A cheap combination of three pills helped patients lower their risk of heart attack or stroke by as much as 80% if they took the medicine regularly, according to a study published by doctors from the Kaiser Permanente health plan. Even those who took their pills just half the time were 60% less likely to [...]
Is using one of those walk-in-clinics like at a store the same as going to a doctor’s office or a hospital? According to recent research by the Rand Corp., the quality of the care you get is similar or better, but you’ll likely end up paying less at the retail clinic. Much less if your [...]
Once again, Mom’s are right. This New York Times article describes the wealth of research that has shown that regularly washing hands or using handsanitizer can help people avoid catching nasty bugs, including the now dreaded H1N1 flu. Part of the problem is that people tend to touch their faces a lot. Disease-causing germs can [...]
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved H1N1 flu vaccines from four manufacturers. The vaccines, which are identical, should be available at clinics around the country by mid October, according to the agency. An FDA press release reported that “the 2009 H1N1 vaccines induce a robust immune response in most healthy adults eight [...]
Important news for people with hepatitis C: Researchers have pinpointed a gene that seems to strongly influence whether a patient will respond to the current standard therapy, which is peginterferon-alpha-2b (PegIFN-alpha-2b) or -alpha-2a (PegIFN-alpha-2a) combined with ribavirin (RBV). The gene is called IL28B and it codes for the immune molecule interferon–3. Patients with specific genetic [...]
State by state, www.Fish4Health.net lists the seafood-related advisories you need to be aware of and other helpful information about eating fish.
A new study shows that breast cancer patients who show even traces of cancer in their lymph nodes are more likely to survive with more aggressive treatment.
Walgreens’ Take Care Health clinics have added nebulizer treatments to the list of services they provide. The clinics, which are run out of Wallgreens, currently offer a lot of routine services at a very reasonable price, including treatment for minor injuries or illnesses, adult vaccinations, physical exams, and a range of diagnostic tests including those [...]
The rates of pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases have been rising among teens. Unfortunately, those teens who comb the web for their sex education will often get disinformation. So what’s a concerned parent to do? It’s a very touchy subject. The statistics about teen sexual health released earlier this year by the CDC are depressing: [...]
Renowned “Brat Pack” director and writer John Hughes died of a heart attack while walking in Manhattan. He was 59 years old. Symptoms include chest discomfort.
