News on The Lancet

Talk therapy reduces back pain

2010-02-26T11:45:51Z

<div><p>NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People with chronic low-back pain can benefit from cognitive behavioral therapy, a new British report shows.</p><p>Low-back pain is one of the most costly and disabling health problems in developed countries, the researchers write in The Lancet, but so far effective treatment has been lacking.</p><p>When they...

Study: Health rules on flying with TB too strict

2010-02-22T09:17:25Z

<div id="subtitle">TB study says US, global health officials too strict on flight rules for TB patients</div><div><p>Provocative new research suggests international rules that bar potentially infectious tuberculosis patients from flying are too stringent and airline passengers are really at little risk from catching TB from a fellow traveler.</p><p>Global and U.S. health authorities also go too far in advising testing of passengers and crew on long flights whe...

Placebo effect broader than thought: study

2010-02-22T08:22:01Z

&lt;div&gt;&lt;p&gt;Drugs may cure the sick, but patients can also benefit from the warmth and wisdom of the doctors treating them, according to a new Australian study into the impact of placebos released Friday.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Sydney University's Damien Finniss led a team of international experts wh...

UK medical journal retracts flawed vaccine study

2010-02-22T12:40:37Z

<div><p>A major British medical journal on Tuesday retracted a flawed study linking the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine to autism and bowel disease.</p><p>The retraction by The Lancet comes a day after a competing medical journal, BMJ, issued an embargoed commentary calling for The Lancet to formally retract the study. The commentary was to have been published on Wednesday.</p&am...

The Lancet retracts flawed autism study

2010-02-22T12:41:55Z

<div><p>British medical journal The Lancet says it has retracted a flawed study linking the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine to autism and bowel disease.</p><p>The Lancet published the controversial paper by Andrew Wakefield and colleagues in 1998. British parents abandoned the vaccine in droves, leading to a resurgence of m...

80 percent of Darfur conflict deaths due to disease

2010-02-22T16:22:35Z

<div><p>LONDON (Reuters) - Nearly 80 percent of the 300,000 conflict-related deaths in Darfur were due to diseases like diarrhea, not violence, Belgian scientists said on Friday.</p><p>An analysis of deaths dating from 2003, when rebels took up arms against the government of Sudan, showed th...

Lancet blasts aid 'industry' in Haiti chaos

2010-02-22T16:23:27Z

<div><p>The leading medical journal The Lancet on Friday accused major aid organisations of corporate preening and self-interest that had contributed to bedlam in the effort to help Haiti.</p><p>"International organisations, national governments and non-governmental organisations are rightly mobilising, but also jostling for position, each claiming...

Got a pet tarantula? Better protect your eyes

2010-02-23T07:14:53Z

<div><p>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Here's some advice stemming from the unusual case of a man who had spider hairs stuck in his cornea: Be sure to cover your eyes when hanging around with your pet tarantula.</p><p>Ophthalmologists at St. James's University Hospital in The Lancet British medical journal.&...

Action on climate change 'also averts health crisis'

2010-02-24T00:42:13Z

<div><p>Climate change will imperil health through malaria, cholera, heatwaves and hunger, but many problems can be eased or avoided if countries make wise policy choices, doctors said on Wednesday.</p><p>In a series of papers issued ahead of the UN climate conference in Copenhagen, experts challenged governments to factor in publ...

Embryonic stem cells harnessed for skin grafts

2010-02-24T03:05:07Z

<div><p>French doctors on Friday said they had used human embryonic stem cells to grow skin that one day may be used as potentially life-saving temporary patches for patients suffering bad burns.</p><p>The laboratory achievement has been tested on mice and not yet on human volunteers, but the researchers believe it could be a boon for surgeons striving to save patients awaiting skin grafts.</p><p>For more than tw...

Groups at risk from swine flu should avoid hajj: study

2010-02-24T05:41:39Z

<div><p>People at risk of suffering severe consequences from swine flu should postpone going to the hajj in 2009, according to a study released on Saturday.</p><p>Some 2.5 million Muslims from more than 160 countries converge annually on the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina in western Saudi Arabia<...

Study says combined therapy helps head, neck cancer

2010-02-24T13:33:40Z

<div><p>LONDON (Reuters) - Patients with non-operable head and neck cancers should be given chemo- and radiotherapy at the same time, as it more than doubles the time they live without the disease getting worse, British scientists said on Wednesday.</p><p>Researchers from the UK Head and Neck (UKHAN) cancer group said their study offered doctors a cheap and simple way of trea...

Gene therapy cures congenital form of blindness

2010-02-24T14:53:47Z

<div><p>Exhilarated scientists on Saturday announced they had used gene therapy to restore eyesight to children blighted by a rare, inherited form of creeping blindness.</p><p>Youngsters were able to walk unaided around dimly-lit obstacles, take part in lessons at school without extra help -- and one child saw the colour of his father's eyes for the very first time.</p><p>The revolutionary treatment targets a dis...

Diabetes drug also helps weight loss for obese: study

2010-02-24T15:30:30Z

<div><p>A hormone drug licensed for diabetes also helps obese people lose weight when used in combination with a low-fat diet and physical exercise, according to a trial published online on Friday by The Lancet.</p><p>Liraglutide, marketed as Victoza, outperformed the established anti-obesity drug orlistat, commercialised as Alli or Xenical, am...

Bowel disease drugs increase cancer risk: study

2010-02-24T17:27:04Z

<div><p>LONDON (Reuters) - Some treatments for inflammatory bowel disease increase the risk of infection-related cancers, French scientists said on Monday, but the benefits of the drugs still outweigh the risks.</p><p>Thiopurine drugs -- immunosuppressive medicines that inhibit the body's immune system -- are regularly used to treat inflammatory bowel disease, the researchers...

Flu boosts heart-attack risk: study

2010-02-25T04:20:26Z

<div><p>Heart problems may account for a huge share of deaths from influenza, according to a study published on Tuesday that recommends cardiac patients be vaccinated against flu.</p><p>The paper, published in the journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases, reviews mortality figures for acute myocardial infarction -- a sudden heart attack -- and cardiovascular disease during outbreaks of flu b...

Flu boosts heart-attack risk, says study

2010-02-25T04:22:31Z

Road deaths, suicides, violence reap toll among young

2010-02-25T09:08:26Z

<div><p>Traffic accidents, suicide and violence, as well as AIDS and tuberculosis are among the leading causes of early death among the world's under-24s, according to a paper published on Friday in The Lancet.</p><p>Epidemiologists pored over data from the 2.6 million deaths that occurred among the world's population of 1.8 billion aged between 10 and 24 in 2004.</p><...

South Africa launches child vaccination campaign

2010-02-25T10:46:13Z

<div id="subtitle">South Africa launches campaign to get vaccinations, vitamins to 3 million children</div><div><p>The doctor praised for re-energizing South Africa's Health Ministry launched a major campaign Monday to get vaccinations and immunity-boosting vitamins to 3 million children across the country over the next two weeks.</p><p>Temporary clinics wer...