A moving public service announcement from the Sussex Safer Roads Partnership in the U.K. has quickly become a viral phenomenon—with views in at least 89 countries and a Facebook group of 1,500 members and counting. The “Embrace Life” ad was launched on January 20, and added to YouTube on January 29, where it’s since been seen nearly
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Women who give birth after age 40 face a higher risk of having an autistic child, regardless of the father’s age, according to a comprehensive study of all births in the state of California in the 1990s. Researchers from the University of California, Davis, found that a woman who gave birth after age 40 was 50% more likely to have an
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Some 40% of cancers could be prevented with simple lifestyle changes and higher levels of protection from cancer-causing infections, according to experts at the International Union Against Cancer (UICC). Cancer-causing infections are responsible for 22% of deaths in the developing world, and 6% of deaths in the developed world, according
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Using a newly developed brain scan technique, researchers in the U.K. and Belgium revealed that some patients in vegetative states or states of minimal consciousness show signs of awareness, and in one exceptional case, could even answer yes/no questions posed by doctors during a visualization exercise. The findings, published online
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Twelve years ago, the prestigious British medical journal The Lancet published a study indicating a link between the mumps, measles and rubella vaccine (MMR) and autism. The finding validated the fears of a growing subculture suspicious of vaccines, and played a role in the significant decrease in vaccination rates—in the U.K., for
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For patients at very high risk for developing a psychiatric disorder such as schizophrenia, taking fish oil supplements may be a way to prevent the onset of psychosis, according to a new study published in the Archives of General Psychiatry. Due to the controversial nature of using anti-psychotic drugs as a preventive treatment for
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Herbal remedies like ginkgo biloba and St. John’s wort have grown in popularity in recent years as natural treatments for everything from fatigue and depression to headache and anxiety. Yet, according to a review article published in the February 9 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, for patients taking certain
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Men feeling self-conscious about the size of their breasts is nothing new—as members of the Seinfeld generation will recall, the episode in which Kramer invents “the Bro,” or the “Mansierre” to tame oversized “man boobs” first aired in 1995. Yet, according to the BBC, in recent years discomfort over what are colloquially known as
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Even among Americans with health insurance, getting adequate medical care can mean facing some financial hurdles. According to some estimates, as many as 25 million Americans are “underinsured,” or technically have health insurance, but cannot afford the copayments, deductibles and other fees that represent the gap between their
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City mandates requiring fast-food and chain restaurants to post calorie counts on menus have had mixed success at actually curbing people’s caloric intake. A study published this past October in the journal Health Affairs for example, found that, while nearly 30% of people said reading calorie counts on menus impacted their choices, when
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When the diet drug Meridia was approved by the Food and Drug Administration more than a decade ago, the American Heart Association was quick to urge caution, stressing that the medication—which works in part by curbing appetite by interacting with serotonin, the neurotransmitter that helps regulate the sensation of fullness—might
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Here’s an after-school science experiment gone right: researchers at Rutgers University in New Jersey created a homemade bed bug trap using a cat-food dish, an insulated jug and some dry ice pellets.
There’s no question that quitting smoking benefits your health, not least by reducing your risk of developing lung cancer. But what if you’re a smoker who has already been diagnosed with lung cancer — will quitting give you any advantage in fighting the disease?
