Celebs follow Zuma's lead

After President Jacob Zuma took a public HIV test in an effort to encourage his countrymen and women to do the same, local celebs are following his lead. Read more >>

Warn your children about abuse - it's your duty!

What's easier to bear... some embarrassment when explaining something to your children, or having to bear their enduring trauma thanks to abuse? Parents fail to warn children about sexual abuse perpetrated by relatives and known individuals. Read more >>

Kidney disease genes discovered

[Dr Ananya Mandal] Chronic kidney disease affects one in 10 adults and can severely damage a patient's quality of life over years. This disease is linked to advanced age with one in five men and one in four women aged between 65 and 74 developing some degree of kidney damage. Diabetes and high blood pressure are the commonest causes of this condition. Apart from a regular need for dialysis there may be a need for kidney transplant. These patients are susceptible to multiple ailments like anaemia, bone disease, infections etc. that may lead to a premature death. Read more >>

ASA deflates breast cream claims

A marketing campaign for a herbal cream that supposedly enlarges women's breasts has been nipped in the bud by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). Read more >>

Researchers find a way to predict treatment outcomes in young leukaemia patients

Researchers from the Children's Cancer Hospital at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Centre may have found a way to more accurately predict treatment outcomes in young leukaemia patients using information from a common and simple complete blood count test, also known as a CBC. Read more >>

Obstructive sleep apnea more than doubles stroke risk in men

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is associated with an increased risk of stroke in middle-aged and older adults, especially men, according to new results from new research supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health. Overall, sleep apnea more than doubles the risk of stroke in men. Read more >>

Raised levels of carbon dioxide in blood may lead to ‘near death experiences'

Near death experiences (NDEs), reported to include sensations such as life flashing before the eyes, feelings of peace and joy, and apparent encounters with mystical entities, may be caused by raised levels of carbon dioxide in the blood. Researchers writing in BioMed Central's open access journal Critical Care investigated the unexplained events in 52 cardiac arrest patients. Read more >>

Measure of blood flow in lungs could help identify smokers at risk of emphysema

CT scans can detect differences in lung blood flow patterns, which identify smokers most at risk of emphysema. Read more >>

Kids walk their way to better health

Children who walk to school are more physically active in their day-to-day activities around their neighbourhood than those children who are driven to school, a new study finds. Read more >>

Researchers discover two genetic regions that influence birth weight

New research uncovers two genetic regions that influence birth weight. One of the regions is also associated with type 2 diabetes, which helps to explain why small babies have higher rates of diabetes in later life. Read more >>

Study: Reduced birth weight may lower risk of obesity later in life

According to a new study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM), regular moderate-intensity aerobic exercise led to a modest reduction in offspring birth weight without restricting the development of maternal insulin resistance. Read more >>

Socially deprived children appear to benefit from foster care

Socially deprived children removed from orphanages and placed in foster care appear to experience gains in growth and intelligence, catching up to their non-institutionalised peers on many measures, according to a report posted online today that will appear in the June print issue of Archives of Paediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. Read more >>

Sierra Leone: A ballooning drug problem

Some 30 people trying to beat addiction to drugs like cocaine, marijuana, alcohol and heroin - locally known as "brown-brown" - are on a waiting list for 'City of Rest', Sierra Leone's only residential drug rehabilitation centre, in the capital, Freetown. Read more >>

Death of the Deputy Minister of Health, Dr Molefi Sefularo

The Hospital Association of South Africa (Hasa) has reacted with shock at the death of the Deputy Minister of Health, Dr Molefi Sefularo. Read more >>

New muco-adhesive patch may help treat oral disorders

A newly developed time-released muco-adhesive patch for treating oral health conditions, including the widespread condition of dry mouth (xerostomia), has been shown to be more effective than a leading oral rinse, according to a newly-published study. As increasing segments of the population consume more medications (one of the leading causes of dry mouth), the results of this study could potentially help provide relief for millions of Americans. Chronic dry mouth impacts the quality of life and for some, can be debilitating. Read more >>

Broken heart disease affects women in post menopause period

It seems an infarction, but it's not. It's called Tako-Tsubo syndrome, or stress-induced cardiomyopathy, and it's a rare disease which at first used to be confused with the far more common (and dangerous) cardiac infarction. Patients arrive to the emergency room with the characteristic heart attack symptoms: acute pain in the chest, an electrocardiogram with the typical changes and the release of those enzymes associated with the usual heart disease. Yet, as soon as a coronarography is performed, in order to discover the location where the occlusion preventing the blood reaching the heart was formed, nothing is found. In the infarction this occlusion causes a number of heart cells to die. Read more >>

Martina undergoing therapy for breast cancer, urges women to be more vigilant

[Dr Ananya Mandal] The tennis legend Martina Navratilova has revealed on Wednesday that she is undergoing therapy for breast cancer. She has always been revered for her health and performance. Just a month short of her 50th birthday, Navratilova won her last grand slam title, the mixed doubles at the 2006 US Open, and in retirement she wrote a 'how-to' book about good living. She was a winner of a record nine Wimbledon singles titles, 59 grand slam titles, including 18 singles trophies and arguably the greatest female athlete of all time. Read more >>

Canderel launches Candescent Pocket Packs in support of breast cancer

Canderel, patrons of PinkLink, has pledged R1 to PinkLink Breast Cancer Advocacy for every one of the new Candescent Pocket Packs purchased. Read more >>