(HealthDay)—Can an artificially sweetened drink or food really satisfy your sweet tooth without raising your blood sugar levels? That depends on what’s in the food or drink, but a new review confirms that artificial sweeteners alone won’t cause a spike in blood sugar. “It’s been widely accepted that nonnutritive sweeteners don’t raise blood sugar, but there’s...
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Roseanne racist tweet: can sleeping pills change your behaviour?
Roseanne Barr has claimed that she was under the influence of the drug Ambien when she posted her already infamous racist tweet (since removed). But what do we know about Ambien and its side effects? Ambien is the American tradename for zolpidem, a commonly used “hypnotic” sleeping tablet. In the UK, it is also known as Stilnoct. Sleeping pills are...
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Heartbreaker? Smoking causing millions of heart attacks, strokes: WHO
While the link between smoking and a range of cancers is well known, the World Health Organization warned Thursday there was too little awareness of tobacco’s impact on the human heart. Credit: CC0 Public Domain On the occasion of World No Tobacco Day Thursday, the UN health agency hailed that smoking had declined significantly since...
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More important for heart patients to be active than thin
Increased physical activity, not weight loss, gives individuals with coronary heart disease a longer lease on life, according to a new study conducted at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). Increased physical activity, not weight loss, gives individuals with coronary heart disease a longer lease on life, according to a new study conducted...
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Metabolically ‘healthy’ obesity still linked to higher risk of cardiovascular disease
Women who are obese and who have been metabolically healthy for decades are still at higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease compared to metabolically healthy women of normal weight, according to an observational study that followed over 90000 American women for up to 30 years, published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology journal. The findings indicate that...
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Controversial antibacterial ingredient now linked to inflammation and cancer
In the early 1970s, the chemical triclosan began to appear in a multitude of products. From soaps and toothpaste to cleaning supplies and pesticides, triclosan was reportedly an effective antibacterial and antifungal compound. Pretty much immediately after it started appearing in household products, the FDA commenced investigating the chemical’s safety profile, but it wasn’t until...
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What is a free PSA test and what is it for?
The free prostate-specific antigen test, known as the free PSA test, is used to help detect signs of prostate cancer. The test measures the level of unbound prostate-specific antigen in the blood, which can help doctors to diagnose issues like inflammation of the prostate or cancer. Free PSA tests are often used alongside other PSA tests to...
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AUA: Yoga can reduce urinary incontinence in older women
(HealthDay)—A three-month yoga intervention can reduce urinary incontinence (UI) frequency in ambulatory women aged 50 years or older, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the American Urological Association, held from May 18 to 23 in San Francisco. Alison Huang, M.D., from the University of California, San Francisco, and colleagues conducted a...
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New treatment approved for rare disease PKU
(HealthDay)—Palynziq (pegvaliase-pqpz) has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat phenylketonuria, commonly called PKU. People with the rare yet serious inherited disorder can’t break down an amino acid called phenylalanine, which is found in many sweeteners and protein-containing foods. The disorder affects about 1 in 10,000 to 15,000 people in the...
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The Unfolded Protein Response in Immunogenic Cell Death and Cancer Immunotherapy
Trends The ER is a key organelle in cell physiology, and it evolved as an elaborated signaling pathway to cope with life-threatening perturbations of its homeostatic state. This process, called the UPR, is exploited by cancer cells to survive in their microenvironment and to promote tumor progression. Figure [1] Many approaches have been investigated to...