Use of opioid pain medications may contribute to an increase in sensitivity to some types of pain, according to an Australian study published in The Journal of Pain. Researchers sought to examine the effect of long-term opioid use in chronic noncancer pain patients and opioid-maintained patients to determine if the medications can cause hyperalgesia or [...]

Jefferson.edu – Researchers have determined that two of the most commonly prescribed anti-seizure medications – carbamazepine and phenytoin – may lead to significantly increased levels of cholesterol, C-reactive protein and other markers of cardiovascular disease risk. The finding – set to be published in the March 18, 2009 online edition of Annals of Neurology – [...]

HBNS.org – Several bursts of exercise that last five minutes or more might be better for preventing childhood obesity than are intermittent physical activity sessions lasting four minutes or less throughout the day. That is the key message from a four-year study that researchers at Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada conducted. The findings appear in [...]

Good sleep equals good health, says Raul Noriega, manager of the Comprehensive Epilepsy and Sleep Disorders Center at Baylor Regional Medical Center. Yet more than half of women report problems with insomnia. According to the National Sleep Foundation, “women’s lack of sleep affects nearly every aspect of their time-pressed lives, leaving them late for work, [...]

UTSouthwestern.edu – Collagen injections can benefit women who still suffer from stress urinary incontinence (SUI) even after urethral or periurethral surgery, a UT Southwestern Medical Center researcher has found. “Patients with persistent or recurrent incontinence often do not wish to undergo another surgery,” said Dr. Philippe Zimmern, professor of urology and the study’s lead author. [...]

AHRQ.gov – Patients and clinicians should consider risk factors – including age, sex, diabetes, blood pressure, cholesterol levels, smoking and risk of gastrointestinal bleeding – before deciding whether to use aspirin to prevent heart attacks or strokes, according to new recommendations from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. These recommendations do not apply to people [...]