Men with hernias have several choices to make: whether or not to have surgery to repair the condition, which type of surgery to have, and which type of anesthesia to undergo.
Results of the EPIC study show that consumption of fruits and vegetables has a much smaller effect on cancer risk than was previously believed, but including them in one’s diet is still important for cardiovascular health.
Researchers are examining the possibility that at some point, depression may be objectively measureable through a retinal test.
Soy’s earlier promise as a health food has been dimmed somewhat by the results of more recent research.
Researchers are investigating whether chewing gum improves the brain’s memory-forming ability, though as yet there is no evidence to support this theory.
An expert panel has issued revised guidelines for the treatment of schizophrenia, including new information about helping patients improve their physical health.
Various types of psychotherapy have been shown to be successful in the treatment of borderline personality disorder, though each requires a significant time commitment to produce results.
A drug used to treat impotence may also help people with a scarring lung disease, new research suggests. The study focused on sildenafil, the drug used in Viagra. But people in the study received a lower dose, sold under the brand name Revatio. The 180 men and women in the study had advanced pulmonary fibrosis. This disease causes scarring of the lungs that hinders breathing. It keeps getting worse, and there’s no good treatment. People were randomly divided into two groups. One group took sildenafil for 12 weeks. The other group received placebo (fake) pills. After 12 weeks, people in both groups were able to walk about the same distance in six minutes. But people in the sildenafil group did better in some measures of breathing ability. The New England Journal of Medicine published the study online. HealthDay News wrote about it May 18.
Newborn babies can learn simple things even while asleep, new research suggests. The study included 26 babies who were 1 or 2 days old. The experiment took place while they were sleeping. They were videotaped and hooked to a machine to record their brain activity. Researchers played a tone. Then a machine blew a faint puff of air at each baby’s eyelids. This made the babies squeeze their lids together tighter. The tone and puff were repeated. But on the 10th time the tone was played without the puff. This sequence was repeated over and over. After 20 minutes of this, most of the babies squeezed their eyes at the tone, even when there was no puff. The machine also showed changes in brain wave activity after the tone was played. The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences published the study online. United Press International wrote about it May 17.
Postpartum depression can affect fathers, too, a new study has found. Researchers combined the data from 43 studies to reach this conclusion. They estimated that about 10% of fathers become depressed just before or after the birth of a child. This is about twice the rate for the overall male population. Depression occurred most often about 3 to 6 months after the birth. Fathers were more likely to be depressed if the mothers were depressed, too. Depressed dads were more common in the United States (14%) than in other countries studied (8%). The Journal of the American Medical Association published the study. Reuters Health news service wrote about it May 18.