Daily Drinking Cuts Heart Disease Risk for Men
Having a drink or two each day appears to be better for the heart than having a drink just now and then, at least for middle-aged men, a Danish study finds.
Men who drank moderately each day had a 41 percent lower risk of heart disease than abstainers, while the risk was only 7 percent lower for those who drank on no more than one day a week, the researchers found. The team found no such benefit to daily drinking for women, however.
“This is one more study suggesting that a modest to moderate amount of alcohol in the world of heart disease is reasonably healthy,” said Dr. Richard A. Stein, clinical professor of medicine at Albert Einstein Medical Center in New York, and a spokesman for the American Heart Association.
Beating Insomnia
Many Americans suffer from insomnia .
Insomnia can be caused by a variety of factors, including consumption of caffeine, nicotine or alcohol; stress or anxiety; a change in sleep schedules; snoring or nightmares.
The American Sleep Association offers advice on how put this sleep disorder to bed.
Mixing insulin analogs for Type 1 kids is safe, say researchers
We’re usually told it’s a big health and safety no-no to mix ‘n’ match medications, right? Well, here’s an exception that affects diabetics. Apparently, youngsters with Type 1 diabetes and their parents/caregivers can safely mix rapid-acting and long-acting insulin analogs in the same syringe. The results of a new study published in the Journal of Pediatrics (April 2006) show that doing so does not compromise blood sugar stability in the long-term.
Examples of rapid-acting insulin analogues are Apridra and NovoRapid. Lantus is an examples of a long-acting insulin glargine. For some kids, mixing the two together could potentially reduce the number of insulin shots required daily. This is always good news for children and their parents.
Oral cancer screening
Screening for cancer involves examination for early stages in the development of the disease even though there are no apparent symptoms. This holds true for oral and mouth cancers where your dentist or oral hygienist can detect changes in the tissues of the mouth when they are pre-cancerous or very small tumors.
The screening procedure is quick and painless, cost effective, and can be performed by a dentist, dental hygienist, or doctor. If abnormalities are found, a referral to an oral surgeon is usually recommended.
Abortion pill a big hit in Britain
Records in Britain show that as many as 10,000 women had an abortion at home last year, using abortion drugs.
The British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) says that of the 32,000 terminations it provided in the first nine weeks of pregnancy, almost one-third were “medical” and involved the abortion pill.
As far as the BPAS is concerned this represents some measure of success in terms of sexual health.
New Protein Target for Antiviral Drug Development
Using small molecules containing platinum, Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center researchers have created a process to inhibit a class of proteins important in HIV and cancer.
The findings may help researchers develop new drugs to fight HIV or cancer by selectively targeting proteins known as zinc fingers.
In the May 30 issue of the journal Chemistry & Biology, researchers reported that a zinc finger protein, known as HIV NCp7, can be inhibited when it is exposed to a platinum complex. They observed that when the HIV NCp7 protein interacts with platinum, the zinc portion of the molecule is ejected from the protein chain. This causes the protein to lose its tertiary structure or overall shape. For these molecules, shape is an important property that enables the protein to carry out certain biological functions.
UK drug addicts fuel jail overcrowding - top judge
Drug addicts are deliberately committing crime to receive treatment in prison, fuelling chronic overcrowding, the top judge in England and Wales said.
Lord Chief Justice Lord Phillips said short sentences were pointless and that drug users convicted of less serious offences should receive treatment outside prison.
Overcrowding was “absolutely fatal” for the treatment of inmates, he added.
