The Internet could damage your health, according to a US study. Millions of us turn to the Internet for health information, but a report in the journal, Cancer, found such information could be misleading and unreliable. Researchers who reviewed 400 websites on a rare bone disease, Ewing's sarcoma, found 40 per cent either contained data from sources which had not been reviewed by medical experts or did not list a source, and 6 per cent contained inaccurate information. According to experts the survival rate of Ewing's is over 70 per cent, yet on the websites studied, this figure varied from 5 per cent to 85 per cent. Although the Internet is a wonderful resource for health information, it is advisable to check the source carefully and to discuss your findings with your doctor. (Reuters)
WORMS could be the answer to the inflammatory bowel diseases, Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, say researchers at the University of Iowa. They believe these conditions, which are on the increase in the developed world, are caused by the absence of intestinal parasites, which were common (especially in children) until the 1960s. In an initial trial of six people who were fed parasitic worms, the results were "dramatic". Five of the six, who had all failed to respond to other treatments, went into complete remission in under 20 days. A larger trial will begin this autumn. Worms for lunch, anyone? (New Scientist)
Many smokers may be trying to give up, but for one group, nicotine has been shown to help rather than harm. In a US experiment, sufferers of Tourette's syndrome, who are unable to control verbal and physical tics, wore a nicotine patch for 24 hours. The symptoms of Tourette's subsided within three hours and the effects lasted a week. Researchers believe the slow absorption of nicotine somehow turns off a signal in the brain which may cause the condition. The treatment has an 80 per cent success rate and there is no sign of nicotine dependence. (Ivanhoe)
There could soon be an alternative to invasive surgery for the treatment of abdominal aortic aneurysms. Aneurysms (which kill 15,000 Americans every year) are weak bulges on the largest blood vessel in the body, the aorta, but a patch to strengthen the wall, and prevent its bursting, could soon be available. The patch, which attaches itself to the walls of blood vessels with metal hooks or scaffolding, is threaded up the body through an artery in the leg, and could replace the gruelling surgery currently required. In clinical trials, the device repaired the aneurysm in over 90 per cent of cases and cut in half the surgical side-effects. It is not suitable for many women, though, because they have smaller arteries. (AP)
Meditation has long been known to lower blood pressure, but now scientists think they know why. US researchers, who tested long-term meditators and a control group of healthy middle-aged adults who did not meditate, found meditation decreased the constriction of blood vessels (vascoconstriction) which is linked to lower blood pressure. In one test, those who practised transcendental meditation showed a 6.5 per cent decrease in vascoconstriction, compared to a 1.6 per cent increase in the control group, who simply relaxed with their eyes closed. (Eureka Alert)