Popular Articles

USAID Commits $1M To Help Several African Nations Deal With Natural Disasters, Disease Spread
USAID announced on Thursday a $1 million commitment to a Red Cross project aimed at helping those "living along southern Africa"s Zambezi River cope with worsening natural disasters because of climate change," the AP/Washington Post reports.

Cognitive Impairment Is Associated With Reduced Survival Among Both African-Americans And Whites
Alzheimer"s disease and its precursor, mild cognitive impairment, appear to be associated with an increased risk of death among both white and African American older adults according to a new, long-term research study by neurological experts at the Alzheimer"s Disease Center at Rush University Medical Center. The study findings are published in the June issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
News of the day
Relief Efforts For Displaced People In Pakistan Barely Coping, Report Says
Despite significant efforts from Pakistani authorities and humanitarian organizations to respond to the world"s largest and fastest displacement of people in more than a decade, relief efforts are barely coping, according to an Oxfam report published on Monday, the International News reports.

HSE Warns Businesses Not To Be Misled Over New Law Poster, UK.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is warning businesses across Britain not to be duped into buying unnecessary and overpriced copies of its health and safety law poster. The poster is a fixture of every workplace in Britain and employers have a legal duty to display the poster in a prominent position or provide each worker with a copy of a Law pocket card. Both outline employer and workers responsibilities and where workers can seek advice. There is some evidence of misleading promotions wrongly claiming that the old poster must be replaced immediately and that the new law poster should be displayed on every notice board within the business" premises. This is incorrect and employers could be led to believe that they are not meeting their legal requirements.

Steroid Abuse Leads To Alarming Rise In Hair Loss Victims.

Men are being warned that steroids can lead to premature baldness after a leading hair clinic reported an alarming rise in the number of patients affected by the designer drugs. Optima Hair Specialists - which supplies advanced hair replacement systems - has seen a 60 per cent increase* in enquiries from men who have taken anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS) and suffered early hair loss as a result. AAS are believed to stimulate Dihydrotestosterone** (DHT) - a powerful sex hormone that triggers baldness in men***. Peter Murtha, founder of Optima Hair Specialists, said: "It is widely accepted that DHT has an adverse affect on hair follicles and is the main culprit behind male pattern baldness. Recent studies have found that steroid drugs can increase the levels of DHT within the body and therefore accelerate hair loss.

Application Of Innovative Laser Research Could Lead To Earlier Bone Disorder Diagnosis.

A new laser technique that could lead to bone disorders being diagnosed earlier is to be tested in a hospital for the first time. The study, which it"s hoped will pave the way for future clinical trials, will apply a revolutionary approach known as SORS (Spatially Offset Raman Spectroscopy), to examine specific substances in non see-through surfaces deeper than has previously been possible, without damaging the surface. The research team hope ultimately that the method can be used both to detect and screen for early signs of diseases such as osteoarthritis and osteoporosis.

Sugar Substitute Appears To Prevent Early-Childhood Cavities.

Children given an oral syrup containing the naturally occurring sweetener xylitol may be less likely to develop decay in their baby teeth, according to a report in the July issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. Early childhood caries (cavities), also called baby bottle tooth decay or nursing caries, continue to increase in prevalence, according to background information in the article. "Poor children experience rates twice as high as those of their more affluent peers, and their disease is more likely to be untreated," the authors write.