FDA Reverses Stance on Removal of Morphine Painkiller

Appeals from hospice experts mean an unapproved drug, one of 14 given recent warning, will remain on the market, agency says
Bowing to the pleas of hospice experts, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has backed off its intent to remove from the market an unapproved liquid morphine painkiller given to dying patients.
Dr. Douglas Throckmorton, deputy [...]

Test ’sheds light on back pain’

A simple technique could help doctors differentiate between patients with different causes of back pain and thus improve treatment, a study suggests.
Researchers writing in PLoS Medicine have devised “bedside” tests which distinguish between neuropathic – nerve damage – and other causes of pain.
Neuropathic pain is commonly described as “burning” or “stabbing” but it is [...]

Mexico’s Universal Health Insurance Programme Eases Crippling Household Expenses

An article written by Professor Gary King, and his collaborators from Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA, published Online First and in an upcoming edition of The Lancet, discuss the findings of an evaluation made at random of Seguro Popular, Mexico’s newly-introduced pilot universal health insurance system. Results show that household-crippling* expenditure has declined for poor [...]

Body Mass Index Does Not Improve When Practicing School-Based Physical Activity

A new study in CMAJ reports that school-based physical activity has positive health effects on children, although it does not improve body mass index (BMI).
Increasing rates in childhood obesity has become a public health issue. Obesity in children has more than tripled in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and across Europe since 1970, [...]

Aspirin With Plavix Reduced Stroke Risk, Study

A large new study found that taking aspirin with clot busting drug Plavix (clopidogrel) cut the risk of stroke by 28 per cent in patients with irregular heart rhythms (atrial fibrillation) who were not able to take anticoagulants like warfarin.
The study was the work of researchers working on the ACTIVE trial (ACTIVE stands for Atrial [...]

Coffee Lessens the Pain of Exercise

That cup of coffee that many gym rats, bikers and runners swill before a workout does more than energize them. It kills some of the pain of athletic exertion, a new study suggests. And it works regardless of whether a person already had a coffee habit or not.
Caffeine works on a system in the brain [...]

Fight Osteoarthritis – Exercise Is The Best Cure for Osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis, especially among older people. However, younger people also suffer from arthritis as a result of excessive wear and tear of joints. It can be painful and depressing. There are many treatment options available but research shows that exercise is one of the best treatments [...]

Workhorse immune molecules lead secret lives in the brain

Molecules assumed to be in the exclusive employ of the immune system have been caught moonlighting in the brain – with a job description apparently quite distinct from their role in immunity.
Carla Shatz, PhD, professor of neurobiology and of biology, and her colleagues at the Stanford University School of Medicine have shown that members of [...]

Cardiovascular Mortality And Shortness Of Breath In Heart Failure Patients With Normal To High Blood Pressure Are Reduced When Relaxin Is Prescribed

A phase II study (PRE-RELAX-AHF), as reported in an article published Online First and in an upcoming edition of The Lancet, coinciding with the announcement of the findings at the American College of Cardiology (ACC) meeting in Florida USA, reveals an improvement of cardiovascular mortality and shortness of breath as well as other clinical end [...]