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Marijuana Will One Day be Legal, Believe Most Americans

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About three-fourth of Americans believe that marijuana will some day be legally available to buy and use anywhere in the United States, reveals a public opinion poll released on Wednesday. Fifty-four percent of respondents to the Pew Research Center survey said marijuana should be legalized, compared to 42 percent who were opposed, the Washington-based pollsters reported. When asked if they thought the sale and use of marijuana would eventually be legal ...

Novel Remedy for Hayfever, Pollen Allergies Approved by US

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A French-made remedy for alleviating symptoms of hayfever and certain allergies to grass pollen was approved by the US regulators on Wednesday. The tablet, called Oralair, dissolves under the tongue and must be taken daily for four months prior to the start of the grass pollen season, and then continued throughout the season. Pre-approval trials on 2,500 people found that those who took the remedy experienced a 16 to 30 percent reduction in symptoms, ...

Treatment Not Available for Hundreds of Millions With Tropical Diseases

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Treatment for a group of "neglected" tropical diseases is required for at least 1.4 billion people and almost two-thirds are going without adequate medical care, said eradication campaigners on Wednesday. Ailments including intestinal worms, elephantiasis and river blindness -- lumped together as "neglected tropical diseases" (NTDs) -- mostly affect poor people living in remote rural areas, slums or conflict zones. A new report from the World Health ...

Electric Bicycle-Share Offered by Madrid from May

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Madrid's first public bike-hire scheme will be available from May 1, the company providing 1,500 electric bicycles, the city said on Wednesday. The "BiciMad" service follows similar schemes in Spanish cities such as Barcelona, as well as Paris's "Velibs" and London's so-called "Boris bikes". "In the first phase, 1,500 bicycles will be provided and they will all be electric," distributed across 120 bike stands, a Madrid city hall spokeswoman told AFP. ...

Health Risks Faced by Men Sent on Mars Mission Could Exceed NASA Limits

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Health risks beyond the limits of what NASA currently allows would be faced by humans who are sent on the Mars Mission, an independent panel of medical experts said Wednesday. Therefore, any long-term or deep space missions -- which are still decades off -- need a special level of ethical scrutiny, said the report by the Institute of Medicine. "These types of missions will likely expose crews to levels of known risk that are beyond those allowed by current ...

Foetus Brain Mapping Holds Promise for Disease Research

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A high-resolution "map" of gene activity in a human foetus brain has been unveiled by researchers on Wednesday, which could lead to better understanding of developmental disorders such as autism, said researchers. The blueprint, compiled with the donoetusesated brain tissue of four foetuses 15 to 21 weeks post conception, shows which of some 20,000 genes are active in any given area of the brain at different periods of development. This age, "from a ...

Increase in Circumcision Rate in the US

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The rate of circumcision in men in the United States has increased to 81% over the past decade. In an important new study just published in advance in emMayo Clinic Proceedings/em authors from Australia and the United States have shown that the benefits of infant male circumcision to health exceed the risks by over 100 to 1. Brian Morris, Professor Emeritus in the School of Medical Sciences at the University of Sydney and his colleagues in Florida and Minnesota found that ...

Fatter Sons Born to Men Who Started Smoking Before Age 11

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A new research finds that children born to men who started smoking regularly before age of 11, on average, had 5-10kg more body fat than their peers by the time they were in their teens, in a study of the Children of the 90s at the University of Bristol. The researchers say this could indicate that exposure to tobacco smoke before the start of puberty may lead to metabolic changes in the next generation. The effect, although present, was not seen to the same degree ...

New Method That Lets an Earlier Diagnosis of Pancreatic Cancer Developed

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Researchers have devised a new method than allows an earlier diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. The new method can identify the visible precursors of the cancer with 97% certainty. The a href="http:www.medindia.net/patients/patientinfo/pancreatitis-anatomy-and-physiology.htm" target="_blank" class="vcontentshlink"pancreas/a, a 6-inch long spongy organ, is located behind the stomach and extends horizontally across the abdomen. It contains glands that secrete ...

DNA Test Reveals Charles Darwin Had Crohn's Disease

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A new documentary revealed that the iconic English naturalist and geologist Charles Darwin suffered from Crohn's disease. Using some of his hairs 130 years after his death, Channel 4 looked into his DNA and discover why he struggled with a debilitating illness which affected his work on books, such as On the Origin of Species, which contributed to the theory of evolution. In the second episode of Dead Famous DNA, Dr Stephan Schuster, Professor of Biochemistry ...

Fertility Drugs Do Not Increase Breast Cancer Risk

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Women who took fertility drugs as a part of fertility treatment did not experience a higher risk for breast cancer, reveals research published in iCancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers (and) Prevention/i, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. "We wanted to evaluate the long-term relationship of fertility medications and breast cancer risk after controlling for other factors that have been shown to be correlated with both breast cancer risk and ...

Older Adults Completing Living Wills Reach a Record High

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The number of elderly people completing living wills to guide end-of-life medical treatments has gone up from 47 percent in 2000 to 72 percent in 2010, reveals a new research from the University of Michigan and the Veterans Affairs Ann Arbor Healthcare System. However, even with nearly double the number of people completing advance directives - which may specify preferences for surrogate decision makers and life-support treatment - there was little difference in ...

Coffee Consumption Reduces Risk of Dying from Liver Cirrhosis

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Drinking two or more cups of coffee each day cuts mortality risk from liver cirrhosis by 66 percent, finds study. Lead researcher, Dr. Woon-Puay Koh with Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School Singapore and the National University of Singapore, said prior evidence suggests that coffee may reduce liver damage in patients with chronic liver disease. He said that their study examined the effects of consuming coffee, alcohol, black tea, green tea, and soft ...

Underlying Action of New Multiple Sclerosis Drug Decoded

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The new drug, dimethyl fumarate has recently been approved in Europe as a basic therapy for multiple sclerosis. Although its efficacy has been established in clinical studies, its underlying mode of action was still unknown, but scientists from Bad Nauheim's Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research and the University of Lubeck have now managed to decode it. They hope that this knowledge will help them develop more effective therapeutic agents. Multiple sclerosis ...

Patients With Cirrhosis to be Screened for Liver Cancer

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Patients with cirrhosis who underwent surveillance for hepatocellular carcinoma had cancers detected at an earlier stage, found in a systematic review and meta-analysis of 47 studies with 15,158 patients, by Amit Singal (University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center) and colleagues. The surveillance was done via liver ultrasound with or without measurement of serum alpha fetoprotein. The early detection made it possible for the patients to receive curative instead of palliative ...

Morning Light Could be Secret to Healthy Weight, Says Study

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US study suggests daily exposure to even moderately bright light in the morning is linked to low body mass index. A small study of 54 volunteers showed that the leanest ones did not necessarily eat better or exercise more than the rest. They simply were exposed to more bright daylight earlier in the day. The findings by Northwestern University researchers are published in the journal PLOS ONE. "The earlier this light exposure occurred ...

3-D Printing Helps Man Get Back His Face Broken in Fall

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A 3-D printing helped this man from England get back his face after every bone in his face was broken following a fall from a fourth floor balcony. Jon Fenton, 27, had gone on a holiday to Barcelona with fiancee Rachel West when he fell off the 35-foot hotel balcony. He fell on a concrete which shattered his face and skull, broke all four limbs but the brain was saved. After he returned from Barcelona, he was admitted to Queens Medical Centre in Nottingham ...

Longer Stay in ICU Has Lasting Impact on Quality of Life: Study

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New Johns Hopkins research suggests that patients have substantial physical impairments even two years after being discharged from the hospital after a stay in an intensive care unit (ICU). The scientists found that for every day of bed rest in the ICU, muscle strength was between 3 and 11 percent lower over the following months and years. "Even a single day of bed rest in the ICU has a lasting impact on weakness, which impacts patients' physical functioning ...

Ethical Guidelines for Next Generation of NASA Missions

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MEDIA ADVISORY: For Health Standards on Next Generation of NASA Missions, Institute of Medicine Committee to Report on Ethical Guidelines: Long Duration and Exploration Spaceflights WHEN: Embargoed until Wednesday April 2, 2014 11:00 AM EDT WHAT: Spaceflights beyond low earth orbit or lasting longer than 30 days, including extended stays on the International Space Station and missions to Mars, will likely expose astronauts to increased ...

International Scientific Community Has Not Fulfilled Its Promise to Developing Countries

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Despite promises made by the international scientific community, pharmacogenomic research produced few studies focusing on rare, orphan and tropical diseases prevalent in developing countries from 1997 to 2010. Catherine Olivier, bioethics research at the University of Montreal's School of Public Health, recently published these findings in the journal iGlobal Public Health/i. Pharmcogenomics is a field of scientific research that studies the interaction between ...

Food Pantry Clients Struggle to Afford Basic Non-Food Household Goods

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Many food-insecure families also struggle to afford basic non-food household goods, such as personal care, household and baby-care products. This is according to a new University of Illinois study published in the iJournal of Family and Economic Issues/i. "These families often make trade-offs with other living expenses and employ coping strategies in an effort to secure such household items as toilet paper, toothpaste, soap, or disposable diapers. What's more, ...

NGO Puts a Smoking Ban in All Polling Booths in Assam

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In Assam, a leading non-profit organisation working in the field of public health has requested poll officials to prohibit smoking in all polling booths in the state during the three-phased polls starting April 7. The chief electoral officers (CEO) of Jammu and Kashmir and Bihar have already issued directives to ensure that all polling centres in their states are declared smoke-free. "We have met the CEO Assam over the issue and he has assured to ...

Scientists Find New Method to Reduce the Need for Animal Testing

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Researchers must first test new medicines in animals, which is costly and time-consuming, as well as ethically challenging, to determine whether they are safe and effective for humans. In a study published in ACS' journal iMolecular Pharmaceutics/i, scientists report that they've developed a simple, "3D" laboratory method to test asthma and allergy medications that mimics what happens in the body, which could help reduce the need for animal testing. Amir ...

Wales Considers Curb on E-Cigarettes in Public Places

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After the devolved government in Wales announced proposals to stop smoking of the devices in public places, the use of electronic cigarettes could be restricted in parts of Britain. Wales was the first country in the United Kingdom to vote in favour of a ban on smoking in public places, which came into effect on April 2, 2007. But Health Minister Mark Drakeford said he was concerned that e-cigarettes would normalise smoking once again, as well as making ...

Guinea Reports Five New Ebola Cases in 24 Hours

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In Guinea, five new cases of the deadly Ebola virus have been recorded in the past 24 hours, the World Health Organization said. The total number of suspected and confirmed cases of one of the deadliest viruses known to man has risen to 127 in the country, with 83 people now known to have died, the UN's public health agency said. No treatment or vaccine is available for the virus, and the UN agency said the fatality rate in Guinea so far stands at 65 ...

Ecology Students Working to Prevent Vaccine-Preventable Diseases

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Each year, nearly 4 million children under 5 die from vaccine-preventable diseases worldwide and two University of Michigan doctoral ecology students are working to change that. By taking into account seasonal fluctuations in birth rates, massive vaccination campaigns in the developing world could inoculate more unprotected infants and significantly reduce the number of deaths from diseases like measles, according to Micaela Martinez-Bakker and Kevin Bakker of ...

Man's Wrist Chopped Off Over Rs 100

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A man chopped off another man's wrist with a meat cleaver following an argument over Rs 100 on Monday in Herohalli, near Sunkadakatte in west Bangalore. Charan, 20, and his friends were drinking tea outside a bakery on Monday afternoon when Abhishek came over on his bike and demanded money from Charan and his friends. But suddenly Abhishek attacked Charan and chopped off his left wrist when Charan refused to fulfil Abhishek's demands and a heated argument ...

Enhancers Control Potentially Dangerous Hypermutation to Antibody Genes

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For decades, biologists were fascinated as how B lymphocytes are able to direct mutations to their antibody genes to produce millions of different antibodies. A new study publishing in the Open Access journal iPLOS Biology/i on April 1 by Buerstedde and colleagues shows that this process of programed, spatially targeted genome mutation (aka. somatic hypermutation) is controlled by nearby transcription regulatory sequences called enhancers. Enhancers are usually ...

No Clear Evidence for Health Benefits of Vitamin D Found

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Researchers argue that "universal conclusions about the benefits of vitamin D cannot be drawn" and say further studies and better designed trials are needed. A growing body of evidence indicates that vitamin D may reduce risks of a wide range of diseases, including bone mineral disease, multiple sclerosis, autoimmune disorders, cancer and cardiovascular problems. Yet, despite hundreds of trials, the evidence for vitamin D is still being debated. Two ...

New Dementia Diagnosis Targets may Lead to Overdiagnosis

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The government is putting pressure on commissioners and in turn general practitioners, to make more diagnoses of dementia. But no analysis has been done to assess the harm that these targets could cause. Dr Martin Brunet, a GP from Surrey, says that "medicine depends on a fundamental, unspoken agreement between patients and doctors [] the only factor influencing the decision to diagnose should be the best interests of patients". He adds that the idea of doctors ...

Powerful Earthquake Jolts Chile

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The northern coast of Chile was struck with an 8.2 magnitude earthquake, triggering a tsunami, say sources. The quake, which also triggered landslides and set off a two-meter high tsunami, killed at least two people and seriously injured three. According to stuff.co.nz, the governor of Iquique Gonzalo Prieto confirmed the deaths and injuries in an interview with a local radio station. About 300 inmates escaped from a women's prison ...

People Throng Twitter, Pinterest to Find Viagra News

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To get information about Viagra and its benefits, people go to general social networking sites like Twitter and Pinterest, research shows. For information on conditions like sleep disorder or depression, people go to specialised health social networks such as WebMD or drugs.com. Based on an analysis of more than one million drug-related posts, a team of researchers from University of California have compiled this data that can help health care providers ...

Study Shows Night-owl Women Not for Long-term Romantic Relationships

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Are you dating a night owl who loves to stay up late and wake up late in the morning? Research shows your relationship with a night owl partner won't last long. Read this carefully as night owls, unlike early birds, are less likely to be in long-term relationships and have the same high propensity for risk-taking as men. "Night owls, both males and females, are more likely to be single or in short-term romantic relationships versus long-term relationships ...

Chocolate Ingredients Could Help Prevent Obesity, Diabetes

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A new study finds, oligomeric procyanidins (PCs) - one particular type of antioxidant found in cocoa prevented mice from gaining excess weight and lowered blood sugar levels. The report appears in ACS' iJournal of Agricultural (and) Food Chemistry/i. Andrew P. Neilson and colleagues explain that cocoa, the basic ingredient of chocolate, is one of the most flavanol-rich foods around. That's good for chocolate lovers because previous research has shown that ...

Uneasy Peace for Rwandans Living With the Killer Next Door

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The apparently peaceful scene outside Frederic Kazigwemo's home is a typical rural Rwandan scene: a cow chews under a rickety shelter, cassava dries in the sun, women weave baskets and children play. But beneath the facade lies a struggle to reconcile with past killings. But in Rwanda, where 20 years ago a genocide claimed over 800,000 lives, the difference is that Kazigwemo murdered his neighbours - relatives of his wife's weaving partner and next-door neighbour ...

Size 10 Woman Shows No Signs of Pregnancy, but Delivers Full-term Baby

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For all those nine months, size10 Sophie Aldridge, 20, had no inkling that she was pregnant until she delivered a baby boy after a severe back pain. Lean and thin Aldridge was in for a shock as she had no idea that she was pregnant because she did not have any symptoms during all these nine months- no bump, no weight gain, no cravings, no nausea and she continued to have her menstruation. Aldridge, who lives with her parents in Dover, Kent, said, "I was due ...

'Love' Hormone Oxytocin Prompts Lying Among Close Colleagues

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Oxytocin, the love hormone is the reason why some people bend ethical rules and even lie to help those closer to them - like their colleagues or family members. Oxytocin is the hormone that the body naturally produces to stimulate bonding. According to a study, oxytocin caused participants to lie more to benefit their groups, and to do so more quickly and without expectation of reciprocal dishonesty from their group. "People are willing ...

The Dilemma of Mammography

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Benefits of mammography screening are often overestimated, while harms are underestimated, suggests a comprehensive review of 50 year's worth international studies assessing the benefits and harms. And, since the relative benefits and harms of screening are related to a complex array of clinical factors and personal preferences, physicians and patients need more guidance on how best to individualize their approach to breast cancer screening. The results of the ...

Worst Outbreak of Deadly Virus Leaves Guinea's Ebola Victims Waiting for Death

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Victims of Ebola, one of the deadliest viruses known to mankind wait listlessly for the merciful release of death, isolated from the outside world in a medical center in Ebola-hit Guinea. The makeshift clinic in Gueckedou, a market city of 220,000 people near the Liberia and Sierra Leone borders, is on the front line of Guinea's increasingly desperate struggle to contain one of the worst outbreaks of hemorrhagic fever in history. The medical charity ...

Care of Heart Failure Patients Inadequate in the UK

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Care of patients with heart failure is inadequate in the UK and has remained the same for the past decade, as found in a new research published in iBMJ Open/i. The findings by a team at Durham University and Darlington Memorial Hospital - and funded by national charity Heart Research UK - highlight inadequacies in heart failure care as well as an uncoordinated approach to diagnosis and management of the condition between primary and secondary care clinicians. ...

White House Confirms Obamacare Sign-ups Hit Seven Million Target

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Seven million people have signed up for the new insurance plans under President Barack Obama's health care law said the White House confirming on Tuesday it had reached its sign up target. "I think it is fair to say we surpassed everybody's expectations," spokesman Jay Carney said, noting that 7,041,000 people had signed up before a midnight deadline. Despite a blotched rollout, by 1st January 2014, more than 2 million people had signed up for private ...

Beauty Firms Run After Africa Cosmetics Boom

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Kudirat Fashola brought beauty products back from the United States in her luggage and began as a one-woman business run out of a suitcase, the Nigeria's Kuddy Cosmetics. More than 20 years later, her daughter Zainob helps run the company which now wholesales leading beauty brands and is flooded with requests from companies anxious to crack the fast-growing cosmetics market in Africa's most populous country. "They love Nigeria. Every week I get emails... ...