For some people, the smell of good food can trigger a feeding frenzy. But others find it much easier to resist such temptations. What’s the explanation?
Is it willpower ? A recent study in the journal Molecular Psychiatry suggests the answer to what fuels susceptibility to food cues may be far more complex, related to subtle differences in brain chemistry.
The PET scans showed that, compared to their leaner counterparts, obese individuals had more dopamine-triggered signaling activity in…
What happens when doctors and family members don’t agree and you don’t have a living will? Lawyer Lyn Boxall describes scenarios in the US, Singapore and the UK. What is a living will In the US and Singapore, a person can make a ‘living will’ – officially, an ‘advance medical directive’. In Singapore, it’s a document that a person signs and that applies when the person is terminally ill and unconscious or incapable of making a rational decision. It instructs their treating…
In a new study recently presented at the American College of Rheumatology Annual Scientific Meeting in Boston, MA, researchers have linked antibiotic use in children to increased risk of juvenile idiopathic arthritis or juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis. The researchers found that children exposed to antibacterial antibiotics - not antifungals or antivirals - were at higher risk of developing JIA than those who had not been exposed to these antibiotics. This risk was higher for children who had…
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved CYRAMZA® (ramucirumab) in combination with paclitaxel (a type of chemotherapy) as a treatment for people with advanced or metastatic gastric (stomach) or gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) adenocarcinoma whose cancer has progressed on or after prior fluoropyrimidine- or platinum-containing chemotherapy. CYRAMZA now has two FDA approvals for these patients. Today's announcement follows the April approval of CYRAMZA as a…
More than half of bladder cancers in the US are the result of smoking, and 90 per cent of smokers with the disease are aware of the connection, according to a new study. "Bladder cancer is actually the second most common smoking-related cancer, second only to lung," said lead author Dr. Jeffrey C. Bassett of Kaiser Permanente Southern California in Anaheim. Although previous studies had suggested that few people understood the connection between bladder cancer and tobacco, this new study found…
SINGAPORE: In a decade-long diabetes study, researchers from Khoo Teck Puat Hospital (KTPH) found that among those with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM), Malays and Indians are at higher risk of cardiovascular diseases compared to Chinese patients. Malay patients had two times higher risk while Indians had 1.7 times higher risk of diseases such as heart attacks and strokes, compared to Chinese patients with T2DM, according to findings of a study released by the healthcare cluster that manages…
She reduced her mother's medications to a minimum. Side effects may have also played a role in Asayo’s agitation and violence, said Steve Iliffe, professor of Primary Care for Old People at University College London. She let her mother walk.. “Walking is therapeutic and helps reduce disturbed behavior and sleep,” he said. “Letting her wander saved us and made us happy,” Akiko said. “It was unbelievably disturbing and stressful to keep my mom in the house.” Wandering alone, though,…
In June 2014, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved two generic versions of celecoxib (Celebrex). Developed by Pfizer, celexocib is used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, as well as other conditions. Approval was granted to Mylan Pharmaceuticals, Inc. to market 50 mg celecoxib capsules, while Teva Pharmaceutical Industries received approval to market the drug in the following doses: 50 mg, 100 mg, 200 mg, and 400 mg, according to a bulletin from the FDA. Teva was…
On a warm summer's day in Wroclaw, Poland, Darek Fidyka walked across a bridge, using only a frame for support. This had been his dream for four years, after he was paralysed in a knife attack. Now, after a transplant of cells taken from his nasal cavity, it had become reality. He is the world's first patient to receive the groundbreaking treatment. Behind those few steps lay the extraordinary efforts of a group of scientists, surgeons and fundraisers in Britain and Poland. Dr Tabakow…
