Diseases/Conditions News

FRIDAY, Nov. 20 (HealthDay News) -- New research suggests it may become possible for pre-pubescent boys stricken by cancer to prepare for the future when they may be infertile but still want to become natural fathers.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People who suffer from depression are much more likely to be prescribed powerful opioid painkillers like morphine and codeine and to stay on the drugs long-term, new research shows.

TUESDAY, Nov. 17 (HealthDay News) -- A motivational women-only cardiac rehabilitation program helped reduce symptoms of depression in women with coronary heart disease, a U.S. study has found.

JOHANNESBURG, Nov 19 (IRIN PlusNews) - In less than seven months South Africa will host the world's biggest single sporting event - the FIFA World Cup. The chance to reach millions of local and visiting football fans presents a golden opportunity, not only for the country's business and tourism sectors, but also for its efforts to combat HIV/AIDS.

KAMPALA (AFP) - Pairing family planning services with HIV/AIDS treatment can help curb Africa's population growth rate which records a yearly increase of 2.5 percent, health experts said Monday.

WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - Some Canadian provinces have stopped using a particular batch of the H1N1 flu vaccine after six people experienced severe allergic reactions, the country's health agency said on Monday.

THURSDAY, Nov. 19 (HealthDay News) -- People's genetic makeup has been shown to affect how they respond to asthma medications, but a new study finds that many people respond well to a particular combination treatment regardless of their genes.

MARIETTA, Pa. - Malaria. Tuberculosis. Alzheimer's disease. AIDS. Pandemic flu. Genital herpes. Urinary tract infections. Grass allergies. Traveler's diarrhea. You name it, the pharmaceutical industry is working on a vaccine to prevent it.

MONDAY, Nov. 16 (HealthDay News) -- Pediatric food allergies, which can sometimes be life-threatening, are increasing at a dramatic rate in the United States, new research shows.

WASHINGTON - The former director of the National Institutes of Health is advising women to ignore new guidelines that delay the start of routine mammogram testing for breast cancer.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People with schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders are more likely to die of heart disease than mentally healthy individuals, a study in US veterans indicates.

JACKSON, Miss. - When Robin Webb lived in New York City, he was treated by HIV specialists and had access to counseling and nutritional programs. Now he lives in Mississippi, where few of those services exist.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) is now recommending women begin cervical cancer screening at age 21, instead of 3 years after the onset of sexual activity, as was previously recommended by the group. ACOG has also modified its recommendations for how often women should be screened for cervical cancer, a disease that affected 11,270 US women in 2009, according to the American Cancer Society (ACS).

ORLANDO (Reuters Health) - A simple telephone intervention improved mood, physical functioning, and overall quality of life in patients who were depressed after heart bypass surgery, researchers reported in a late breaking clinical trial here at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions 2009.

TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran has recorded at least 3,409 deaths from AIDS, while another 2,097 people have been diagnosed as having the disease, according to health ministry figures reported by the ILNA news agency on Thursday.

FRIDAY, Nov. 13 (HealthDay News) -- Women with asthma may notice that their asthma symptoms get worse at certain times of the month. Now, a new study confirms that fluctuating female hormone levels appear to affect airway inflammation, but oral contraceptives might help ease those changes.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Morticians who use formaldehyde to embalm bodies have a higher risk of leukemia, researchers reported on Friday.

MONDAY, Nov. 16 (HealthDay News) -- New industry-funded research suggests that the antidepressant flibanserin, which has been touted as a female version of Viagra, can enhance libido in women with low sex drives.

BERLIN (AFP) - Scottish singer Annie Lennox was presented with the 2009 "Woman of Peace" award on Wednesday at a summit of Nobel Peace Laureates in Berlin for her work raising awareness of HIV/AIDS.

FRIDAY, Nov. 13 (HealthDay News) -- Children born to women who take folic acid in late pregnancy are at increased risk for asthma, Australian researchers say.

Several doctors groups and advocacy groups set guidelines for cancer screening, and they update that advice periodically as new information emerges. Sometimes they agree, sometimes they don't. Last year, a number of groups got together and issued consensus guidelines for colon cancer.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A survey of US soldiers in Afghanistan shows declining morale among army units and that troops facing three or more combat tours have higher rates of mental health and marital problems, the US Army said Friday.

KAMPALA (AFP) - Human Rights Watch on Friday criticised Uganda's HIV/AIDS bill, some of whose clauses call for mandatory testing of pregnant women, sex offenders and victims, and disclosure of HIV status.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Improved home ventilation that dehumidifies the air may make it easier for people with asthma to breathe at night, hint findings of a small study from the United Kingdom.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Women should not get their first cervical cancer screening before age 21, the leading US group of women's health care professionals said Friday, also recommending less frequent subsequent tests.

LONDON (AFP) - British health professionals have called for a change in the treatment of dementia patients after an official report warned that wrongly prescribed anti-psychotic medicines are causing the deaths of an estimated 1,800 each year.

WASHINGTON - French scientists mixed gene therapy and bone marrow transplants in two boys to seemingly halt a brain disease that can kill by adolescence. The surprise ingredient: They disabled the HIV virus so it couldn't cause AIDS, and then used it to carry in the healthy new gene.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - An analysis of 19 studies provides additional evidence of increased asthma risk in children and adults given acetaminophen.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Days after controversy erupted over new breast cancer screening guidelines, a US health group has said women should wait longer to get their first cervical cancer test.