Health News on 20 Sep 2007

  • Bipolar Disorder Diagnoses Spike in Youth
    The diagnosis of bipolar disorder in people under 20 astonishingly increased 40-fold between 1994 and 1995 and 2002 and 2003, according to a study reported in this month’s issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, the leading scientific journal in our field.
  • Male Breast Enlargement May Be Common
    Gynecomastia, the enlargement of breast tissue in men, can be an embarrassing condition, but it is surprisingly common and usually benign.
    Overall, nearly half of men may experience the condition at some time in their lives, says Glenn D. Braunstein, MD, in the Sept. 20 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.
  • Exercise as effective for depression as drugs
    A study of adults suffering from depression has found that regular exercise is just as effective as medication for improving symptoms.
    The new research by psychologists at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, supports other studies which have suggested that exercise can ease the symptoms of depression.
  • New technology for cancer screening listens for the signs of cancer
    Researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology have created an acoustic sensor that can report the presence of small amounts of mesothelin, a molecule associated with a number of cancers including mesothelioma, as they attach to the sensor’s surface.
  • Eating competence may lower risk of heart disease
    People who are confident, comfortable and flexible with their eating habits may be at a significantly lower risk of cardiovascular disease than people who are not. Researchers at Penn State suggest that a curriculum that helps people understand their eating habits could prove to be an important medical nutrition therapy.
  • Weekly Dose Of Osteoporosis Drug Prevents Bone Loss After Breast Cancer Treatment
    Breast cancer survivors who took a weekly dose of risedronate, sold as Actonel, lost significantly less bone than those who did not take the drug, according to a two-year study from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.
  • Size-zero women ‘have low sex drives’
    Women strive to be skinny because many think it is more attractive – but new research shows size zero women could be suffering with low sex drives, experts warned today.