Health and Medicine

Kids growing up in smoggy areas again have been found to suffer the effects of pollution, especially acid vapor, according to findings from the University of Southern California-led Children’s Health Study.

The 10-year-long Children’s Health Study is considered one of the nation’s most comprehensive studies to date of the long-term effects of smog on children. The new findings address the development of lung function in children, showing that lung function growth of kids in p

Women who suffer repeated unexplained miscarriages can be helped to have babies if preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) is carried out on their embryos before they are placed in the womb.

Ms Carmen Rubio told the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology annual conference in Vienna today (Monday 1 July) that her research showed that chromosomal abnormalities (aneuploidies) in the embryos were important causes of unexplained recurrent miscarriages (RM) and implantation failur

Norwegian and Swedish researchers have developed a new type of internal radiation therapy for cancer that has spread to skeletal tissue. Experience from an early patient test is optimistic, according to a report being presented at the 18th International Cancer Congress in Oslo this week.

Many patients with advanced breast, prostate or lung cancer experience metastasis to skeletal tissue. This is often a source of pain and suffering.

Exterior irradiation and medication, including ra

Human neurons grown as cells cloned from a tumor helped restore the function of severely injured spinal cords in rats, University of South Florida researchers say in a study released this week in the Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine.

“Transplants of these specially treated cells were used to patch a short circuit in the spinal cord of rats,” said Samuel Saporta, PhD, associate director of the USF Center for Aging and Brain Repair, professor of anatomy and lead author of the study. “We demonstr

A research letter in this week’s issue of THE LANCET suggests that night-time illumination could help prevent the onset of diabetic retinopathy, a condition which can result in severe visual impairment in people with diabetes.

People with diabetes generally have impaired blood capillary function, which reduces oxygen uptake to body tissue, including the retina. It has been suggested that retinal damage associated with diabetes (diabetic retinopathy) might be initiated by oxygen deprivation t

Tritherapies using antiretroviral drugs have proved their worth in industrialized countries in the fight against Aids. However, in Sub-Saharan Africa, where 70 % of people infected with HIV live, access to such treatments is extremely limited. High cost, complicated procedures, combined with inadequate infrastructures for following up patients or capable of delivering medicines regularly partly explain this situation. Moreover, efficacy of antiretroviral agents might not be the same for some HIV stra