The cases of confirmed and probable Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) are not because of food consumption, Dr. Paul Van Buynder, Chief Medical Health Officer, Fraser Health, British Columbia, Canada announced in a public statement. Dr...

Bazedoxifene, an osteoporosis medication which is approved in Europe, stops the growth of breast cancer cells, including those that are resistant to current medications, researchers from the Duke Cancer Institute reported at ENDO 2013 - The Endocrine Society's Annual Meeting in San Francisco, California, June 15th, 2013...

New research has identified some key differences between the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) and SARS. The findings, published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases, detail the viral load profile of MERS-CoV , giving a complete explanation of how it circulates though the body. MERS-CoV has a 60% death rate...

Renaming "Schizophrenia" is the subject of discussion in a new Forum in the journal Psychological Medicine. Two authors propose a new name "Psychosis Susceptibility Syndrome" and experts comment...

Eli Lilly's Phase II study for an investigational drug for Alzheimer's disease has been terminated due to abnormal liver biochemical tests. The company says that clinical study investigators have been informed. The compound in question, a beta secretase (BACE) inhibitor called LY2886721, was being tested as a once-daily therapy to slow down Alzheimer's disease progression. Jan M...

South Asian women in Britain have an 8% higher risk of developing breast cancer than British white women, compared to a 45% lower risk ten years ago, researchers from the University of Sheffield reported at the National Cancer Intelligence Network Conference in Brighton on Friday, June 14th. Study leader, Dr...

Eyeball-licking fetishism, also known as "oculolinctus" or "worming", has become a popular way of expressing affection or inciting sexual arousal in Japan...

A new layer in the front layer of the human eye has been discovered by researchers at The University of Nottingham. The findings, published in the journal Ophthalmology, could significantly help doctors carry out corneal grafts or transplants. The layer has been called the "Dua's Layer", named after the researcher who led the study, Professor Harminder Dua...

Researchers at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth), have revealed that consuming too much sugar can greatly increase the risk of heart failure...

The Saudi Ministry of health has announced another two deaths from MERS-CoV infection, the new SARS-like coronavirus, plus two new human infections. So far, 46 people have become ill with MERS-CoV infection and 28 have died in Saudi Arabia. The two patients who died were foreigners working in Saudi Arabia, Ministry sources informed. We have no details of their nationalities...

Scans have shown loss of brain matter in two regions of the brain associated with pain regulation in Gulf War veterans, researchers from Georgetown University Medical Center reported in the journal PLoS One...

The world's largest study to examine the link between vitamin D levels and hypertension has found that low levels of Vitamin D can be a major cause of hypertension. Researchers presented their findings at the annual conference of the European Society of Human Genetics (ESHG)...

The FDA has approved the firmer MemoryShape Breast Implants for breast augmentation in women aged 22 years or more, and for females of any age who require breast reconstruction. The MemoryShape Breast Implants are manufactured and marketed by Mentor Worldwide LLC, Santa Barbara, California...

Over the next decade the world population is expected to increase by 1 billion and by 2050 experts estimate it will reach 9.6 billion. The United Nations report, titled "World Population Prospects: the 2012 Revision", states that most of this growth will occur in developing nations, especially in Africa...

Although the number of women in England who are smokers when they give birth has dropped over the last five years, at 12.7% the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) says the figure is still too high. In the North East of England, nearly one in five women (19...

The FDA is urging medical device makers and health care facilities to make sure there are proper safeguards in place to protect their medical devices from cyber threats...

Researchers have just compared reconstructed genomes of the medieval strains of Mycobacterium leprae DNA - the pathogen responsible for leprosy - to modern day strains. Leprosy, a chronic, contagious disease, is caused by a bacterium which affects mainly the skin and nerves. It was once an epidemic in Europe during the Middle Ages and wreaked absolute mayhem in the continent...

Using sophisticated techniques to sample and analyze airborne molecules in the odors from human skin cells, scientists in the US were able to detect a unique chemical signature for melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer...

Xgeva (denosumab) has been approved by the U.S. FDA for the treatment of GCTB (giant cell tumor of the bone) in adults and skeletally mature adolescents. GCTB is a rare tumor which is usually non-cancerous. Giant cell tumor of the bone typically affects adults aged between 20 and 40 years. In the majority of cases, GCTB remains localized (does not spread)...

Doctors find tablets more useful than smartphones for clinical purposes, according to new survey results measuring tablet and smartphone usage among electronic health record (EHR) and non-EHR users...