The Korea Herald

Omega 3 supplements may not help heart

Sept 13, 2012

IOANNINA (UPI) -- Taking omega-3 supplements was not associated with a lower risk of all-cause death, cardiac death, sudden death, heart attack or stroke, Greek researchers say. Dr. Evangelos C. Rizos of the University Hospital of Ioannina in Greece and colleagues performed systematic review and meta-analysis to determine the association between omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids and major card...
Double arm transplant OK’d for Texas woman

Sept 13, 2012

A Texas woman who lost both arms to flesh-eating bacteria has been approved for a double arm transplant, doctors in Boston said Wednesday. Katy Hayes appeared at a news conference with doctors at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, The Boston Globe reported. She would be the first patient in the United States to undergo the procedure, although it has been carried out in Germany. Doctors tol...
West Nile virus deaths up 35 percent in US

Sept 13, 2012

Deaths linked to the West Nile virus jumped 35 percent in the United States over the past week, amid one of the worst US outbreaks of the mosquito-borne disease, officials said Wednesday. As of Tuesday, a total of 118 fatalities have been blamed on West Nile virus infections since the beginning of the year, up from 87 on September 2, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. The numbe...
Vitamin C, beta-carotene may stem dementia

Sept 12, 2012

ULM, Germany (UPI) -- Vitamin C and beta-carotene may protect against dementia, researchers in Germany suggest. Epidemiologist Gabriele Nagel and the neurologist Christine von Arnim of the University of Ulm discovered the serum-concentration of the antioxidants vitamin C and beta-carotene were significantly lower in patients with mild dementia than in the control group. The study involved 74 pa...
Non-alcoholic wine lowers blood pressure

Sept 7, 2012

BARCELONA (UPI) -- Men at high risk for heart disease had lower blood pressure after drinking non-alcoholic red wine for four weeks, researchers in Spain say. Gemma Chiva-Blanch of the Hospital Clinic de Barcelona and colleagues studied 67 men with diabetes, or three or more cardiovascular risk factors, who ate a common diet plus one of the following drinks -- about 10 ounces of red wine, a simi...
Green tea good for the memory

Sept 7, 2012

The chemical properties of green tea affect the generation of brain cells, providing benefits for memory and spatial learning, researchers in China say. Professor Yun Bai of the Third Military Medical University in Chongqing, China, and his team focused on the organic chemical epigallocatechin-3 gallate, known as EGCG, an antioxidant in green tea. "Green tea is a popular beverage across the wor...
Vietnam Agent Orange victims get Scientology 'detox'

Sept 7, 2012

Dozens of Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange on Thursday embarked on a controversial detoxification treatment plan developed by the Church of Scientology, a Hanoi hospital director said. US aircraft sprayed chemical defoliants such as Agent Orange over vast swathes of jungle during the Vietnam War in an attempt to flush out Viet Cong communist guerrillas by depriving them of tree cover and food....
Tick-borne virus, new to Americas, identified in Missouri

Sept 6, 2012

Federal scientists have isolated a virus in ticks that has never before appeared in the Western Hemisphere and are calling on other scientists to look for evidence of the disease-causing pathogen. Virus hunters from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the virus causes an illness nearly identical to ehrlichiosis, a tick-borne disease that is caused by a bacterium. The newfound pa...
Australian gets the world’s first prototype bionic eye

Sept 6, 2012

SYDNEY ― An Australian woman robbed of her sight 30 years ago told Thursday how she saw a “little flash of light” after being implanted with the world’s first prototype bionic eye. Dianne Ashworth, 54, went blind through an inherited condition called retinitis pigmentosa but had some vision after the device was surgically implanted in a Melbourne hospital and connected up to a laboratory unit. ...
DNA database unlocks map to genetic disease

Sept 6, 2012

CHICAGO (AFP) ― A massive DNA database has generated a map of the genetic switches which impact everything from hair loss to cancer and opened the door to revolutionary treatments for a host of deadly diseases, researchers said Wednesday. “This is a major step toward understanding the wiring diagram of a human being,” said lead researcher Michael Snyder of Stanford University. The Encyclopedia ...
Guard against colon cancer

Sept 6, 2012

Many think that colon cancer is something that people aged over 50 should be worried about, but it pays to be on guard against the disease at a much earlier age, doctors say. A study released Thursday by the Korean Society of Coloproctology found that over 20 percent of men in their 30s who underwent colonoscopies between 2009 and 2011 had one or more polyps, the primary seed of colon cancer. I...
Cystitis

Sept 6, 2012

Cystitis is an inflammation of the bladder lining which can be caused by microorganisms (bacteria, protozoa or viruses), allergies, radiation and pharmacological agents. The most common mechanism of cystitis is bacterial infection through the urethra. Because women have shorter urethras than men, they are more prone to urinary tract infections. This is because the bacteria from the urethra, vagi...
Horror stories of acupuncture gone wrong

Sept 5, 2012

A recent study conducted by the U.K.’s National Patient Safety Agency found that there are perils to acupuncture that can lead to severe health damage, according to news reports. Acupuncture has been a medical treatment since the Chinese discovered it 2,000 years ago. The essence of acupuncture was to puncture the body at specific points that connect with “energy pathways” that link the body. Ma...
Abuse victims find a new way to heal through horses

Sept 5, 2012

A horse farm in Lake Ariel, not far from Scranton, Pennsylvania, has become a place to help victims of abuse recover from the atrocities they have suffered through horse therapy, according to news reports. In 2009, a 5-year-old was savagely raped by a complete stranger, leaving her mute. Her parents tried all types of therapy, including talk therapy and art therapy, to get her to speak, but noth...
Green tea compound may help shrink tumors

Sept 5, 2012

A compound in green tea -- epigallocatechin gallate -- may help combat cancer by shrinking tumors, researchers in Scotland suggest. Study leader Dr. Christine Dufes of the Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences and colleagues at the University of Glasgow said the team used an approach that allowed the treatment of epigallocatechin gallate delivered specifically to the tumors i...