Health Tips and News Updates

Scientists find cancer in million-year-old fossil Cancer may not be so modern after all. Though we typically think of it as a new affliction attributed to bad habits, bad luck or longevity, a surprising discovery has revealed that the disease existed in human ancestors more than a million years ago. Scientists have found evidence of cancer in a foot bone and spine from two ancient hominin specimens in South Africa.

Drinking Alcohol Linked to 7 Types of Cancer A new analysis finds compelling evidence that drinking alcohol can cause at least seven types of cancer. It found that heavy drinkers are at the highest risk, but even low to moderate drinkers are more likely to get certain cancers than non-drinkers. The review of evidence, published in the journal Addiction, also says studies claiming alcohol can help protect against heart disease should be treated with skepticism. Health experts say the review strengthens the need to increase public awareness that drinking alcohol is a cause of cancer. The new analysis by Professor Jennie Connor, PhD, of the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand, examined studies on alcohol and cancer over the last 10 years. It finds sufficient evidence to conclude that drinking increases the risk for areas of the body that come into direct contact with alcohol and where it may damage DNA, which is a known cause of cancer. The seven areas are: ...

Study Confirms Vaginal Ring Protects Women From HIV Woman holding the dapivirine vaginal ring International Partnership for Microbicides A silicone ring impregnated with an antiviral drug can protect 75 percent or more of women from the AIDS virus, researchers reported Monday. The ring has been designed to give women a discreet way to protect themselves from infection in situations where they may not be able to refuse sex or demand that a man use a condom.

National Health Spending to Surpass $10,000 Per Person in 2016 WASHINGTON — National health spending will average more than $10,000 a person this year for the first time, the Obama administration said Wednesday, a milestone that heralds somewhat faster growth in health spending after several years of exceptionally low growth. By 2025, the administration reported, health care will represent 20 percent of the total economy, up from 17.8 percent last year. By 2025, one of every five Americans will be on Medicare, and the program will spend an average of nearly $18,000 a year for each beneficiary. Medicare spent about $12,000 per beneficiary in 2015. The administration, in a report published in the journal Health Affairs, predicts that the pace of health spending will pick up in the coming decade, driven by improvements in the economy, higher medical prices and the aging of the people born from 1946 to 1964. From 2015 to 2025, health spending is expected to grow an average of...

Nettie Stevens discovered XY sex chromosomes. She didn't get credit because she had two X’s. At the turn of the 20th century, biologist Nettie Stevens was driven to solve a scientific mystery that had perplexed humanity for millennia. The mystery was so simple but daunting: Why do boys become boys and girls become girls? In her pioneering work at Bryn Mawr College, Stevens discovered the sex chromosomes that make the difference. Today would be her 155th birthday. Google is celebrating her accomplishments today — she’s featured in the Google Doodle — and so should we. Before Stevens, we were utterly clueless about how embryos become boys or girls Thanks to Stevens’s work — and the work that built upon it — we now know that sex is hereditary, and that dads’ sperm in particular determine the sex of offspring. But for most of human history, this question was an absolute mystery — and it yielded some interesting theories. Aristotle believed a child’s sex ...

Access expanded for medication-assisted treatment of opioid use disorder A new rule finalized Tuesday by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration increases the number of patients health care providers can treat with buprenorphine, Secretary of Health and Human Services Sylvia M. Burwell said. Buprenorphine is a medication to treat opioid use disorder, similar to methadone. This rule change supplements the opioid initiative launched by HHS in March 2015. The initiative focused on three priorities, including expanded access to medication-assisted treatment for opioid use disorder. According to Burwell, congressional approval of President Obama's request for $1.1 billion in federal budget funds to support the initiative and fight the nationwide prescription opioid and heroin epidemic is "critical."

Sanofi Teams Up With U.S. Army on Zika Vaccine Partnership to expand research, development of promising experimental immunization A worker checks the filling of H1N1 flu vaccine vials at a Sanofi SA laboratory in Val-de-Reuil, France. Sanofi has formed a partnership with the U.S. Army to expand research and development of an experimental Zika vaccine. PHOTO: EUROPEAN PRESSPHOTO AGENCY Sanofi SA has formed a partnership with the U.S. Army to expand research and development of an experimental Zika vaccine that has shown promise in early laboratory studies and is among a few candidates expected to be tested on humans in the coming months. At least 15 companies and entities, including Sanofi, are racing to develop vaccines against the Zika virus, which is behind an epidemic in the Americas that the World Health Organization says constitutes a public health emergency because the virus is linked to birth defects in multiple countries.

Highland Park mosquitoes test positive for West Nile virus The Lake County Health Department reported Thursday that a batch of mosquitoes sampled June 23 in Highland Park has tested positive for West Nile virus, which marks "the first confirmed indicator of the disease's presence" in the county this year. According to information released by the health department Thursday afternoon, five human cases of West Nile virus were reported in Lake County in 2015, and a total of 68 pools or batches of mosquitoes and one bird tested positive for the virus. "This is the time of year when we begin to see mosquito pools testing positive for West Nile virus," Mark Pfister, the Health Department's interim executive director, said in a statement. Pfister added that with the arrival of hot weather, residents should protect themselves against mosquito bites by following a system of four D's — drain empty water from outdoor containers; dress with long-slee...