back to top
Sunday, 6 July, 2025
HomeEditor's Pick

Editor's Pick

Veterinarians have up to 3.5 higher risk of suicide — US study

While it might sound like fun to work around pets every day, veterinarians and people who volunteer at animal shelters face particular stressors that...

Major surgery increases odds of decline in brain functioning

Major surgery is associated with small, long term decline in brain functioning. On average, this was equivalent to less than five months of brain...

Three or more caffeinated drinks could trigger migraines

A study by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), Brigham and Women's Hospital and the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health...

War metaphors in cancer treatment may do more harm than good

The ubiquitous use of war metaphors when referring to cancer may do more harm than good. The Guardian reports that this is according to...

Higher vitamin A intake linked to lower skin cancer risk

People whose diets included high levels of vitamin A had a 17% reduction in risk for getting cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma, the second-most-common type...

Vaccine for genital chlamydia shown to be safe and effective

The first ever early clinical trial for a vaccine for genital chlamydia has shown it to be safe and effective at provoking an immune...

Tests show brain changes in US government personnel in Cuba

Brain imaging of 40 US government personnel who experienced a host of neurological symptoms after possible exposure of an unknown source while serving in...

Current solid food guides could lead to overfeeding

Starting six-month-old infants on solid food in the amounts recommended by standard feeding guides may lead to overfeeding, according to a study by scientists...

Daily 'tickling' of the vagus nerve may improve mood and sleep

Scientists found that a short daily therapy, stimulating the vagus nerve with an electrical current, delivered for two weeks led to both physiological and...

No elevated cardiac risk in ultramarathon runners

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...

CRISPR technology used to eliminate HIV virus in living mice

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...

Health MEC 'quite shocked' over maggots in mouth of patient who died

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...

Statins linked to doubled risk of type 2 diabetes

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...

Up to half of men under 50 suffer from erectile dysfunction

Up to half of men under the age of 50 are suffering from erectile dysfunction as impotence rates have more than doubled in the...

Flying insects and spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in hospitals

More than 50% of bacteria recovered from flying insects in a group of English hospitals were resistant to one or more antibiotics, posing a...

Higher risk of stillbirth in longer pregnancies — analysis of 15m women

With every week that a pregnancy continues past term (37 weeks), the risk of stillbirth increases, according to an analysis of more than 15m...

One-day a week employment suffices for optimal mental wellbeing

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...

Home exercise regimen matches UK guidelines in less time

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...

Yoghurt may lower pre-cancerous bowel growth risk in men

Eating two or more weekly servings of yoghurt is associated with lower risk of developing the adenomas which precede the development of bowel cancer...

UK medical schools fail to provide adequate training on eating disorders

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...

SA wild animals most dangerous to people — ER data

The question as to which SA wild animals are the most dangerous to people is addressed by Medibank data for 2015 to 2018, on...

Topical cream effective in reversing effects of vitiligo

A nationwide phase II clinical trial, coordinated out of Tufts Medical Centre in Boston, has found that a topical cream was extremely effective in...

Stimulation of vagus nerve to treat rheumatoid arthritis pain

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...

Red and white meat have equal effect on cholesterol levels

Contrary to popular belief, consuming red meat and white meat such as poultry, have equal effects on blood cholesterol levels, according to research. The...

Five-year outcomes for face transplant recipients

Brigham and Women's Hospital surgical teams have performed face transplants for people who have suffered from severe facial injuries. The surgery holds the promise...

High daily coffee use not linked to arterial stiffness — large study

In a large middle-aged UK cohort without cardiovascular disease, moderate to heavy coffee consumption — up to 25 cups a day — was not...

Music enhances high-level cognitive brain networks in premature infants

Considerably premature infants exposed to music in the neonatal intensive care units have significantly increased coupling between brain networks previously shown to be decreased...

Midday naps: Happier children with higher IQs — cohort study

Ask just about any parent whether napping has benefits and you'll likely hear a resounding "yes," particularly for the child's mood, energy levels, and...

Inability to act when experiencing heart attack symptoms

Some patients experiencing a heart attack have a paralysing inability to act on the symptoms, putting them in a life-threatening situation, according to Swedish...

Respiratory distress trial settles issue of paralysing and sedating

A National Institutes of Health trial — stopped early due to futility — settles a long-standing debate in critical care medicine about whether it...

Protocol sends 92% of cancer surgery patients home without opioids

A specialised pain management programme for patients who underwent robotic surgery for urologic cancers resulted in just 8% going home with narcotics after discharge,...

Meta-analysis isolates job advantages enjoyed by extroverts

Extroversion in the workplace was found to be linked with a few key advantages, found a University of Toronto study. "There's been much debate in...

Aspirin okay for brain bleed stroke patients – RESTART clinical trial

People who suffer a brain haemorrhage can take common medicines like aspirin and clopidogrel without raising their risk of another stroke, a major clinical...

Older fathers increase pregnancy risk — Rutgers research review

Men who delay starting a family have a ticking “biological clock” – just like women – that may affect the health of their partners...

Loss of heart function in type 2 diabetes reduced by high-intensity exercise

University of Otago researchers have discovered that high-intensity exercise can reduce or reverse the loss in heart function caused by type 2 diabetes. The...

Largest FMT study in children to date identifies predictors of success

Faecal microbiota transplant (FMT), or the transfer of stool from a healthy donor to a patient, has been found highly effective in reversing severe...

Eating ultra-processed food increases risk of weight gain

People eating ultra-processed foods ate more calories and gained more weight than when they ate a minimally processed diet, according to results from a...

Walking and strength training may decrease cirrhosis mortality risk

Physical activity, including walking and muscle-strengthening activities, were associated with significantly reduced risk of cirrhosis-related death, according to research presented at Digestive Disease Week®...

Alternative treatment for epileptic seizures in children

The anti-convulsant drug levetiracetam could be considered as a first-choice second-line treatment for the management of paediatricc onvulsive status epilepticus (CSE), found a three-year randomised clinical...

Appendix removal associated with development of Parkinson’s disease

Patients who had their appendix removed were more likely to develop Parkinson's disease than those whose appendix remained in place, according to the largest...