Health & Fitness
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NSW pulls the plug on solariums
Australia's most populous state has pulled the plug on sunbeds, imposing a new ban that will outlaw indoor tanning from 2014.
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Tuesday, February 21, 2012 , by
Kerry Sheridan
Counting calories? Are your figures adding up?
Everything the world knows about dieting is wrong, say US scientists who have devised a new formula for calculating calories and weight loss that they hope will revolutionise the way people tackle obesity. Obesity rates have...
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Tuesday, February 21, 2012 , by
Deborah Jones
First test-tube hamburger cooking up
The world’s first test-tube meat, a hamburger made from a cow’s stem cells, will be produced this autumn, Dutch scientist Mark Post told a major science conference. Mr Post’s aim is to invent an efficient way to produce skeletal mu...
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Everything you know about dieting is wrong: US scientists
Everything you know about dieting is wrong, say US scientists who have devised a new formula for calculating calories and weight loss that they hope will revolutionize the way people tackle obesity. Obesity rates have doubled...
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Monday, February 20, 2012
Chip inserted under the skin delivers drug
A microchip inserted under the skin has been shown for the first time to successfully deliver a bone-loss drug to a small sample of women, according to newly released US-led research. The device may someday allow patients to avoid...
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Monday, February 20, 2012
Antibiotics don’t help sinusitis
Antibiotics provide little help to people with sinus infections, according to a study which suggested doctors are prescribing the drugs too often. The study that appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association found tha...
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Monday, February 20, 2012 , by
Ben Mitchell
New scan to help cancer treatment
Patients with the same form of cancer that Apple supremo Steve Jobs suffered from could benefit from a new form of scan aimed at seeing who would respond to specialist treatment. Scientists have developed the scan which can be used...
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Monday, February 20, 2012 , by
Shingo Ito
Robot seals heal hearts of tsunami survivors
High-tech fluffy seals that respond to human touch are the latest weapon in the battle against depression for survivors of Japan’s tsunami disaster. Paro is being offered to people made homeless by the disaster and is...
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Sunday, February 19, 2012 , by
Matthew Muscat Inglott
The macho man’s guide to survival at a new gym
From our workplaces and lunch break cafes to the chat shows we follow on radio and television, many of the conversations we couldn’t help but overhear over the last fortnight often shared one common prevailing theme. Every...
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Sunday, February 19, 2012 , by
Kathryn Borg
The pet food industry
The dilemma of what to feed our pets is one that any pet owner will have faced at some time. In some ways it is similar to feeding babies. It is easy to buy pre-prepared food in this mad, stressful, busy life we lead, so we...
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Sunday, February 19, 2012 , by
AFP
Microchip successfully delivers bone-loss drug
A microchip inserted under the skin has been shown for the first time to successfully deliver a bone-loss drug to a small sample of women, according to US-led research published last Thursday. The device may someday allow patients to avoid...
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Sunday, February 19, 2012 , by
PA
UK divided on smoking mothers
Women in the North East of England are over three times more likely to be smokers at the time they give birth as those in London, figures show. Data from the NHS Information Centre revealed 20.2 per cent of women in the North East were...
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Sunday, February 19, 2012 , by
PA
Measles outbreak declared on Merseyside
A measles outbreak has been declared after six people required hospital treatment on Merseyside, UK. The Health Protection Agency (HPA) said there were 13 confirmed and 16 suspected cases in the area, ranging in age from nine months to adu...
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Thursday, February 16, 2012 , by
Ella Pickover
When sleepless nights persist
People who suffer from disrupted sleep may have memory problems in later life, new research suggests. Scientists have linked poor sleep with a build-up of amyloid plaques – sticky clumps of protein that build up in the brain which...
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Thursday, February 16, 2012
Air pollution increases risk of heart attacks
Scientists have linked exposure to air pollution to an increased risk of heart attack. Researchers said that being exposed to all major toxic fumes, except ozone, for a period of up to seven days “significantly” increased the risk. ...
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Thursday, February 16, 2012
Aspirin may stop spread of cancer
Aspirin and other household drugs may inhibit the spread of cancer because they help shut down the chemical “highways” which feed tumours, Australian researchers said. Scientists at Melbourne’s Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre said th...
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Dying father gets to hold his baby
A pregnant wife whose husband had terminal cancer in Dallas had their daughter induced two weeks early so he could see the baby before he died. Five days after Diane Aulger gave birth husband Mark died, having had his wish to to hold...
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Sunday, February 12, 2012 , by
Matthew Muscat Inglott
Walk away your cravings
Chocolate has been no stranger to the news headlines lately. As with all the things we love the most, not surprisingly the news is normally negative in nature. CNN recently uncovered the scandalous use of child slave workers in the...
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Sunday, February 12, 2012 , by
Kathryn Borg
The good, bad and the healthy
There have been some recent health updates that everyone should find of interest. I will include as many as I can in today’s column. • Last year I wrote about the full-body X-ray scanners being introduced in the US and...
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Sunday, February 12, 2012
2,045 people tested for blood glucose
Around 2,045 people were recently tested for blood glucose in just four hours during a nationwide blood glucose monitoring initiative by the Maltese Diabetes Association. The tests were carried out in several locations, including shopping...
