Health & Food

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is warning doctors and patients that some widely used diabetes drugs may, in some rare cases, cause a flesh-eating bacterial infection of the genitals. The condition, known as Fournier’s gangrene, developed in a dozen patients shortly after they began taking the medicines between March 2013 and May 2018, the FDA said. The seven men and five women were all...

London, Aug 29: The arteries of teenagers who drink alcohol and smoke -- even very occasionally -- begin to stiffen by the age of 17, increasing their risk of heart attacks and stroke in later life, a study has found. The findings, published in the European Heart Journal, showed that a combination of high alcohol intake and smoking was linked to even greater arterial damage compared to drinking...

London, Aug 27: Middle-aged men who sleep less than five hours a night have twice the risk of developing a major cardiovascular event such as heart attack or stroke, a study has found. Previous studies have generated conflicting evidence on whether short sleep is associated with a greater chance of having a future cardiovascular event. The study investigated this relationship in 50-year-old men....

Washington, Aug 26: Scientists have developed an artificial intelligence system that can accurately detect tiny specks of lung cancer in CT scans, which radiologists often have a difficult time identifying. The AI system is about 95 per cent accurate, compared to 65 per cent when done by human eyes, researchers said. “We used the brain as a model to create our system,” said Rodney LaLonde, a...

Washington, Aug 24: In a shocking revelation, a recent study has found that alcohol is associated with nearly one in 10 deaths in people aged 15-49 years old. Overall, according to the research that estimates levels of alcohol use and health effects in 195 countries between 1990 to 2016, 2.8 million deaths occur each year worldwide. Based on their analysis, the authors suggest that there is no...

Washington, Aug 21: E-cigarettes -- often touted as a safer alternative to cigarette smoking -- may modify the DNA in the oral cells of users, potentially increasing the risk of cancer. Introduced to the market in 2004, e-cigarettes are handheld electronic devices that heat a liquid, usually containing nicotine, into an aerosol that the user inhales. Different flavours of liquids are available...

Washington, Aug 20: Whether you pour a glass or have it with cereal, consuming milk for breakfast is the perfect energy boost your body needs to get you through the day. H. Douglas Goff, Ph.D., and the team of scientists from the Human Nutraceutical Research Unit at the University of Guelph, in collaboration with the University of Toronto, examined the effects of consuming high-protein milk for...

Los Angeles, Aug 18: A morning snack of almonds may reduce total cholesterol, and improve the body’s ability to regulate blood sugar in breakfast-skipping college students, a study claims. Many college students tend to skip meals, mostly breakfast, while they transition to a more hectic independent lifestyle, said researchers from the University of California Merced in the US. According to the...

London, Aug 14: E-cigarette vapour disables key immune cells in the lung that keep the air spaces clear of potentially harmful particles, say scientists who warn that vaping may be more harmful than traditional smoking. The vapour impairs the activity of alveolar macrophages, which engulf and remove dust particles, bacteria, and allergens that have evaded the other mechanical defences of the...

Scientists, including an Indian-American researcher, have identified a molecule that can help treat breast cancer, giving hope to patients who have become resistant to traditional therapies. The first-in-class molecule shuts down oestrogen-sensitive breast cancer in a new way, researchers said. First-in-class drugs are those that work by a unique mechanism - in this case a molecule that targets a...