While experts in the US warned that the US was not prepared to contain an Ebola outbreak, citing mistakes and missteps in the handling of the first US Ebola case which resulted in the death of Thomas Duncan last week, US officials and US President Barack Obama rejected increasing calls for travel restrictions to and … Read more
The largest Ebola outbreak in history, which began in Guinea earlier this year before spreading to other West African nations, has become the subject of a gene sequencing study by a Harvard team already well-versed in similar viruses. The research has discovered that the current Ebola outbreak has already mutated hundreds of times and continues to … Read more
The world’s tallest man, who had grown to 2.60 meters (8.5 feet) by age 44, has died from complications associated with the condition that was the cause of his ceaseless growth. Leonid Stadnyk had withdrawn from public attention after being briefly named by the Guinness World Records as the world’s tallest man in 2007. Stadnyk refused … Read more
A Mayo Clinic task force has put together an updated set of recommendations for cholesterol treatment. The last guideline update took place in 2001, and several changes have been recommended, including a recommendation that not all patients currently prescribed statins and other cholesterol-lowering medications should take them. The task force also had new recommendations for … Read more
“The best thing a mother can do for her newborn is breastfeed,” said the UN Friday, “which does more than help children survive–it helps them to thrive with benefits that last a lifetime.” The executive director of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Anthony Lake, made the statement, urging promotion of breastfeeding everywhere. “Immediate breastfeeding within … Read more
With the intention of marking “a turning point” in the intensifying Ebola outbreak plaguing three West African nations, the WHO met with the presidents of all the affected nations Friday to launch a joint $100 million response plan. Dr Margaret Chan, Director-General of the UN’s World Health Organization (WHO) met the leaders of Liberia, Guinea, … Read more
Last week, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Dr. Pepper Snapper all revealed their second quarter earnings report. Coca-Cola’s soda sales were flat in North America and its revenue fell 1.4 percent, despite a sales volume increase in other parts of the world. PepsiCo suffered a two percent fall in both profit and soda sales volume. Dr. Pepper … Read more
Researchers in Brazil have found a way to preserve bread kept at room temperature for up to 15 days without growing mold, and they have done it using natural preservatives rather than chemicals. Their report, “Edible Films from Methylcellulose and Nanoemulsions of Clove Bud (Syzygium aromaticum) and Oregano (Origanum vulgare) Essential Oils as Shelf Life … Read more
A new study conducted by William Paterson University has ranked the healthiest fruit and vegetable superfoods. The 41-item list was compiled based on nutrient density, and is considered to be an important step toward defining and quantifying green foods based on their nutritional value in order to help consumers in choosing the healthiest foods. The study, … Read more
Radio remains the dominant form of media in Africa, where most people do not have access to televisions and cannot always read newspapers, and the West African country of Mali has begun a new health program to educate people through the country’s most popular radio station. “Innovation doesn’t always come in the form of the … Read more
University of Missouri researchers have proven that a drug used as a cholesterol lowering agent not only halts breast cancer progression, but can kill cancerous cells, offering new promise to the one-in-eight women who will suffer from breast cancer in their lives. The drug therapy may even be more attractive than now-popular anti-hormone medicines, such … Read more
Seeking “a cheap and effective way to eliminate malaria from entire regions,” a team at Imperial College London’s Department of Life Sciences have modified mosquitos to produce sperm that creates 95 percent male offspring, leading to hopes that Malaria–which still kills 627,000 people per year, according to World Health Organization estimates–will be completely eradicated. The … Read more