Health News of the Day

Hypertension is a "neglected disease"

"Although hypertension is relatively easy to prevent, simple to diagnose, and relatively inexpensive to treat, it remains the second leading cause of death among Americans," said David Fleming, who led the study committee that wrote the report for the US Institute of Medicine. Hypertension is the most common primary diagnosis in the United States, affecting about 73 million adults (one in three).

http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/short/340/feb22_2/c1074

Can't Remember Faces? Blame Your Genes

The ability to remember a face is inherited, according to a paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Researchers also found that people who are good at remembering faces are not necessarily good at other memory tasks. Face recognition ability comes from a dedicated circuit, or set of circuits, in the brain.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123975339&ft=1&f=1007

Erythropoiesis stimulating drugs caused tumours to grow faster and led to earlier deaths in some cancer patients, prompting the FDA to restrict their use.

http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/short/340/feb22_2/c1050

Medical implications of the Taser: Serious harm is rare, but incident reporting needs to be improved

Amnesty International has identified more than 300 deaths associated with Taser use in the United States. However, association is not causation, and other factors complicate the interpretation of fatal outcomes. The dominant conducted energy device used in police forces worldwide is the Taser X26. This device generates five second trains of electrical pulses that are delivered to the body either by two propelled barbs (which embed in clothing or skin and remain connected to the handset by conductive wire) or by direct contact of the handset’s electrodes (drive-stun mode).

http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/short/340/feb22_1/c853

Rational Or Emotional? After you've lost weight, you have an increase in the emotional response to food

One of the hormones that play a role in controlling appetite in the body is called leptin. After significant weight loss, leptin levels drop. This seems to signal to the brain a need to seek more food.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123894109&ft=1&f=1007

Image source: OpenClipArt.org, public domain.

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