Health
Latest stories
Wider Letter Spacing Helps Dyslexics Read

European researchers said that offering reading materials with wider spacing between the letters can help dyslexic children read faster and better.

In a sample of dyslexic children age eight to 14, extra-wide letter spacing doubled accuracy and increased reading speed by more than 20 percent, according to the study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences published on Monday.

W140 Full Story
Poll: Half of NYers Oppose Drink Restrictions

About half of New Yorkers say Mayor Michael Bloomberg's proposed ban of sugary drinks over 16 ounces (480 milliliters) from the city's eateries is an example of government going too far, while 42 percent say it would be good health policy, according to a poll released Monday.

Of the 500 adults surveyed Sunday for the NY1-Marist poll, 53 percent said the proposal is a bad idea, while 42 percent praised the concept — which would make New York the first American city to so directly attempt to limit portion sizes in an attempt to fight obesity.

W140 Full Story
Turkish Women Protest Plan to Reduce Abortion Limit

Hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets of Istanbul Sunday to protest the government's plan to reduce the time limit for abortions.

Women chanted slogans and unfurled banners reading "Abortion is a right" and "It is our body" during the rally in the city's Kadikoy district, which was also attended by men.

W140 Full Story
Experimental Drug Offers New Hopes for Breast Cancer Patients

An experimental drug treatment may help keep a certain kind of aggressive breast cancer at bay, offering new hope for individual therapies against difficult tumors, said research released Sunday.

The phase III trial comparing trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1) to standard therapy for human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2 positive) breast cancer was presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology conference in Chicago.

W140 Full Story
Greek Crisis Spurs Mental Health

Greece is not feeling well.

One in four men, and one in three women, has endured recent bouts of depression. As the grinding economic crisis continues to batter people's nerves, suicides and psychosomatic illness are both on the increase.

W140 Full Story
Scientists Find Promising Treatments against Skin Cancer

Two new experimental treatments against advanced melanoma have shown promise in keeping the deadly skin cancer at bay, according to research presented in the United States on Monday.

The agents, known as Dabrafenib and Trametinib, are being developed by the British pharmaceutical firm GlaxoSmithKline, and were tested in clinical trials against standard chemotherapy treatments.

W140 Full Story
Drug Cocktail Slows Ovarian Cancer Progression

A drug cocktail that combines chemotherapy with Avastin was shown to double the amount of time patients lived without progression of ovarian cancer, according to research released Saturday.

Also known as bevacizumab and marketed as Avastin by the Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche, the drug could help women who have a resistant form of the cancer, researchers said.

W140 Full Story
Study: Drug Slows Prostate Cancer Spread

A drug that is already approved for prostate cancer has been shown to slow the spread of advanced forms of the disease for the first time, according to research released Saturday.

Zytiga, made by Johnson and Johnson, is being tested in a randomized phase III trial involving 1,088 men with prostate cancer at 151 cancer facilities in North America, Europe and Australia.

W140 Full Story
Hong Kong Confirms Case of Bird Flu

Hong Kong health authorities on Saturday urged the public not to panic after the southern Chinese city reported its first human case of bird flu in 18 months in a two-year-old boy.

Authorities said the Chinese boy was in serious condition after testing positive for the deadly H5N1 strain of avian influenza and the city had raised the bird flu alert level to "serious" as well as increasing checks on live chickens imports.

W140 Full Story
Study: U.S. Teens Smoke, Drink Less Than European Peers

Fewer teenagers in the United States smoke and drink compared to their European counterparts, but more use drugs, according to a University of Michigan study released Friday.

Using data from 36 European countries plus the United States, researchers found that 27 percent of U.S. adolescents had consumed alcohol in the month prior to being quizzed by pollsters, compared to 57 percent of Europeans.

W140 Full Story