Tuesday, February 22, 2005

Health Headlines - February 22

Snoring May Not Signal Breathing Problems

A physical examination of the mouth and throat can't alone identify those whose snoring signals a more serious sleep-breathing problem, researchers said on Monday.

U.S. Belt Tightening Could Hit AIDS Efforts

A tighter 2006 budget for the National Institutes of Health could force the world's No. 1 funder of medical research to pull the plug on some AIDS research and other projects that don't prove their value, a top official said on Monday.

Picture Phones May Make a Doctor's House Calls

Next up for cell phones with built-in digital cameras: making house calls for doctors.

Mouse 'Model' of AIDS Mimics Human Disease

AIDS research has been hampered because mice, which usually provide an excellent model for studying human disease, cannot be infected with HIV. Now, researchers have created a modified HIV strain that can infect mice.

Family of Peru 'Mermaid' Fed Up with Freak Show

Ricardo Cerron is fed up with people staring or even laughing at his baby, dubbed Peru's "Little Mermaid" because of a rare birth defect in which her legs are joined together.

Avian Flu World's No. 1 Threat, CDC Head Says

Avian flu poses the single biggest threat to the world right now and health officials may not yet have all the tools they need to fight it, the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Monday.

Migraine Linked to Increase in Heart Risk Factors

People who suffer from migraines have a higher cardiovascular risk profile than similar people who don't have these debilitating headaches, according to a new report. This is especially true for patients with migraines involving an aura.

Waist Circumference Predicts Heart Disease Risk

The circumference of your waist correlates more closely with several known risk factors for heart disease than does your body mass index (BMI) -- the measure of weight in relation to height.

Heart Attack Care May Be Worse for Women

Previous reports have found that although women are less likely to experience a heart attack than men, they are more likely to die afterward. Now, Scottish researchers suggest that this may be because women receive inferior care.

Environmental Change May Be Boosting Diseases

Environmental changes wrought by population movement, destruction of habitats and other factors may be behind a resurgence of infectious diseases, a United Nations study says.

Peru 'Mermaid' Baby Prepares for Surgery

The father of a 9-month-old baby born with rare congenital defect called "mermaid's syndrome" said Monday she is doing well ahead of an operation to separate her fused legs.

CDC Chief: Bird Flu Could Become Epidemic

The Earth may be on the brink of a worldwide epidemic from a bird flu virus that may mutate to become as deadly and infectious as viruses that killed millions during three influenza pandemics of the 20th century, a federal health official said Monday.

Budget Tightening for AIDS Vaccine Studies

U.S. funding for AIDS vaccine research is tightening, the government's top HIV expert warned Monday, even as he said scientists still must overcome a big hurdle in the hunt: how to harness the body's first defenders to repel infection.

Children's Hospitals in Renovation Boom

The University of Chicago's new Comer Children's Hospital is the latest in a nationwide construction boom at children's hospitals and a gleaming example of the push for kid- and family-friendly facilities that are also medically state-of-the-art.

Report Touts Centralized Food Safety Rules

Seven countries that each created a single food safety agency reduced overlapping inspections and focused their efforts on the greatest risks, congressional investigators found in a draft report obtained Monday.

CDC Seeks Earlier Detection of Autism

Because half of all children with autism or similar developmental disorders aren't diagnosed until age 4 to 6, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday was launching a campaign to make doctors and parents aware of the need of early detection.

School Nurses Want More Terror Preparation

Long associated with treating playground scrapes and tummy aches, school nurses nationwide say they need to be more prepared for emergencies such as terrorist attacks.

Talks in Vietnam Address Endemic Bird Flu

The challenges in eradicating a virus now entrenched in a region crowded with both people and poultry will be the focus of a regional bird flu conference that opens this Wednesday in Ho Chi Minh City.

Man Dies After Getting Tainted Kidney

A man who received a kidney from a woman who was infected with rabies died Monday, a German hospital said, the second death of a patient who got one of the donor's organs.

Steroids Risky Treatment for Brain Injury

Steroid medications commonly used to reduce inflammation caused by traumatic head injuries may actually boost the risk of death, a new report suggests.

Wine Divine For Women's Hearts

Wine, but not beer or spirits, helps women's hearts keep a healthy beat, according to a Swedish study.

Targeted Messages Spur Healthy Eating in Young

'Eat your fruits and vegetables:' Most Americans know that's good advice, but are the nation's college-age adults listening?

ERs Underdiagnosing Psychiatric Illness

U.S. hospital emergency departments greatly underdiagnose psychiatric disorders, resulting in unnecessary suffering among patients, a new study finds.

Health Tip: Controlling Diabetes

Whether you need to lose weight, gain weight or stay where you are, if you're diabetic, eating the right food can help you manage the disease.

Health Tip: Heart Attack Warning Signs

The warning signs of heart attack might seem obvious, but the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute says many people take a "wait-and-see" attitude when they experience heart attack symptoms.

Heart Disease Risks Common in Migraine Sufferers

Men and women who suffer from migraines are also likely to have risk factors for heart disease, such as high blood pressure and high cholesterol, a new study finds.

Collagen Defect May Trigger Osteoarthritis

Arthritis develops five times faster in joints that lack a specific type of collagen.

Coated Stents Superior Over the Long Term

Stents coated with a protective drug work better after three years than the older, uncoated devices in keeping arteries open and preventing heart problems and death.

Diabetes Boosts Heart Disease Risk in Women

Researchers heading home from a conference on women's heart health have a startling new statistic on their minds: Diabetic women boost their risk for heart disease by 2.5 times.

Britain extends food recall in cancer scare

Britain's food safety watchdog extended to more than 400 the number of food items recalled because they are tainted by a potentially cancer-causing dye, and warned the number may rise further.

In an Afghan children's hospital, power cuts decide life or death

A newborn with septicemia, the rims of his eyes blackened, breathes with difficulty in an incubator. He will only survive if the Indira Gandhi hospital doesn't have one of its regular power cuts, which have already killed more than one child.

Mystery illness shuts Australian airport terminal for hours, 50 affected

One of Australia's main airport terminals was shut down for eight hours as emergency crews hunted in vain for the cause of a mystery illness which struck down nearly 60 staff and passengers in the building, officials said.

Thailand to use bird flu vaccine within two months: deputy PM

Thailand will begin vaccinating millions of chickens and other fowl against bird flu within the next two months to combat the lingering disease in the kingdom.

WHO team heads to pneumonic plague-hit region of DR Congo

A World Health Organisation team has left Kinshasa for the northeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where at least 61 people have died from pneumonic plague since the end of December.

Japan's population could decline this year

Japan's population rose just 0.05 percent in the year to October 2004 and could decline this year for the first time since records began in 1950.

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