Diseases/Conditions News Headlines - Yahoo! News

Dinosaurs May Have Suffered From Arthritis

2012-05-16T18:06:03Z

WEDNESDAY, May 16 (HealthDay News) -- Dinosaurs may have suffered from arthritis, new research says.

Back pain tends to improve quickly, not completely

2012-05-16T16:26:39Z

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Lower back pain often fades fairly quickly, but it may stubbornly linger to some extent for months or more, a new study finds. "The clear good news is that if you seek care for your back pain, you do improve pretty quickly, and some folk do a lot better than others," said Christopher G. Maher, at researcher at the George Institute for Global Health in Sydney, Australia, who worked on the study. The less-than-good news is that, on average, people with low back pain tend to still have some symptoms as much as a year later. ...

Scientists hunt ways to stall Alzheimer's earlier

2012-05-16T11:23:44Z

Look for a fundamental shift in how scientists hunt ways to ward off the devastation of Alzheimer's disease — by testing possible therapies in people who don't yet show many symptoms, before too much of the brain is destroyed.

Georgia Woman With Flesh-Eating Disease Celebrates Small Victories

2012-05-16T11:14:11Z

Aimee Copeland Understands 'Miracle of Her Existance,' Family Says

WHO warns of high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity

2012-05-16T08:01:42Z

LONDON (Reuters) - Health data released on Wednesday provided the clearest evidence to date of the spread of chronic diseases like diabetes and heart disease from developed nations to poorer regions such as Africa, as lifestyles and diets there change. The United Nations data showed one in three adults worldwide has raised blood pressure - the cause of around half of all deaths from stroke and heart disease - and the condition affects almost half the adult population in some countries in Africa. ...

Trial Set to See if Drug Can Prevent Alzheimer's

2012-05-16T03:52:13Z

TUESDAY, May 15 (HealthDay News) -- Researchers are preparing to test an experimental drug in people genetically primed to develop Alzheimer's disease.

Inhaled Steroids Lead to Big Drop in Asthma Deaths at Texas Hospital: Study

2012-05-16T03:52:13Z

TUESDAY, May 15 (HealthDay News) -- Patient education and medication compliance contributed to a 74 percent drop in the number of patients with life-threatening asthma admitted to the intensive care unit at University Hospital in San Antonio, Texas, researchers report.

Asthma Cases Continue to Rise in U.S., Affecting Millions

2012-05-16T03:52:13Z

TUESDAY, May 15 (HealthDay News) -- Asthma continues to take its toll on Americans, with almost 19 million adults (8.2 percent) suffering from the disorder in 2010, according to a report released Tuesday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Britain to fund prostate cancer pill in U-turn

2012-05-15T23:00:56Z

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's drug watchdog has reversed a controversial decision not to fund a new prostate cancer pill that was developed in the country after maker Johnson & Johnson agreed a new discount on supplies to the UK state healthcare service. Zytiga, which is known chemically as abiraterone, was approved last year in Europe and the United States to treat advanced prostate cancer in patients who previously received chemotherapy. The drug was developed by researchers at the Institute of Cancer Research and London's Royal Marsden Hospital. ...

No Laughing Matter: New Surgery Offers Hope to Children With Dangerous Giggling Seizures

2012-05-15T20:44:09Z

A Rare Form of Epilepsy Causes Gelastic Seizures That Appear as Spontaneous Giggles

U.S. launches ambitious Alzheimer's plan with research push

2012-05-15T17:53:14Z

CHICAGO (Reuters) - The U.S. government launched a national plan to address Alzheimer's disease on Tuesday with funding for a first prevention study in high-risk patients and tests on an insulin nasal spray that has shown promise in earlier studies. The trials, funded by grants of $16 million and $7.9 million respectively, are initial steps in the National Alzheimer's Plan, a sweeping effort to find an effective way to prevent or treat Alzheimer's by 2025 and improve the care of those already afflicted with the brain-wasting disease. ...

Sleepwalking Linked to Depression and OCD

2012-05-15T16:36:00Z

A new study published on Monday found that almost a third of American adults have sleepwalked at least once in their lives. Some 3.6 percent are actually prone to doing so fairly regularly, a statistic that translates into some 8.5 million people, according to a report by MSNBC.

Roche Alzheimer's drug picked for major test

2012-05-15T15:12:23Z

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Roche Holding AG's Genentech unit has won the right to try its experimental Alzheimer's drug crenezumab on people with no signs of dementia - the first such trial to gauge whether early intervention can help prevent or slow the disease. The drug will be tested among members of an extended family of about 5,000 people from the Antioquia region of Colombia. They carry a gene that causes them to develop Alzheimer's early, with some experiencing symptoms of memory loss in their mid-30s, scientists say. The U.S. ...

Girl With Flesh-Eating Disease Faces 'Horror,' 'Depression'

2012-05-15T15:10:50Z

Aimee Copeland Doesn't Know She Lost Her Leg, Family Says

Insecticide resistance threatens malaria fight

2012-05-15T12:09:22Z

LONDON (Reuters) - Malaria-carrying mosquitoes in Africa and India are becoming resistant to insecticides, putting millions of lives at greater risk and threatening eradication efforts, health experts said on Tuesday. While existing prevention measures such as mosquito nets treated with insecticide and indoor spraying are still effective, experts said tight surveillance and rapid response strategies were needed to prevent more resistance developing. ...

Clock ticking with new plan to fight Alzheimer's

2012-05-15T07:09:28Z

The Obama administration is adopting a landmark national strategy to fight Alzheimer's disease, with an ambitious goal of finding some effective treatments by 2025.

Govt adopts landmark strategy to fight Alzheimer's

2012-05-15T05:17:20Z

The Obama administration adopts a landmark national strategy to fight Alzheimer's on Tuesday, setting the clock ticking toward a deadline of 2025 to finally find effective ways to treat, or at least stall, the mind-destroying disease.

Eye Changes May Predict Heart Disease in Blacks With Diabetes

2012-05-15T03:54:58Z

MONDAY, May 14 (HealthDay News) -- In black Americans with type 1 diabetes, narrowing of the small arteries in the eye's retina (retinal arteriolar narrowing) is associated with increased risk for cardiovascular disease, a new study finds.

FDA Issues Multiple Sclerosis Drug Alert

2012-05-15T03:54:58Z

MONDAY, May 14 (HealthDay News) -- The multiple sclerosis drug Gilenya (fingolimod) should not be given to patients with certain pre-existing or recent heart conditions or stroke, or those taking certain medications to correct heart rhythm problems, says a U.S. Food and Drug Administration safety announcement issued Monday.

Pot Might Help Ease Multiple Sclerosis Symptoms

2012-05-15T03:54:58Z

MONDAY, May 14 (HealthDay News) -- Smoking pot can help relieve muscle tightness, called spasticity, and pain in people with multiple sclerosis, a new, small study suggests.

Back Pain Therapy Often Yields Early Benefits: Study

2012-05-15T03:54:57Z

MONDAY, May 14 (HealthDay News) -- People who receive treatment for chronic and acute low-back pain show significant improvement in the first six weeks, but may still have some pain and disability after one year, according to a new study.

Common Blood Pressure Drugs May Not Cut Colon Cancer Risk

2012-05-15T03:54:57Z

MONDAY, May 14 (HealthDay News) -- Widely used blood pressure medications called beta blockers do not cut a person's odds of developing colon cancer, a new study contends.

French trial opens in diabetes-diet drug scandal

2012-05-14T21:09:28Z

Lawyers for a French pharmaceutical group suspected in the deaths of at least 500 people argued Monday that a trial against their client should be halted as two separate cases should be rolled into one before the court can proceed.

Colon cancer test may not require laxatives: study

2012-05-14T21:06:26Z

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People getting checked for signs of colon cancer may not need to take a laxative if they choose a CT scan for their cancer screening over a tradition colonoscopy, according to a new study. The findings suggest a so-called CT colonography is almost as good at identifying certain polyps as a traditional colonoscopy, and researchers said eliminating the need for laxatives may encourage more people to get screened. "The results of this study open the door to a more patient-friendly screening," said Dr. ...

Marijuana may ease multiple sclerosis symptoms

2012-05-14T16:04:17Z

By Amy Norton NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People with multiple sclerosis have long said that smoking marijuana helps ease their painful muscle cramping. And a new clinical trial suggests they are not just blowing smoke. The study, published Monday, found that for 30 MS patients with muscle "spasticity," a few days of marijuana smoking brought some relief. But the big caveat, researchers say, is that it's not clear that the downsides of pot smoking are worth it. ...