Health Glance
Juunk food may be as addictive as heroin and tobacco, a study has shown.
Obesity researchers found fatty and sugary snacks trigger the same 'pleasure centres' in the brain that drive people into drug addiction - making them binge on unhealthy food.
The findings could partly explain the soaring obesity rates in Britain and the success of fast food outlets. Experts studied rats fed on cheesecake, bacon and sausages. Soon after the experiments began the animals began to bulk up and show signs of addiction.
'It presents the most thorough and compelling evidence that drug addiction and obesity are based on the same underlying neurobiological mechanisms,' Professor Paul Kenny said.
Junk food 'is as addictive as heroin and cigarettes'
Texas newborn denied health insurance over pre-existing condition
New federal legislation that will prevent insurance companies from denying children coverage based on a pre-existing condition comes too late for the Tracys. The legislation, passed by Congress and signed by President Barack Obama this week, won't go into effect until September.
Without surgery, babies with this condition often die soon after birth, although some may live as long as a year, said Dr. Steve Muyskens, a pediatric cardiologist.
No more daily jabs or endless blood tests... The 30-minute op to give diabetics their lives back
We can also offer a pancreas transplant, as the pancreas contains the insulin-making cells, but this is major surgery with a three-to-six month recovery time.
But with islet cell transplantation we transplant just the islet cells which make insulin, instead of the entire pancreas.
There are risks - the patient needs to take immunosuppressants for life, to stop the body rejecting the donor cells, leaving them vulnerable to anaemia, infection and cancer.
The transplant revolution
A 10-year-old boy has undergone pioneering surgery in which his own body worked as a "bioreactor" to help a donated windpipe, seeded with his own stem cells, grow into a fully functioning organ.
The boy, who is British, is the first child in the world to undergo the revolutionary transplantation. The development takes transplant surgery a step closer to the goal of replacing damaged or worn-out organs with functioning replacements that are not rejected by the body, which are in increasing demand as life expectancy grows.
It also opens up the prospect of treating damaged organs with stem cells to stimulate self-repair, potentially avoiding the need for a transplant.
Ex-Pfizer Worker Cites Genetically Engineered Virus In Lawsuit Over Firing
Medical experts will be watching closely Monday when a scientist who says she has been intermittently paralyzed by a virus designed at the Pfizer laboratory where she worked in Groton opens a much anticipated trial that could raise questions about safety practices in the dynamic field of genetic engineering.
Glaxo funded backers of 'danger' drug (Avandia)
More than nine out of 10 scientists who backed a drug at the centre of a safety scare had financial links to the pharmaceutical industry, a study has found.
The disclosure will renew concern about the influence of the multinational companies on patient safety, where a warning about a drug can wipe billions from their balance sheets.
FDA warns of greater muscle risk from Zocor
The Food and Drug Administration said Friday the highest available dose of Zocor, a component in cholesterol drugs, can cause muscle damage as well as severe and potentially lethal kidney damage.
The agency said statin drugs like Zocor are known to cause muscle damage in some patients, but the risk is more severe when patients are taking 80 milligram doses of Zocor, which is the highest FDA-approved dose.
The side effects include rhabdomyolysis, a form of muscle damage that can lead to kidney damage or failure, and death. Zocor is the brand name for the drug used by Merck & Co. of Whitehouse Station, N.J. Its chemical name is simvastatin.
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