Medical Health

But that’s not a good thing, health-wise, says the American Optometric Association, which conducted the survey.
“Overexposure to UV [ultraviolet] rays has been linked to a variety of problems, including age-related cataracts and degeneration of the cornea,” Dr. Gregory W. Good, an optometrist and association spokesman, said in a [...]

That doesn’t mean it won’t, however.
“At the present time, I would still propose that a pandemic is imminent because we are seeing transmission to other countries,” Dr. Michael J. Ryan, director of the World Health Organization (WHO) global alert and response team, said in a teleconference from Geneva, Switzerland, [...]

Others have vowed to stop eating pork. Some, worried about germs spreading in confined spaces, won’t fly — anywhere. Or they think petting zoos and farm visits are off limits.
Like the swine flu itself, misinformation is spreading like a virus across the Internet, around the watercooler and across the backyard fence. Here are some [...]

Authorities have confirmed 10 cases of the disease and 53 other cases are under investigation. So far all had been of people who had recently returned from Mexico.

Dr. Michael Gardam, director of infectious disease prevention and control at Ontario’s public health agency, said in an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation that the swine flu was sensitive to anti-viral drugs.
A deadly swine flu has broken out in Mexico, killing at least 16 people and raising fears of an epidemic. [...]

That’s good news because it’s believed that increased breast density is associated with a higher risk of breast cancer. A number of studies have suggested that dietary factors, including isoflavones (estrogen-like plant compounds) might increase breast density. However, there have been mixed findings about the link between isoflavone intake and breast [...]

This is in contrast to news earlier this year that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had received reports of 23 patients taking the oral bisphosphonate Fosamax (alendronate), who had been diagnosed with cancer of the esophagus.
Bisphosphonates have come under scrutiny in recent years for a variety of [...]

Earlier studies had suggested that drugs known as non-steroidal anti-inflammatories or NSAIDS, which also include aspirin, could protect people from dementia.
But a large study with older patients done by researchers at the University of Washington and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in Seattle found the dementia risk was actually higher among [...]

“In late life there is good evidence that statins given to people at vascular risk have no effect in preventing Alzheimer’s disease or dementia,” Dr. Bernadette McGuinness from Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, UK told Reuters Health. “Statins cannot be recommended for this purpose therefore.”
In an earlier review, two clinical reports had described [...]

Screening is expensive, at $1,000 per test. But the study of 1,123 people with type 2 diabetes who had no symptoms of heart disease did not identify those at high risk of developing cardiac problems.
The findings were published in the April 15 issue of the Journal of the American [...]