(Reuters Health) – People who smoke or drink heavily may develop pancreatic cancer at an earlier age than folks who avoid those habits, a new study suggests.It’s long been known that smoking is a risk factor for developing pancreatic cancer – a disease that is rarely caught early and has a grim prog

(Reuters Health) – The short-term benefits of weight loss surgery are well known in severely obese people, but a new study finds that improvements in diabetes and blood pressure may hold up for years after the procedures.At six-year patient follow-ups, three quarters of people who’d undergone gastri

(Reuters) – Scientists have grown a drug to treat a rare genetic disease inside corn plants, potentially offering a cheaper way to manufacture a treatment that currently costs hundreds of thousands of dollars a year for each patient.The move marks an advance for the emerging field of molecular farmi

Venomous reptiles may provide a good source for new drugs for human diseases, researchers in Liverpool say.Venom has already been used to create drugs, but the chemicals in it are often too deadly for human consumption.However, a study, published in the journal Nature Communications, has shown snake

The Health Protection Agency (HPA) has issued a warning about the dangers of picking poisonous mushrooms.It says foragers should be aware that it is easy to mix up toxic with non-toxic varieties.Dozens of people seek medical advice each year after eating wild mushrooms which they have picked themsel

A new oral medication to treat patients in the early stages of multiple sclerosis has shown considerable promise in two clinical trials, researchers announced on Wednesday.The medication is on track to become just the third oral drug available to M.S. patients, and potentially the safest and most ef

A new way to screen poor women for cervical cancer was introduced this month in El Salvador, using a test that was originally developed in China.Cervical cancer was once the leading cancer killer of women in the United States, but deaths have been dramatically reduced in the last 50 years as a resul

People suffering from osteoporosis experience severe weakening and thinning of bones.Prolia currently has U.S. approval to treat postmenopausal women with osteoporosis at high risk for fracture. The drug brought in sales of $120 million to Amgen between April and June, up 36 percent sequentially.Acc

More dentists need to be checking their patients for mouth cancer, say experts.Cancer Research UK says oral cancer rates are going up and some dentists are missing an opportunity to spot those at risk.All dentists should be asking about risk factors like smoking or heavy drinking as well as early te

Hundreds of thousands of pregnant women across the UK are to be offered a whooping cough vaccine to protect babies from an escalating outbreak of the disease.Very young babies are at the greatest risk of serious complications. Ten have died in the UK this year.The injection, available from Monday, s