Does chronic stress raise Alzheimer's disease risk?
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The study, which will be conducted at the University of Southampton, is sponsored by the Alzheimer's Society, an England-based charity that is working to improve the lives of those diagnosed with dementia. It is one of the projects funded by 1.5 million pounds (about $2.34 million) worth of grants, which has been set aside to help find a cause, cure and way to prevent Alzheimer's disease.
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'All of us go through stressful events," lead investigator Professor Clive Holmes at the University of Southampton in Hampshire, England said in the press release. "We are looking to understand how these may become a risk factor for the development of Alzheimer's."
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New treatment may reverse Huntington's disease
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(CBS News) An experimental treatment might reverse symptoms of the progressive, genetic condition Huntington's disease.
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Huntington's is an inherited disease caused by a mutation in a single gene that causes a progressive breakdown of the brain's nerve cells. This degeneration in the brain may have a wide impact on a person's functional abilities, causing disorders that affect movement and mental health.
The disease can't be cured, but medications can reduce some of the symptoms from movement or psychiatric disorders that are caused by the disease.
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Ga. flesh-eating bacteria victim refuses pain meds
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Aimee Copeland despises the use of morphine in her treatment, despite its effectiveness at blocking her pain, her father, Andy Copeland, said online Friday in an update on his daughter's condition. Her graduate-school study of holistic pain management techniques leads her to feel she's a "traitor to her convictions" when she uses drugs to manage her pain, Andy Copeland said.
Flesh-eating bacteria victim Aimee Copeland's condition improves
Flesh-eating bacteria victim Aimee Copeland struggles with phantom pains
Aimee Copeland, battling necrotizing fasciitis, now able to speak
He also said the morphine has been making his daughter groggy, confused and has given her unpleasant hallucinatory episodes.
Continue »FDA approves meningitis combo vaccine for infants
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(CBS News) A new combination vaccine that protects infants from two deadly infections that can cause meningitis, meningococcal disease and Hib disease, was approved Thursday by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The vaccine, called Menhibrix, has been approved for children ages 6 weeks through 18 months old. It's given as a four-dose series at 2, 4, 6 and 12 through 15 months of age, and the first dose may be given as early as 6 weeks of age. It is manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline.
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Report: Ingredient in spray-on tans may damage DNA
Spray-on tans may be hazardous to your health.
/ APLooking over 10 of the most current, publicly-available scientific studies, the six doctors and scientists concluded that they "have concerns." Though none of the reviewed studies were done on human subjects, DHA was shown to have altered the genes of different kinds of cells and organisms. When inhaled, DHA can enter the lungs and eventually get into the bloodstream and has the potential to create many health problems, including cancer.
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Oregon man diagnosed with "black death" plague
Yersinia pestis bacteria, which causes the bubonic plague, shown in electron micrograph.
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According to The Oregonian, the man became ill with the bubonic plague - the cause of the "black death" - after he was bitten on the hand by a stray cat while trying to get a mouse out of its mouth. As of Tuesday, he was listed in critical condition at St. Charles Medical Center-Bend, and his family was given preventative medication. He marks the fifth case discovered in Oregon since 1995.
The stray cat has since died, and has been sent to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention for testing.
Continue »E. coli sickens 14, kills child in six states
A lab technician holds petri dish containing dangerous E. coli bacteria from a patient at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf on June 2, 2011 in Hamburg, Germany.
/ Sean Gallup/Getty Images(CBS/AP) - Health officials are investigating a mysterious and scattered outbreak of the E. coli bacteria linked to 14 illnesses and one death.
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said no form of contaminated food or other cause has been identified in the illnesses, which occurred in April and May. They are spread among six states.
Continue »CDC: Herpes risk in controversial circumcisions
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In New York City between November 2000 and December 2011, a total of 11 newborn males were infected by the herpes simplex virus in the weeks following an out-of-hospital Jewish ritual circumcision, known as a bris. Ten of the babies were hospitalized and one died.
Controversial circumcision ritual led to infant's death from herpes, says death certificate
Parents of six of the children confirmed that they babies participated in an ultra-Orthodox Jewish practice known as "metzitzah b'peh," during which the mohel - or person who performs the circumcision - places his mouth directly on the newly circumcised penis and sucks blood away from the wound. In the other cases, there was other evidence that suggested there was direct mouth-to-genital contact.
Continue »Legionnaires' outbreak in Scotland sickens 51
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(CBS/AP) LONDON - Health officials have confirmed 51 cases of Legionnaires' disease in Scotland, an outbreak that has left one man dead.
Legionnaires' disease outbreak in Scotland kills man, sickens 15
Scottish Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon reported the latest number of cases in the Edinburgh-area to Scotland's Parliament on Thursday.
Estimates reported earlier this week said there were 15 cases of the bacterial infection in addition to the death of a man in his 50s who had underlying health conditions.
Continue »Untreatable gonorrhea worries health officials
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(CBS/AP) GENEVA - A strain of gonorrhea that is resistant to the disease's only remaining treatment, cephalosporin antibiotics, has officials at the World Health Organization warning doctors around the world to step up their efforts to stop the disease.
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The U.N. health agency said Wednesday it is urging governments and doctors to increase their surveillance efforts for the antibiotic-resistant bacterial infection that can cause inflammation, infertility, pregnancy complications and, in extreme cases, lead to maternal death. Babies born to mothers with gonorrhea have a 50 percent chance of developing eye infections that may cause blindness.
Continue »Legionnaires' kills Scottish man, sickens 15
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(CBS/AP) LONDON - Health authorities in Scotland say one man has died and 15 people are in critical condition in hospitals after an outbreak of Legionnaires' disease in the Edinburgh area.
NHS Lothian, the local health authority, says it is investigating another 15 suspected cases.
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It said Tuesday that the man who died was in his 50s and had underlying health conditions.
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Smoker's lung better than no new lung at all
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(CBS/AP) A lung transplant is given to someone who is likely to die from a lung diseases - such as cystic fibrosis or COPD - within one to two years. A new study finds that many of these patients are better off taking a donated lung from a former smoker than not getting a new lung at all.
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They probably won't live as long as those who get a lung transplant from a nonsmoker, the study shows, but British researchers say patients will survive longer if they are willing to accept lungs from anyone, including smokers. In the U.K. that's a key issue, because about 40 percent of donated lungs come from people who have previously smoked.
Continue »TB patient visited two Calif. neonatal units
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CA health officials testing 35 babies for TB
Little information has been released about the contagious individual, who was not a hospital employee or health care worker. The person has since been placed in isolation and is receiving treatment. Officials have cited patient privacy laws in not offering details that could lead to identifying the individual.
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Where do germs flourish in your office?
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According to a new study led by Dr. Charles Gerba, professor of microbiology at the University of Arizona, and sponsored by consumer product company Kimberly-Clark Professional, the dirtiest place in an office is not the bathroom, but in fact the break room.
The research was undertaken in conjunction with The Healthy Workplace Project, Kimberly-Clark Professional's efforts to help people stop the spread of germs in the workplace. It's worth noting Kimberly-Clark sells disinfecting cleaning products to offices and consumers.
Researchers swabbed 4,800 surfaces in office buildings that had more than 3,000 employees. They tested for levels of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), a molecule present in all animal, vegetable, bacterial, yeast and mold cells. The amount of ATP found on surfaces shows that objects have been contaminated by cells from any of these sources, the researchers said, suggesting that bacteria and viruses may flourish in these areas.
When the ATP device read 100 or more, the researchers said the object should probably be cleaned. But, if the device read 300 or more, that area was dirty and definitely needed to be sanitized.
What are the top five dirtiest ares in the office? Keep clicking to find out....
Continue »Third of malaria meds from Asia, Africa are fake
A Congolese woman and her child with malaria speak with a doctor at the Makpandu refugee camp January 14, 2011 outside of the town of Yambio, south Sudan.
/ GETTY(CBS News) More than one-third of a random sample of malaria medicines bought from southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa were counterfeit or faulty, according to a new study.
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The findings, published in the June 2012 issue of the Lancet Infectious Diseases, consisted of drugs sold in 28 different countries between 1999 and 2010. The study was sponsored in part by the National Institutes of Health.
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