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In a daring experiment in Europe, scientists used mosquitoes as flying needles to deliver a "vaccine" of live malaria parasites through their bites. The results were astounding: Everyone in the vaccine group acquired immunity to malaria; everyone in a non-vaccinated comparison group did not, and developed malaria when exposed to the parasites later. The study was only a small proof-of-principle test, ...

International cancer experts have moved tanning beds and ultraviolet radiation into the top cancer risk category deeming both to be definite causes of cancer. For years, scientists have described tanning beds and ultraviolet radiation as "probable carcinogens." A new analysis of about 20 studies concludes the risk of skin cancer jumps by 75 percent when people start using tanning beds ...

High blood pressure is picked up less often in people who smoke, despite them being at higher risk of heart disease, research suggests.A study of more than 20,000 men and women in England found smokers were less likely to be aware that they had high blood pressure than non-smokers.The University College London team said spotting the condition was particularly important in those who smoke.Being diagnosed can also prompt ...

Pregnant women, health care workers and children six months and older should be placed at the front of the line for swine flu vaccinations this fall, a government panel recommended Wednesday. The panel also said those first vaccinated should include parents and other caregivers of infants; non-elderly adults who have high-risk medical conditions; and young adults ages 19 to 24. The Advisory ...

Organic food has no nutritional or health benefits over ordinary food, according to a major study published Wednesday. Researchers from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine said consumers were paying higher prices for organic food because of its perceived health benefits, creating a global organic market worth an estimated $48 billion in 2007. A systematic review of 162 ...

Liver transplantation is an attractive modality for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and also for some cholangiocarcinomas, with careful patient selection. Liver transplantation for cancer (HCC and cholangiocarcinoma) is controversial topic that has been evolving over the last decade, a Professor of Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and Co-director of the Liver Cancer Center at the Thomas E. Starzl ...

It is no secret that an addiction to cigarettes is one of the toughest habits to break. While there are some people who can quit by the strength of will power alone, the vast majority of the smoking population requires the assistance of cessation aids and numerous attempts before quitting cigarettes for good. But with medical reports and statistics piling up over the years detailing the dangers of nicotine, the need ...

Asthma is one of the most common ailments of young childhood - rates among children under age 5 have risen 160% from 1980 to 1994 in the U.S. But while the list of triggers that set off bouts of wheezing and shortness of breath (allergies, pollution or strenuous exercise, for example) are well known, it's still not clear exactly how the various factors that cause asthma - including genes, environment and exposure to pollution - contribute to children's chances of developing the disease. Now researchers at the University of Southern California say they have a clearer understanding. In their study of nearly 2,500 non-asthmatic children ages 5 to 9 who lived in the area, researchers ...

The H1N1 swine flu could end up affecting as many as 40 percent of Americans, if one includes workers who stay home to care for people who contract the illness, U.S. health officials said Friday. The projection from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is based on the influenza pandemic in 1957, when almost 70,000 people in the United States died from the flu. "Our planning assumptions for a severe pandemic ...

In early embryonic development, a specific gene plays an important role in directing cells to become part of the pancreas or part of the biliary system, and researchers say this finding could help efforts to find a cure for type 1 diabetes. Research in mouse embryos found that the Sox17 gene "acts like a toggle or binary switch that sets off a cascade of genetic events," the study's senior investigator, James Wells, a researcher in the developmental biology division at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, said in a hospital news release. "In normal embryonic development, when you have an undecided cell, if Sox17 goes one way, the cell becomes ...

Earlier treatment for HIV infection in South Africa could prevent nearly 76,000 deaths and avert 66,000 opportunistic infections over the next five years, U.S. researchers said on Monday. People in developed countries like the United States are treated with HIV drugs soon after diagnosis, typically when their immune system shows signs of failing. Doctors measure this by counting the number of immune cells called CD4 T-cells in the blood. In developed countries, HIV treatment usually begins when CD4 numbers drop below 350. Many developing countries follow 2006 World Health Organization standards, which call for treatment when CD4 drops below ...

A Spanish woman who was the oldest ever to become a new mother died Saturday at the age of 69, according to her family, BBC News reported. Maria del Carmen Bousada was 66 when she gave birth to twin boys in 2006. She said she received fertility treatments at a California clinic after telling doctors she was 55. A Spanish newspaper said she was diagnosed with cancer shortly after giving birth to sons Christian and Pau, who are now 2 years old. Bousada had said there was no reason to believe she would not live as long as her mother, who was 101 when she died. Even if she died prematurely, she said, her sons would never be alone, BBC News reported. "There are lots of young people in our family," ...

Female veterans aren't assured of privacy when they bathe and undergo physical examinations at Veterans Affairs hospitals and clinics, federal government auditors say. No VA facility under review is complying fully with federal privacy regulations, said the Government Accountability Office, the Associated Press reported. In many VA facilities, gynecological tables face the door. At four hospitals, female patients weren't guaranteed access to private bathing facilities. In two cases, there were no locks on bathing room doors, the GAO investigators found. Privacy isn't the only issue for female veterans. VA hospitals lack child care and it can be difficult to find diaper-changing tables, the ...

Six male enhancement products made by Nature & Health Co. are being recalled because they contain drug ingredients that aren't declared on their labeling. The recall includes: LibieXtreme; Y-4ever; Libimax X Liquid; Powermania Liquid; Powermania Capsule and Herbal Disiac, the Associated Press reported. The undeclared ingredients in the products may interact with nitrates found in some prescription drugs, such as nitroglycerin, and may lower blood pressure to dangerous levels, the company said. The products may also cause side effects, such as flushing and headaches. No illnesses related to the products have been reported, the AP said.Original Post: Health ...

The United States could find itself short of swine flu vaccine if the virus becomes much more lethal and countries start to scramble for more of the vaccine, experts warn. They noted that the United States makes only 20 percent of the flu vaccines it uses. The situation is even worse in Britain, which imports all its flu vaccines. Only a few countries are self-sufficient in vaccines. "This isn't rocket science. If there is more severe disease, countries will want to hang onto the vaccine for their own citizens," Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Diseases Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, told the Associated Press. Leaders of countries with adequate ...

The results of a study confirm that girls who undergo radiation for cancer in childhood have an increased long-term risk of developing breast cancer, regardless of their age at the time of treatment. When such treatment included a high dose to the ovaries, however, women seemed to be protected against future breast cancer risk. Radiation is a common, and highly effective, treatment for ...

Certain drugs used to prevent rejection of transplanted kidneys must carry a warning about the risk of serious infections, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced Tuesday. The drugs include CellCept (mycophenolate mofetil) and generics, Myfortic (mycophenolic acid), Rapamune (sirolimus), Sandimmune (cyclosporine) and generics, and Neoral (cyclosporine modified) and generics. The drugs, which already carry the FDA's most serious boxed warning outlining their various risks, must now also mention the increased risk of "opportunistic infections," including activation of dormant viral infections such as one caused by the BK virus, the Dow Jones news service reported. Infections associated ...

In an effort to reduce the spread of dangerous bacteria in humans, the Obama administration wants to ban routine use of antibiotics in farm animals. Feeding antibiotics to healthy cattle, pigs and chickens in order to encourage rapid growth should be stopped and farmers should no longer be allowed to use antibiotics in farm animals without the supervision of a veterinarian, Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, principal deputy commissioner of food and drugs, said in written testimony to the House Rules Committee. He said such routine use of antibiotics in farm animals leads to the development of bacteria that are immune to many treatments, The New York Times reported. The House hearing was held to discuss ...

The United States could find itself short of swine flu vaccine if the virus becomes much more lethal and countries start to scramble for more of the vaccine, experts warn.They noted that the United States makes only 20 percent of the flu vaccines it uses. The situation is even worse in Britain, which imports all its flu vaccines. Only a few countries are self-sufficient in vaccines."This isn't rocket science. If there is more severe disease, countries will want to hang onto the vaccine for their own citizens," Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Diseases Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, told the Associated Press.Leaders of countries with adequate supplies ...

More than 40 percent of the U.S. soldiers from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars seen at VA hospitals suffer from mental health disorders or psychosocial behavioral problems, a new study shows. Curiously, the researchers from the San Francisco VA Medical Center found that most mental health diagnoses were not made in the first year that a veteran entered the VA health-care system, but several years after. This finding supports the recent move to extend VA benefits to five years of free health care, which allows VA doctors the time to detect and treat more mental illness in returning combat veterans, the researchers noted. "After the start of the Iraq ...