Editor's Pick
Surgical gowns retain C difficile even after disinfectant use
July 17th, 2019 Research has shown how surgical gowns used in hospitals are retaining superbug Clostridium difficile (C difficile), even after being treated with the recommended amount of disinfectant. The research, led by the University of Plymouth, tested...
No elevated cardiac risk in ultramarathon runners
July 10th, 2019 Researchers have found no evidence of elevated cardiac risk in runners who completed a 24-hour ultramarathon (24UM), despite the transient elevation of blood biomarkers that measure cardiac health. According to the study, trained runners were more...
CRISPR technology used to eliminate HIV virus in living mice
July 10th, 2019 Researchers say they’re one step closer to finding a potential cure for HIV after successfully eliminating the virus in living mice for the first time, reports CNBC. Using a combination of CRISPR gene-editing technology and a therapeutic treatment...
Health MEC 'quite shocked' over maggots in mouth of patient who died
July 10th, 2019 After initially responding that an apparently untreated maggot infestation in a patient's mouth was medically not unusual and slamming the family for 'violating the patient's right to privacy' by video recording it, KwaZulu-Natal Health has now...
Statins linked to doubled risk of type 2 diabetes
July 3rd, 2019 A study of thousands of patients' health records found that those who were prescribed cholesterol-lowering statins had at least double the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. The detailed analysis of health records and other data from patients in a...
Up to half of men under 50 suffer from erectile dysfunction
July 3rd, 2019 Up to half of men under the age of 50 are suffering from erectile dysfunction as impotence rates have more than doubled in the last 25 years, The Independent reports a study has found. Scientists have warned that the condition is becoming alarmingly...
Flying insects and spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in hospitals
July 3rd, 2019 More than 50% of bacteria recovered from flying insects in a group of English hospitals were resistant to one or more antibiotics, posing a potential infection risk to patients, according to a study. The Aston University study collected almost...
Higher risk of stillbirth in longer pregnancies — analysis of 15m women
July 3rd, 2019 With every week that a pregnancy continues past term (37 weeks), the risk of stillbirth increases, according to an analysis of more than 15m pregnancies led by Queen Mary University of London. The results also included a small but significantly...
One-day a week employment suffices for optimal mental wellbeing
June 26th, 2019 The minimum amount of paid employment needed to deliver the well-being and mental health benefits that employment has been shown to bring may be as little as eight-hours a week, according to research at the universities of Cambridge and...
Home exercise regimen matches UK guidelines in less time
June 26th, 2019 A small study shows that a home-based high-intensity interval training can deliver the same health benefits in three 20-minute sessions as achieved from the UK government guidelines of 150 moderate aerobic activity minutes a week. UK government...
Yoghurt may lower pre-cancerous bowel growth risk in men
June 26th, 2019 Eating two or more weekly servings of yoghurt is associated with lower risk of developing the adenomas which precede the development of bowel cancer – at least in men – found a large international study. The observed associations were...
UK medical schools fail to provide adequate training on eating disorders
June 26th, 2019 A study of all Britain's medical schools has revealed that medical students receive less than two hours of training on eating disorders over four to six years of undergraduate study, which experts and the UK’s eating disorder charity Beat warn is...
SA wild animals most dangerous to people — ER data
June 19th, 2019 The question as to which SA wild animals are the most dangerous to people is addressed by Medibank data for 2015 to 2018, on patients attended to at 45 Netcare emergency departments. Mande Toubkin, Netcare’s GM: emergency, trauma, transplant...
Topical cream effective in reversing effects of vitiligo
June 19th, 2019 A nationwide phase II clinical trial, coordinated out of Tufts Medical Centre in Boston, has found that a topical cream was extremely effective in reversing the effects of vitiligo, a relatively common autoimmune disease that causes loss of skin...
Stimulation of vagus nerve to treat rheumatoid arthritis pain
June 19th, 2019 Electro-stimulation of one of the nerves connecting the brain to the body, the vagus nerve, could provide a novel treatment approach for patients with rheumatoid arthritis, according to a pilot study presented at the Annual European Congress of...