Public Health

Acupuncture 'Probably Ineffective' In Treatment Of Hot Flashes

Acupuncture cannot be shown to have any positive effect on hot flashes during the menopause, says the conclusion of a systematic review of literature by three groups in Daejon, Busan (South Korea) and Exeter (UK), published in the current edition of the pe ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 7 2009 - 9:44am

A plan to beat evolution

Can we really design an insecticide that gets around the evolution of resistance? Check out this paper in PLoS biology today on how to make an evolution-proof insecticide against malaria-bearing mosquitos. The trick, argue the authors, is to design a pest ...

Blog Post - Michael White - Apr 8 2009 - 8:50pm

5 Reasons To Get Drastic And Have Weight Loss Surgery

It is a fact of science that people who consume fewer calories than they burn will lose weight.  It is 100 percent effective.   But it is equally well-known that some people cannot do that and neuroscience has yet to find a reasonable explanation for it. F ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 11 2009 - 3:50pm

Male Circumcision Reduces HIV Risk- Clinical Trials

Three recent African trials support male circumcision for reducing the risk of contracting HIV in heterosexual men. After including new data from these trials in their review, Cochrane Researchers have changed their previous conclusions that there was insu ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 14 2009 - 6:53pm

Can Homeopathic Medicines Relieve Side-Effects Of Cancer Therapy?

Drugs and radiotherapy given for cancer can cause unpleasant side effects such as nausea and vomiting, mouth sores, dermatitis, and menopausal symptoms. Around a third of patients with cancer use complementary therapies, including homeopathic medicines, to ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 14 2009 - 6:58pm

Gates Foundation to chat with bloggers about World Malaria Day

My mailbox has an automated spam filter, but often some smarter messages seep through and end in there; since, however, I already receive hundreds of emails a day, I am not too happy to entertain myself with ones I do not need: so I have developed a sort o ...

Blog Post - Tommaso Dorigo - Apr 17 2009 - 5:52pm

Save Children Burnt by Caustic Soda!

In Sierra Leone mothers use caustic soda to home-make soap, and children often exchange it for water and drink it. During 2008 alone, 249 children have been admitted in the surgical pediatric unit of the Emergency center in Goderich, near Freetown- a numb ...

Blog Post - Tommaso Dorigo - Apr 19 2009 - 5:18am

Ironic Indulgence- Healthy Food Choices May Lead To Bad Ones

More restaurants and vending machines offer healthy choices these days, so why do Americans' waistlines continue to expand? A new study in the Journal of Consumer Research shows that some efforts to control eating may backfire. Consumers may feel they ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 20 2009 - 3:49pm

Tomatoes Get More Terrific- Now They May Also Prevent Inflammation

We all know that we should eat our fruits and vegetables, but a new study suggests that they could also help prevent inflammation.   According to a study conducted by researchers from UC Davis in cooperation with National Center for Food Safety and Technol ...

Article - Erin Richards - Apr 28 2009 - 1:42pm

A Prostaglandin Target For Maintaining Healthy Blood Pressure

In trying to understand the role of prostaglandins – a family of fatty compounds key to the cardiovascular system – in blood pressure maintenance, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and colleagues discovered that mice that lac ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 24 2009 - 1:48pm