Smoking in Movies Linked to Kids Lighting Up (HealthDay)
HealthDay - TUESDAY, Jan. 8 (HealthDay News) -- Young people who start smoking may be influenced to do so by movies they saw in early childhood, new research suggests. More »
New Gene Identified for Condition that Causes Blood Clots in Brain
Researchers have identified a new gene linked to cerebral venous thrombosis, a condition that causes blood clots in the veins of the brain that can lead to stroke. The condition is more common in young and middle-aged women. The research is published in the January 8, 2008, issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The study compared 78 people with cerebral venous thrombosis in Germany to 201 healthy people. Researchers found that a variant of the gene called factor XII C46T is more common in people with cerebral venous thrombosis than in healthy people. A total of 16.7 percent of those with cerebral venous thrombosis had the gene variant, compared to 5.5 percent of those without the condition. More »
WHO urges less qualified AIDS workers for poorer countries (AFP)
AFP - Less qualified health workers should be used in HIV/AIDS care in developing countries facing severe shortages of doctors and nurses, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said Tuesday. More »
Malawi pays to improve nutrition of HIV-positive workers (AFP)
AFP - Malawi, one of Africa's poorest countries, is to give civil servants carrying the HIV virus an extra 35 dollars a month to help them improve their nutrition, a top health official said Tuesday. More »
Diabetes Drug May Cut Med-Related Weight Gain (HealthDay)
HealthDay - TUESDAY, Jan. 8 (HealthDay News) -- Improved diet, more exercise and the diabetes medication metformin can help people suffering with schizophrenia control the weight gain that typically accompanies their medications, a Chinese study suggests. More »
Effect of antidepressant warnings moderate: U.S. study (Reuters)
Reuters - Warnings that antidepressants might increase the risk of suicidal behavior in youth curbed rapid growth of these drugs but did not eliminate access to them among young people as some had feared, U.S. researchers said on Monday. More »
Youth Suicide Warnings Are Slowing Antidepressant Sales (HealthDay)
HealthDay - MONDAY, Jan. 7 (HealthDay News) -- Warnings about the risk of suicidal thoughts and behaviors in young people who take antidepressants may be slowing the pace of antidepressant prescriptions, new research suggests. More »
Statins cut cancer risk, too: U.S. study (Reuters)
Reuters - Statins -- those hard-working, cholesterol-fighting drugs -- may also cut the risk of developing cancer by as much as 25 percent, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday. More »
Breast-Feeding Seems to Protect Against Some Allergies (HealthDay)
HealthDay - MONDAY, Jan. 7 (HealthDay News) -- Atopic disease -- which includes eczema, asthma and food allergies -- may be delayed or even prevented in high-risk infants if they are exclusively breast-fed for at least four months or fed infant formula without cow milk protein. More »
NYC death rate hit all-time low in '06 (AP)
AP - The city's overall death rate dropped to an all-time low in 2006 due in part to declines in mortality from HIV and smoking-related illness, the health commissioner said Tuesday. More »
Bush signs new gun bill (AP)
AP - President Bush signed legislation on Tuesday aimed at preventing the severely mentally ill from buying guns, in a rare bipartisan agreement with the Democratic-led Congress after the bloody Virginia Tech shooting. More »
BRCA genes get help in causing breast cancer: study (Reuters)
Reuters - The risk of breast cancer among women carrying the well-known BRCA mutations is also affected by other genes, researchers said on Tuesday. More »
BRCA Mutations Don't Raise Breast Cancer Risk Equally (HealthDay)
HealthDay - TUESDAY, Jan. 8 (HealthDay News) -- Not all carriers of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genetic mutations show the same risk for developing breast cancer. More »
Indian farmers poison 50 rare jackals (AP)
AP - At least 50 rare jackals were poisoned to death in northern India by farmers angry over alleged attacks on children and damage to crops blamed on the animals, a forest official said Tuesday. More »
Smoking in Movies Linked to Kids Lighting Up (HealthDay)
HealthDay - TUESDAY, Jan. 8 (HealthDay News) -- Young people who start smoking may be influenced to do so by movies they saw in early childhood, new research suggests. More »
Cameroon: HIV in Retrospect
Considering the over 40 million people infected and affected by HIV/AIDS worldwide, the government of Cameroon joined other nations at the United Nations General Assemble Special Session (UNGASS) in signing "The Declaration of Commitment" to set targets and goals to fight HIV/AIDS in partnership with all sectors of the society. More »
South Africa: Struggle for the Health of the Nation Will Resume
HEALTH care in SA is a famously contested sphere, and this year is likely to see intense lobbying by diverse interest groups as the government continues to try to regulate their activities. More »
Africa: Circumcision Reduces HIV Risk
IN PERHAPS THE YEAR 2007'S MOST convincing results regarding HIV prevention, clinical trials in Uganda and Kenya - confirming an earlier trial from South Africa - showed that circumcision of adult men reduced their risk of acquiring HIV by about half over the subsequent two years. More »
Zambia: Gender Violence Haunts HIV Positive Women
Violence against Zambian women is hindering them from accessing and adhering to HIV treatment, claims a new report by an internationalÐ human rights group. More »
Zimbabwe: True Love Crew Unveils Debut Album
YOUTH and Development Trust, an organisation aimed at tackling HIV and Aids among the youths has released its first album Ndiri Pachirongwa, a fusion of reggae and soul. More »
Kenya: Displaced Aids Patients Get Help
Help is in the way for HIV and Aids patients displaced by last week's post-election violence amid fears that their treatment would be derailed. More »
Congo-Brazzaville: Fear, Stigma Undermine Fight Against Mother-to-Child HIV Transmission
At the Integrated Health Centre of Bissita, located in the Bacongo area of Brazzaville, the capital of the Republic of Congo, pregnant women seated on a long bench wait to have prenatal examinations. More »
Medicare Drug Plan Fuels Health-Care Spending (HealthDay)
HealthDay - TUESDAY, Jan. 8 (HealthDay News) -- The new Medicare prescription drug plan was largely responsible for an 18.7 percent increase in Medicare spending in 2006, which was double the increase in spending from the year before, U.S. health officials report. More »