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Editor's Pick
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...
Upper limit put on safe consumption of coffee
Latte, cappuccino or short black, a morning coffee is an essential for many people looking to kick start their day. But while the humble...
WHO issues its first guidelines on reducing dementia risk
The World Health Organisation has launched its first ever guidelines on how people can help avoid getting dementia.
People can reduce their risk of dementia...
Poor sense of smell in older adults linked to 50% increased mortality risk
A new Michigan State University study suggests that older adults with poor sense of smell may see an almost 50% increase in their risk...
Perseverance to fend off depression, anxiety and panic —18-year study
"Perseverance cultivates a sense of purposefulness that can create resilience against or decrease current levels of major depressive disorder, generalised anxiety disorder and panic...
Late dinner and not eating breakfast raises heart attack risk
People who skip breakfast and eat dinner near bedtime have a four to five times higher likelihood of death, another heart attack, or angina...
Walnuts may help lower blood pressure for those at risk of heart disease
In a randomised, controlled trial, researchers examined the effects of replacing some of the saturated fats in participants' diets with walnuts. They found that...
Meat eating even at guideline levels linked to 20% higher cancer risk
People who eat red and processed meat within department of health guidelines are still at increased risk of bowel cancer, according to a study...
A better way to treat prolonged epileptic seizures in children
A New Zealand-Australian study has delivered "robust" evidence for emergency medicine doctors to manage children with prolonged seizures without reverting to intubation and intensive...