Experiment Seeks Blood Test for Breast Cancer

An experimental approach that looks for the DNA leaking out from dead and dying cells may provide a route to a blood test for breast cancer, U.S. researchers reported on Tuesday. An initial study showed the test detected 70 percent of breast cancer cases, and correctly cleared 100 percent of women w

New Ways to Diagnose and Treat Alzheimer’s

A team of researchers at UMass Lowell has found a new mechanism by which a key protein associated with Alzheimer’s disease can spread within the human brain. The research, led by UMass Lowell biological sciences professor Garth Hall, gives new hope that the disease may someday be cured. It pro

Scientists Exploring A Connection Between Autistic Children And Diet

Recently, the British medical journal The Lancet, which had originally published a controversial 1998 study by British researcher Andrew Wakefield that implied a link between autism and the vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella, formally retracted that study. In the wake of this, one of the tantali

Happiness Helps When It Comes To The Heart

You’ve heard it before: to avoid a heart attack don’t smoke, eat right and exercise. But it also may help to be happy, a new study says. Even if you’re grumpy by nature, just try to be cheerful. Researchers at Columbia University rated the happiness levels of more than 1,700 adults

Junk Food TV Ads Linked To Child Obesity

Pulling out junk food advertisements on television, at least during prime time, will help reduce childhood obesity, say experts. A new study published in the American Journal of Public Health, which has linked such advertisements to childhood obesity, has found many takers among doctors in India who

Health Officials Warn Tattoo Customers

Health officials are urging people who had tattoos done at any of seven unlicensed parlours in the Calgary area to get tested for hepatitis and HIV after an investigation into the home-based businesses. Health inspectors found unsanitary conditions, including tattoos being done on a couch in a bedro

Herbal Medicines Can Be Potentially Lethal

Herbal medicines if taken in large quantities, injected, or combined with prescription drugs, can prove potentially lethal, experts have warned. Professor Roger Byard, University of Adelaide, highlighted the highly toxic nature of many herbal substances that often mistakenly considered safe. The for

Hopes Rise For Osteoporosis-Hit Women

A new cure for osteoporosis, a common ailment for thousands of middle-aged women, is in the offing. However, the bad news is doctors cannot prescribe the new drug yet and it would not certainly be available in a chemist’s shop anytime in the near future. An international team of scientists, includ

UWI notebook: Jamaican Raspberry Fruit With Health-Beneficial Properties

USING PLANTS TO TACKLE DISEASE Scientific studies clearly demonstrate the relationship between diet and health. Inflammatory diseases such as diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular disease are leading causes of death in Jamaica. With the high occurrence of these diseases locally, as well as worldwide,