Mental Health

Decreased U.S. suicide rates are associated with increased Prozac (fluoxetine) prescriptions, finds a study published in Public Library of Science Medicine. Researchers from UCLA show that annual rates of suicide in the United States fell gradually after Prozac’s introduction in 1998. From 1960 to 1988, rates of suicide were about 13 to 14 people per [...]

Four months of transcendental meditation may create small improvements in blood pressure and insulin resistance in elderly people with heart disease, finds a new study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine. Researchers from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles compared 52 elderly patients assigned to meditation to 51 patients assigned to receive general health [...]

All the recent talk about health care reform has me thinking about an article I read last year about who pays for health care. So let’s begin with a question; namely, who do you think pays for health care? Is it employers? The government? Insurance companies? Individuals? If you’re like most Americans, you probably believe [...]

Beastie Boy Adam Yauch, who also goes by the name “MCA,” has announced that he’s about to undergo treatment for a cancerous tumor in his left parotid gland, which has caused the Beastie Boys to cancel their upcoming concert tour and postpone their new album release. The news has left many people with questions about [...]

In a study, published in the journal Hepatology, researchers at the University of Southampton found that a high fat diet during a woman’s pregnancy makes her offspring more likely to develop a severe form of fatty liver disease when they reach adulthood. The findings are another piece in the jigsaw for scientists who believe diets [...]

Despite the severity of disease and the intensity of treatment, most patients in Australia and New Zealand who experienced respiratory failure as a result of 2009 influenza A(H1N1) and were treated with a system that adds oxygen to the patient’s blood survived the disease, according to a new study.
The influenza A(H1N1) pandemic affected Australia and [...]

WASHINGTON (AP) — The people who most want the swine flu vaccine are older people, who will be last in line, says a new Associated Press-GfK poll.
The survey raises questions about government efforts to stem illnesses already spreading widely across the country.
Vaccine started trickling out this week, but only 52 percent of Americans say they’re [...]

ATLANTA (AP) — Health officials said Friday that 76 children have died of swine flu, including 16 new reports in the past week — more evidence the new virus is unusually dangerous in kids.
The regular flu kills between 46 and 88 children a year, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.
With swine flu [...]

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded a grant to the American College of Cardiology (ACC) in partnership with The Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) to study the comparative effectiveness of the two forms of coronary revascularization; percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and coronary artery bypass graft [...]

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded a grant to the American College of Cardiology (ACC) in partnership with The Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) to study the comparative effectiveness of the two forms of coronary revascularization; percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and coronary artery bypass graft [...]