RespiteMatch.com Health Blog

02.28.06, 12:00 AM ET

TUESDAY, Feb. 28 (HealthDay News) — Two very different kinds of therapy provided positive results for some people with partial spinal cord injury, new research finds.

The multi-center study of 117 people who’d suffered a partial spinal cord injury within the previous eight weeks found that 12 weeks of body weight-supported treadmill training was equally effective as the same amount of conventional rehabilitation for restoring movement.
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02.28.06, 12:00 AM ET

TUESDAY, Feb. 28 (HealthDay News) — Replacing nerve cells lost to Huntington’s disease, a strategy called neural transplant, provided several years of improvement and stability to some Huntington’s patients, French researchers report.
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Hit 50 With Few Heart Risk Factors, And Brag Longer

By January W. Payne
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, February 21, 2006; HE01

It’s a truism that healthy aging begins long before you hit old age. Now a large study has confirmed that and suggested a new approach for those hoping to live a long and healthy life: Aim to reach age 50 with as few risk factors for heart disease and stroke as possible. Read the rest of this entry »

· Scientists predict sharp rise in life expectancy
· Living to 100 could be commonplace by 2030
by Ian Sample, science correspondent
Monday Feb. 20, 2006, London: Britain’s workforce will face a retirement age of 85 by 2050, as novel anti-ageing therapies trigger a sharp rise in life expectancy, scientists have claimed.

Researchers in California believe new drugs capable of slowing the ageing process will start to become available in rich countries in 2010, increasing lifespan by 20 years within the following two decades, suggesting that living to 100 years old will become commonplace with the ageing workforce employed in physically undemanding jobs. Read the rest of this entry »

By GINA KOLATA
A large, seven-year study of healthy women over 50 found no broad benefit from calcium and vitamin D supplements in preventing broken bones, despite widespread endorsement by doctors for the supplements.

The study, whose results are being reported today, also found no evidence that the supplements prevented colorectal cancer, and it found an increased risk of kidney stones. Read the rest of this entry »

By Sam Lister
A licence to extend the use of the breast cancer drug may be granted within months

WOMEN with early-stage breast cancer should be able to get the drug Herceptin on the NHS by the end of the year after a licensing application was made by its manufacturer.
Roche, the pharmaceutical company, announced yesterday that it had submitted an application to the European Medicines Agency for the use of Herceptin to treat women in the early stages of the disease. Read the rest of this entry »

By Rong-Gong Lin II
Times Staff Writer

February 11, 2006

STANFORD — California’s $3-billion foray into stem cell research, approved by voters more than a year ago, will not begin in earnest for perhaps 15 more months because of legal challenges to the initiative, officials said Friday. Read the rest of this entry »

By Peggy Peck, Managing Editor, MedPage Today
Reviewed by Zalman S. Agus, MD; Emeritus Professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
February 10, 2006
MedPage Today Action Points

Explain to patients who ask that this report confirms that invasive testing remains the gold standard to find out whether abnormal findings on mammography mean cancer.
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No one is declaring victory, but the number of Americans dying from cancer has dropped for the first time, according to a report being released today.

The most recent federal data show that deaths from cancer fell from 557,271 in 2002 to 556,902 in 2003. While it was a decline of only 369, it marked the first documented drop since the government started collecting statistics in 1930. Read the rest of this entry »

NEW YORK, Feb. 7, 2006
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Scientists study a Teflon chemical. (CBS/The Early Show)
(CBS) There is new cause for concern over the chemical used to make Teflon and other stain resistant products.

The chemical, known as PFOA, is already found in the blood of most Americans. Now, CBS News correspondent Sharyl Attkisson reported on The Early Show, scientists are studying whether it is harming newborn babies. Read the rest of this entry »

SATURDAY, Feb. 4 (HealthDay News) — Cancer of the cervix was once a dreaded disease, one of the most common causes of cancer death in American women.

But from 1955 to 1992, the number of cervical cancer deaths in the United States dropped by 74 percent, as more and more women underwent regular screenings using the Pap test. Read the rest of this entry »

TUESDAY, Jan. 31 (HealthDay News) — Anger has been blamed for everything from high blood pressure to road rage. Now, a new study links it to something else — injuries in men.

Researchers who interviewed emergency-room patients found that men were more likely to report being mad or furious at the time of their injuries than during an ordinary day. Read the rest of this entry »

Tests That Detect Heart Problems in Men Don’t Always Work for Women

CHICAGO, Jan. 31, 2006 — - A new study finds as many as 3 million women at high risk for heart attacks may have no idea they’re in danger.
Heart patient Shirley Kaswinkel says her episodes were frequent and frightening.
“To me, it seemed like someone was putting a pillow on my face, and I just couldn’t get my oxygen,” she said.
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MONDAY, Jan. 30 (HealthDay News) — Early findings in the laboratory suggest that cholesterol-lowering statin drugs might prove an effective treatment for rheumatoid arthritis.

Japanese researchers say the statin drug fluvastatin induced apoptosis (programmed cell death) in synovial cells collected from people with rheumatoid arthritis. Read the rest of this entry »

Decision affecting millions offers biggest change in diabetes treatment in decades

Justin Gillis / The Washington Post
January 28, 2006

WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved an inhaled form of insulin, the first new way to get that hormone into the body since it was discovered in 1921 — and a new treatment option for many of the 21 million Americans with diabetes. Read the rest of this entry »