According to John Hopkins researchers, regular aerobic exercise and weightlifting may reduce high liver fat levels in patients with type2 diabetes.

High levels of fat are quite common in patients with type2 diabetes and they often seem to contribute in heart disease risk.

77 diabetic men and women took part in the study and they were divided into two groups. One group was asked to do three 45-minute sessions of moderate aerobic exercises including brisk walking and bicycling for six months. They were also asked to do three 20-minute sessions of weightlifting per week.

On the other hand, the other group was not asked to do any formal aerobic fitness or gym classes. …Click here to read more

According to Swedish scientists, adding fish to a child’s diet before nine months of age may decrease the risk of developing eczema.

Eczema is a painful skin condition that has considerably risen in European countries during the past few years. The scientists believe that diet also play a key role in this connection.

In their study, scientists from Sweden tracked the health of children in 5,000 families and found that early use of fish decreased the risk of developing the condition by a quarter.

The study has been published in Archives of Disease in Childhood. …Click here to read more

Researchers find a considerable increase in HIV infection among injecting drug users.

A report that has been published in the British medical journal The Lancet shows that almost 3 million self-injecting drug users in the world are HIV-positive.

More than 40% drug users are infected in nine countries. The authors of the report showed concern about the lack of data from African countries and said the risk factors were greater in the continent. …Click here to read more

WASHINGTON - Experts at an international AIDS conference held in Mexico City assigned a value to United States for reversing a 15-years-old law, prohibiting HIV-positives from entering the country.

President Bush has signed that act into law since two months, his management has not taken any step yet, required to put the signed law into practice, and legislatives and advocacy groups are wondering what is going on.

“We write to encourage you to act quickly to remove HIV from the list of communicable diseases of public health significance and end the HIV travel and immigration ban,” Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., and Gordon Smith, R-Ore., main supporter of the measure in the Senate, wrote to Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Michael Leavitt last month. Fifty-eight House Democrats last week sent a letter to Bush that urged him to take “swift action on this issue.” …Click here to read more

A new study suggests that if you a family history of cancerous brain tumors, it may put you at a higher risk of developing the same kind of tumors.

In this study, published in the Sept. 23 issue of Neurology, the researchers examined the medical records and family histories of almost 1,401 people who had either astrocytomas (tumors in the brain or spinal cord) or glioblastomas that is considered a more aggressive kind of astrocytomas. …Click here to read more

THURSDAY, (HealthDay News) – Children treated with acetaminophen (paracetamol) during the early days of life to reduce fever have more chances to develop asthma later on, a new study finds. It was a large study conducted in 31 countries around the world.

These children are also more likely to have diseases such as rhinoconjunctivitis and eczema when they reach to the age of age 6 to 7, according to new findings published in The Lancet.

“If this association is causative, it would suggest that acetaminophen use is a risk factor for asthma and may explain the asthma has become more common,” said lead researcher Dr. Richard Beasley. …Click here to read more

CHICAGO - A government agency has quitted plans for a study related to the treatment of autism, that critics had called an unethical experiment on children.

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) said that the study of the treatment, called chelation has been aborted. The agency has decided to test other possible therapies for autism and associated disorders, the statement said.

“There will be parents who are disappointed,” said Richard Nakamura, the scientific director of NIMH. “We recognize that for children there is a thread line for the risk-benefit ratio. You have to be pretty assured of the overall safety of the procedure.”

The study had been suspended because of safety matters, after another study published last year regarding a drug used in the treatment to permanent brain dysfunction in rats. …Click here to read more

Premixed insulin, combination of short and long-acting kinds of the hormone, provides better blood-sugar control in comparison with long-acting insulin alone or oral therapies, a new study finds.

Two types of premixed insulin — premixed human insulin and premixed insulin analogues (human insulin which is genetically engineered), appeared to have the same advantages.

Around 28 percent of type 2 diabetes patients use insulin alone (16 percent) or combined with an oral medication (12 percent) to maintain their blood-glucose levels. …Click here to read more

We often choose sweet snacks, in spite of our best intentions to eat healthy food.

585 participants were asked by Dutch researcher, to choose one among four snacks including an apple, a banana, a candy bar and a molasses waffle. Half of the people vote for the apple or banana snacks.

But when actual snacks were presented, a week later, 27 percent of those who had picked the healthy one, alter to the candy bar or waffle. And more than 90 percent of those who had chosen unhealthy snacks, stuck with it. The study is published in the September/October issue of the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior. …Click here to read more

Researchers have warned few years ago, head lice in the U.S. and all over the world are developing immunity against strong insecticides used in prescribed shampoos and counter products. It takes four to five years for the parasites to adapt a new product, in spite of claims to the contrary by the manufacturers, noted Shirley C. Gordon, an associate professor at Florida Atlantic University who studies relentless head lice.

Health officials have kept on recommending the products, because drugs like the permethrin, pyrethrin, lindane and the prescription malathion still effective in some people.

But the nation’s school nurses say it’s obvious to them that families facing problem due to the bugs are annoyed with the product failures. “I had a mom drag her child into my office on the first day of school,” said Jill Burgin, a registered nurse. “She had been battling it throughout the summer and wanted advice on where to go from there.”

…Click here to read more

CHICAGO - Only two percent of fresh medical graduates have planned to work in primary care internal medicine, creating a shortage of the first-stop doctors who considered being the backbone of the American medical system, according to a new survey.

Results published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The figure was nine percent in a similar survey in 1990.

Paperwork, demands of the chronic patients and abundance of work are the factors changing young doctors mind. Primary care doctors he met as a student had to “speed to see enough patients to make a reasonable living,” Shipman said.

…Click here to read more

TUESDAY, Sept. 9 – One out of five, U.S. college students have started smoking, but college and university management need to take a strong action against tobacco industry marketing strategies to stop growing rate of student smoking, a new American Lung Association report finds.

“Colleges and universities are responsible to provide safe and sound environment in which their students can study. This should include an atmosphere free of smoking and tobacco advertisements that persuade young adults to use harmful tobacco products,” Bernadette A. Toomey said. …Click here to read more

According to the US Army officials, soldier suicide rate this year may beat the record rate of last year. The officials urged the military leaders to double prevention efforts for the soldiers.

During this year, 62 confirmed suicide cases were found in active duty soldiers, Guard and Reserve troops who were called to active duty. Another 31 deaths seem suicide cases but they are still being investigated.

“If all these are found confirmed suicide cases, they would surpass the 115 suicide cases during the last year and even per 100,000 rate would beat the civilian population rate,” says Col. Eddie Stephens who is deputy director of human resource policy.

…Click here to read more

According to an American study, babies who born naturally get more mothers’ response to their cries than the Caesarean.

The researchers noticed more activity in brain areas that are related to emotions and motivation in the 12 new mothers who had a natural delivery.

The researchers from the Yale University say that those hormones that generate at the time of birth may be the key factor in this connection. The women who had elected to have a Caesarean were included in this study. …Click here to read more

According to scientists, seasonal changes in brain chemistry cause winter blues in some people.

Seasonal affective disorder is related to lack of light exposure during short winter days and it often proves quite debilitating in some people.

The study shows that the condition may develop proteins that make mood-regulating chemical serotonin more active in the brain. …Click here to read more

A new study suggests that older fathers may have children with bipolar disorder. This risk begin to increase when men are older than 29 and they get married. And it reaches at its peak when men are over 55.

Some other diseases like schizophrenia and autism are also linked with increasing parental age, but it’s a first study that suggests bipolar disorder or manic depression also has link with increasing parental age.

This Swedish study has been published in Archives of Psychiatry and it tells that ageing sperm may be a factor behind that increasing risk.

The Karolinska Institute researchers say in this connection, it involves copying DNA in the process of making sperm in men and this process is considered prone to error as men get older.

Emma Frans, who led the study, said: “Women come in this world with their full supply of eggs and that’s why DNA copy errors do not increase as women get older.”

…Click here to read more

According to American scientists, a big step has been taken to block the chemical that plays a key role in the growth of several cancers.

The scientists have unpicked the structure of an enzyme known as telomerase and it helps to keep cells in an undying state when it is active.

In more than nine out of ten types of tumors, telomerase seems to work.

The study, which conducted by Philadelphia’s Wistar Institute’s researchers, has been published in the journal Nature …Click here to read more