For patients with herniated discs in the lumbar spine, surgery leads to greater long-term improvement in pain, functioning, and disability compared to nonsurgical treatment, concludes an eight year follow-up study in Spine. “Carefully selected patients who underwent surgery for a lumbar disc herniation achieved greater…

Doctors are missing a prime opportunity to share information about sex with their teenage patients by failing to broach the subject during checkups, according to researchers at Duke Medicine.The study, published in JAMA Pediatrics, found that less than two thirds of doctors and teenage patients…

Difficulty with activities of daily living often affect Alzheimer’s patients. These issues are among the most taxing burdens of the disease for caregivers. New research from the faculty of Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai working with Veterans Administration Medical Centers suggests that alpha…

Physical activity significantly extends the lives of male cancer survivors, a new study of 1,021 men has found. During the period while the men were followed, those who expended more than 12,600 kilojoules per week in physical activity were 48 percent less likely to die…

Exposure to conflicting news about the health benefits of certain foods, vitamins and supplements often results in confusion and backlash against nutrition recommendations, finds a recent study in the Journal of Health Communication: International Perspectives. This confusion and backlash may make people more likely to…

Children and adolescents with peanut allergies could benefit from treatment with oral immunotherapy (OIT), in which peanut protein is consumed in increasingly larger amounts on a regular basis to build up tolerance, according to a phase 2 trial published in The Lancet. After 6 months…

CT scans are increasingly performed for a variety of medical indications, including for general health screening, which is growing in popularity. An estimated 4% of CT scans will coincidentally uncover a tumour in the adrenal gland, with no associated clinical symptoms. However, until now, evidence…

A new study reveals an alarming increase in oropharyngeal cancers among young adults. While the exact cause for this phenomenon is unknown, the human papillomavirus (HPV) may be to blame.According to researchers from Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit there was an overall 60 percent increase…

Researchers from University Hospitals (UH) Case Medical Center and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have published new findings in the February issue of American Journal of Roentgenology that mammography remains beneficial for women in their 40s. According to the study, women between ages…

Preliminary results of a small clinical trial show that a vaccine used to treat women with high-grade precancerous cervical lesions triggers an immune cell response within the damaged tissue itself. The Johns Hopkins scientists who conducted the trial said the finding is significant because measuring…

It’s no easy task to quit smoking and the lure of an e-cigarette, which claims to mimic the smoking experience without the harmful chemicals, seems a dream come true for many smokers. According Philip McAndrew, MD, Loyola University Health System physician and smoking cessation expert,…

A glance at the sneaker section in any athletic store suggests that our society has awakened to the importance of aerobic exercise. And yet, resistance training – the term for strength work using weights, elastic bands, or the body’s own weight – has been found…