To the surprise of doctors, new research on acupuncture has found that the ancient Chinese healing technique provides real pain relief. Acupuncture involves sticking needles into specific points in the body that Chinese healers believe contain unseen energy pathways; the needles supposedly stimulate the flow of “qi,” or energy. Western medicine has viewed these claims with deep skepticism, contending that […]
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Overdoses of prescription painkillers have become one of the leading causes of death among women. More women now die from overdoses of prescription pills like OxyContin, Vicodin, and Percocet than from cervical cancer, homicide, or street drugs such as heroin and cocaine, a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows. “We need to better understand how […]
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Hormones found in birth control pills could be polluting the water supply and increasing men’s risk of prostate cancer. That’s the suspicion of Canadian researchers who found that countries that have the highest percentage of women using oral contraceptives also have the highest rates of men with prostate cancer. Women who take birth control pills excrete estrogen from the medication […]
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A child’s general good health is no guarantee that a case of the flu won’t have fatal consequences, according to a new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A surprising 43 percent of the 830 children who died from flu complications in the U.S. between October 2004 and September 2012 were otherwise healthy and did not have […]
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New York University Langone School of Medicine have discovered what might possibly be an unknown organ that lines the digestive, respiratory, and urinary tracts. This organ may be helping in the transportation of cancer cells around the body. They discovered this by the use of routine endoscopic procedures where they can enter the patient’s stomach and take a look at […]
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A hallucinatory party drug could point the way to the first new treatments for depression in a generation. Scientists have discovered that ketamine (“Special K”), which club-goers take for dream-like highs, also improves mood disorders by repairing damaged connections in the brain. What’s more, ketamine works within hours as opposed to weeks— even for people whose mood disorders have proved […]
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The federal government is trying to get 1 million Americans to sign up to help in developing a personalized medicine program – AKA Precision Medicine. By going with this program, it may help with the health and life expectancy of millions of Americans in the future. Personalized medicine is currently being used in the treatment of cancer and it could […]
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■ Colorado marijuana entrepreneurs have installed the first public vending machine to dispense weed-laced edibles. Only licensed medical marijuana cardholders can buy pot brownies and similar snacks from the giant green dispenser, but company owner Stephen Shearin says of his weed-dispensing machine: “I don’t think we’ve dreamed what it can do yet.”
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