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Oprah May Be Bad for Your Health
 Oprah May Be 
 Bad for Your Health 
OPINION
May 15, 2009 11:23 AM CDT

Oprah May Be Bad for Your Health

Many medical opinions, practices touted on her show aren't considered safe

(Newser) - What's good for Oprah's TV ratings might be pretty bad for your health, writes Dr. Rahul Parikh in Salon. In providing a soapbox for Suzanne Somers to tout hormone replacement therapy (which raises the risk of heart attacks and cancer) from and supporting Jenny McCarthy and her crusade against childhood...

Oprah Helps McCarthy Spread Vaccine Lies

They may turn parents off of vital vaccines: Allen

(Newser) - “Chastising a celebrity is an exercise in futility,” Arthur Allen acknowledges in Slate, but he tries anyway, blasting Oprah Winfrey for giving vaccine skeptic Jenny McCarthy platforms from which to spread “dangerous misinformation that could bring some once-controlled diseases back.” McCarthy believes her son got autism...

Wanted: Small Amounts of Plutonium
Wanted: Small Amounts of Plutonium
Mar 3, 2009 3:47 PM CST

Wanted: Small Amounts of Plutonium

US agency ferrets out unused radioactive sources

(Newser) - The country is crawling with unused radioactive material, and it’s up to the little-known National Nuclear Security Administration to dispose of it, the Los Angeles Times reports. They're not after warheads, but small amounts of plutonium used in medical and technological pursuits in more than 130 countries, as even...

Paging Dr. Nurse: New Degree Sparks Turf War

Physicians irked at nurses' doctoral status

(Newser) - A doctoral degree for nurses has sparked a backlash from physicians, who say referring to nurses by the title "doctor" could be confusing to patients, NPR reports. “I can just imagine a patient walking into my exam room and saying, ‘Now, Dr. Smith, are you a doctor...

Long Dormant, Scarlet Fever Returns to UK

Brits had 3K cases last year; disease seems more virulent

(Newser) - Scarlet fever may seem like a disease of bygone times—it's what took Beth away from the Little Women and sealed the fate of the Velveteen Rabbit—but for many Britons it has become all too current. England and Wales have seen a spike in cases, with 3,000 last...

Insulin May Help Treat Alzheimer's
Insulin May
Help Treat Alzheimer's
Feb 3, 2009 3:26 PM CST

Insulin May Help Treat Alzheimer's

Researchers liken degenerative disease to brain diabetes

(Newser) - Alzheimer’s disease “is a type of brain diabetes”—meaning that insulin treatments could help fight it, scientists say. Researchers found that brain cells treated with insulin plus a drug to speed its effects were much less affected by the disease, the BBC reports. “Our results demonstrate...

Docs Remove Donor Kidney Through Vagina

Less-painful procedure could pave the way to more donations

(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...

Eat This Brain and Call Me in the Morning

Europe's first doctors prescribed 'medicinal cannibalism'

(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....

UK Mom Gives Birth 2 Days After Brain Dies

Docs kept ice skater's heart beating after hemorrhage

(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...

Engineered Goats May Usher In New Age of Drugs

Animals' bodies act as processors for key protein

(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...

Israeli Navy Rebuffs Gaza-Bound Relief Boat

Congresswoman aboard says collision was deliberate

(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...

Are Your Meds Working? Gene Tests Could Tell

Docs could eliminate half of drugs genetics prevent from working

(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...

New Drug Promises Better Sleep for the Jet-Lagged

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

(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...

Surgeon Amputates Using Texted Instructions

Phone helps save Congolese teen

(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...

Warning Labels Can Be Hazardous to Your Health

Prescription labels, doctor's cues can trigger symptoms

(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....

Chronically Ill Worse Off in US Than Elsewhere: Study

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

(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...

Docs Stop Taking Insurance, Offer 'Boutique' Care

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

(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...

Half of US Docs Prescribe Placebos

Many physicians believe in psychological impact of prescriptions

(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...

Eggbeater Helps Scientists Whip Disease

Harvard researchers fashion a household item into a diagnostic device

(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....

3 Virologists Share Medicine Nobel Prize

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

(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...

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