News by Subject Medicine & Health

Latinos who are exposed to pesticides in their workplaces are twice as likely to have cardiovascular disease compared with Latinos who are not exposed to pesticides at work, according to a new study published in the journal Heart.

How does cancer spread? While studying human brain tumour cells, a team of scientists at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC) found some answers to this crucial, yet so far unanswered question. They looked at a gene called EGFRvIII, which is present in patients with glioblastoma -- a highly aggressive form of brain cancer that spreads quickly and that is difficult to treat.

Rice, barbecued meat and drinking water all pose threats to human health as hosts to potent toxins, carcinogens and opportunistic pathogens. In many cases, the rise in concentrations of these harmful substances is a direct result of human activity, such as the use of harmful pesticides in crops and even advances in green technology. Risk assessment can be a useful tool for determining the actual threat to human health with numerous variables between population groups and degrees of uncertainty.

New research finds vapers can avoid relapsing back into smoking, even after the odd cigarette. While vapers may occasionally have the odd smoking lapse, they don't see it as 'game over' for their quit attempt and it doesn't have to lead to a full relapse. The findings suggest that vaping encourages not just smoking cessation, but long-term relapse prevention.

Up to one-third of female smokers with Medicaid deny tobacco use during pregnancy. A new study finds that, despite reservations, low-income patients have a favorable view of using urine testing, with consent, to promote smoking cessation during pregnancy.

Twenty-nine per cent of health professionals would not recommend e-cigarettes to cancer patients who already smoke, according to research presented at the 2018 NCRI Cancer Conference. While e-cigarettes may pose some health risks, evidence suggests they are much less harmful than smoking. Health bodies have given support for the use of e-cigarettes as a less harmful alternative.

As the United States moves toward implementing image-based warning labels on cigarette packs, label designers must consider what types of pictorial warnings will be most effective. New research from the Annenberg School at the University of Pennsylvania examines individual features to determine effectiveness, finding that diseased body parts like gangrene feet and testimonials from real smokers have the greatest impact.

A new Florida State University College of Medicine study in mice produced results that suggest nicotine exposure in men could lead to cognitive deficits in their children and grandchildren. Further studies will be required to know if the same outcomes seen in mice would apply to humans.

The new approach lets scientists examine the cumulative effect of multiple gene mutations, providing a much more complete picture of cancers' causes.