Caring4Cancer

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Heavy marijuana use can boost blood levels of a particular protein, perhaps raising a person's risk of a heart attack or stroke, U.S. government researchers said on Tuesday.

BETHESDA, Md. (Reuters) - An experiment that went wrong may provide a new way to treat multiple sclerosis, a Canadian researcher said on Tuesday. Patients who got bone marrow stem-cell transplants -- similar to those given to leukemia patients -- have enjoyed a mysterious remission of their disease.

GENEVA (Reuters) - Global food shortages and higher prices are more likely to cause malnutrition than outright famine, at least in the near term, the coordinator of a new United Nations task force said on Wednesday.

ESHKASHEM, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Lunch at Gada Mohammed's single-room mud-brick house in Afghanistan's far north is the same as most other meals: dry bread washed down with tea.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Early onset of the bone-thinning disease osteoporosis seems to be related to an increased risk of certain cancers, while later onset of osteoporosis may be related to a decreased risk of other cancers, researchers report.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Having a father who becomes obese at a relatively young age may increase a person's risk of developing serious liver problems, a new study shows.

LONDON (Reuters) - Tiny magnets have been used to deliver anti-cancer gene therapy in mice in a development that could make the treatment much more effective, scientists said on Thursday.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The results of a study published in the International Journal of Cancer suggest there is an association between hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and an increased risk of extrahepatic bile duct cancer.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. health regulators are investigating whether two transplant drugs made by Roche Holding AG and Novartis AG could be linked to a rare central nervous system disorder, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Thursday.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - From 1995 to 2004, deaths related to infection with hepatitis C virus (HCV) rose by 123 percent in the US, according to a new report

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Frequent blood donation is not harmful to your health, a new study confirms.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The transmission of tuberculosis from a donor organ to a transplant recipient may result in spread of the bacteria outside of the lungs, leading to a wide-spread infection, which may result in unusual symptoms that can make diagnosis difficult. Early recognition of the infection is "critical, as demonstrated by three cases described in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - In patients with early-stage liver tumors called hepatocellular carcinomas, the combination of targeted radiofrequency ablation and "chemoembolization" provides comparable survival as surgery, Japanese investigators report.

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Scientists in Japan have designed artificial molecules that when used with rats successfully reversed liver cirrhosis, a serious chronic disease in humans that until now can only be cured by transplants.

TORONTO (Reuters) -- When it comes to ways to keep track of our health, a daily peek in the toilet bowl is probably not what first comes to mind. But one gastroenterologist says that your bowel movements can be an important clue to the state of your digestive health.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The improvement in whole-body insulin sensitivity seen in type 2 diabetics who engage in aerobic exercise is due to gains in insulin sensitivity that occur in extremities, not in the liver, study findings indicate.

LONDON (Reuters) - A new class of drug that fine tunes the action of genes has been shown to cut cholesterol in monkeys and may fight a range of ills, including hepatitis C and perhaps cancer, scientists said on Wednesday.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - In the majority of patients, a second attempt at surgery to treat gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) yields good results, according to Dutch researchers. But the procedure is not without risk.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A new test that analyzes genetic material can tell doctors the source of some mysterious cancers and perhaps help provide a short-cut for treating them, Israeli researchers reported on Sunday.

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Madam Yan and 11 other mothers in China turned to the All-China Women's Federation for help after their toddlers were denied places in kindergarten after testing positive for the Hepatitis B virus.

LONDON (Reuters) - Europe's drugs regulators will take another look at GlaxoSmithKline Plc's new breast cancer pill Tyverb after new data showed a small risk of higher liver enzymes during treatment with the drug.

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese authorities have arrested 10 people they said were responsible for making and selling fake drugs in eastern Jiangsu Province, state media reported on Friday.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - In patients with chronic hepatitis C, daily marijuana smoking is associated with more severe fatty degeneration, or steatosis, in the liver, according to a new study.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A deadlocked U.S. Supreme Court upheld a lower court decision against Pfizer Inc's Warner-Lambert unit over withdrawn diabetes drug Rezulin in a ruling announced on Monday, allowing the case to go forward.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Cod liver oil, a long-used source of vitamin D, may have the unexpected effect of lowering bone mass, a new study suggests.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Insulin resistance, a "prediabetic" abnormality of blood sugar, is a specific feature of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, independent of the severity of HCV or the presence of other metabolic factors, French investigators report.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Canadian researchers have confirmed an association between hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and an increased risk of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, according to their report in the International Journal of Cancer.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A state law allowing suits against drugmakers when fraud against federal regulators is proven disrupts the authority of the Food and Drug Administration, lawyers for Pfizer told the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Exercise is good for mice and humans, but appears to be bad for gallstones, according to the findings of a study conducted with mice.

SHENZHEN, China (Reuters) - Chinese scientists are trying to find out which errant genes are responsible for diabetes and certain forms of cancer that have long plagued Chinese populations, a geneticist said.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Post-traumatic stress disorder is nearly as powerful a predictor of the likelihood of dying over a 15-year period as an abnormal score on two laboratory tests commonly used to gauge overall health, a new study in Vietnam veterans demonstrates.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The notion that a liver or other organ transplant is wasted on people with a history of alcoholism or drug abuse doesn't hold true, according to a new report. In reality, the likelihood that such patients will relapse is quite low.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Celebrities Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher and Madonna are among hundreds of patrons of a New York bar being urged by New York health officials on Thursday to get a Hepatitis A vaccination after a bartender was found to be infected.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A new laser analyzer might be able to help doctors detect cancer, asthma or other diseases by sampling a patient's breath, U.S. researchers reported on Tuesday.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Too much fast food and too little exercise can wreak havoc on the liver, according to results of a small Swedish study.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A previously unknown virus killed three women who got organ transplants from an Australian donor, and researchers say the technique they used to identify it could lead them to many more new infectious agents.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - The kidney cancer pill Nexava, know generically as sorafenib, has shown promise in treating a small number of people with a type of blood cancer known as acute myeloid leukemia, or AML, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. House of Representatives panel voted on Tuesday to subpoena documents from a member of President George W. Bush's cabinet for a February hearing on the Ketek antibiotic made by Sanofi-Aventis .

GENEVA (Reuters) - World Health Organisation (WHO) experts will recommend ways to fight dangers linked to alcohol, including heart and liver disease, road accidents, suicides and sexually-transmitted infections, a spokeswoman said on Friday.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - After most scientists had given up the search, a Belgian team said on Thursday they found elusive pancreatic stem cells in adult mice, a finding that could lead to treatments for people with type 1 diabetes.

BOSTON (Reuters) - Injecting blood or bone marrow cells into people who have just received a donated kidney can reduce the need for drugs that suppress the immune system, researchers reported on Wednesday.

BEIJING (Reuters) - A batch of fake Chinese medicine claimed its 14th victim when a man died of kidney failure nearly two years after receiving a tainted injection, state media said.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - A disappointing study of the heart drug Vytorin has led some doctors to reconsider what makes statin drugs so effective at fighting heart disease.

LONDON (Reuters) - Bayer AG and Onyx Pharmaceutical Inc.'s key cancer drug Nexavar significantly raises the risk of high blood pressure, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday.

LONDON (Reuters Life!) - Scotland is considering lobbying the United States to lift a ban on haggis, hoping to boost sales of the sheep-stomach-based national dish.

HONG KONG (Reuters) - A potentially fatal type of malaria is being commonly misdiagnosed as a more benign form of the disease, putting people at risk, researchers in Malaysia say.

NAPLES (Reuters) - Piles of trash building up in Naples have filled the air with a putrid stench and spoiled the view for tourists, but the city's waste crisis may also be killing its people.

LONDON (Reuters) - Undernutrition causes more than one third of child deaths worldwide, but simple programs like promoting breast-feeding and providing supplements could keep some of those children alive, experts said on Thursday.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Switching to a different type of cooking oil could help people pare off a pound or two, according to new research from Japan.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The world's leading treatments for hepatitis C were similarly effective in the first large trial pitting them against each other, Schering-Plough Corp said on Monday.