Diseases/Conditions News

SYDNEY (AFP) - Australian scientists said Monday they had mapped a blood cell structure which could hold the key to improved drug treatments for diseases such as leukaemia, asthma and rheumatoid arthritis.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Men with elevated levels of calcium in their blood may have a much higher risk of getting fatal prostate cancer, U.S. researchers said on Wednesday.

MEXICO CITY (Reuters Health) - Long-term treatment of genital herpes with the drug acyclovir does not reduce the rate of new HIV infections, researchers reported at the International AIDS Conference here last week.

TUESDAY, Sept. 2 (HealthDay News) -- Contrary to previous study results, the cancer prevention drug anastrozole does not appear to cause impairment of cognitive performance, a new study found.

MUMBAI, India - An Indian couple poisoned their three young children, then hung themselves from a ceiling fan because they were depressed about being HIV-positive, police said Saturday.

TUESDAY, Sept. 2 (HealthDay News) -- New research finds no definitive link between Vytorin and cancer risk, but it also suggests that the cholesterol-lowering drug cannot curb cardiovascular disease.

ATLANTA - Could the AIDS virus be stopped with gift cards? Desperate for a way to stop the escalating spread of HIV among young gay men, public health officials are looking to novel strategies, such as enlisting local gay opinion leaders to urge their peers to practice safe sex.

MUNICH (Reuters) - Experts clashed on Tuesday over the safety of Merck & Co and Schering-Plough Corp's cholesterol drug Vytorin as full results from a controversial study were presented at Europe's biggest medical congress.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Exercise may reverse some damage that radiation does to the brain, Swedish researchers reported on Tuesday in a study that offers a way to help childhood cancer survivors.

MUNICH, Germany - Results so far from three studies of the cholesterol-lowering drug Vytorin are not enough to prove or rule out a possible link to a higher risk of cancer, so the drug should be used with caution until more is known, editors of a leading medical journal urged Tuesday.

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Diseases such as cancer and diabetes leave "fingerprints" in the serum and blood plasma of patients and these may provide a valuable and non-invasive diagnostic tool in time to come, according to a Chinese study.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Babies who are heavy at birth -- weighing more than 4000 grams (8.8 pounds) -- may have an increased risk for two of the most common types of brain tumors among children, German researchers report.

LONDON (AFP) - Schoolgirls in Scotland became the first in the country to get a jab against cervical cancer on Monday.

TOKYO (AFP) - Women who drink a lot of coffee may have less risk of developing cancer of the uterus, a Japanese study said Monday.

PARIS (AFP) - Researchers have broken the code of an enzyme that plays a key role in the growth of most cancers, opening a path that potentially leads to a new class of anti-cancer drugs, according to a study released Sunday.

GENEVA (Reuters) - Cancer specialists set a plan on Sunday to stem the rise in deaths from cancer by 2020 and ensure that all patients suffering in the late stages of the disease can access painkillers.

FRIDAY, Aug. 29 (HealthDay News) -- Some Japanese survivors of the World War II atomic bomb blasts in Hiroshima and Nagasaki experienced key genetic changes that may have sparked the onset of a form of thyroid cancer, new research indicates.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Women who stay active after being diagnosed with breast cancer -- and even those who take up exercise for the first time after diagnosis -- have a better chance of surviving the disease, a new study shows.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A high intake of trans fats could increase colon cancer risk, according to new research published in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

BOSTON (Reuters) - ImClone Systems Inc said on Friday that a trial of its cancer drug Erbitux did not significantly improve overall survival in a trial of patients with the most common form of lung cancer.

THURSDAY, Aug. 28 (HealthDay News) -- Characteristics of normal cells which are present long before any tumor appears may determine how virulent a particular cancer is going to be, new research suggests.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Young women who experience more than one stressful life event are at greater risk of developing breast cancer, but a general feeling of happiness and optimism may help guard against the disease, Israeli researchers report.

LONDON (Reuters) - New screening tests and effective vaccines from Merck & Co and GlaxoSmithKline make tackling cervical cancer in poor countries a real possibility for the first time, researchers said on Thursday.

CHICAGO - In an Aug. 26 story about a new TV ad linking hot dogs with cancer, The Associated Press, relying on figures provided by a nutrition adviser to the American Institute for Cancer Research, erroneously reported average risks for colon cancer and how eating hot dogs affects those risks. Karen Collins said she misstated the average adult's lifetime risk for getting colorectal cancer, which is about 5 percent, not 5.8 percent.

SINGAPORE (AFP) - Long-term daily use of incense, an important feature of Asian religious practices, increases the risk of some cancers, an international study has found.

WEDNESDAY, Aug. 27 (HealthDay News) -- People throughout the world have major misconceptions when it comes to what causes cancer, new research suggests.

GENEVA (AFP) - People are deeply confused about what causes cancer and the most effective means of prevention, with many favouring more fruit rather than cutting down alcohol, a new study said Wednesday.

TUESDAY, Aug. 26 (HealthDay News) -- People with a history of nonmelanoma skin cancer face twice the risk of developing other malignancies, a new study finds.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US researchers have shown a significant link between having non-melanoma skin cancer and the chance of developing other types of cancers in the body over one's lifetime, according to a study published Tuesday.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The rate of throat cancer, or adenocarcinoma of the esophagus, has risen steadily among white Americans over the past 3 decades, according to a new report.