Archive for the 'Health' Category
Food Packaging Chemicals May be Harmful to Human Health Over Long Term
March 5th, 2014Via: British Medical Journal Press Release: The synthetic chemicals used in the packaging, storage, and processing of foodstuffs might be harmful to human health over the long term, warn environmental scientists in a commentary in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. This is because most of these substances are not inert and can leach […]
A Powerful New Way to Edit DNA
March 4th, 2014Via: New York Times: In the late 1980s, scientists at Osaka University in Japan noticed unusual repeated DNA sequences next to a gene they were studying in a common bacterium. They mentioned them in the final paragraph of a paper: “The biological significance of these sequences is not known.” Now their significance is known, and […]
Sleep Problems Plague Device-Dependent Children
March 4th, 2014Via: The Fiscal Times: Parents reported that nearly 75 percent of children ages 6 to 17 have at least one electronic device in their bedroom, with many using those devices right before bedtime. “To ensure a better night’s sleep for their children, parents may want to limit their [children’s use of] technology in the bedroom […]
Blood Pressure Pills ‘Raise Risk of Fatal Fall’
February 27th, 2014Warning: Nothing that appears on Cryptogon should be considered medical advice. See: Cayenne + hypertension and Vitamin C + hypertension Via: Telegraph: Millions of older people taking high-blood pressure tablets, like beta-blockers, may be doing themselves more harm than good because the pills increase the risk of fatal falls, scientists have warned. Yale University has […]
Use of Prescription Drugs in Kentucky and West Virginia [???]
February 23rd, 2014I was reading this piece about the most miserable states in the U.S. when I came across this sentence in the section on Kentucky: The state’s population was the nation’s most reliant on prescription drugs, with 19.3 prescriptions filled per capita in 2011, tied with West Virginia. 😯 Would that be a world leading statistic? […]
Mysterious Polio-Like Illness Affects Kids in California
February 23rd, 2014Via: USA Today: A mysterious polio-like syndrome has affected as many as 25 California children, leaving them with paralyzed limbs and little hope of recovery. … While there haven’t been reports of the illness outside California, Van Haren thinks that’s only because no one is looking for it. He believes once doctors nationwide begin to, […]
Chevron Gives Residents Near Fracking Explosion Free Pizza
February 21st, 2014Via: Newsweek: After a Chevron hydraulic fracturing well exploded in rural Dunkard Township, Pennsylvania, last Tuesday, and burned for four days straight, the energy company knew just the way to soothe nearby residents: free pizza.
Brain Implant Lets One Monkey Control Another
February 20th, 2014Via: Live Science: In work inspired partly by the movie “Avatar,” one monkey could control the body of another monkey using thought alone by connecting the brain of the puppet-master monkey to the spine of the other through a prosthesis, researchers say. These findings could help lead to implants that help patients overcome paralysis, scientists […]
Paxil May Promote Breast Cancer
February 20th, 2014Via: Los Angeles Times: A team of researchers from the City of Hope in Duarte has developed a speedy way to identify drugs and chemicals that can disrupt the balance of sex hormones in human beings and influence the development and progress of diseases such as breast cancer. In a trial screening of 446 drugs […]
Washington: ‘Bizarre’ Cluster of Severe Birth Defects Haunts Health Experts
February 17th, 2014Via: NBC: A mysterious cluster of severe birth defects in rural Washington state is confounding health experts, who say they can find no cause, even as reports of new cases continue to climb. Federal and state officials won’t say how many women in a three-county area near Yakima, Wash., have had babies with anencephaly, a […]
