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AP Health NewsBrief at 1:18 p.m. EST
(Associated Press Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Study: CT scans rule out heart attacks fasterORLANDO, Fla. (AP) _ A new study suggests that a type of "super X-ray" can give a faster, cheaper way to tell whether a chest pain sufferer is really having a heart attack. About 6 million Americans go to emergency rooms each year with chest pain, but only a small fraction are having a heart attack. Powerful X-rays called CT scans are being used more often to help make the diagnosis. Doctors don't know yet whether their accuracy and other benefits outweigh the additional radiation they require over standard tests.
Study: New device boosts heart failure survivalORLANDO, Fla. (AP) _ For the first time, a miniature heart pump shows the potential to become a widely used, permanent treatment for many older people with severe heart failure. But can we afford it? In a study of 200 patients, the new device increased by four times the number who survived at least two years compared with an older pump that had drawbacks limiting its use, doctors reported Tuesday.
Vaccines on horizon for AIDS, Alzheimer's, herpesMARIETTA, Pa. (AP) _ Malaria. Tuberculosis. Alzheimer's disease. AIDS. Pandemic flu. Genital herpes. Urinary tract infections. Grass allergies. Traveler's diarrhea. You name it, the pharmaceutical industry is working on a vaccine to prevent it. Many could be on the market in five years or less.
Don't blame fast food: Mummies had heart diseaseORLANDO, Fla. (AP) _ You can't blame this one on McDonald's: Researchers have found signs of heart disease in 3,500-year-old mummies. "We think of it as being caused by modern risk factors," such as fast food, smoking and a lack of exercise, but the findings show that these aren't the only reasons arteries clog, said Dr. Randall Thompson, a cardiologist at the Mid America Heart Institute in Kansas City.
Formerly conjoined twins in stable conditionMELBOURNE, Australia (AP) _ An aid worker who helped bring formerly conjoined Bangladeshi twins to Australia where doctors managed to separate them spoke of her relief Wednesday over their successful surgery, as the girls remained in serious but stable condition. Danielle Noble, who first met Trishna and Krishna in an orphanage in Bangladesh in 2007 when they were only a month old, said she cried Tuesday after learning from a televised news report that surgeons had successfully separated the girls, who were born joined at their heads.
Ex-Kiss drummer: Breast cancer not just for womenSPRING LAKE, N.J. (AP) _ Lying in bed one night in 2007, Peter Criss felt something strange: a small lump on his left breast. "I thought, `It's a nodule, I'm a guy, I don't think it's anything more than that,'" he said. "The more I messed with it, the bigger it got and the more it hurt, and that started really scaring me."
FDA says heartburn drugs can interfere with PlavixWASHINGTON (AP) _ Federal health officials said Tuesday a popular variety of heartburn medications can interfere with the blood thinner Plavix, a drug taken by millions of Americans to reduce risks of heart attack and stroke. The Food and Drug Administration said the stomach-soothing drugs Prilosec and Nexium cut in half the blood-thinning effect of Plavix, known generically as clopidogrel.
Army helps vets with `invisible wounds' find jobsSAN ANTONIO (AP) _ Richard Martin keeps a rearview mirror on his desk to prevent co-workers from startling him in his cubicle. The walls are papered with sticky notes to help him remember things, and he wears noise-canceling headphones to keep his easily distracted mind focused. Martin, an Army veteran who was nearly blown up on three occasions in Iraq, once feared that post-traumatic stress disorder and a brain injury would keep him from holding down a civilian job, despite years of corporate experience and an MBA.
New mammogram advice raises questions, concernsNEW YORK (AP) _ For many women, getting a mammogram is already one of life's more stressful experiences. Now, women in their 40s have the added anxiety of trying to figure out if they should even be getting one at all.
Study: Injured uninsured more likely to die in ERCHICAGO (AP) _ Uninsured patients with traumatic injuries, such as car crashes, falls and gunshot wounds, were almost twice as likely to die in the hospital as similarly injured patients with health insurance, according to a troubling new study. The findings by Harvard University researchers surprised doctors and health experts who have believed emergency room care was equitable.
(c) 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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