Thursday, 28 March, 2024
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A Focus

Aspirin lowers risk of death in type 2 diabetes and heart failure

The first study to assess aspirin as a preventive measure for patients with both diabetes and heart failure, found a daily aspirin is associated...

Paradigm shift in the diagnosis of diabetes

A completely new classification of diabetes that also predicts the risk of serious complications and provides treatment suggestions, are the first results of the...

Source of listeriosis outbreak traced and blame game begins

Anger and blame has erupted over the dismal handling of the listeriosis outbreak after the outbreak was at long last traced to a Tiger...

Dolutegravir at 50mg twice daily is safe and effective in patients on TB treatment

Data presented at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2018) in Boston from the 24-week interim analysis of the INSPIRING clinical trial...

'Obesity paradox' is a significant factor in metastatic melanoma survival

Obese patients with metastatic melanoma who are treated with targeted or immune therapies live significantly longer than those with a normal body mass index...

Low-fat vs low carb? It doesn't matter for weight loss

There was no significant difference in weight change between a healthy low-fat diet vs a healthy low-carbohydrate diet, found a year-long Stanford University randomised...

SAMA's attempt to disestablish trade union structure thwarted

The SA Medical Association's attempt to disestablish its trade union structure has been rejected at an extraordinary general meeting. SAMA's leadership called the meeting...

WHO sends expertise as SA listeriosis deaths keep rising

The SA death toll from listeriosis has risen to 164, with nearly 900 documented cases in laboratories and half the fatalities being infants under...

Positive views on ageing protect against dementia even among the high-risk

Older adults who acquired positive beliefs about old age from their surrounding culture are less likely to develop dementia, according to a Yale study....

Yoghurt intake associated with lowered risk of cardiovascular disease

A large study from Boston University, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Harvard University, suggests that higher yoghurt intake is associated with lower cardiovascular disease...

Low immunisation rates fuels spread of measles in Europe

Cases of life-threatening measles have tripled in Europe because of a continent-wide outbreak, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control has warned. Low...

HPCSA 'must investigate' doctors who backed Schabir Shaik's medical parole

Fresh calls have been made to review Schabir Shaik’s health and medical parole conditions as it enters its ninth year, says a Sunday Tribune...

EU and WHO reports 'incomplete, unbalanced and uncritical' — international review

Recent reports from the European Union and the World Health Organisation that there is no safe limit for exposure to UV radiation from sunbeds,...

Eastern Cape’s 'deadly' incompetence and lack of capacity

With an annual healthcare budget of R21bn, the Eastern Cape faces R17bn in negligence litigation and is faltering under ‘deadly’ levels of incompetence and...

Gauteng Health ducks and dives on higher death toll and more missing patients

Gauteng Health is trying to evade responsibility for verifying the deaths of 12 additional people names by activists as perishing in the Life Esidimeni...

Newest, untreatable malaria strain alarms experts

The outbreak in Cambodia, then Thailand, Laos and most recently Vietnam, of malaria that is untreatable with the newest and best drugs we have...

Moderate alcohol use can be good for the heart if rich, fatal if poor

Moderately frequent alcohol users have a lower risk of dying from cardiovascular disease (CVD) than infrequent drinkers and this is more pronounced among those...

Air pollution increases death risk in patients with mental disorders

The risk of death for people with mental and behavioural disorders rises sharply on days when air pollution reaches toxic peaks, The Guardian reports...

Esidimeni: Gauteng premier had ordered that cost cuts should not affect core services

As the Life Esidimeni hearings wrap up, retired Justice Dikgang Moseneke‚ said he was still 'struggling' to work out the reasons for the tragedy....

New cancer diagnostic blood test could 'save countless lives'

A ground-breaking new blood test that can detect eight common types of cancer before they spread will save countless lives, reports The Guardian. Scientists...

Study ends debate over role of steroids in treating septic shock

Steroids reduced the duration of septic shock and the time spent on life support therapy in intensive care, but did not lead to fewer...

Esidimeni: Ignorance, half-truths and deception remain the norm

The Life Esidimeni arbitration hearing was delayed for weeks to hear Gauteng’s former health MEC testify. But, says a Daily Maverick report, under cross-examination,...

What a horrifying scandal reveals about a rotting SA

South Africa is one of the continent’s richest and most advanced countries. But, writes the Economist, the Esidimeni mental-health scandal illustrates its government’s deepest...

Medical detentions: African poor forced to have sex to pay hospital bills

Hospitals in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia are detaining hundreds of thousands of people against their will every year – many of them mothers and...

Bariatric surgery link to reduced mortality risk in obese patients

Obese patients undergoing bariatric surgery have half the risk of death, compared with those tackling their weight through diet and behaviour alone, a large...

Death from scheduled surgery in Africa is a post-operative problem

Despite having a better risk profile than those in high-income countries, the risk of dying from scheduled surgery in Africa is more than double...

Serious health risks to energy drinks — Harvard study

A Harvard review on energy drinks finds their advertised short-term benefits can be outweighed by serious health risks – which include risk-seeking behaviour, mental...

SA's listeriosis outbreak 'the worst in global history'

In the past month‚ another 167 people have contracted deadly listeriosis‚ bringing the total number of confirmed cases in South Africa to 717. And,...

Unique prosecution of UK transplant surgeon for signing the livers of patients

Simon Bramhall, a consultant surgeon specialising in liver transplantation, pleaded guilty in Birmingham Crown Court to “assault by beating”. He awaits sentencing. On two...

Magnetic field radiation puts pregnant women at risk

A Kaiser Permanente study of real-world exposure to non-ionising radiation from magnetic fields in pregnant women found a 2.5 times higher rate of miscarriage. Non-ionising...

Excitement as trial shows Huntington’s drug could slow the disease

The first human drug trial targeting the cause of Huntington’s disease was safe, well-tolerated and successfully lowered the level of the harmful huntingtin protein...

Mandatory clinical trials needed for implanted medical devices — Oxford study

Women have been exposed to unnecessary harm due to poor regulation, most recently for vaginal mesh products for prolapse, and a University of Oxford,...

Inquiry blames SA private hospitals for driving up costs

The SA Health Market Inquiry has blamed private hospitals for much of the above-inflation increases in expenditure reported by medical schemes, according to a...

Opportunism and crude populism lie behind claims of racism at Wits — Habib

Opportunism and a 'crude populism ... informed by racial chauvinism' underlies claims that the University of Witwatersrand medical faculty is racist, says Vice-Chancellor Adam...

Health Department warns on deadly SA listeriosis outbreak

The SA Health Department has warned on an outbreak of listeriosis that has claimed 36 lives and infected almost 600 people. Dr Aaron Motsoaledi...

Suspended HOD testifies at last, blames MEC

Suspended Gauteng Health head of department Dr Barney Selebano claims that the pressure to move patients to NGOs came from former Gauteng Health MEC...

2018 internships: Motsoaledi promises all will be placed. Or else

SA’s Health Department says all qualified final-year medical students, including those in ancillary services, will be get internships. However, the SA Medical Association remains...

First brain training exercise identified to reduce dementia risk

Ageing research specialists claim to have identified, for the first time, a form of mental exercise that can reduce the risk of dementia. The...

SA specialists argue for bladder sling surgery despite NICE ban recommendation

The UK’s health watchdog, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) this week issued a recommendation that vaginal mesh operations be banned...

Special journal issue on new approaches to treating HIV

Although some 19.5m HIV-infected people are receiving antiretroviral treatment, a substantial treatment gap leaves many millions of people at risk of Aids-related diseases and,...