Canon's hi-tech retina photography

From the front, Canon’s latest retina-imaging camera looks every inch the hi-tech hospital machine. But look past the small, curved shelf where you rest your chin and you’ll notice that the operator is pressing the shutter of what looks suspiciously like a very standard, digital SLR camera. These machines take images of the back of the inside of your eye and are used to diagnose conditions such as glaucoma. The retina is also the only place in the human body where blood vessels can be directly observed so detailed pictures can also help doctors spot the early signs of diabetes and hypertension. A very clear, high resolution image is essential...

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Statin drugs may lower colon cancer risk: study

WASHINGTON | Mon Oct 18, 2010 5:41pm EDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Statin drugs may lower the risk of colon cancer by as much as 12 percent, U.S. researchers reported on Monday.The longer people took the highly popular cholesterol-lowering pills, the lower their risk of later developing colon cancer, the researchers told a meeting of the American College of Gastroenterology.Many researchers have found that statin drugs, which include Pfizer Inc's Lipitor and AstraZeneca Plc's Crestor, have effects far beyond lowering cholesterol and reducing the risk of heart disease."Observational studies have suggested that long-term use of statins is associated...

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First decision on healthcare reform lawsuit before Jan: Judge

By Lisa LambertRICHMOND | Mon Oct 18, 2010 5:19pm EDT RICHMOND (Reuters) - The first important decision in U.S. state lawsuits over federal healthcare reform will be announced in the next few months, a federal judge told a hearing on Monday.The case involves arguments over government power, taxes, and if President Barack Obama mislead the American public.Judge Henry Hudson of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Richmond said he would reach a decision "by the end of the year" in the lawsuit Virginia filed over part of the health system overhaul that requires individuals to buy health insurance or pay a federal fine.Virginia is...

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Surgery on the wrong patient? It's still a problem

By Frederik JoelvingNEW YORK | Mon Oct 18, 2010 5:15pm EDT NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A new study from Colorado shows surgery on the wrong body part, or even the wrong patient, is still a problem.Insurance records show that among some 27,000 adverse events reported by doctors, there were 107 cases of procedures done on the wrong part of a patient's body and 25 done on the wrong patient."It is a major preventable problem," said Dr. Martin A. Makary, a surgeon at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, who was not involved in the study.He estimates about one in 75,000 operations go wrong every year in the US -- sometimes with fatal consequences,...

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So, what's in a placebo, anyway?

By Lynne PeeplesNEW YORK | Mon Oct 18, 2010 5:18pm EDT NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Despite carrying monikers like 'fake' or 'dummy' or 'sham,' some placebo pills may be potent enough to taint medical research results, hints a new review of more than 150 clinical trials.This time researchers aren't just talking about a 'placebo effect' on the mind, but rather physiological effects of the pills' constituents on the body. What's more, they found that less than one out of every 10 studies published in four top medical journals actually divulged what ingredients were used in placebo pills."We've been trained to associate placebos with being inert,"...

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Musty odor sparks another Tylenol recall

By Ransdell PiersonNEW YORK | Mon Oct 18, 2010 6:38pm EDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - A moldy odor has again stricken Johnson & Johnson's Tylenol, and the company is recalling another lot of the over-the-counter painkiller.J&J, which has recalled tens of millions of bottles of Tylenol and other consumer medicines in the past year because of complaints of a musty or moldy odor in the product, said it was voluntarily recalling another lot.The company, which is facing a U.S. congressional probe of quality control lapses that have led to its numerous recent recalls of Tylenol, painkiller Motrin and allergy treatment Benadryl, said almost 128,000...

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Musty odor sparks another Tylenol recall

By Ransdell PiersonNEW YORK | Mon Oct 18, 2010 6:38pm EDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - A moldy odor has again stricken Johnson & Johnson's Tylenol, and the company is recalling another lot of the over-the-counter painkiller.J&J, which has recalled tens of millions of bottles of Tylenol and other consumer medicines in the past year because of complaints of a musty or moldy odor in the product, said it was voluntarily recalling another lot.The company, which is facing a U.S. congressional probe of quality control lapses that have led to its numerous recent recalls of Tylenol, painkiller Motrin and allergy treatment Benadryl, said almost 128,000...

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Special Report: The problem with phthalates

A technician takes a sample from a toothbrush to measure how much of phthalates it contains during a demonstration at a laboratory in Berlin October 8, 2010. Phthalates are a range of chemicals regularly used to make plastics more flexible. In recent decades these colourless, odourless chemicals - there are about 25 common types - have permeated the very fabric of our society, right down to the shoes on our feet. They are in the air we breathe...

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Hold the lime with Corona, may cause skin reaction

NEW YORK | Mon Oct 18, 2010 11:16pm EDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - In a TV advertisement for Corona beer, a woman on a beach, irritated by her companion ogling a bikini-clad blonde, squirts him with the lime sitting atop his beer.He may be in for worse than a surprise: a nasty skin reaction that one doctor is calling "Mexican beer dermatitis."A substance in lime juice, if left on the skin in the sun, can cause the skin to become discolored, as if by poison ivy or a jellyfish sting -- and the marks can last for months, reports Scott Flugman in the Archives of Dermatology.Mexican beers, particularly Corona, are typically served with a lime slice wedged...

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Vitamin B12 tied to Alzheimer's

By Frederik JoelvingNEW YORK | Mon Oct 18, 2010 5:17pm EDT NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Vitamin B12 may help protect against Alzheimer's disease, according to a study out Monday.The study suggests that seniors with more of the active part of the vitamin in their blood have a lower risk of developing the disease, which eats away at the minds of one in eight Americans aged 65 and older, according to the Alzheimer's Association.However, the findings don't necessarily mean that taking B vitamin supplements will stave off mental decline.Just last summer, for instance, a pair of studies deflated long-held hopes that B vitamins -- like B12 and folic...

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Viagra may help heart effects of muscular dystrophy

A box of Viagra, typically used to treat erectile dysfunction, is seen in a pharmacy in Toronto January 31, 2008. Credit: Reuters/Mark BlinchWASHINGTON | Mon Oct 18, 2010 10:41pm EDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Viagra, developed to help ailing hearts long before it got a more high-profile job fighting erectile dysfunction, might help treat heart symptoms of muscular dystrophy, researchers reported on Monday.Tests in mice genetically engineered to have...

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Watch the lime juice when drinking Corona: skin doc

Bottles of Mexico's world famous Corona beer speed past a worker in the bottling line of Mexico City's Modelo brewery May 19, 2004. Credit: Reuters/Andrew WinningBy Ivan Oransky, MDNEW YORK | Mon Oct 18, 2010 4:54pm EDT NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Have you seen the Corona TV ad in which a woman, irritated that her beach companion has been staring at a bikini-clad blonde, squirts him with the lime sitting atop his beer?Well, according to a dermatology...

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Effective Steps pro Managing Anxiety

Have you powerful been agency a longitude with the intention of brought on sweats, rapid heartbeat and reduction of feasibility? You plain weren�t having a feelings advance but an anxiety assailment. If you suffer from anxiety disorders, learning to watch ended clear is the inceptive step to overcoming in person. Anxiety is characterized through most reactions to fearful situations. When someone follows you into a blackish path, persons anxious sensitivity of a short heartbeat and sweating palms gives street to satiated brain and a rush of adrenalin with the intention of onus save your sensitivity. This is the brawl or rush syndrome. Fix the...

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