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Number of cases amounts to public health crisis. AIDS rates in the nation's Latino community are increasing and, with little notice, have reached what experts are calling a simmering public health crisis. Though Hispanics comprise about 14 percent of the U.S. population, they represented 22 percent of new HIV and AIDS diagnoses tallied by federal officials in 2006. According to a survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation, Hispanics in Washington, D.C., have the highest rate of new AIDS cases in the nation. Even with the United States embroiled in a fierce debate over immigration policy, officials are downplaying or ignoring...

A regular diet of even modest amounts of food containing soy may halve sperm concentrations, suggest scientists. The study, published in the journal Human Reproduction, found 41 million fewer sperm per millilitre of semen after just one portion every two days. The authors said plant oestrogens in foods such as tofu, soy mince or milk may interfere with hormonal signals. However, a UK expert stressed that most men in Asia eat more soy-based products with no fertility problems. Oestrogenic compounds in food or the environment have been of concern for a number of years, but we have mostly thought that...

If Bruce Lipshutz has his way, you may soon be buying bottles of water brimming with the life-sustaining coenzyme CoQ10 at your local Costco. Lipshutz, a professor of chemistry at UC Santa Barbara, is the principal author of an upcoming review, "Transition Metal Catalyzed Cross-Couplings Going Green: in Water at Room Temperature," which will be published in Aldrichimica Acta in September. In it, Lipshutz and post-doctoral researcher Subir Ghorai discuss how recent advances in chemistry can be used to solubilize otherwise naturally insoluble compounds like CoQ10 into water. Never heard of CoQ10? Lipshutz says you're not alone. "If you don't...

If you’re not wearing the right type of bra, you could be damaging your breasts without even realizing it. Researchers from the University of Portsmouth in Hampshire, England found that wearing the wrong “support system” could lead to fragile ligaments in the breasts becoming irreparably stretched, the Daily Mail reported.

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...

London, England (AHN) - British Health Secretary Alan Johnson, in a major speech, has asked the public to be kinder to obese Britons.In a major speech, Johnson said vilifying the overweight would not spur the obese to amend their behavior. He said a campaign to encourage healthy eating must be done in a more intelligent and less hurtful manner.Obesity is considered the biggest threat to public health in the U.K. Experts forecast nine of 10 Britons and two-thirds of young British would be struggling with weight problems by 2050.Meanwhile, the burden of these concerns on the nation's health services would...

Melbourne: Tried everything but can’t seem to get rid of your post-marriage love handles? Well, don’t question your determination for the failed plan, for the real culprit behind all weight worries is your hubby. Yes, you heard it right. According to health experts, a husband is more of a hindrance than help in a wife's battle with the bulge. "For some women, marriage definitely can be fattening," the Courier Mail quoted Dr Brian Steadman, a leading British authority on nutrition, as saying. "It's hard enough for them to stick to good eating habits when they're single, but they can find...

WASHINGTON: A new study has found that lesbians are nearly twice as likely to be overweight than heterosexual women. Researchers at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing are now using an extraordinarily successful, predominately lesbian weight loss group in Atlanta, as a model system for discovering how to target obesity in a lesbian population. Sarah Fogel, Ph.D., R.N., associate professor of Nursing at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing, is studying the group, and her findings are giving her a different view on weight loss. "All weight loss groups offer an environment of like-bodied people (overweight or obese), but this is...

The director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute and UPMC Cancer Centers plans to issue an advisory to about 3,000 faculty and staff tomorrow about the possible health risks associated with cellular phone use. The document suggests certain measures to limit exposure to the electromagnetic fields emitted by the devices, such as limiting the length of conversations or keeping the phones away from the head by using headsets or speaker phone options. It also recommends that children not use cell phones except in emergencies.

After hearing about dental work containing lead, because it's made in China, I called my dentist to see if the crown material (porcelon-based) is made in China. He didn't know, but gave me the name of the company, "Cerec." I e-mailed the company, and am awaiting an answer.

A study published on the July 22 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association called for more aggressive action against tuberculosis, after it had discovered an increase in the number of foreigners in the US infected with TB. Although TB cases in the US dropped 45 percent between 1996 and 2006 (from more than 25,000 to less than 14,000), according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s statistics, there was a five percent increase in TB cases among immigrant populations living in the US during the same period, Dr. Kevin P. Cain head of the CDC’s...

Despite its health-crazy reputation, parts of Los Angeles are plagued by obesity rates that rival any city in America. Now, the city may join a growing roster of local governments aiming to put their residents on diets by cracking down on the fast-food industry, says the Wall Street Journal. The Los Angeles city council is considering legislation that would ban new fast-food restaurants like McDonald's and KFC from opening in a 32-square-mile chunk of the city. The targeted area is already home to some 400 fast-food restaurants, possibly contributing to high obesity rates there -- 30 percent of adults, compared...

Ambien, The Wake Up Pill? ReportingStephanie Stahl PHILADELPHIA (CBS 3) ― In health, a remarkable breakthrough, a sleeping pill that can help people in a vegetative state wake up. Medical Reporter Stephanie Stahl has one Northeast Philadelphia family's story of hope. 29-year-old Jimmy Trainor has a brain injury so devastating, he is completely incapacitated. For his heartbroken parents, the silence is devastating, the caretaking grueling and the memories too painful. "I don't think about the way he was. I can't, I won't survive like that," said Bonnie Trainor, his mother. But there's a glimmer of hope. At certain times Jimmy...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - People infected with parasitic worms may be much more susceptible to the AIDS virus, according to a study published on Tuesday that may help explain why HIV has hit sub-Saharan Africa particularly hard.

Despite plummeting mortality rates for most infectious diseases over the last century, a group of largely overlooked bacterial, viral and parasitic infections is still plaguing the nation's poor, according to a report released this week. Many of the diseases are typically associated with tropical developing countries but are surprisingly common in poor regions of the United States, according to the analysis, published in the Public Library of Science journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases.

MICHIGAN (NEWSCHANNEL 3) - Truck drivers maneuver several tons of cargo down Michigan highways every minute. A new study shows that hundreds of thousands of them shouldn't even be behind the wheel. Right now about 600,000 commercial drivers suffer from conditions like diabetes and narcolepsy. They are conditions that qualify them for full disability benefits, because they can lead to serious issues like heart attacks, seizures and unconscious spells. Some truck drivers say the reason so many of their peers slip through the cracks is that they find doctors who overlook those medical conditions so they can stay on the...

An American holidaymaker got a nasty surprise when he discovered that the lumps on his scalp were not bites or shingles, but live botfly maggots. 'I thought I was going crazy' Aaron Dallas, from Colorado, US, sought medical advice when the bumps appeared on his scalp after a trip to Belize this summer. But it was not until the bumps started moving that doctors realised Dallas had five live maggots inside his head.

DEMOCRATS’ single most important domes tic proposal - universal health insurance - may blow up in Barack Obama’s face when voters are exposed to the deadly details. Obama has said, proudly and often, “I am going to give health insurance to 47 million Americans who are now without coverage.” But are they “Americans?” That 47 million statistic includes illegal immigrants - who virtually all lack insurance. In fact, about one in four of those lacking insurance is here illegally. And they are, by far, the group most in need of health insurance.

The cholesterol fighter Vytorin sold by Merck & Co Inc and Schering-Plough Corp failed to meet the main goal of improving outcomes in a closely-watched heart study, according to data presented on Monday. Slightly higher incidents of cancer deaths were also seen in those taking the drug -- 39 versus 23 on placebo -- although the lead researcher said those could have occurred as a result of chance. The shares of both companies fell after the data were released, with Schering off more than 15 percent and Merck down by 7 percent. No significant difference in the study's composite heart...

Thousands of people who suffered severe allergic reactions after sitting on their sofas were victims of a toxic gas emitted by an anti-mould agent, a study has concluded. Hospitals across northern Europe have treated thousands of patients with symptoms which appeared to range from skin cancer and chemical burns to severe eczema. The British cases have been linked to an estimated 100,000 sofas sold by Argos, World of Leather and Walmsley Furnishing manufactured in China by a company called Linkwise. A study in Sweden has concluded that the skin conditions were a reaction to the gas created during the sublimation...

In a major step in understanding how the nervous system and the immune system interact, scientists at The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research have identified a new anatomical path through which the brain and the spleen communicate. The spleen, once thought to be an unnecessary bit of tissue, is now regarded as an organ where important information from the nervous reaches the immune system. Understanding this process could ultimately lead to treatments that target the spleen to send the right message when fighting human disease. Mauricio Rosas-Ballina, MD, working with colleagues in the laboratory of Kevin J. Tracey, MD, figured...

<p>The Peruvian village of Compone lies 11,000 ft. above sea level in El Valle Sagrado de los Incas, the Sacred Valley of the Incas. Flat but ringed by mountains, the tallest capped year-round in snow and ice, the valley is graced with a mild climate and mineral-rich soil that for centuries has produced what the Incas called sara—corn.</p>

Tomatoes are OK, but watch out for jalapenos, avocados and serrano peppers. That’s what state and federal health departments are saying now after months of searching for the source of a nationwide salmonella outbreak. Originally thought to be traced to tomatoes, now, after Texas and North Carolina’s departments of state health services located tainted produce from a south Texas importer/distributor, officials are telling people to be wary of other produce often used in Mexican and Tex-Mex cuisine. The importer, Grande Produce, is conducting a voluntary recall of all peppers and avocados it distributed. Confusion among what to eat and what...

Diabetes strikes harder at those who were poor as children, according to a new 30-year study. Participants who were disadvantaged in youth were more likely to develop diabetes than better-off peers were during the 34-year time frame of the study. "Our study, among others, shows a strong, persistent effect of childhood socioeconomic position on the development of diabetes in adulthood, even after taking later-life socioeconomic position into account," said Siobhan Maty, an epidemiologist at the Portland State University School of Community Health in Oregon. Researchers examined health records and studies from 1965 to 1999 of about 5,900 people. Of the...

Ref: 08/140 British researchers have shown that drug vaccination can remove amyloid plaques from the brains of people with Alzheimer's disease, but unexpectedly found this did not slow down the disease. The five-year study, funded by the Alzheimer's Research Trust and published in the Lancet, examined 80 patients with mild to moderate dementia who had been immunised with AN1792, a drug which acts to clear amyloid plaques from the brain. The brains of all people with Alzheimer's disease accumulate amyloid, a protein which clumps together to form toxic plaques. This assumed role of amyloid in the development of Alzheimer's and...

A drug injected into the spine has produced rapid improvements in verbal fluency in a trial of 12 patients with Alzheimer’s disease. Etanercept (Enbrel), an antiTNF drug developed to treat rheumatoid arthritis, transformed the behaviour of some patients in a matter of minutes, the researchers say. The results, published in BMC Neurology, are the latest in a series of bold claims made by Edward Tobinick, from a private medical group in Los Angeles, and Hyman Gross, of the University of Southern California. Their theory is that TNF is used in the brain to regulate the transmission of nerve impulses. They...

Under Cognitive SurveillanceExperts debate the value of memory screening in the fight against Alzheimer's. Page 1 Sandra, a fit 65-year-old woman, believes in the benefits of proactive health care. She exercises regularly and never misses an annual physical. So when she sees a flier for a free memory screening event at her local Kmart, she thinks it's a great opportunity to check on her brain health too. Sandra's reasoning may seem intuitive. We check the circulatory, lymphatic and respiratory systems. Why shouldn't we check the organ responsible for their executive function? This question lies at the heart of a brewing...

State health officials are urging lobster eaters to avoid the greenish innards known as the tomalley because of risks of shellfish poisoning. Health officials for years have advised against eating the tomalley, the lobster liver some regard as a delicacy. The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention reiterated its advisory Friday, however, after some lobster livers tested positive for high levels of toxins caused by large blooms of red tide algae. But health and fisheries officials stress that the advisory applies only to the lobster tomalley, not to the meat. "Lobster meat is very safe to eat," said Dr....

Neuroscientists at MIT's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory found that a previously unsuspected set of genes links nature and nurture during a crucial period of brain development. The results, reported in the July 8 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), could lead to treatments for autism and other disorders thought to be tied to brain changes that occur when the developing brain is very susceptible to inputs from the outside world. Nature--in the form of genes--and nurture--in the form of environmental influences--are fundamentally intertwined during this period. "Our work points to how a disorder...

RESEARCHERS believe they have discovered two genes which allow people to hold their drink. Carriers of one or both genes can process alcohol through the body quickly. One effect is that it halves the chance of developing mouth, throat and oesophageal cancer.

Scientists are searching within the virtual world and finding real viruses. Every hour, HealthMap, an infectious disease-tracking Web site, culls through news Web sites, public health list servs, the World Health Organization's online pages, and other Web sites in six different languages to pinpoint outbreaks of disease that real-world doctors can then act on. "We were originally thinking about how we could expand disease surveillance and pick up outbreaks earlier than traditional methods," said John Brownstein of Harvard Medical School and Children's Hospital Boston, who created HealthMap in September of 2006 with Clark Friefeld, a software developer at Harvard Medical...

For 15 years, the American Red Cross has been under a federal court order to improve the way it collects and processes blood. Yet, despite $21 million in fines since 2003 and repeated promises to follow procedures intended to ensure the safety of the nation’s blood supply, it continues to fall short. The situation has proved so frustrating that in January the commissioner of food and drugs attended a Red Cross board meeting — a first for a commissioner — and warned members that they could face criminal charges for their continued failure to bring about compliance, according to three...

Eat your way to a better brain CHILDREN have a lot to contend with these days, not least a tendency for their pushy parents to force-feed them omega-3 oils at every opportunity. These are supposed to make children brainier, so they are being added to everything from bread, milk and pasta to baby formula and vitamin tablets. But omega-3 is just the tip of the nutritional iceberg; many nutrients have proven cognitive effects, and do so throughout a person’s life, not merely when he is a child. Fernando Gómez-Pinilla, a fish-loving professor of neurosurgery and physiological science at the University...

One thing Americans do not want to hear when they are injured or facing surgery is that blood from the American Red Cross may actually harm them. So it was unnerving, to put it mildly, to learn that the Red Cross, which collects and distributes some 43 percent of blood given to patients in this country, has failed to follow quality-control measures ordered by a federal court 15 years ago. The organization’s sloppy procedures and its lethargy in investigating possible harm have put untold numbers of Americans at risk. These failures have been identified in reports and investigations by the...

When Hazel Homer was 99, more than one doctor advised that there was little to be done about her failing heart except wait for it to fail a final time. But Mrs. Homer was not interested in waiting to die of what many would call old age. Now, at 104, her heart is still ticking, thanks to a specialized pacemaker and defibrillator that synchronizes her heartbeat and can administer a slight shock to revive her if her heart falters. Her operation, a month before her 100th birthday, reflects what some doctors are hailing as a new frontier in medicine: successful...

New questions have emerged about whether long-term use of bone-building drugs for osteoporosis may actually lead to weaker bones in a small number of people who use them. The concern rises mainly from a series of case reports showing a rare type of leg fracture that shears straight across the upper thighbone after little or no trauma. Fractures in this sturdy part of the bone typically result from car accidents, or in the elderly and frail. But the case reports show the unusual fracture pattern in people who have used bone-building drugs called bisphosphonates for five years or more. Some...

An allergy drug that's been used in Russia since the 1980s is showing promise in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease, researchers say. A study conducted in Russia found that Alzheimer's patients who took the drug Dimebon had significant improvement in thought processes over a 12-month period compared to patients who were given a placebo. The researchers said that this is the first drug to yield year-long improvement in those with Alzheimer's. "In this study, Dimebon improved the clinical course of Alzheimer's disease, which is important given that the natural course is progressive deterioration over time," lead study author, Dr. Rachelle...

How Gilroy turned a potent Italian bulb into a culinary staple and the country's biggest and smelliest food festivalTHIRTY YEARS AGO, a group of American food writers trooped into a packing shed at Gilroy's Christopher Ranch off Highway 101. Greeted by the pungent aroma of millions of garlic cloves being processed in the building, the journalists sat down for a garlic-laced lunch that included scampi, calamari, pasta and pepper steak. Together with the Fresh Garlic Producers Association, an industry trade group, Christopher Ranch founder and former president Don Christopher hosted the journalists to showcase Gilroy garlic. Gilroy was then the...

American consumers have come to expect warning labels on products that might pose a risk. But Congress is considering allowing the mass (re)importation of drugs that originated outside the safety and security of the U.S. chain of custody, without so much as requiring a warning label. This is a very risky business. If Congress is going to adopt such legislation, Americans deserve to be put on notice. That's why all (re)imported drugs should be required to carry a warning label: "WARNING: THIS DRUG LEFT THE U.S. CHAIN OF CUSTODY AND THEREFORE ITS SAFETY CANNOT BE GUARANTEED

California is poised to become the first state in the nation to ban restaurants and other food facilities from using trans fats, which are known to increase the risk of heart disease, under a bill approved by the state Legislature Monday and sent to the governor. The measure, passed with a bare majority, comes two weeks after a similar ban in New York City became fully effective. California doctor and consumer groups support the law, while restaurant groups have offered a lukewarm response. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has not taken a position, a spokesman said. Assemblyman Tony Mendoza, D-Artesia (Los Angeles...

A genetic variant peculiar to Africans substantially raises their risk of infection with HIV, according to research that suggests evolved susceptibility may be helping to drive the continent’s Aids epidemic. The 90 per cent of Africans who carry the DNA variation are 40 per cent more likely to contract HIV than those without it, after similar exposure to the virus, scientists from Britain and America have found. As the genetic change is common among people of African ancestry but virtually unknown among other ethnic groups, it could explain in part why HIV-Aids is more prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa. The United...

Enlarge ImageSmoking gun. People with certain variations in nicotine-receptor genes face a greater risk of becoming hooked on cigarettes into adulthood.Credit: Hendrike Peer pressure may push teens to start smoking, but their DNA keeps them hooked on the nicotine buzz into their adult years. So says a new study that finds that people with variations in particular genes are more likely to become addicted if they start smoking during early adolescence. The work may explain why some people find it harder to kick the habit and also underscores the importance of preventing children from smoking in the first place....

If G8 members, who recently agreed to carbon reductions that some consider lax, knew about one painful potential outcome of climate change, they might have demanded deeper cuts. Kidney stones will strike up to 2.25 million more Americans per year by 2050 because of temperature increases, research suggests. "We're certain that climate change will continue and increase, and we're equally certain that increased temperatures will lead to increased kidney stone formation," says Tom Brikowski, a hydrologist at the University of Texas, Dallas. The calcium deposits, which can be excruciating to expel from the body, are caused by dehydration and low...

Global Warming May Up Kidney Stone Risk: Study Climate Change Could Bump Kidney Stone Rates up by One-Third By DAN CHILDS ABC News Medical Unit July 15, 2008— For four years, Sue May of Valdosta, Ga., lived with the pain of four minuscule fragments of stone-hard minerals in her kidney. And according to May, now 64, an experience with kidney stones is just as painful as it sounds. "You feel horrible," May says. "When you have this, it's a constant infection, and a lot of pain that goes along with it. "Sometimes it felt like someone had drilled through my...

(July 15, 2008) — Global warming is likely to increase the proportion of the population affected by kidney stones by expanding the higher-risk region known as the "kidney-stone belt" into neighboring states, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center and UT Dallas have found. Dehydration is one of the risk factors linked to kidney-stone disease, and the paper suggests global warming will exacerbate this effect. The researchers predict that by 2050, higher temperatures will cause an additional 1.6 million to 2.2 million kidney-stone cases, representing up to a 30 percent growth in some areas.

WASHINGTON — The pens, pads, mugs and other gifts that drug makers have long showered on doctors will be banned from pharmaceutical marketing campaigns under a voluntary guideline that the industry is expected to announce Thursday. The industry’s Code on Interactions with Health Care Professionals will ask the chief executives of large drug makers to certify in writing that “they have policies and procedures in place to foster compliance with the code.” The code was written by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the industry’s trade association. But the code provides no definite limits on the millions of dollars...

As with most cancers, the risk of breast cancer increases with age. Yet while doctors tell women to have annual mammograms after age 40, they often advise 85-year-olds to go two or even three years between scans. The problem, doctors say, is too little data. Large clinical trials, including those that have found that mammography saves lives, tend to focus on younger people and exclude the very old. A recent study that tried to assess the usefulness of mammography among 80- and 90-year-olds found that very few women in this age group, 22 percent, underwent regular screenings for breast cancer,...

Scientists have used a common cold virus to "light up" prostate cancer tumours in different parts of the body. It could make it easier for doctors to track the spread of the disease, and check the effectiveness of treatment. A University of California at Los Angeles team found the virus "infected" prostate cancer cells in mice, then made them visible to scanners.

The House and Senate reached agreement on a policy framework for legislation that would require employers and health insurers to put mental-health coverage on par with that for physical maladies. Details of the agreement are expected to be set this week, and a bipartisan group of lawmakers is seeking funding for the measure, which would cost the government an estimated $1.3 billion over five years and $3.4 billion over 10 years, mainly because of lost tax revenue. Leading lawmakers such as Sen. Edward Kennedy (D., Mass.) hope to push the bill through Congress and send it to the White House...

Dr. Michael Ellis DeBakey, internationally acclaimed as the father of modern cardiovascular surgery — and considered by many to be the greatest surgeon ever — died Friday night at The Methodist Hospital in Houston. He was 99. Methodist officials said DeBakey died of natural causes. They gave no additional details. Medical statesman, chancellor emeritus of Baylor College of Medicine, and a surgeon at The Methodist Hospital since 1949, DeBakey trained thousands of surgeons over several generations, achieving legendary status decades before his death. During his career, he estimated he had performed more than 60,000 operations. His patients included the famous...