Skip to: Content
Skip to: Site Navigation
Skip to: Search
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2009
| Subscribe to Newser's RSS feeds RSS | Follow Newser on Twitter Twitter

NEWS ABOUT: medicine

medicine stories: 145 news summaries

21 - 40 of 145 Stories | << Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 ... 8 Next >>

Switch to grid view »

Docs Remove Donor Kidney Through Vagina

Less-painful procedure could pave the way
to more donations

Feb 3, 09 3:08 PM CST
(Newser) - Doctors in Maryland removed a kidney from a donor through the vagina in what they believe to be the first operation of its kind, the Baltimore Examiner reports. The procedure reduced the 48-year-old donor’s pain and recovery time compared with more traditional methods. “We are all about trying... More »

MORE ABOUT:
medicine • medical breakthrough • Maryland • surgery • kidney • doctor • Johns Hopkins University • organ donation

Eat This Brain and Call Me in the Morning 

Europe's first doctors prescribed 'medicinal cannibalism'

Jan 31, 09 12:49 PM CST
(Newser) - Though safely out of fashion in today’s Europe, Western doctors just a few centuries ago recommended drinking blood, tasting brains, and eating flesh, Der Spiegel reports. Pieces of cadavers could be had in almost any pharmacy, says a British researcher who’s writing a book on "medicinal cannibalism.... More »

MORE ABOUT:
medicine • Europe • history • Cannibal

UK Mom Gives Birth 2 Days After Brain Dies

Docs kept ice skater's
heart beating after
hemorrhage

Jan 12, 09 10:29 AM CST
(Newser) - A woman in the UK gave birth 2 days after dying of a brain hemorrhage, the Daily Mail reports. Jayne Soliman was declared brain dead a few hours after collapsing, just 25 weeks into her pregnancy, but the hospital kept her heart beating until her daughter could be delivered by... More »

MORE ABOUT:
medicine • pregnancy • health • baby

Engineered Goats May
Usher In New Age of Drugs

Animals' bodies act as processors for key protein

Jan 10, 09 12:30 PM CST
(Newser) - Goats could be the pharma factories of tomorrow: Genetic engineering can prompt them to make a protein in their milk to fight excessive blood clotting. A medication culled from the process was greeted warmly yesterday by an expert panel, and now the FDA is looking into it. If approved, the... More »

MORE ABOUT:
medicine • medical breakthrough • health • biotechnology • goats • pharmaceutical industry • animal

 Israeli Navy 
 Rebuffs 
 Gaza-Bound 
 Relief Boat 

Congresswoman aboard says collision was deliberate

Dec 30, 08 12:43 PM CST
(Newser) - An Israeli warship collided with a boat of activists defying a blockade to deliver medical supplies to war-torn Gaza today, the Journal-Constitution reports. Georgia Rep. Cynthia McKinney, who was aboard, says the "peaceful mission was thwarted by Israel's aggressiveness." An Israeli spokesman denied that the ramming was... More »

MORE ABOUT:
medicine • Congress • Israel • Gaza • Gaza blockade • activists • Israeli Navy • Cynthia McKinney

Are Your Meds Working? Gene Tests Could Tell

Docs could eliminate half of drugs genetics prevent from working

Dec 30, 08 11:45 AM CST
(Newser) - The drugs you take may not actually be working. Experts say that, thanks to various genetic quirks, most drugs only work for about half the people who take them, meaning that much of the roughly $300 billion America spends on drugs each year is wasted. That’s why forward-looking doctors... More »

MORE ABOUT:
cancer • medicine • health care • drugs • genetics • DNA

New Drug Promises Better
Sleep for the Jet-Lagged

Substance works a lot like today's popular but unregulated melatonin supplements

Dec 7, 08 2:32 PM CST
(Newser) - A new drug promises to put an end to jet lag and enable better sleep for travelers, swing-shift crews, and insomniacs, the Economist reports. Tasimelteon works a lot like today's popular but unregulated melatonin supplements, bonding with brain receptors to stimulate melatonin production and REM sleep. The distinction is significant... More »

MORE ABOUT:
medicine • Harvard Medical School • jet lag • insomnia • drug trials • sleep disorder • melatonin • Tasimelteon

Surgeon Amputates
Using Texted Instructions

Phone helps save Congolese teen

Dec 3, 08 5:11 PM CST
(Newser) - A volunteer surgeon in a Congolese war zone followed texted instructions to perform an amputation that saved a 16-year-old boy's life. The teen's badly injured and infected arm required that his collar bone and shoulder blade be immediately removed, but Dr. David Nott had never conducted such a procedure. He... More »

MORE ABOUT:
medicine • cell phones • surgery • Democratic Republic of Congo • text message • Doctors Without Borders • Rwanda • amputation • rebel fighters

 Warning Labels Can Be 
 Hazardous to Your Health 

Prescription labels, doctor's cues can trigger symptoms

Nov 18, 08 1:59 PM CST
(Newser) - Ignorance truly is bliss when it comes to prescription drugs. The side effects listed on warning labels have a self-fulfilling quality, researchers tell the Wall Street Journal. People sensitive to this "nocebo effect" should think twice before reading that their pills can cause nausea, vomiting, irritability, or difficulty concentrating.... More »

MORE ABOUT:
medicine • brain • prescription drugs • psychology • doctor • symptoms • nocebo effect

Chronically Ill Worse Off in US Than Elsewhere: Study

Health costs, medical errors scare more than in other rich nations

Nov 13, 08 10:50 AM CST
(Newser) - Chronically ill Americans are more likely to forgo medical care because of high costs or bad experiences than counterparts in a number of other rich nations, a study finds. Researchers interviewed 7,500 adults with conditions like cancer, arthritis, depression, and diabetes, and the Americans led the complaints. Dutch patients... More »

MORE ABOUT:
medicine • health care • health care costs • Europe • Netherlands • universal health care • health care reform • American • doctors

Docs Stop Taking Insurance, Offer 'Boutique' Care

More doctors offer "boutique" care to make ends meet, provide better service

Oct 26, 08 3:18 PM CDT
(Newser) - Increasing numbers of doctors are bagging the insurance model to offer much better service to fewer patients, at a much higher cost, the Baltimore Sun reports. Many doctors are struggling to pay their own bills, and the quality of service they offer patients is suffering. But such “boutique” care... More »

MORE ABOUT:
medicine • health care costs • health insurance

 Half of US Docs 
 Prescribe Placebos 

Many physicians believe in psychological impact of prescriptions

Oct 24, 08 5:45 AM CDT
(Newser) - Half of US doctors admit prescribing drugs to patients just for the placebo effect—to make them think they are taking something beneficial, reports the Chicago Tribune. As many as 56% prescribed antibiotics, painkillers, vitamins, and sedatives in cases where they didn't expect them to have any benefit physically, but... More »

MORE ABOUT:
medicine • antibiotics • American Medical Association • bioethics • placebos • National Institutes of Health • British Medical Journal • sedatives • Journal of General Internal Medicine • B12

Eggbeater Helps Scientists Whip Disease

Harvard researchers fashion a household item into a diagnostic device

Oct 16, 08 4:30 PM CDT
(Newser) - Centrifuges separate blood from plasma—but at considerable expense, in a bulky package. That leaves them beyond the reach of underfunded medical facilities that could use the help in diagnosing blood-borne ailments, such as hepatitis and other diseases. The solution, Discover reports, could be as close as the nearest kitchen.... More »

MORE ABOUT:
medicine • health care • infectious diseases • developing countries • diagnosis • Harvard • developing world • hepatitis B

3 Virologists
Share Medicine
Nobel Prize

Discoverers of HIV, human papilloma virus win $1.4M award

Oct 6, 08 8:52 AM CDT
(Newser) - The Nobel Prize for medicine was awarded today to three scientists who discovered two of the world's deadliest sexually transmitted viruses. Half the prize goes to Harald zur Hausen, a German who discovered the human papilloma virus, which causes cervical cancer in women. The other half goes to Françoise... More »

MORE ABOUT:
medicine • HPV • HIV • virus • Nobel Prize • HIV/AIDS

 Combo Heart Pills 
 Enter Trials in London 

The cheap drugs could halve deaths from
heart attack, stroke

Sep 29, 08 8:16 AM CDT
(Newser) - Trials begin this week in London on a cheap "polypill" that could cut heart attack and stroke deaths in half worldwide, the Guardian reports. The pill combines four drugs—aspirin, a cholesterol-lowering statin, an ACE inhibitor, and thiazine to battle high blood pressure. The aim is to sell it—... More »

MORE ABOUT:
medicine • drug companies • blood pressure • heart attack • statins • stroke • drug trials • aspirin

Patients Could Polish Their Bedside Manner, Docs Say

Lousy rapport impairs treatment, survey finds

Sep 27, 08 2:20 PM CDT
(Newser) - Odds are you're annoying your doctor, according to a Canadian study that asked nearly 300 physicians about their daily frustrations. As the Globe and Mail reports, many had difficulty establishing rapports with patients, who routinely resisted or flouted their advice —which can lead to patient safety problems. “When... More »

MORE ABOUT:
medicine • drugs • patient • communication • doctor • alternative medicine

(Newser) - The precise application of electricity to certain areas of the brain—the same principles a pacemaker uses for the heart—is showing promise for people with an array of illnesses such as Parkinson's, severe depression, epilepsy, and Alzheimer's, the Chicago Tribune reports. The treatment, called deep brain stimulation, remains in... More »

MORE ABOUT:
medicine • depression • surgery • neuroscience • neurology • therapy • deep brain stimulation

Thomas Weller, Who Won Nobel for Polio Work, Dead at 93

Work paved way for Salk, Sabin vaccines

Aug 25, 08 3:12 PM CDT
(Newser) - Thomas Weller, whose research on polio won him a share of a Nobel Prize in 1954, died this weekend at 93, the Boston Globe reports. Weller, along with colleagues John Enders and Frederick Robbins, discovered that the polio virus preyed on muscles, not nerve tissue as had been previously thought.... More »

MORE ABOUT:
medicine • obituary • vaccine • virus • pathology • Nobel Prize • polio • Thomas Weller • Jonas Salk • Albert Sabin

 Half in US Say
 God Can Save
 the Dying

Only 20% of doctors agree, but many want to relate

Aug 18, 08 8:43 PM CDT
(Newser) - Many Americans believe God can intervene to save dying patients, a new survey shows. More than half say that God can revive a family member declared lost by doctors, and nearly 75% agree that patients are justified in seeking extra treatment. "Sensitivity to this belief will promote development of... More »

MORE ABOUT:
medicine • faith • survey • doctors

OPINION

The Win-Win Economics of Medical Tourism

Growing trend of traveling for health care doesn't have to hurt anyone

Aug 15, 08 2:28 PM CDT
(Newser) - The spread of “medical tourism”—uninsured and underinsured patients seeking cheap health care in Southeast Asia or Latin America—has fueled fears that developing nations will divert resources from state health systems caring for their own citizens. But, the Economist argues, “if governments make the best of... More »

MORE ABOUT:
medicine • health care • health care costs • globalization • outsourcing • health insurance premiums • developing world • medical tourism

21 - 40 of 145 Stories | << Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 ... 8 Next >>


from our news partners