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Homeopathic preparation better than placebo in perennial allergic

A homeopathic preparation for perennial allergic rhinitis appears to be more effective than placebo. A multicenter team studied 50 patients with perennial allergic rhinitis. The subjects were randomized to receive either 30cc of a homeopathic preparation of principal inhalent allergen or placebo. In the third and fourth week after the start of treatment, the group compared changes in nasa...

Indian Prime Minister has successful Knee Replacement Surgery

Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, the Prime Minister of India has successfully undergone left knee joint replacement by Dr. Chittaranjan Ranawat at the Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai. "The operation, which started at around 10 a.m., was completed by 11.15 a.m. and went on very well, to my satisfaction," Dr. Ranawat said at a press briefing. ``He (Mr. Vajpayee) was awake and comfortable throughou...

Levothyroxine Thyroid Hormone Replacement, Approved for Hypothyroidism

The thyroid hormone replacement prescription drug, levothyroxine sodium (Unithroid) for hypothyroidism in adults and children has been approved for use in the United States by the FDA. The thyroid hormaone is involved in the regulation of a wide range of metabolic processes within the body in all age groups. In children thyroid hormones are essential for normal physical growth and i...

Pesticide impairs male reproductive function

According to the May issue of the journal Epidemiology, high levels of DDT found in some Mexican workers suggest that pesticide can impair male reproductive function. The human body metabolises DDT to DDE. An international team of researchers took blood samples from 24 men aged 16 to 28 who had not been exposed to DDT in their work. In these men the high DDE levels correlated to low leve...

No harm in reducing prenatal check up to 3 - 6 times says WHO report

A world health organisation report says that women with low risk pregnancies, who live in the developing nations, can safely cut down their vists to the doctor during pregnancy to 3 - 6 times during pregnancy instead of the prescribed 8 - 11 visits as in the developed nations. However, these women are not more at risk than women who had more prenatal visits to have a low birth weight bab...

Sweet Candies replace bitter Pills for Anaemia

Anaemia due to iron deficiency is one of the major cause of morbidity in most of the underdeveloped countries. Children with iron deficiency anemia may be reluctant to take extra vitamins or iron pills, as they are inadvertently inedible. But now Iron-fortified candies were effective for improving the iron status of young children and might be an affordable way to combat iron deficiency...

CDC reveals relationship between prepregnant weight and heart defects in infants

Keeping fit and in to be in shape is not only good for the individuals themselves but also for their siblings. Over weight, which is of course the predisposer of majority of the illness such as diabetes, heart disease, hypertension etc., is now being studied in depth, the reason is to attain the destination of disease free environment, that are preventable.// Researchers from the US Cent...

Hormone replacement Therapy a headache

Researchers from Sweden warn women undergoing hormone replacement therapy against the risk of uterus cancer. Hormone Replacement Therapy is advised for women to reduce menopausal side effects like hot flushes and night sweats, and to protect them from osteoporosis and heart disease.// Research has shown the drugs, which replace natural hormones that decrease with menopause,...

Chemists prepare for face-off with manufacturers

There is new war brewing! Neither in the devastated NewYork of America nor in the Afghanistan! It is right here in the commercial capital of India --- Mumbai. And who are the warring parties? They are the pharmaceutical industry of the country and the RDCA or the Retail & Dispensing Chemists Association. The latter is a member body of over 5,000 retail druggists & chemists spread across t...

Asthma Patients Under The Care Of An Allergist Report Less Severe Symptoms

New research shows that asthma patients who are under the care of an allergist report fewer asthma control problems and less severe asthma symptoms as compared to patients receiving care from primary care physicians. // Asthma is a chronic disease that affects approximately 20 million Americans, and is responsible for nearly 5,000 deaths a year. In addition, there are nearly 2 million...

Britain Prepares For Mass Burials To Encounter Future Bird Flu Deaths

According to a leaked government document, it is stated that Britain needs to prepare itself to mass bury the dead bodies, if encountered with the pandemic flu sometime in// the future. It has been estimated that nearly one third of a million people will die if bird flu strikes in Britain. The document titled Managing Excess Deaths in an Influenza Pandemic, according to Life Style Extra,...

Hormone replacement therapy helps women

Women who take hormone replacement therapy appear to restore their cognitive function better as they age. The evidence on whether hormone replacement therapy (HRT) can protect against dementia// is conflicting - some studies do believe while others have failed to demonstrate benefit.A new report, from researchers, is therefore of especial interest. They followed a group of over 1,000 wom...

Morepan to file new drug applications with the USFDA

Domestic pharma major Morepen Labs is planning to file its nine abbreviated new drug applications (ANDA) with the US FDA by the year 2003. The company would file its first two ANDAs - Loratadine (anthistatminic drug) and Atorvastain Calcium (anti-cholesterol) - by the end of 2002. Loratadine is the third-largest selling drug in the world. Currently, Morepen’s ANDAs pipeline has Loratad...

Ethnic discrepancy in ovarian cancer

Researchers at the University of Texas in US have found that African American women with ovarian cancer have a worse outcome than Caucasian women.// Ovarian cancer causes more deaths than any other cancer of the female reproductive organs. It is now obvious that ethnicity is an independent risk factor in prognosis. US researchers have studied the fate of 10,003 Caucasian women and 600 Af...

Pill may replace exercise

That ultimate fantasy of the couch potato may become a reality some day, according to researchers who have found the chemical pathways that// muscle cells use to build strength and endurance. With this basic knowledge in hand, it now may be possible to develop a pill that pumps up muscle cells without all that exercise, said Dr. R. Sanders Williams, dean of the Duke University of Scho...

Acute Measles Supresses HIV Replication

Replication of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is briefly suppressed during acute measles. A study of HIV-infected children found that HIV levels in the blood// were significantly lower while having measles compared to HIV-infected children who did not have measles. "We were surprised by these findings, because we expected to see HIV replication increase, not decrease with measles,...

Clotting Protein plays a role in nerve repair

According to a new study, fibrin, a protein that helps form blood clots, may also be involved in regulating the repair of nerve damage. The discovery could lead to new strategies for repairing diseases of the nervous system, such as multiple sclerosis, although the research is still on the basic science level.// In multiple sclerosis, the slow destruction of myelin--the thin, protecti...

How to repeal male infertility?

Researchers from the Hopkins University say that they may one day be able to reverse some cases of male infertility. The announcement is based on findings from an animal study that show infertile male mice treated with gene therapy are able to go on to produce offspring.// According to researchers, up to 30 percent of couples worldwide are infertile. Between 20 percent and 40 percent...

Possible benefits of Hormone Replacement Therapy

According to a study, estrogen replacement therapy does not reduce post-menopausal women's risk of having a second stroke. The Women's Estrogen for Stroke Trial (WEST) is the recent study to counter long-held notions// about the benefits of hormone replacement therapy, or HRT, on the heart and blood vessels. Catherine Viscoli, a research scientist University of Yale, said that a lot of p...

Hormone replacement therapy improves sexual function

According to a few researchers, Hormone replacement in patch form improves mood and libido in postmenopausal women.Women often report low libido, slow arousal, difficulty reaching orgasm and painful intercourse. They assume it's just part and parcel of the menopause//and, there is no licensed treatment for these symptoms. But a new study from researchers at the University of Southern C...

Heart may pull Cells from Body to Self-repair

According to researchers, after analysis of cells in men with transplanted hearts from female donors, the proof is the piling up that the heart may be able toregenerate itself at least somewhat by recruiting cells from elsewhere in the body.// Traditionally, it was thought that once cells were damaged or dead, they could not be replaced or repaired by the heart. By looking at the Y chr...

Accomplishment of nicotine replacement therapy

Based on a new survey, sales of nicotine replacement have increased but are less effective than before. One can get nicotine replacement therapy (NRT)// over the counter, without having to consult your doctor. On the face of it, this sounds like a good move. Make NRT more accessible and more people will use it, and more will quit smoking. Researchers at the University of California, S...

Bone marrow stem cells may help repair cardiac tissues

Two new studies, though small, have boosted confidence in a method used to repair cardiac tissues damaged by a heart attack. Researchers have found that stem cells derived from bone marrow which is much less controversial than embryo cells// helps patients who have had a heart attack and had undergone conventional bypass therapy. Doctors in eastern Germany found that when patients who...

Autopsy reports could be valuable and informative

The Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality recently conducted an analysis of 50 autopsy studies going back forty years to show the importance of autopsies in revealing discrepancies in diagnosis that could be clinically// informative. The study indicated that the correct cause of death escapes clinical detection in about 8 to 23 per cent of cases. Out of this, in about 4 to 8 per cent o...

Artificial discs available as replacements for damaged discs

Patients with damaged discs have traditionally been treated by removing a disc or placing a bone graft in the spine to fuse two bones together. Now, an artificial disc which is being studied as a replacement is in the second phase of trials. The phase one study that was recently completed compared the prosthesis to traditional fusion. While in the first phase of trials patients// were ran...

Bones repair themselves with bone marrow cells

A research project carried out by Juliette van den Dolder at the University of Nijmegen has shown that new bone cells can be grown into bone fractures with the help of specially prepared titanium mesh and bone marrow cells. Researchers inserted a titanium mesh scaffold into a bone fracture in a rat. They allowed bone marrow cells to grow on this. This resulted in new bone growth being sti...

Melanoma caused by low DNA repair capacity

Melanoma is the deadliest form of skin cancer and it has been shown through previous research studies that the risk is increased by exposure to sunlight, whose UV rays cause damage to DNA that triggers cancer. However, it has not been clear why some people are more prone than others to melanoma. Researchers have now found out through a study involving a group of 312 people with melanoma t...

China reports declining number of SARS Cases

China reported eight new SARS cases Monday, the smallest number of new cases since the Beijing government began publishing daily reports on the spread of the SARS epidemic last month. Two additional deaths also were recorded today in Beijing and Inner Mongolia, bringing China's death toll from Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome to 317. China's total of confirmed SARS cases now stands at 5,...

Russia Reports First SARS Case

Russia reported its first case of SARS on its border with hard-hit China. The first confirmed case of SARS in Russia, a man living in Blagoveshchensk on the Amur river, which forms the frontier with China, came as Chinese President Hu Jintao tried to persuade the world his country could contain the disease.Hu told students in Moscow, at the start of a four-nation tour, that China had int...

Teens Misusing Nicotine-Replacement Products

New survey results suggest a small number of teenagers, including non-smokers, are misusing nicotine patches and gum. The authors of the study warn the teens could be setting themselves up for health trouble if they smoke and use the patch or gum at the same time or if they use the products to maintain their nicotine levels. But an expert on the psychology //of smoking says the students m...

Y chromosome uses trick to repair its own genes

Scientists have discovered that the Y chromosome uses a neat trick to repair its most crucial genes, a strategy that apparently helps keep it from rotting away over evolutionary time. The Y chromosome, of course, is best known for supplying the biological signal that makes males rather than females. Some scientists have suggested it might disappear millions of years from now becaus...

Hormone-replacement therapy could hurt heart

Hormone-replacement therapy could increase the risks of coronary heart disease in healthy women, and it has no effect on patients suffering from atherosclerosis, according to two studies released yesterday. The studies, published in the Aug. 7 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, expand on the discouraging results of previous studies on the use of estrogen-and-progestin-based hor...

Hormone Replacement Therapy -- What to do?

Since the announcement that hormone replacement therapy is associated with an increased risk of heart disease and breast cancer, many postmenopausal women have been left unsure about whether or not to use the treatment. // Doctors say the hardest group to treat right now is women around 50 years old who are first facing menopause. These women are likely to be suffering from symptoms suc...

Most Women Unprepared for Operative Deliveries

For most women, the birth of their child is a joyous experience. But if the experience does not go as planned, it can have a detrimental impact on the woman. Researchers conducted a study to obtain the views of women on the impact of an //operative delivery in the second stage of labor. A new study shows pregnant women need better preparation and understanding about how the delivery of...

Testosterone Replacement Therapy Safe If Monitored Appropriately

About 2 million to 4 million men in the United States have low levels of testosterone. Symptoms of the condition // may include erectile dysfunction, reduced muscle mass, reduced bone density, depression, and anemia. Testosterone replacement therapy is designed to increase testosterone levels for men with the condition. The therapy may be offered as an injection, patch, gel, or tablet. N...

The Existing Controversy of Hormone Replacement Therapy

Previous studies show conflicting results over whether hormone replacement therapy is safe and effective for postmenopausal women.// A recent study examines the pros and cons of this controversial therapy. Researchers studied women who used combined HRT therapy for five years. All the women studied were 50 years old. Some of the participants had menopausal symptoms, while others did not...

Understanding The Link Between Hormone Replacement and Respiratory Disease

Taking hormones after menopause could put a woman at increased risk of developing asthma, report researchers // ,however hormone replacement doesn’t appear to affect chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) risk. The incidence of both asthma and COPD are rising in the developed world. About 5 percent to 8 percent of Americans have asthma, and deaths due to COPD have risen more than 4...

New Findings for Repeated Miscarriages

New research shows the immune system may play a key role in women who have had repeated miscarriages. About 50 percent to 70 percent of all conceptions // fail, and around 1 percent to 3 percent of couples experience recurrent pregnancy loss. While many of the cases are due to fetal abnormalities, others are due to the maternal response to the fetus. New research links the reproductive ho...

Hormone Replacement Therapy

Since the announcement that hormone replacement therapy is associated with an increased risk of heart disease and breast cancer,// many postmenopausal women have been left unsure about whether or not to use the treatment. Doctors say the hardest group to treat right now is women around 50 years old who are first facing menopause. These women are likely to be suffering from symptoms suc...

Report on the Safety and Effectiveness of Melatonin supplements

The report on the scientific evidence to date for the benefits of melatonin supplements used for disorders due to sleep schedule alterations and primary and secondary sleep disorders were reviwed.// Disorders due to sleep schedule alterations can stem from flying across time zones or working night shifts. Primary sleep disorders, which include insomnia, can be caused by factors such as st...