• Filter By:
• Specialty
• Source
• Condition
• Cancer
• Infectious Disease
• Drug
• Training
• Management
• Procedure
• Therapy
• Vaccine
• Nutrition
• Country

Flu jab "may cut" stroke risk by a quarter
ConclusionThis research finds that, overall, having the flu vaccine reduced the risk of a person experiencing a stroke by about 25%. The reduction in risk seemed to be greatest within the first three months of vaccination, but remained for up to 12 months.  However, the effect lasted only if the vaccine was given early in the flu season (September to mid-November); giving the vaccine late in the flu season (mid-November to February) was not associated with significantly reduced risk.The research benefits from using data coded within the General Practice Research Database for England and Wales for almost 50,000 people with...
Source: NHS News Feed - February 21, 2014 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Heart/lungs Neurology Older people Source Type: news

Evidence That Increasing Serum 25(OH)D Concentrations to 30 ng/mL in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates Could Greatly Improve Health Outcomes
Biomedicines. 2023 Mar 23;11(4):994. doi: 10.3390/biomedicines11040994.ABSTRACTAccumulating evidence supports the potential protective effects of vitamin D against chronic diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, autoimmune diseases, cancers, cardiovascular disease (ischaemic heart disease and stroke), type 2 diabetes, hypertension, chronic kidney disease, stroke, and infectious diseases such as acute respiratory tract diseases, COVID-19, influenza, and pneumonia, as well as adverse pregnancy outcomes. The respective evidence is based on ecological and observational studies, randomized controlled trials, mechanistic studies, ...
Source: Cancer Control - May 16, 2023 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: William B Grant Fatme Al Anouti Barbara J Boucher Hana M A Fakhoury Meis Moukayed Stefan Pilz Nasser M Al-Daghri Source Type: research

Get the flu vaccine, reduce your risk of death
Last year was a lousy year for the flu vaccine. Hospitalizations for flu hit a nine-year high, and the vaccine prevented flu in only 23% of all recipients, compared with 50% to 60% of recipients in prior years. Why does the flu vaccine work well in some winters and not others? The flu vaccine primes the immune system to attack two proteins on the surface of the influenza A virus, hemagglutinin (H) and neuraminidase (N). Different flu strains have different combinations of these proteins — for example, the strains targeted by recent flu vaccines are H3N2 and H1N1. Unfortunately, the influenza virus is microbiology’s ans...
Source: New Harvard Health Information - September 15, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: John Ross, MD, FIDSA Tags: Cold and Flu Vaccines Flu Shot flu vaccine Source Type: news

What Causes Facial Nerve Palsy?
Discussion Facial nerve palsy has been known for centuries, but in 1821 unilateral facial nerve paralysis was described by Sir Charles Bell. Bell’s palsy (BP) is a unilateral, acute facial paralysis that is clinically diagnosed after other etiologies have been excluded by appropriate history, physical examination and/or laboratory testing or imaging. Symptoms include abnormal movement of facial nerve. It can be associated with changes in facial sensation, hearing, taste or excessive tearing. The right and left sides are equally affected but bilateral BP is rare (0.3%). Paralysis can be complete or incomplete at prese...
Source: PediatricEducation.org - June 3, 2019 Category: Pediatrics Authors: pediatriceducationmin Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: news

CDC National Health Report: Leading Causes of Morbidity and Mortality and Associated Behavioral Risk and Protective Factors-United States, 2005-2013.
This report reviews population health in the United States and provides an assessment of recent progress in meeting high-priority health objectives. The health status indicators described in this report were selected because of their direct relation to the leading causes of death and other substantial sources of morbidity and mortality and should be the focus of prevention efforts. REPORTING PERIOD COVERED: Data are reported starting in 2005 (or the earliest available year since 2005) through the current data year. Because data sources and specific indicators vary regarding when data are available, the most recent yea...
Source: MMWR Surveill Summ - October 31, 2014 Category: Epidemiology Authors: Johnson NB, Hayes LD, Brown K, Hoo EC, Ethier KA Tags: MMWR Surveill Summ Source Type: research

Flu and freezing weather may be driving up winter death rates
Conclusion There are always more deaths in winter than other seasons, particularly among elderly people. But why these fairly dramatic spikes in the death rate have occurred is still not understood. It should be noted these figures are provisional, as there can be a delay in the ONS receiving the data. Although the media has focused on the likely cause being flu, the numbers provided are for all respiratory conditions. Cold weather can exacerbate many of these conditions, such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. For most fit and healthy people, flu is not a serious threat, but the elderly and those with...
Source: NHS News Feed - February 4, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Heart/lungs Lifestyle/exercise Medical practice QA articles Source Type: news

Immune plasma for the treatment of severe influenza: an open-label, multicentre, phase 2 randomised study
This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT01052480. Findings Between Jan 13, 2011, and March 2, 2015, 113 participants were screened for eligibility and 98 were randomly assigned from 20 out of 29 participating sites. Of the participants with confirmed influenza (by PCR), 28 (67%) of 42 in the plasma plus standard care group normalised their respiratory status by day 28 compared with 24 (53%) of 45 participants on standard care alone (p=0·069). The hazard ratio (HR) comparing plasma plus standard care with standard care alone was 1·71 (95% CI 0·96–3·06). Six participants died, one (2%) from the plas...
Source: The Lancet Respiratory Medicine - May 16, 2017 Category: Respiratory Medicine Source Type: research

Plant-Derived Alkaloids: The Promising Disease-Modifying Agents for Inflammatory Bowel Disease
Conclusion This paper summarizes the current findings regarding the anti-colitis activity of plant-derived alkaloids and shows how these alkaloids exhibit significant and beneficial effects in alleviating colonic inflammation. These natural alkaloids are not only promising agents for IBD treatment but are also components for developing new wonder drugs. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms or toxicological evaluation of most plant-derived alkaloids still require much scientific research, and their actual efficacies for IBD patients have not been verified well in field research. Thus, further clinical trials to elu...
Source: Frontiers in Pharmacology - April 11, 2019 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Source Type: research

Joint Prevalence of Influenza Preventive Behaviors Among Adults-United States, 2020
CONCLUSIONS: The overall joint prevalence was 8.5% (95% CI, 8.0-9.0). Prevalence was lower among older persons (vs younger); Hispanic and non-Hispanic Black persons (vs non-Hispanic White); current and former smokers (vs never smokers); postpartum women (vs neither pregnant nor postpartum); and those with a history of coronary heart disease, hypertension, stroke, diabetes, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (vs not having those respective condition). In addition to recommending annual vaccination, primary care providers might encourage sufficient sleep and adequate physical activity-especially among patients who hav...
Source: Primary Care - August 12, 2023 Category: Primary Care Authors: Bryant J Webber Anne G Wheaton Peng-Jun Lu Geoffrey P Whitfield Source Type: research