Posts

Posted on

Stem Cell Breast Reconstruction: Safety, Risks, & Side Effects

New stem-cell enhanced breast reconstruction: Ground-breaking or risky? Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer in women and a good number of women will suffer from it in their lifetime. In the United States, 200,000 women are diagnosed each year with this cancer, and a fourth of them will go on to die of the dreaded disease.

But while breast cancer survivors are grateful for their chance at a new life, they are also bogged down by pain, disfigurement and the psychological distress that comes with having to have both breasts, one or a part of their breast removed.

Continue reading “Stem Cell Breast Reconstruction: Safety, Risks, & Side Effects”

Posted on

Male Infertility Treatment: Dr. Paul Turek’s Artificial Testicle Implant?

Male Infertility Treatment: Dr. Paul Turek’s Artificial Testicle Implant? Here’s good news for infertile men. If two scientists from San Francisco, California are successful, in about a decade, infertile men may be able to produce their own sperm and conceive children.

The two men hope to create the world’s first artificial human testicle that can produce sperm. Now with a Small Business Innovation Research grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, they have embarked on the project, which they hope to finish in five to seven years.

Previous studies have shown scientists treating infertile male mice by producing sperm using stem cells from the mouse, but this has not been replicated in humans, said Dr. Paul Turek, one of the researchers and director of the Turek Clinic, a men’s health medical practice in San Francisco.

Continue reading “Male Infertility Treatment: Dr. Paul Turek’s Artificial Testicle Implant?”

Posted on

Gastric Bypass Surgery vs. Lap Band: Which is Better, Safer, More Effective?

Weight loss fast and for good? Get a bypass—it beats the band, a study shows: More than one billion of the world’s seven billion people are overweight and at least 300 million are clinically obese.

Having reached epidemic proportions globally, obesity is a major contributor to the global burden of chronic disease and disability, the World Health Organization says.

In the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, the Pacific Islands, Australasia and China, obesity rates have risen three-fold or more since 1980, fueled by soaring consumption of more high-calorie, nutrient-poor, sugary and fatty foods, combined with reduced physical activity.

Continue reading “Gastric Bypass Surgery vs. Lap Band: Which is Better, Safer, More Effective?”

Posted on

Pradaxa Bleeding and Higher Heart Attack Risk?

Higher heart attack risk from Pradaxa, study shows: Here’s a note of caution for those who are taking blood thinners to manage atrial fibrillation or prevent stroke after a hip or knee replacement.

Patients taking the new anti-clotting drug Pradaxa have a higher risk—from 22 percent to 33 percent—of heart attack or severe symptoms of heart disease than do patients taking the older blood thinner, warfarin, a meta-analysis of various reports says.

That’s the range of relative increase in risk compared to other blood thinners—but the absolute risk increase for suffering a heart attack was only 0.27 percent, clarify the authors of the meta-analysis published online in the Archives of Internal Medicine Jan. 9 issue.

Continue reading “Pradaxa Bleeding and Higher Heart Attack Risk?”

Posted on

Sex After Menopause: Does DHEA Make it Better?

Sex After Menopause: Does DHEA Make it Better? Hot flashes. Night sweats. A clammy feeling. Irritability. Mood swings. Trouble sleeping at night. Irregular periods. Dry vagina. Crashing fatigue. Anxiety. Difficulty concentrating. Disorientation. Incontinence. Aching muscles. Headaches. Flatulence. Dizziness. Hair loss. Changes in body odor. Bleeding gums. Tinnitus.

Those are only some of at least 35 symptoms suffered by women going through menopause—and the list can sound like a litany of woes or a torturer’s catalogue of triumphs.

Continue reading “Sex After Menopause: Does DHEA Make it Better?”

Posted on

Chocolate Addiction Treatment: Exercise, Baby!

Exercise curbs choco addiction: Almost a third of all Americans and a huge proportion of people in developed countries now struggle to break the grip of an obesity epidemic—and a new study linking exercise to decreased chocolate addiction can be of critical help.

Office workers, in particular, who are forced by heavy workloads, long hours and shifting schedules to sit at their desk all day and engage in stress eating, have higher odds of becoming obese.

A recent study suggests that walking to the office or getting up during the day could help the growing number of white-collar workers keep the pounds off.

Continue reading “Chocolate Addiction Treatment: Exercise, Baby!”