Year: 2014

By C.E. Huggins NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Smokers without signs of lung disease may be raising their chances of developing lung problems and other health issues by being couch potatoes, Brazilian researchers say. They compared so-called healthy smokers to nonsmokers by physical activity levels and quality of life, and found the smokers to be less fit, less active, more anxious and depressed and more likely to have heart disease. “The take-home point is smokers are markedly inactive in their daily lives even while they are still considered ‘healthy,’ or before they develop any disease as a consequence of smoking,” study author Dr. Fabio Pitta, of State University of Londrina in Brazil told Reuters Health. “This indicates that, together with fighting tobacco use, fighting physical inactivity in smokers is also a priority in order to avoid the deleterious combination of smoking and physical inactivity,” he said.

By Kathleen Raven NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Regular doses of meditation might prevent work-related stress and burnout, a small U.S. study suggests. Teachers and support staff working at a school for children with behavior problems felt less stressed after practicing 20 minutes of Transcendental Meditation (TM) twice a day for four months. But participants “reported feeling less stressed and more energetic within a few days,” said the study’s senior author Sanford Nidich, of Maharishi University’s Institute for Natural Medicine and Prevention in Fairfield, Iowa. Starting stress levels among the participants had averaged 39 on a 40-point scale and fell 5 points by the end of the study period.

With two stories gaining national attention this winter about brain-dead, pregnant women and their unborn children, it’s difficult to think of one without the other. In Canada, Robyn Benson was kept on life support for more than a month to save her unborn baby. More…

BRUSSELS (AP) — Belgian lawmakers voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to extend the country's euthanasia law to children under 18.

Andy Marso urges universal vaccination for deadly disease.        

By Allison Bond NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Drab olive cigarette packs bearing a prominent quit-smoking helpline number, introduced more than a year ago in Australia, had a sizeable and sustained effect on interest in quitting, researchers say. "The results suggest the legislation does have a positive early impact (on smokers) and so other countries could feel more confident in introducing similar legislation," said Jane Young, a cancer epidemiologist at the Sydney School of Public Health, who led the study. In March 2006, cigarette packaging with graphic health warnings including photos of cancer-riddled lungs and gangrenous limbs was introduced in Australia. "(The labels) inform consumers about what might happen to them when they use the product," said Joanna Cohen, director of the Institute for Global Tobacco Control at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland.