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Editor's Pick
First double hand transplant child can now write, feed and dress independently
The world's first double hand transplant in a child has been successful under carefully considered circumstances, according to a study in The Lancet.
The study...
Being even just a little generous makes people happier
Being even a little generous or merely promising to be so, triggers a change in the brain that makes people happier, found a University...
Working long hours increases atrial fibrillation risk
People who work long hours have an increased risk of developing an irregular heart rhythm known as atrial fibrillation, according to a study of...
Contracting shingles doubles stroke and heart attack risk
Contracting shingles, a reactivation of the chickenpox virus, increases a person's risk of stroke and heart attack, according to a research letter.
According to the...
New early warning test for coronary artery disease
Researchers at the University of Oxford have developed a new type of imaging test to provide an early warning of coronary artery disease, and...
Soccer beats swimming and cycling for bone development in boys
Playing soccer can significantly improve bone development in adolescent boys after one-year's training, compared to swimming, cycling and non-sport playing, University of Exeter research...
Brain training game improves memory in early stage dementia patients
A 'brain training' game developed by researchers at the University of Cambridge robustly improved episodic memory of patients in the very earliest stages of...
Teenage weight gain linked to increased stroke risk as an adult
Kids who become overweight during their teenage years may be more likely to develop a stroke decades later than kids who did not become...
Air pollution cuts life expectancy by far more than thought
A Danish study shows that, on average, an increase in pollution particles in the air of 10 micrograms per cubic metre cuts victims' life...
Cognitive performance and cocoa flavanols – research review
An Italian research review of randomised controlled trials into the effect of cocoa flavanols found a beneficial effect on cognitive performance.
A balanced diet is chocolate...
Persistent mental distress linked to higher risk of death in heart patients
In patients with stable coronary artery disease, persistent psychological distress of at least moderate severity is associated with a substantial increase in cardiovascular and...
A lover's touch eases pain as heartbeats, breathing synchronise
When an empathetic partner holds the hand of a woman in pain, their heart and respiratory rates synchronise and her pain dissipates, found a...
Concerns raised over accuracy of melanoma diagnoses
A study of US pathologists shows that diagnoses can vary among pathologists, particularly for cases in the middle of the disease spectrum, suggesting the potential...
Yoga not as safe as is commonly assumed
Recreational yoga causes musculoskeletal pain in 10% of people - comparable to the injury rate of all sports injuries combined among the physically active population...
Moderate-intensity walking may reduce VCI symptoms
A moderate-intensity walking regimen may reduce symptoms of mild vascular cognitive impairment (VCI), a small Canadian study suggests.
Participants with vascular cognitive impairment, sometimes called...
New drug helps control symptoms in psoriatic arthritis patients
In a phase-3 clinical trial, patients with psoriatic arthritis for whom standard-of-care pharmaceutical treatments have provided no lasting relief, experienced a significant reduction in...
Music therapy for schizophrenia – Cochrane evidence review
Moderate- to low-quality evidence suggests that music therapy as an addition to standard care improves the global state, mental state, social functioning, and quality...
UK study could be a breakthrough in autopsy practice
For most sudden natural adult deaths investigated by British coroners, postmortem computing tomography, enhanced with targeted coronary angiography (PMCTA) could be used to avoid...
Higher mortality rates with older/busier physicians
Within the same hospital, patients treated by older physicians had higher mortality than patients cared for by younger physicians, except those physicians treating high...
One-third of hypertension patients not taking medication – UK/Czech study
More than a third of people with high blood pressure had not been taking their blood pressure medication, found a study on a UK/Czech sample...
Official UK guidelines on drinking during pregnancy 'too prescriptive'
Women are being unduly alarmed by official UK guidelines that warn them to avoid alcohol completely during pregnancy, experts claim. The Guardian reports that...
Aspirin use doesn't lower risk of stroke for a-fib patients
Atrial fibrillation patients who received a catheter ablation and were low risk for stroke didn't benefit from long-term aspirin therapy, but are at risk...
CDC modelling study sounds warning on TB in SA
South Africa, along with India, Russia and the Philippines, will over the next two decades face dramatically rising rates of drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB), according...
Any exercise boosts mood and reduces depression
For people leading a sedentary lifestyle, simply getting out of your chair and moving around can reduce depression and lift your spirits, found a...
Gut microbiome used to predict advanced NAFLD
The unique microbial makeup of a patient's stool sample can be used to predict advanced nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) with 88% to 94%...
Stereotactic radiation highly effective for kidney cancer
Treating metastatic kidney cancer with stereotactic ablative radiation therapy achieves more than 90% control of local tumours, and offers the possibility of safely delaying...
Over half of e-cigarette users giving up smoking tobacco
More than half of the UK's electronic-cigarette users have since given up smoking tobacco, a King’s College study suggests.
Some 1.5m vapers are ex-smokers, compared...
Statin side effects are the result of negative expectations
An Imperial College London study suggests that common statin side effects of muscle pain and weakness are not a result of the drugs themselves,...
Non-O blood groups associated with higher heart attack risk
Having a non-O blood group is associated with a higher risk of heart attack, according to a large analysis presented at Heart Failure 2017...
SA trainee doctors inadequately prepared to prescribe antibiotics
Trainee SA doctors are inadequately prepared to prescribe antibiotics‚ found a survey at the universities of the Witwatersrand, Free State and Cape Town.
The Times...
Grey hair linked with increased heart disease risk in men
A high hair whitening score was associated with increased risk of coronary artery disease, independent of chronological age and established cardiovascular risk factors, found...
Regular exercise significantly boosts brain power in the over 50s
A combination of aerobic and resistance exercises can significantly boost the brain power of the over 50s, finds the most comprehensive review of the...
Serum test to identify abusive head trauma in infants
A serum-based test, which needs to be validated in a larger population and receive regulatory approval, has been developed that would be the first...
Close to half GPs in UK plan to quit
About two in five GPs in the south-west of England are planning to quit, exposing a potential doctors’ crisis in the National Health Service...
Weak grip a strong predictor of metabolic disease and disability
A simple test to determine a person's grip strength is a robust predictor of developing metabolic disorders in middle or older age, a cross-continental...
New drug cuts number and severity of hot flushes
An experimental drug has been shown to dramatically cut the number of hot flushes in women with severe menopause symptoms, says a Pharmaceutical Journal...
Asthma drug effective for patients with urticaria
The asthma drug Omalizumab is shown to be effective in treating hives, found two separate German clinical studies.
Patients who develop itchy wheals in response...
Booster vaccine during pregnancy cuts pertussis incidence in infants
Among infants of women who received the Tdap pertussis booster vaccine during pregnancy, the risk of contracting pertussis was reduced by an estimated 91%...
How nature's sounds help us to relax
A Brighton and Sussex Medical School study found that playing 'natural sounds' affected the bodily systems that control the flight-or-fright and rest-digest autonomic...
Blood test helps determine medication to treat depression
Thanks to a blood test, doctors can for the first time determine which medication is more likely to help a patient overcome depression, according...