Increasing the levels of a message-carrying chemical in the brain may help prevent some of the memory deficits in Down syndrome that hinder learning and make it hard for the brain to develop normally, U.S. researchers said on Wednesday.
U.S. health officials distanced themselves Wednesday from controversial new breast cancer screening guidelines that recommend against routine mammograms for healthy women in their 40s and said federal policy on screening mammograms had not changed.
U.S. Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid released a long-awaited healthcare reform plan on Wednesday that budget analysts said would extend coverage to tens of millions of the uninsured and reduce the deficit over 10 years.
It sounds painful, but shockwave therapy may be an effective treatment for men who suffer from erectile dysfunction (ED), according to a small study showcased here at the European Society for Sexual Medicine.
Many people in the United States are still not being screened for high levels of so-called bad cholesterol, and when they are found to have it, are often never treated, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday.
Swiss drugmaker Roche Holding AG said on Wednesday it would conduct a new late-stage trial to evaluate the effect of one of its drug candidates in combating a thickening of the arteries in patients.
Heart patients in Norway -- where unlike many countries foods are not enriched with folic acid -- were more likely to die from cancer if they took folic acid and vitamin B12 supplements compared with those who did not take them, Norwegian researchers said on Tuesday.
More than half of Britons being offered vaccination against pandemic H1N1 flu are turning it down because they fear side-effects or think the virus is too mild to bother, a survey of doctors showed on Wednesday.
Runny nose, fever, cough, even pneumonia -- the symptoms sound like swine flu but children hospitalized at one U.S. hospital in fact had a rhinovirus, better known as a common cold virus, doctors said on Tuesday.
Nearly 12 million Africans deemed at highest risk from yellow fever will be vaccinated next week against the virus, which can cause explosive epidemics in cities, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday.
As the U.S. continues to watch Congress thrash out a plan to try to cover those without health insurance, a new study shows that people admitted to the hospital for trauma are almost twice as likely to die from their injuries if they are uninsured.
Aspirin alone proved as effective as aspirin plus the blood clot preventer Plavix in keeping coronary artery bypass grafts open during the first year after surgery, according to a study released on Monday.
The battery of tests given to a patient having a heart attack in a U.S. hospital adds up to a dose of radiation equivalent to 725 chest X-rays, researchers reported on Monday.
A U.S. clinical study suggests that just half a dose of the Novartis AG H1N1 vaccine may be enough to generate a protective immune response, the Swiss drugmaker said on Tuesday.
The task of harvesting the secrets of Brazil's vast Amazon rain forest that could help in the battle against cancer largely falls to Osmar Barbosa Ferreira and a big pair of clippers.
People who have had repeated flu infections -- or repeated flu vaccines -- may have some protection against the new pandemic swine influenza, U.S. researchers said on Monday.
Cancer experts fear new U.S. breast imaging guidelines that recommend against routine screening mammograms for women in their 40s may have their roots in the current drive in Washington to reform healthcare.
New U.S. breast cancer screening guidelines issued on Monday by a key advisory panel recommend against routine mammograms for women in their 40s, and suggest women aged 50 to 74 should be screened every other year.
More than 49 million Americans -- one in seven -- struggled to get enough to eat in 2008, the highest total in 14 years of a federal survey on food insecurity, the U.S. government said Monday.
Sweeping new U.S. breast cancer guidelines released on Monday recommend against routine mammograms for women in their 40s, and suggest women 50 to 74 only get a mammogram every other year.
Criminal gangs are making millions of dollars out of the H1N1flu pandemic by selling fake flu drugs over the internet, a web security firm said on Monday.
Vaccination programs against H1N1 swine flu are under way in the United States, China and Australia and will begin soon in parts of Europe.
The World Health Organization issued the following guidelines on Saturday about ways to prevent and fight flu, especially in poor areas where medical facilities may lack staff, beds and drugs:
Here are some facts from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about how swine flu spreads in humans:
American squeamishness about talking about sex has helped keep common sexually transmitted infections far too common, especially among vulnerable teens, U.S. researchers reported Monday.
Confirmed cases of H1N1 swine flu infection in Germany have more than doubled in the past week, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases said.
U.S. health regulators requested information from nearly 30 makers of caffeinated alcoholic beverages on why they believe their products are safe.
Flu infections may be peaking in some parts of the northern hemisphere, but are still spreading fast in others, the World Health Organization said on Friday.
Heart attack patients in need of emergency procedures were less likely to suffer further serious cardiovascular events, including death, when given AstraZeneca's experimental Brilinta blood clot preventer than those who used Plavix, according to a study presented on Sunday.
People of Japanese and European descent who have mutant versions of five genes may be at higher risk of developing Parkinson's disease, two large teams of researchers have found.
