...

The Vatican newspaper has re-opened the debate over whether brain death — defined as the cessation of all brain functions — marks the definitive end of life, as opposed to the moment when the heart stops beating. In a front page article in L'Osservatore Romano, Lucetta Scaraffia, Professor of Modern History at a Rome university and a regular contributor to the newspaper and the Italian media, noted that the Vatican had adopted brain death as a criterion for declaring a person dead after the publication of a landmark report by Harvard Medical School 40 years ago. Professor Scaraffia said that...

Black women are less likely to get radiation, Houston study says The latest study showing a racial disparity in American breast cancer treatment found that black women are less likely than white women to receive radiation after surgery to remove the tumor, according to Houston scientists. University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center researchers found that about three-quarters of whites and two-thirds of blacks who have a lumpectomy also get the follow-up treatment considered the standard of care for early stage breast cancer. "These findings underscore that this is a problem across the United States," said Dr. Grace Li Smith,...

New research further debunks any link between measles vaccine and autism, work that comes as the nation is experiencing a surge in measles cases fueled by children left unvaccinated. Years of research with the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, better known as MMR, have concluded that it doesn't cause autism. Still, some parents' fears persist, in part because of one 1998 British study that linked the vaccine with a subgroup of autistic children who also have serious gastrointestinal problems. That study reported that measles virus was lingering in the children's bowels. Only now have researchers rigorously retested that finding, taking...

When the Food and Drug Administration approved a new type of cholesterol-lowering medicine in 2002, it did so on the basis of a handful of clinical trials covering a total of 3,900 patients. None of the patients took the medicine for more than 12 weeks, and the trials offered no evidence that it had reduced heart attacks or cardiovascular disease, the goal of any cholesterol drug. The lack of evidence has not stopped doctors from heavily prescribing that drug, whether in a stand-alone form sold as Zetia or as a combination medicine called Vytorin. Aided by extensive consumer advertising, sales...

A seven-year-old girl with a rare illness is being kept alive by four doses of Viagra a day.Medics thought Natalie Archibald was suffering from over-excitement when she collapsed after opening her presents on Christmas Day two years ago. But she was later found to be suffering from the lung condition primary pulmonary hypertension and was referred to Great Ormond Street Hospital in London. Doctors prescribed Viagra, better known as a treatment for male impotence, and the drug has since transformed her life. Her mother Janis, from Musselburgh, near Edinburgh, said that she was surprised to learn the nature of the...

Doctors say Vytorin-cancer link can't be ruled out MUNICH, Germany - Results from three studies of the cholesterol-lowering drug Vytorin are not enough to prove or rule out a possible link to a higher risk of cancer, so the drug should be used with great caution until more is known, editors of a leading medical journal urged Tuesday. The New England Journal of Medicine published results of the studies, which also were presented at a cardiology conference in Munich. Vytorin is a combination of Merck's Zocor, a long-sold statin drug, and Schering-Plough's Zetia, a newer type of medicine that lowers...

The influenza vaccine, which has been strongly recommended for people over 65 for more than four decades, is losing its reputation as an effective way to ward off the virus in the elderly. A growing number of immunologists and epidemiologists say the vaccine probably does not work very well for people over 70, the group that accounts for three-fourths of all flu deaths. The latest blow was a study in The Lancet last month that called into question much of the statistical evidence for the vaccine’s effectiveness. The authors said previous studies had measured the wrong thing: not any actual...

OTTAWA, ONTARIO -- 08/31/08 -- The Honourable David Emerson, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the Honourable Peter Gordon MacKay, Minister of National Defence and the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, today announced that Canada is providing assistance with the evacuation of those in the path of Hurricane Gustav. At the request of the United States government, a Canadian Forces CC-177 aircraft left Canada earlier today for the southern U.S. Gulf Coast. The Honourable Stockwell Day, Minister of Public Safety, indicated that he had spoken with U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff to offer further assistance. "Canada and the United States...

LIZETTE IRVIN, HEAVILY PREGNANT, reclined on a hospital bed, relaxed, considering the circumstances. A bag of fluid dripped into her blood through an IV line as Irvin sucked on ice cubes, trying to pass the time. The ice helped to minimize the metallic taste and heat in her mouth from 5-fluorouracil, an antimetabolite, which entered her bloodstream via a catheter inserted in her chest. It was June 16, Irvin’s fourth round of chemotherapy. She was 32 weeks pregnant and had breast cancer. Before she left the chemo suite at the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Irvin, who is...

MUNICH, GERMANY (AP) - Fish oil supplements may work slightly better than a popular cholesterol-reducing drug to help patients with chronic heart failure, according to new research released Sunday. Chronic heart failure is a condition that occurs when the heart becomes enlarged and cannot pump blood efficiently around the body.

Engineers at Georgia Tech have used skin cells to create artificial bones that mimic the ability of natural bone to blend into other tissues such as tendons or ligaments. The artificial bones display a gradual change from bone to softer tissue rather than the sudden shift of previously developed artificial tissue, providing better integration with the body and allowing them to handle weight more successfully. The research appears in the August 26, 2008, edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "One of the biggest challenges in regenerative medicine is to have a graded continuous interface, because anatomically...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 29, 2008 – Though Iraq’s military medical system has gained significant capability over the past five years, recruiting qualified physicians remains a challenge, the coalition’s top advisor to the Iraqi surgeon general said. Only 160 out of 800 available positions for physicians in the Iraqi military medical system have been filled, U.S. Army Col. (Dr.) John Powell, director of health affairs for Multinational Security Transition Command Iraq, told bloggers and online journalists in a teleconference Aug. 26. “The biggest piece right now,” Powell said, “is personnel … who have medical capabilities, who can do what’s necessary to diagnose...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE HAMMER — During a recent air assault operation in the Diyala province, the 2nd Brigade, 1st Armored Division medical team once again demonstrated its excellence. The group, which consisted of one physician, three physician assistants, one mental health provider, a preventive medicine officer and numerous skilled combat medics, delivered seamless and exceptional medical care, despite harsh conditions. Several of the team members flew by helicopter, carrying everything needed to set up a rapid aid station with them. A rapid aid station is able to provide immediate treatment for any injuries sustained during the early phase of an...

Contact: Jessica Guenzel jguenzel@wfubmc.edu 336-716-3487 Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. –A class of oral drugs used to treat type 2 diabetes may make heart failure worse, according to an editorial published online in Heart Wednesday by two Wake Forest University School of Medicine faculty members. "We strongly recommend restrictions in the use of thiazolidinediones (the class of drugs) and question the rationale for leaving rosiglitazone on the market," write Sonal Singh, M.D., M.P.H., assistant professor of internal medicine, and Curt D. Furberg, M.D., Ph.D., professor of public health sciences. Rosiglitazone and pioglitazone are the two major thiazolidinediones....

ScienceDaily (Aug. 28, 2008) — An analysis of randomized trials indicates that for critically ill adults, tight glucose control is not associated with a significantly reduced risk of death in the hospital, but is associated with an increased risk of hypoglycemia, calling into question the recommendation by many professional societies for tight glucose control for these patients, according to a new article. In 2001, a randomized controlled trial (van den Berghe et al) showed that tight glucose control for critically ill surgical patients reduced hospital mortality by one-third. "Because few interventions in critically ill adult patients reduce mortality to this...

Enlarge ImageSensitive ears. Mice that received extra copies of a protein during fetal development produced more of a key hearing cell (bottom) than control mice did.Credit: David Woessner, John Mitchell, and John V. Brigande A cure for hearing loss could be closer, now that a team of scientists has produced key ear cells in mice--and for the first time verified that the cells work just like natural ones. The inner ear turns sound waves into electrical signals inside the organ of Corti, which is lined with rows of 15,000 to 20,000 hairlike cells. The cells respond to vibrations by...

Scientists have transformed one type of fully developed adult cell directly into another inside a living animal, a startling advance that could lead to cures for a variety of illnesses and sidestep the political and ethical quagmires associated with embryonic stem cell research. Through a series of painstaking experiments involving mice, the Harvard biologists pinpointed three crucial molecular switches that, when flipped, completely convert a common cell in the pancreas into the more precious insulin-producing ones that diabetics need to survive. The experiments, detailed online yesterday in the journal Nature, raise the prospect that patients suffering from not only diabetes...

In a discovery that’s being hailed as a leap forward in regenerative medicine, researchers have found a way to transform common pancreatic cells in an adult mouse into the rare, insulin-producing beta cells that are destroyed in type 1 diabetes. Previously, researchers believed that the only way to transmute an adult cell was to first coax it back into stem cell form and then to reprogram it; this new research removes the first step entirely.

ScienceDaily (Aug. 26, 2008) — Terminally ill rodents with type 1 diabetes have been restored to full health with a single injection of a substance other than insulin by scientists at UT Southwestern Medical Center. Since the discovery of insulin in 1922, type 1 diabetes (insulin-dependent diabetes) in humans has been treated by injecting insulin to lower high blood sugar levels and prevent diabetic coma. New findings by UT Southwestern researchers, which appear online and in a future issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggest that insulin isn't the only agent that is effective. Leptin, a...

Ninety years later, survivors of the worst epidemic in history still retain knowledge of the event--on a cellular level. Scientists have found that the immune systems of a group of 90- and 100-year-olds continue to produce antibodies to the virus responsible for the 1918 flu pandemic, which killed as many as 40 million people. What's more, the antibodies still work: When transferred to mice, the rodents became resistant to deadly flu infections. It doesn't take a global pandemic to rile up the immune system. Even the seasonal flu prompts immune cells called B cells to generate antibodies specific to the...

Reviewed By Elizabeth Klodas, MD, FACC 13 Million Americans Are Exposed to Dangerous Levels of Arsenic Through Drinking Water Exposure to arsenic, typically through drinking water, is linked to diabetes, according a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Thirteen million Americans — and millions more worldwide — are exposed to drinking water contaminated with more inorganic arsenic than the Environmental Protection Agency has deemed safe. The EPA standard is 10 micrograms per liter. Researchers, led by Ana Navas-Acien, MD, PhD, of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Health, studied 788 adults who had their urine tested...

August 19, 2008, 6:00 a.m. The Real Truth about Drug CompaniesDevelopmental issues. By Henry I. Miller I never knew my maternal grandparents. During the 19-teens, my maternal grandmother died of a wound infection following a routine gall-bladder operation. A few years later, her husband, my grandfather, suffered a fatal stroke brought on by untreated high blood pressure. Both were in their thirties. Neither occurrence was uncommon back then, but a half century of new drugs has changed that. Thanks to a research-intensive (and, therefore, capital-intensive) pharmaceutical industry, pharmacy shelves now contain dozens of antibiotics and blood pressure medications. Similar...

The same California Supreme Court that created a "right" to homosexual "marriage" earlier this year has now ruled that the state may force healthcare professionals to provide services that support an immoral and physically dangerous lifestyle. California's highest court was unanimous in its decision on Monday that Christian doctors may not refuse to perform artificial insemination for homosexual patients. (See "California court says no religious exemption for doctors") Attorney Brad Dacus, president of the Pacific Justice Institute (PJI), reacts to the ruling. "This is a clear violation of the fundamental rights of individuals to live and practice their faith," he...

WASHINGTON - A woman who has never shown symptoms of infection with the AIDS virus may hold the secret to defeating the virus, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday. Infected at least 10 years ago by her husband, the woman is able somehow to naturally control the deadly and incurable virus -- even though her husband must take cocktails of strong HIV drugs to control his. She is a so-called "elite suppressor," and studies of her immune cells have begun to offer clues to how her body does it, the team at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore said. "This is the...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - People who want to live a long and healthy life might want to take up running. A study published on Monday shows middle-aged members of a runner's club were half as likely to die over a 20-year period as people who did not run. Running reduced the risk not only of heart disease, but of cancer and neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's, researchers at Stanford University in California found. "At 19 years, 15 percent of runners had died compared with 34 percent of controls," Dr. Eliza Chakravarty and colleagues wrote in the Archives of Internal Medicine. Any...

Birth Control Fears Addressed HHS Chief Says Draft Rule Is Not Redefining Abortion Mike Leavitt blogged on the issue. Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt has denied that a controversial draft regulation would redefine common birth control methods as abortion and protect the rights of doctors and other health-care workers who refuse to provide them.

Enlarge ImageDowns in a dish. Down syndrome is caused by an extra copy of chromosome 21 (circled). This is one of the diseases whose development researchers will now be able to study in the lab.Credit: I. Park et al., Disease-Specific Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells, Cell (2008) First a drop, then the deluge. Last week, scientists at Harvard University and Columbia University announced that they had proved the viability of a new way to study a disease--amyotrophic lateral sclerosis--by reprogramming cells from a patient to become pluripotent stem cells, which can then become any type of cell or tissue. Yesterday,...

Professor Gary Friedman (left) and Alex Fridman, director of the Drexel Plasma Institute, demonstrate a plasma generator being tested for use in medicine. A few years ago, a researcher at Drexel University accidentally cut his finger and exposed it to plasma, a fourth state of matter created by ionizing gas. To everyone’s surprise, the blood from the cut coagulated. “We said, ‘OK, this is very interesting, maybe we can help somebody with this,’” said Gary Friedman, a professor of electrical and computer engineering and a professor of surgery at Drexel, who was working with the researcher at the time....

Scent of a FührerHitler wanted to control the world. But he couldn't even control his flatulence. By Tony Perrottet Guests at the Berghof, Hitler’s private chalet in the Bavarian Alps, must have endured some unpleasant odors in the otherwise healthful mountain air. It may sound like a Woody Allen scenario, but medical historians are unanimous that Adolf was the victim of uncontrollable flatulence. Spasmodic stomach cramps, constipation and diarrhea, possibly the result of nervous tension, had been Hitler’s curse since childhood and only grew more severe as he aged. As a stressed-out dictator, the agonizing digestive attacks would occur after...

Scientists concerned about use of the drugs in athletics. Just in time for the Olympics, scientists say they have discovered drugs that could cause the next athletic doping scandal. In a study published today in the journal Cell1, scientists say they have found the first targeted drugs that boost endurance. They are already working with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) to develop tests to expose would-be cheats who use the drugs. The ultimate test of murine endurance.Courtesy of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies The scientists examined the effects of two compounds, called GW1516 and AICAR, on endurance in mice....

The Food and Drug Administration quietly decided last week that food manufacturers can safely use a trans fat in their recipes. I can almost hear some of you asking: How can that be? Doesn’t everyone know by now that such fats constitute a health hazard? In the past decade or so, the nutrition-research community has effectively driven home the message that trans fats are bad. As bad as — if not worse than — saturated fats, at least in terms of health. Communities around the nation have begun responding with proposals for local bans on the use in restaurant fare...

Genome deletions raise chances of developing mental illness.Rare genetic changes associated with a heightened risk of schizophrenia have been revealed by two independent studies.The surveys have identified sections of the human genome that, when deleted, can elevate the risk of developing schizophrenia by up to 15 times compared with the general population.Schizophrenia is a serious mental health problem and affects around 1 in every 100 people at some point during their lives. Genetic factors are thought to account for more than 70% of cases. But unlike many diseases with a genetic basis — and in common with many other psychiatric...

CAMP VICTORY, Iraq, July 30, 2008 – Even medical professionals need their medicine to remain healthy. Army Capt. James Hart, a physician assistant for the 10th Mountain Division’s Headquarters and Support Company, Division Special Troops Battalion, holds up a Terrible Towel in his office at a medical aid station on Camp Victory, Iraq. U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Michel Sauret, Multinational Division Center  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. For Army Capt. James Hart, the remedy is Pittsburgh Steelers football. “That’s my ‘keep-me-sane’ medicine,” said Hart, a physician assistant for the 10th Mountain Division’s Headquarters and Support Company,...

Two groups of researchers hunting for schizophrenia genes on a larger scale than ever before have found new genetic variants that point toward a different understanding of the disease. The variants discovered by the two groups, one led by Dr. Kari Stefansson of Decode Genetics in Iceland and the other by Dr. Pamela Sklar of the Massachusetts General Hospital, are all rare. They substantially increase the risk of schizophrenia in those affected but account for a tiny fraction of the total number of cases. This finding, coupled with the general lack of success so far in finding common variants for...

Matthew Hodgson seemed perfect when he was born, but his parents knew there was a problem...Essentially, Matthew’s skull was growing into the shape of a football...

BETHESDA, Maryland, July 26, 2008 (Reuters) — Researchers working on an artificial pancreas believe they are just a few years away from a nearly carefree way for people with diabetes to monitor blood and inject insulin as needed. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Related Topics Health and Fitness Internal Medicine Medical Specializations Medicine Science and Technology Ads by GoogleAdvertise here -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Blood Sugar Levels guide Looking to find Blood Sugar Levels? See our Blood Sugar Levels guide. Friendsofanimals.ComDiabetes Treatment Order Products to Lower your Blood Sugar Without Having to use Drugs. believe they can link two current technologies -- continuous glucose monitoring and insulin...

“Trying to Save by Increasing Doctors’ Fees” (front page, July 21) explores the idea that spending more on health care now will save money in the long run. Early intervention is medically effective, but there’s a good reason why it cannot be financially efficient in our current system using commercial health insurance companies. An insurance company spokesman points out that it is uncertain whether there will be a direct return on the investment within a “reasonable time horizon.” That’s the key contradiction for the United States. If Company A pays now for a vaccination or other preventive care for a...

Antiretroviral therapy has increased life expectancy by 13 years, researchers say THURSDAY, July 24 (HealthDay News) -- Since 1996, the life expectancy of HIV patients in developed countries taking antiviral therapy has increased more than 13 years, and deaths have dropped by almost 40 percent, researchers report. Despite these gains, life expectancy still falls short by some 20 years, compared with people in the general population. Life expectancy among injection drug users and those who start their treatment late is even shorter. "People on [antiretroviral therapy] can live a fairly long life," said lead researcher Robert Hogg, from the British...

Talk Radio Network, the syndicator of Michael Savage's "Savage Nation" radio show, issued the following statement today: On Michael Savage's Autism Comments There have been numerous calls in recent days for Michael Savage, who hosts “The Michael Savage Show” for Talk Radio Network (the “Network”), to be fired or suspended for his brief 84 seconds of commentary concerning autism during the July 16th broadcast of the Show. Promptly after the Network’s management learned of the comments in issue, the Network commenced an investigation into the particulars and the circumstances of those comments. This investigation began with the Network’s CEO, Mark...

July 22, 2008 — A new fissure is creeping through the cardiology community, dividing those in favor of risk-factor screening and prevention on one side from those who advocate early screening for the disease itself. The debate is playing out online July 29, 2008 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, with Drs Jay Cohn and Daniel Duprez (University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis) arguing in favor of early identification of disease through simple screening tests, and Drs Philip Greenland and Donald Lloyd-Jones (Northwestern University, Chicago, IL) urging clinicians to focus on risk factors and steer clear of...

“Dr. Q” has a theory about how to cure cancer that he can’t wait to tell me. I look around at his lab assistants, their faces a rainbow of colors — intense, smart, listening. Their parents come from many parts of the world. Dr. Q has chosen them to test his theory: that a team of scientists from a diversity of backgrounds might find a cure for cancer more quickly, because each would see the problem differently. The lab at Johns Hopkins Medical Center in Baltimore we’re all gathered in belongs to Dr. Alfredo Quinones-Hinojosa — “Dr. Q.” He is...

Gun regulation is not a public health issue, according to more than 80% of some 2,000 respondents to a MedPage Today poll. When the editors of the New England Journal of Medicine decried the recent Supreme Court decision overturning the District of Columbia's handgun law, they did so claiming the issue is a matter of public health. Now doctors in the trenches have weighed in with their own views. The responses from physicians who are registered members of the site was remarkbly evenly divided. Just over half (52%) said Yes, that gun control is a public health issue. But for...

Doctors to be banned from dishing out antibiotics for sore throats and colds By Daniel Martin Last updated at 2:35 AM on 23rd July 2008 Doctors will be told not to hand out antibiotics for coughs, sore throats and colds under guidelines to be unveiled today. GPs have been accused of wasting more than £100million on the drugs every year for patients with respiratory tract infections. Rationing watchdog the National Institute for Clinical Excellence said today that the vast majority of cases would clear up on their own. Adults should simply 'take a rest' while children should be offered 'love...