iron | Page 39 of 39 | Health Newstrack

American physicians prescribe placebos on occasion

American physicians’ use of placebos in clinical practice in the 21st Century, 45 percent of Chicago internists report they have used a placebo at some time during their clinical practice. – In the first study examining American physicians’ use of placebos in clinical practice in the 21st Century, 45 percent of Chicago internists report they have used a placebo at some time during their clinical practice researchers report in the January issue of Journal of General Internal Medicine.

New screening strategy for detection of chagas disease

A new screening strategy could make it easier to diagnose and treat Chagas disease caused by a single cell parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, according to a US study. – A new targeted screening strategy could make the diagnosis and treatment of Chagas disease more feasible in low-resource settings, concludes a new study, publishing on December 26, 2007, in the open-access journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases.

Potential drugs for mental retardation and autism treatment

US researchers say they have successfully corrected key symptoms of a type of autism and mental retardation in mice, a development which could offer sufferers a potential treatment. – Researchers at MIT’s Picower Institute for Learning and Memory have corrected key symptoms of mental retardation and autism in mice. The work, which will be reported in the Dec. 20 issue of Neuron, indicates that a certain class of drugs could have the same effect in humans. These drugs are not yet approved by the FDA, but will soon be entering into clinical trials.

Combination therapy and antibiotics may help multiple sclerosis patients

Combining a medication currently used to treat multiple sclerosis with an antibiotic may slow the progress of the disease in multiple sclerosis patients.
– A preliminary study suggests that combining a medication currently used to treat multiple sclerosis with an antibiotic may slow the progress of the disease, according to an article posted online today that will appear in the February 2008 print issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Diesel exhaust fumes affect people with asthma

This is the first study to investigate in a real-life setting, outside of the laboratory, if traffic fumes make symptoms worse for people with asthma. Two thirds of people with asthma believe this to be the case.
– Diesel exhaust fumes on polluted streets have a measurable effect on people with asthma, according to the first study looking at exhausts and asthma in a real-life setting, published on 6 December in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Gene identified that influences alcohol consumption

Researchers applied a variety of genetic and analytic techniques to identify a chromosomal region, and ultimately a gene, associated with alcohol preference.
– A variant of a gene involved in communication among brain cells has a direct influence on alcohol consumption in mice, according to a new study by scientists supported by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the U.S. Army.

Right diet and lifestyle may help infertile women

Right dietary choices and the right amount of physical activity in daily life may increase probability of becoming fertile if one is experiencing problems with ovulation and infertility. – Women who followed a combination of five or more lifestyle factors, including changing specific aspects of their diets, experienced more than 80 percent less relative risk of infertility due to ovulatory disorders compared to women who engaged in none of the factors, according to a paper published in the November 1, 2007, issue of Obstetrics & Gynecology.