While ACSH does not normally report on studies with small numbers of participants, the sound science recommendations from a new hypertension study transcend its size.
A new study may offer parents a fat incentive to wean their children off baby bottles before they reach their first birthday. Reporting in the Journal of Pediatrics, researchers from Temple University in Philadelphia found that, based on their study of 6,750 U.S. children, those who were still bottle-fed at age two were 33 percent more likely to be obese at the age of five than those weaned earlier.
In yesterday’s Dispatch, ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross expressed skepticism toward claims made by Justin Gillis in The New York Times that man-made climate change has already manifested in the form of decreased agricultural output. Well, Dr. Ross wasn’t the only one critical of these assertions. Dr.
The CDC has determined that the 2011-12 flu vaccine formula will remain the same as last season’s. But that doesn’t mean that folks who were vaccinated last year can skip the shot this year. That’s because the immunity conferred by the flu vaccine wears off in less than a year, so you won’t be protected come winter if you haven’t had another shot.
How to appropriately treat early-stage prostate cancer still remains a hotbed of controversy, with various studies often suggesting conflicting recommendations. In order to shed more light on this topic, Dr. Raveendhara Bannuru at Tufts Medical Center carried out a meta-analysis of 75 studies to determine the risks and benefits of various forms of radiation therapy for prostate cancer.
Haven’t heard much about bacterial meningitis in the past few years? Well, thanks to routine use of vaccines against Streptococcus group b, the most common bacterial cause, rates of the disease have declined by 59 percent in a decade.
Radical environmentalists have pointed to chemicals such as bisphenol A (BPA) and phthalates as “toxins” responsible for causing obesity, cancer, and even male infertility due to decreased sperm counts. As proof, they cite a 1992 study by a group of Danish researchers that claimed sperm counts declined by 50 percent worldwide from 1938 to 1991. However, their research was heavily criticized for its many flaws, methodological problems, and biases.
The list of reasons why no one should take up smoking is endless, and a new study from the Annals of Internal Medicine, led by Dr. Eruna Pradham, assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, should provide us with yet another such disincentive.
Over the weekend, Justin Gillis of The New York Times published his extensive article underscoring a serious and growing global health problem: food shortages and undernourishment. Hundreds of millions of impoverished people remain hungry and, in addition to population increases and rising food prices, Gillis attributes to global warming much of this failure to meet food demand.
Results from a large international phase III clinical trial conducted at 104 centers in 12 countries brings exciting news to some melanoma patients, and to medical progress as well. At the annual American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting, researchers announced that treatment of melanoma with a therapy that targets a specific genetic mutation had an “astounding” 63 percent reduction in the risk of death in patients with the BRAF V600 mutation, which is found in about 90 percent of melanomas.
