Alzheimer's drug by Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer safer than previously thought

As Alzheimer’s news goes, this tidbit is optimistic: An experimental drug to treat the memory-loss disease is safer than scientists originally expected.

Concussions double veterans' risk for Alzheimer's, study says

For veterans coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan with head injuries, the wounds of war may eventually include dementia. In a study reported at a July 18 meeting in Paris of the Alzheimer's Assn., researchers found that older veterans who had suffered concussions were more than twice as likely as other veterans to develop Alzheimer's disease or other forms of dementia.

FDA gives OK to flu vaccine, same as last season's

The flu vaccine for the upcoming season should trigger some déjà vu: The formulation will be identical to last year’s, the Food and Drug Administration has announced.

Tuberculosis blood tests should be banned, says WHO

Blood testing kits used to detect active tuberculosis are unreliable and should be banned, the World Health Organization warned Wednesday.

Seven ways to slow down Alzheimer's

At least half of all cases of Alzheimer's disease can be linked to seven major risk factors, and controlling them could sharply reduce the risk of developing the devastating disease, according to researchers from UC San Francisco and the San Francsco VA Medical Center. Leading the list worldwide is lack of education -- specifically not finishing high school -- while living the life of a couch potato is the biggest risk factor in the United States, according to the study presented Tuesday at a Paris meeting of the International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease and published online in the journal Lancet Neurology. Modifying the risk factors in the population could put a sizable dent in Alzheimer's incidence, according to the study's lead author, psychiatrist Deborah Barnes of the VA.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder researchers, patients come together

If you see groups of people walking around San Diego next weekend — July 29-31 — encouraging each other to reach into trash cans, it's all good. The exercise is part of the annual International Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Meeting.

Bill Gates wants to reinvent the toilet for the Third World

Bill Gates thinks the modern-day flush toilet isn’t good enough. Most of the developing world can’t afford to use it, and poor sanitation spreads diarrheal diseases.

FDA panel to review heart valve for those too sick for surgery

When patients need a new heart valve, they can get an artificial one—if they’re healthy enough for the conventional method, open-heart surgery.

Xtreme Eating Awards skewer favorite restaurant dishes

Your burger has lettuce, so it must be healthy, right? A strawberry milkshake has fruit doesn't it?

Treatment may protect young women with breast cancer from early menopause

An early menopause is often in store for women under age 40 who have chemotherapy for breast cancer. Women can choose to have some eggs removed in advance of the treatment in order to preserve some chance of having a baby later, but that can be a difficult and complicated process. Now, however, there may be a medication to treat these women to avoid premature menopause.

Expanded coverage of contraceptives urged by experts

An independent panel of doctors and health experts Tuesday recommended that health plans cover contraceptives for women without co-pays, setting the stage for another debate over the impact of the healthcare overhaul President Obama signed last year.

Baby boomers' worries might be misguided--top killer is heart disease, not cancer and Alzheimer's

Baby boomers—time for a health reality check. A new poll finds the generation worries most about cancer and memory loss. But heart disease, often tied to obesity, is actually the age group’s major killer. 

Married men seek timely help for heart attacks more than single males do, study finds

Marriage might be good for a man's heart. Seriously. A new study published online Monday in the Canadian Medical Assn. Journal found that married men sought timely treatment after symptoms of a heart attack more often than their single compatriots did.

AIDS drugs restore Africans' life expectancy

In the United States and Europe, antiretroviral drugs have changed HIV infection from an early death sentence to a lifelong but manageable condition. Many international philanthropies have contended that these medications could do the same in poor countries, and have aggressively negotiated lower costs to put them within reach of those in the developing world, where HIV infection rates are highest. But given the challenges to health and hygiene in such countries, it's not been clear that antiretroviral therapy would reverse the shortened life expectancies of the HIV-infected there as they have in the developed world.

Milk and soy protein supplements may be better than carbs for lowering blood pressure

Strike another blow for refined carbs: A study released today finds that soy and milk protein supplements may be associated with lower blood pressure more than refined carbohydrate supplements.

Secondhand smoke linked to hearing loss in teens

Secondhand smoke is a menace to everyone exposed to it. Besides respiratory infections and lung cancer, it may lead to hearing loss in adolescents.

Car safety: Let Grandma drive the kids!

One less reason to worry about letting Grandma drive the kids: Letting her take the wheel might lower the chances that your kids will get injured.

Training hard is part of cycling, but so is taking a day off

Cycling isn't just about getting a good bike -- it's also about learning how to become a great rider. Join a live web chat on Monday, July 18, at 11 a.m. PDT (1 p.m. CT, 2 p.m. EST) with top cycling coach Joe Friel and learn tips that will make your training more efficient.

Rodent of the Week: Ritalin and Prozac -- a troubling combo for children?

Four in 10 kids who get a diagnosis of either depression or attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) end up getting both diagnoses sometime in their young lives. That means a lot will spend some part of their adolescence taking two psychiatric medications: methylphenidate (better known by its commercial name, Ritalin) and fluoxetine (better known as Prozac, the only of the new-generation antidepressants approved for kids as young as 8 years old). A new study conducted on rats suggests that taking that combination of drugs may change the adults they will become in ways that are distinctly troubling.

Can bad driving be diagnosed? Chinese doctor thinks risky and clumsy drivers should be barred

If bad driving is a disease, some people should be locked up in deep quarantine. Turn signal phobia, red light blindness, tailgate-itis, cellphone dementia -- today's roads are a hot zone of pathology.