More than one in five people with heart disease aren't getting life-saving statin drugs despite guidelines saying they should, a new study shows. Researchers looked at nearly 39,000 people who had experienced a heart attack or undergone heart surgery, and found about 8,600 people weren't prescribed the cholesterol-lowering medications. Although there is still controversy over whether people should take statins to prevent heart attacks, research … full story

Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani has said that World Diabetes Day 2011 being observed on November 14 around the world draws our attention to the lethality of disease and underscores the need of preventive measures at individual and collective levels. The purpose of observing this day is to highlight the importance of diabetes as a global health threat and to undertake concerted efforts to cope with the disease in a proactive manner, the Prime … full story

Playing video games for hours on end may not be that bad after all. It could perhaps prepare your child to become a skilled surgeon one day. Playing video games gives one an advantage not only in the games themselves but also in performing other tasks requiring visuomotor skills – connections between visual and motor processes in the brain. Motor processes are linked with acquiring skills or skilled movements as a result of practice. Researchers … full story

Being part of a stressful job can increase a person’s risk of developing asthma by 40 percent, reveals a new study. The research led by Heidelberg University in Germany tracked 5,000 men and women aged between 40 and 65 over eight years. They found that among those free of asthma at the start of the project, there was up to a 40 percent higher incidence of asthma eight years later if they suffered stress at work. The signs were long working hours, … full story

People who have never smoked, but who live in areas with higher air pollution levels, are roughly 20 percent more likely to die from lung cancer than people who live with cleaner air, researchers conclude in a new study. "It's another argument for why the regulatory levels (for air pollutants) be as low as possible," said Francine Laden, a professor at the Harvard School of Public Health, who was not involved in the research. Though smoking is … full story

The recommendation to drink six to eight glasses of water daily to prevent dehydration is a “thoroughly debunked nonsense”, says an expert. There is currently no clear evidence of benefit from drinking increased amounts of water, according to Margaret McCartney, medical expert with the National Health Service (NHS), yet the “we-don’t-drink-enough-water” myth has endless advocates. The NHS Choices website states: “Try to drink about six to eight … full story

Australian scientists claim to have discovered a gene responsible for baldness in women which may lead to an effective treatment for hair loss. Researchers at the University of Melbourne and St Vincent’s Hospital studied the DNA of almost 500 women who had lost at least 50 percent of hair on their scalp. Aged between 18 and 65, all the women who participated in the study, suffered severe hair loss, a condition that will affect up to 55 percent … full story

A sweet tooth isn't necessarily bad for your health - at least not when it comes to chocolate, hints a new study. Researchers studying more than 33,000 Swedish women found that the more chocolate women said they ate, the lower their risk of stroke. The results add to a growing body of evidence linking cocoa consumption to heart health, but they aren't a free pass to gorge on chocolate. full story

Babies whose mothers have the flu jab during pregnancy are less likely to catch the virus themselves, finds a recent study. A flu jab protects youngsters in the first six months of life and makes them 40 percent less likely to need hospital treatment for respiratory illnesses, according to a US research. Research shows pregnant women are at higher risk of serious complications from swine flu compared with the general public, and have a higher rate … full story

Seniors who take aspirin daily are twice as likely to have late stage macular degeneration, an age-related loss of vision, than people who never take the pain reliever, a new European study reports. The data do not show that aspirin causes vision loss. But the findings are of concern if aspirin somehow exacerbates the eye disorder, researchers say, given how many seniors take it daily for heart disease. (Reuters) full story