Autistic Children May Benefit From Sensory Integration Therapy

Autistic children may reap substantial benefits from sensory integration therapy according to a new study released by Temple University. The study found that children who participated in the therapy exhibited fewer autistic mannerisms. Read more

Common Viruses May Contribute To Development Of Lung Cancer

Although smoking is the biggest culprit in the development of lung cancer, recent studies have shown that other factors, like common viruses, may affect a person’s likelihood of developing the disease. This finding was a major topic of discussion at the first European Lung Cancer Conference held recently in Geneva, Switzerland. Read more

Fibromyalgia Cure Eludes Medical Professionals

Fibromyalgia, a condition which causes exhaustion, sleep disturbances and widespread muscle pain, is still something of a mystery to physicians and to the patients who suffer from it. The condition may affect as much as 3-6 percent of the U.S. population and is more common in women than in men. Read more

Lasik Complications Discussed At FDA Hearing

Although the majority of patients who undergo Lasik surgery to improve their vision report satisfactory results, there are some who experience complications that significantly impact their quality of life, according to testimony heard this week at a hearing hosted by the Food and Drug Administration. Patients and family members testified about problems such as double vision, blurred vision, decreased night vision and other problems. Read more

Vision Improves with Gene Therapy for Congenital Eye Disease

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania report success in restoring vision to three patients with LCA, or Leber congenital amaurosis, a group of inherited diseases that destroy light receptors in the retina. Affected individuals develop symptoms in childhood and progress to total blindness by the time they are in their twenties or thirties. Gene therapy improved eyesight in the three patients, ages 19, 26 and 26, taking part in the study. Read more

Stimulating Immune Function With Lithium and Antidepressants

By Julian Lieb, M.D.

Stimulating immune function would transform the prevention, treatment, research and economics of infectious disorders, among them the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), hospital-acquired infections, antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections, resistant tuberculosis, a possible avian influenza pandemic and acts of bioterrorism. Immune stimulation is widely held to be beyond our reach, an unfortunate misconception, for as early as nineteen eighty-one published evidence showed that lithium (1) and antidepressants (2) have immune stimulating and antimicrobial properties (3).

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Head, Neck Melanomas Most Deadly

Researchers at the University of North Carolina (UNC), Chapel Hill, have recently published the result of a study conducted there that reveals a death rate in cancer patients with melanomas of the head and neck that is nearly twice as high as patients with melanomas elsewhere. The research team analyzed data from 51,704 US melanoma cases to determine if the location where skin cancer first appears affects the chance of survival. The UNC study indicates a death rate 1.84 times higher when melanomas first appear on the scalp or the neck than when they appear on other parts of the body, including the face and the ears. All cases under review for the study were limited to white, non-Hispanic adults diagnosed with melanoma from 1992 to 2003. Read more

The BPA Controversy: What’s A Person To Do?

There’s been a lot of media attention lately placed on the safety, or non-safety, of ingesting foods and beverages packaged in polycarbonate containers made from the chemical bisphenol A (BPA). BPA is most often found in baby bottles and water bottles but many other edibles are packaged in containers made from BPA, too. Read more

Teenage Heart Disease Risk a Guy Thing

The findings of a study conducted by the University of Minnesota Children’s Hospital, Minneapolis, leads to the conclusion that just growing up as a male increases the risk of heart disease by the time the young man is 19 years old. The study is based purely on physiology and does not take into account any lifestyle factors. Read more

ADHD Treatment Comes With Heart Risk

The American Heart Association (AHA) has just issued a statement that advises using an electrocardiogram (ECG) before beginning treatment using stimulant drugs in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) whenever possible.  The full statement is available in the online journal Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association. Read more

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