Health and Medical News Headlines for February 4, 2010

Tainted milk shows China's food safety challenges (AP)

AP - The resurfacing of tainted milk products in China highlights the challenges of policing the food supply in a country where close ties between local authorities and companies hamper regulation while producers are undertrained, experts said Thursday.

Source: Yahoo! News: Health News | 4 Feb 2010 | 2:49 am

Vaccine gives kids in Mali 'strong malaria protection' (AFP)

AFP - A malaria vaccine tested by US and African researchers in Mali produced a robust immune response in young children, the group most vulnerable to the mosquito-borne disease, a report released Thursday showed.

Source: Yahoo! News: Health News | 4 Feb 2010 | 1:31 am

UPDATE 2-Vodafone raises outlook as Europe improves

* Italy growing, Spain stabilised, Turkey back in growth
Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsHealth | 4 Feb 2010 | 12:40 am

UPDATE 1-Yell beats guidance, confidence begins to return

LONDON, Feb 4 (Reuters) - British yellow-pages publisher Yell said revenue continued to decline at a rate of 13 percent in the December quarter, better than its guidance of 16 percent, but predicted a...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsHealth | 4 Feb 2010 | 12:38 am

UPDATE 2-Samsung plots smartphone catchup to treble sales

* Samsung to treble smartphone volume to over 18 mln units
Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsHealth | 4 Feb 2010 | 12:26 am

Sparks fly as Bollywood, cricket and politics collide

India's twin obsessions of cricket and Bollywood are at the heart of a bitter row that has broken out between the country's top film star and a radical right-wing party in the movie capital
Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsHealth | 4 Feb 2010 | 12:21 am

Trace of Thought Is Found in ‘Vegetative’ Patient

Experts said a finding could raise ethical questions about consulting severely disabled patients on care.

Source: NYT > Health | 4 Feb 2010 | 12:20 am

Blood Pressure-Lowering Diet Appears More Effective When Combined With Other Interventions

Combining an anti-hypertension diet with exercise and weight loss counseling may result in increased reduction in high blood pressure along with other benefits. James A. Blumenthal, Ph.D., of Duke University Medical Center, Durham, N.C., and colleagues studied 144 overweight or obese patients with high blood pressure. For four months, 46 were assigned to follow the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet; 49 followed the diet and added supervised exercise and cognitive-behavioral weight loss therapy; and 49 ate their usual diet...

Source: Health News from Medical News Today | 4 Feb 2010 | 12:00 am

India's book restorers: saving the past for the future

In the basement of the University of Mumbai's Fort Campus library, a towering Gothic-style cathedral to knowledge built by the British in the mid-19th century, half-a-dozen people are hard...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsHealth | 3 Feb 2010 | 11:56 pm

Gazprom sees Europe gas use up 70 bcm by 2020

MOSCOW, Feb 4 (Reuters) - Russia's gas export monopoly Gazprom expects Europe's natural gas consumption to rise by 70 billion cubic metres by 2020, an executive said on Thursday.
Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsHealth | 3 Feb 2010 | 11:37 pm

Hitachi logs Q3 profit on cost cuts, lifts outlook

TOKYO, Feb 4 (Reuters) - Hitachi Ltd , Japan's biggest electronics maker, reported a surprise quarterly net profit after it cut costs in its TVs and microchips, and it raised its forecast closer to market...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsHealth | 3 Feb 2010 | 11:22 pm

Hollywood loses landmark copyright case in Australia

SYDNEY, Feb 4 (Reuters) - Hollywood studios lost a landmark copyright court case against an Australia internet provider on Thursday, when a court ruled iiNet could not be held responsible for unauthorised...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsHealth | 3 Feb 2010 | 11:18 pm

New Tools And Systems May Help Patients, Primary Care Clinicians Manage Obesity

Using combined and intensive treatments and restructuring care to treat obesity like other chronic diseases may help primary care clinicians and patients better address the condition, according to a commentary and three articles published in the January 25 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. Data suggest an extensive gap exists between recommended obesity care and current practice by primary care clinicians, notes Robert F. Kushner, M.D., of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, in the commentary...

Source: Health News from Medical News Today | 3 Feb 2010 | 11:00 pm

Health Official Can’t Guarantee Openness in Talks

Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of health and human services, said administration officials provided “technical support” to Congress, but did not control the negotiations on the health bill.

Source: NYT > Health | 3 Feb 2010 | 10:51 pm

Report: Feds to pay more than half of health costs

For all the hue and cry over a government takeover of health care, it's happening anyway. Federal and state programs will pay slightly more than half the tab for health care purchased in
Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsHealth | 3 Feb 2010 | 10:49 pm

Report: Feds to pay more than half of health costs (AP)

AP - For all the hue and cry over a government takeover of health care, it's happening anyway.
Source: Yahoo! News: Health News | 3 Feb 2010 | 10:49 pm

Balloon flown over highest peak in the Americas

A German and a Spaniard flew over the tallest peak in the Americas in a hot air balloon, reaching 9,000 meters (29,500 feet) in altitude, newspapers in Argentina reported. Adventurers...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsHealth | 3 Feb 2010 | 10:47 pm

Exercise Program Associated With Denser Bones, Lower Fall Risk In Older Women

Women age 65 or older assigned to an exercise program for 18 months appeared to have denser bones and a reduced risk of falls, but not a reduced cardiovascular disease risk, compared with women in a control group. Wolfgang Kemmler, Ph.D., and colleagues at Freidrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Erlangen, Germany, studied a total of 246 older women. Half of the women exercised four days per week with special emphasis on intensity while the other half participated in a wellness program that focused on well-being...

Source: Health News from Medical News Today | 3 Feb 2010 | 10:00 pm

Clinical Trials Update: Feb. 3, 2010 (HealthDay)

HealthDay - (HealthDay News) -- Here are the latest clinical trials, courtesy of ClinicalConnection.com:
Source: Yahoo! News: Health News | 3 Feb 2010 | 9:49 pm

Very Obese People May Be Missing Genes (HealthDay)

HealthDay - WEDNESDAY, Feb. 3 (HealthDay News) -- Adding more evidence to theories linking DNA to weight, European scientists report that a genetic variation seems to virtually guarantee that a person will become obese.
Source: Yahoo! News: Health News | 3 Feb 2010 | 9:49 pm

Healthy baby campaign uses texts to reach mothers (AP)

AP - Expectant mothers are getting a new tool to help keep themselves and their babies healthy: pregnancy tips sent directly to their cell phones.

Source: Yahoo! News: Health News | 3 Feb 2010 | 9:32 pm

Physical Activity May Be Associated With Reduced Cognitive Impairment In Elderly Population

Moderate or high physical activity appears to be associated with a lower the risk of developing cognitive impairment in older adults after a two-year period. Thorleif Etgen, M.D., of Technische UniversitÃ¤t MÃ¼nchen, Munich, and Klinikum Traunstein, Germany, and colleagues examined physical activity and cognitive function in 3,903 participants (older than 55) from southern Bavaria, Germany between 2001 and 2003. At the beginning of the study, 418 participants (10.7 percent) had cognitive impairment. After two years, 207 (5...

Source: Health News from Medical News Today | 3 Feb 2010 | 9:00 pm

Skin Deep: Zap or Chill? Targeting Fat Without Surgery

Two new devices target love handles without surgery, but it is too early for consumers to know how effectively either device works.

Source: NYT > Health | 3 Feb 2010 | 8:47 pm

Second Opinion: A Lasting Gift to Medicine That Wasn’t Really a Gift

Without her family’s knowledge, doctors used cancer cells from Henrietta Lacks to develop vaccines and life-saving drugs, a case examined in a book that looks at the issue of “tissue rights.”

Source: NYT > Health | 3 Feb 2010 | 8:41 pm

ALS Therapy Development Institute And Oxford BioMedica Begin Second Phase Of Collaboration To Develop Gene Therapies For ALS, UK

The ALS Therapy Development Institute and Oxford BioMedica announced today the extension of their collaboration following successful completion of the first phase. The extended collaboration, which is funded by the Muscular Dystrophy Association, aims to advance the development of Oxford BioMedica's preclinical gene therapy candidate, MoNuDin®, and to evaluate other gene-based strategies for the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease). "ALS is a debilitating disease that takes so many of our best and brightest from us without warning and without reason...

Source: Health News from Medical News Today | 3 Feb 2010 | 8:00 pm

Resistance Training Programs Appear To Improve Some Cognitive Skills In Older Women

One year of once- or twice-weekly resistance training appears to improve attention and conflict resolution skills among older women. Teresa Liu-Ambrose, Ph.D., P.T., of Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute and University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, and colleagues studied 155 women age 65 to 75. Participants were randomly assigned to participate in resistance training once (54 women) or twice (52 women) weekly, whereas 49 women in a control group participated in twice-weekly balance and tone training...

Source: Health News from Medical News Today | 3 Feb 2010 | 7:00 pm

Midlife Exercise Associated With Better Health In Later Years

Among women who survive to age 70 or older, those who regularly participated in physical activity during middle age appear more likely to be in better overall health. Qi Sun, M.D., Sc.D., of the Harvard School of Public Health, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, and colleagues analyzed data from 13,535 participants in the Nurses' Health Study. The women reported their physical activity levels in 1986, at an average age of 60...

Source: Health News from Medical News Today | 3 Feb 2010 | 6:00 pm

Study: Vegetative brains show signs of awareness (AP)

AP - Scientists have detected glimmers of awareness in some vegetative brain-injury patients and have even communicated with one of them — findings that push the boundaries of how to assess and care for such people.

Source: Yahoo! News: Health News | 3 Feb 2010 | 5:07 pm

Gene loss link to severely obese

A small number of extremely overweight people may be missing the same chunk of genetic material, claim UK researchers.
Source: BBC News | Health | World Edition | 3 Feb 2010 | 5:01 pm

Out-of-hours deaths verdict due

A coroner is to give his verdict into the deaths of two patients treated by a German out-of-hours GP on his first NHS shift.
Source: BBC News | Health | World Edition | 3 Feb 2010 | 5:01 pm

Physical Activity Associated With Healthier Aging

Physical activity appears to be associated with a reduced risk or slower progression of several age-related conditions as well as improvements in overall health in older age, according to a commentary and four articles published in the January 25 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. Exercise has previously been linked to beneficial effects on arthritis, falls and fractures, heart disease, lung disease, cancer, diabetes and obesity, write Jeff Williamson, M.D., M.H.S., and Marco Pahor, M.D., of University of Florida, Gainesville, in a commentary...

Source: Health News from Medical News Today | 3 Feb 2010 | 5:00 pm

FSA Takes Small Steps To Encourage Young People To Eat Well, Get Active And Feel Good

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) today officially launched SmallSteps4Life - an innovative approach to motivating young people to take simple steps towards improving their health and well-being, both inside and outside the classroom. The programme also supports the Change4Life movement, and is part of Get Set - the London 2012 education programme that will help deliver the lasting legacy of the Olympic and Paralympic Games...

Source: Health News from Medical News Today | 3 Feb 2010 | 4:00 pm

SIDS babies have low serotonin levels, study finds

Babies who died from sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS, show lower amounts of the brain chemical serotonin, says a study published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Source: CNN.com - Health | 3 Feb 2010 | 3:32 pm

Significant Visceral Fat Loss Seen Within 12 Weeks With Orlistat

Magnetic resonance imaging, which accurately measures visceral fat, shows significant visceral fat loss with orlistat 60 mg within 3 months.
Medscape Medical News
Source: Medscape Medical News Headlines | 3 Feb 2010 | 3:05 pm

Scan unlocks vegetative patients

Scientists have been able to reach into the mind of a brain-damaged man and communicate with his thoughts.
Source: BBC News | Health | World Edition | 3 Feb 2010 | 3:00 pm

Smoking 'most Crucial Health Challenge Facing The NHS'

NHS Confederation chair Bryan Stoten has said that smoking is the most crucial health challenge facing the NHS in response to the government's new tobacco control strategy. He also called for a cross party concensus on smoking policy. The chair of the NHS Confederation today called for cross-party consensus on the future of policy towards smoking, which he described as the most crucial health challenge facing the health service. Bryan Stoten, was responding to the release by Secretary of State for Health, Andy Burnham, of the Government's tobacco control strategy...

Source: Health News from Medical News Today | 3 Feb 2010 | 3:00 pm

Personal Best: Slimmer Doesn’t Always Mean Fitter

Exercise physiologists encourage athletes to be aware of the point at which weight loss hinders performance.

Source: NYT > Health | 3 Feb 2010 | 2:35 pm

Youngsters in Spanish-speaking homes watch less TV (Reuters)

Reuters - Young Latino children whose mothers speak Spanish watch less television than their peers with English-speaking moms, a new study shows.
Source: Yahoo! News: Health News | 3 Feb 2010 | 2:13 pm

Videoconferencing Holds Promise for Training Radiology Residents in Rural Hospitals

An Irish study showed that technical glitches hampered discussions, but residents would be willing to take another videoconferenced course.
Medscape Medical News
Source: Medscape Medical News Headlines | 3 Feb 2010 | 2:00 pm

One in Five Kids With Abnormal Lipids

Also, nearly one-third of these youths are obese or overweight and based on their BMI are candidates for lipid screening, according to the CDC.
Heartwire
Source: Medscape Medical News Headlines | 3 Feb 2010 | 11:57 am

Bortezomib Effective for Some Indolent Non-Hodgkin's Lymphomas

The proteasome inhibitor bortezomib (Velcade) is effective in patients with follicular lymphoma and other indolent non-Hodgkin's lymphomas, according to a report in the January 12th issue of Clinical Cancer Research.
Reuters Health Information
Source: Medscape Medical News Headlines | 3 Feb 2010 | 11:49 am

U.S. Rights Group Argues Against Human Gene Patent

Patents on two human genes associated with breast and ovarian cancer should be declared invalid because they stifle the free flow of information and hamper research, lawyers told a New York judge on Tuesday.
Reuters Health Information
Source: Medscape Medical News Headlines | 3 Feb 2010 | 11:49 am

Biting Recession Leaves Ever More Americans Hungry

The number of Americans receiving emergency food from the largest U.S. hunger-relief charity and its partners rose 46% from 2005 to 2009, according to a report released on Tuesday.
Reuters Health Information
Source: Medscape Medical News Headlines | 3 Feb 2010 | 11:49 am

Obese people struggle with their genes (AFP)

AFP - Debate over the obesity epidemic sweeping parts of the world has focussed on whether lifestyle -- too much junk food and couch-potato living -- is the big culprit or whether genes are also to blame.

Source: Yahoo! News: Health News | 3 Feb 2010 | 11:43 am

Biochemical Marker of Bronchiolitis Severity Identified

The concentration of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) in nasal wash specimens of young children with bronchiolitis is a significant independent predictor of illness severity, clinicians report in the February issue of Pediatrics.
Reuters Health Information
Source: Medscape Medical News Headlines | 3 Feb 2010 | 11:27 am

New-Onset Afebrile Seizures in Infants Are Generally Brief, but Often Recurrent

New-onset afebrile seizures in infants are usually brief, but they often recur, and babies who have them should probably be admitted for observation, according to an article in the January 12th issue of Neurology.
Reuters Health Information
Source: Medscape Medical News Headlines | 3 Feb 2010 | 11:27 am

Boost in Bacterial Count Refines UTI Diagnosis

Changing the definition of a urinary tract infection - by increasing the cutoff for the minimum amount of bacteria that must be present -- would significantly improve diagnostic accuracy, UK researchers say.
Reuters Health Information
Source: Medscape Medical News Headlines | 3 Feb 2010 | 11:27 am

Single Ultrasound Test May Suffice to Rule out DVT

A single negative whole-leg compression ultrasound (CUS) can effectively rule out deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in many patients, according to a meta-analysis in the Journal of the American Medical Association for February 3.
Reuters Health Information
Source: Medscape Medical News Headlines | 3 Feb 2010 | 11:27 am

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