New Drug to Treat Obesity Approved

Medicine & Technology Jan 06, 2015

If your New Year's resolution is to lose weight this year, you could soon take a pill to help you in your quest to drop those pounds and live a healthier life. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recently approved a new drug designed to help people lose weight and fight the obesity epidemic. And while it started as a treatment for another ailment, this new drug could spell millions of dollars for the company and thousands of pounds off of consumers, as well.

Environment May Become Part of New Dietary Guidelines

Jan 06, 2015

When the government releases its next version of recommended dietary guidelines to encourage Americans to eat healthier, environmental concerns could also be addressed as part of the guidelines.

Binge Drinking Hurts Your Immune System

Jan 06, 2015

Party goers everywhere are disappointed to learn from a new study that binge drinking, or even getting drunk, can slow down your immune system leaving you more susceptible to infection.

Negative Measles Tests End Threat in Pennsylvania

Jan 05, 2015

The Pennsylvania Department of Health issued a public health warning on Sunday, Dec. 28 warning of the potential for measles exposure, which they believe may have occurred at a local CVS Pharmacy in Wayne, Pennsylvania. The next day they also reported another potential exposure at the Please Touch Museum. Fortunately, these potential measles threats have all tested negative, and it appears that the measles outbreak is no longer considered a threat by health officials.

Is The Flu Shot Worth It?

Jan 05, 2015

This year's flu shot has not been as effective as flu vaccines in the past. But it is still the number one defense against the influenza virus in any form.

Tips to Kick Your Smoking Habit in 2015

Jan 05, 2015

With the new year smokers everywhere are deciding to put down the cigarettes for good. The American Lung Association has some tips to help smokers put tobacco down for good.

Consumer Reports Study Finds Americans Know Little About the Weight Loss Supplements They Take

Jan 05, 2015

How trusting are American consumers when it comes to weight loss supplements? And exactly how easily do we fall prey to these products' marketing strategies? A recent Consumer Reports survey found that many Americans are misinformed about weight loss supplements, including their quality and efficacy.

Parkinson’s Drug from NeuroDerm Shows Promise

Jan 05, 2015

NeuroDerm has reportedly found that its new Parkinson's drug could provide an alternative to surgery for patients suffering from the disease.

Biological Warfare on the Horizon? ISIS Soldiers May Be Infected With Ebola

Jan 05, 2015

It’s what national security organizations have feared since day one—the World Health Organization (WHO) announced last week that they are evaluating jihadist militants associated with ISIS, who may have contracted the virus responsible for Ebola. While the WHO has yet to confirm whether or not the fighters are exhibiting symptoms, the current evaluations of a Mosul hospital 250 miles north of Baghdad are prompting concerns that the fringe extremist group ISIS may in fact be able to obtain a biological weapon unlike anything the world has seen before.

Drug Approvals Reached New High in 2014: What's Next?

Jan 04, 2015

Approvals for medicine in the United States have reached their highest levels in eighteen years, and recommendations for new drugs in Europe also came at a rapid rate, driven by expensive new treatments for cancer and other rare and serious diseases. After enduring wave after wave of patent losses on some of their larger, more popular drugs, pharmaceutical firms are beginning to recover by bringing new medicines to the market, while also improving their productivity.

How Tales of Rotting May Inspire Smokers to Quit

Jan 04, 2015

A new campaign developed by the Public Health England (PHE) organization aimed at encouraging long-term smokers to quit may have people putting their cigarettes down after warning smokers about how smoking "rots" the body from within. The new graphic online and in-print billboard advertisements feature a roll-up cigarette full of decaying tissue. And while the images are rather graphic, some even saying too uncomfortable for an international campaign, the organization is clearly defending the aim of the ads, claiming they're intended to try and shock smokers into giving up the potentially lethal habit.

Scientists Discover Protein That Can Repair Other Proteins in the Body Without Blueprints

Jan 04, 2015

In a new study published in the journal Science, researchers at the University of Utah discovered that the building blocks of a protein, known as amino acids, can be assembled without blueprints from DNA and messenger RNA (mRNA).

The Year You Were Born Can Affect Your Risk For Obesity

Jan 03, 2015

A new study has discovered that the year you were born can influence your risk for obesity.

Cancer Death Rates Spare More Than a Million Americans

Jan 03, 2015

According to a new report from the American Cancer Society, cancer is claiming the lives of fewer Americans than ever before. In the past two decades cancer death rates have dropped significantly by 22%, sparing the lives of over 1.5 million people in the United States alone. While cancer death rates have declined in every state, the report found substantial variation in the magnitude of the declines from state to state. Generally, states in the south showed the smallest decline, while states in the northeast had the largest decline. States in the south experienced drops in death rates of about 15%, with rates much higher in other parts of the country.

Teen’s Death Demonstrates The Dangers of This Year’s Flu

Jan 03, 2015

According to the Centers for Disease Control, the death of an otherwise healthy 17-year-old girl only highlights the severity of this year's influenza outbreak. Shannon Zwanziger seemed like a perfectly health teenager. She was active and rarely got sick; in fact, she had not even seen a doctor in more than three years. Then, she came down with the flu. Within only a week of fighting the virus, she was dead.