Health News Today

Doctors are being urged to re-think their approach to giving chemotherapy at the end of life, by an independent group. »»»

A terminally ill teenager can die at home after a hospital dropped its court bid to force her to have a heart transplant. »»»

A woman who thought she had been fitted with a contraceptive implant but then gave birth wins an out of court settlement. »»»

Health bosses in Ayrshire and Arran, Lothian and Tayside refuse to back plans for direct elections to NHS boards. »»»

US scientists may have uncovered a reason why heart attacks and strokes occur most often in the early hours. »»»

More than 40 young children have been infected with HIV at a hospital in Uzbekistan, health officials tell the BBC. »»»

Inside the controversial new Oxford lab »»»

Chief medic on what High Street can teach the NHS »»»

Can children turn down life-saving treatment? »»»

Sudden noise puts two sisters' lives at risk »»»

A comprehensive guide to clinical conditions »»»

A baby died from multiple organ failure the day after being sent home from hospital with pain killers, an inquest hears. »»»

Satellite monitoring data can be used to predict cholera outbreaks in India and Bangladesh, researchers find. »»»

A consultation begins on how to fund care services for an increasingly elderly Welsh population. »»»

More than 15 million Americans, primarily women, suffer from incontinence. About 25 percent of females and 15 percent of males over the age of 65 suffer from incontinence. Incontinence is not a disease; rather, it is a symptom that can be caused by a wide range of conditions, such as urinary tract or vaginal infections, constipation, pelvic muscle weakness, diabetes, stroke, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson??™s disease, some surgeries or even childbirth. It can even be a side effect of some medications. During November??”Bladder Health Month??”the American Urological Association (AUA) encourages people struggling with incontinence to see a doctor to learn the underlying cause of their incontinence and seek treatment instead of suffering in silence. There are two common types of incontinence: ??? Stress incontinence: leaking urine during activities such as walking, aerobics, or even sneezing or coughing. The added abdominal pressure associated with these events can cause urine to leak ??? Urge incontinence: the uncontrollable, frequent urge to urinate. These urges come without warning and can lead to embarrassing accidents. Urge incontinence is also referred to as ???overactive bladder??? »»»

About 10 million people in the United States alone??”from troops returning from war to students with music blasting through headphones??”are suffering from impairing noise-induced hearing loss. The rising trend is something that researchers and physicians at the University of Michigan Kresge Hearing Research Institute are hoping to reverse, with a cocktail of vitamins and the mineral magnesium that has shown promise as a possible way to prevent hearing loss caused by loud noises. The nutrients were successful in laboratory tests, and now researchers are testing whether humans will benefit as well. ???The prevention of noise induced hearing loss is key,??? says Glenn E. Green, M.D., assistant professor of otolaryngology at the U-M Health System and director of the U-M Children??™s Hearing Laboratory. »»»

(North Carolina State University) A team of researchers led by North Carolina State University has made a breakthrough that could lead to new dialysis devices and a host of other revolutionary medical implants. The researchers have found that the unique properties of a new material can be used to create new devices that can be implanted into the human body, including blood glucose sensors for diabetics and artificial hemo-dialysis membranes that can scrub impurities from the blood. »»»

(Oregon Health & Science University) Researchers at Oregon Health & Science University's School of Dentistry have found that a significant percentage of dental patients with the inflammatory diseases irreversible pulpitis and apical periodontitis also have the Epstein-Barr virus. The Epstein-Barr virus is an important human pathogen found in more than 90 percent of the world population. It is associated with many diseases, including infectious mononucleosis, malignant lymphomas and naspharyngeal carcinoma. »»»

(New York- Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center) Phase I results of the first clinical trial of gene therapy for patients with advanced heart failure show the approach to be promising, with improvements in several measures of the condition's severity. »»»

(Washington University School of Medicine) A test that reveals brain changes believed to be at the heart of Alzheimer's disease has bolstered the theory that education can delay the onset of the dementia and cognitive decline that are characteristic of the disorder. »»»