A device that helps severely damaged hearts pump may be able to do what was once thought impossible — reverse heart failure in people who are weeks away from death, British researchers reported Wednesday.
The left ventricular assist device, or LVAD, can boost the heart’s ability to function, allowing it to recover if used with the right drugs, the researchers said in a study. Read More »
The U.S. intelligence community Tuesday unveiled its own secretive version of Wikipedia, saying the popular online encyclopedia format known for its openness is key to the future of American espionage.
The office of U.S. intelligence czar John Negroponte announced Intellipedia, which allows intelligence analysts and other officials to collaboratively add and edit content on the government's classified Intelink Web much like its more famous namesake on the World Wide Web. Read More »
The clocks went back on Sunday, which meant an extra, delicious, guiltless hour in bed. Every year I dream of a world where the clocks go back every day. Of course, that would create trouble, notably that in two weeks' time I'd be waking up after sunset. So, I toe the line and put the clocks back only once a year, and—sigh—put them forward again in the spring.
My annual inner monologue suggests two reasons to get up in the morning and go to bed at night: first, to enjoy the sunshine, and second, because that is what everybody else does. But what if the two imperatives collide? What matters more, waking up at the same time as everyone else or waking up with the sun? It might sound like a daft question, but not if you're a Hong Kong-based journalist filing for a London-based newspaper or a financial analyst in Silicon Valley who needs to be awake when the market opens on Wall Street at 6.30 a.m. Pacific Time. Read More »
According to a Census Bureau study, Seattle tops the list of America's most educated cities, with more than half its population 25 years and older holding at least a bachelor's degree.
Data collected by the Census Bureau's American Community Survey shows that 52.7 percent of 25-and-over Seattleites have a bachelor's degree or higher, closely followed by San Francisco (50.1 percent), Raleigh, North Carolina (50.1 percent), Washington, D.C. (45.3 percent), and Austin, Texas (44.1 percent). These same cities ranked--in the same order--as the top five most educated cities in last year's Census Bureau data as well. Read More »
We have to admire Suzanne Somers's persistence. She doesn't give up—even when virtually the entire medical community is lined up against her. Three years ago, Somers wrote a best-selling book called "The Sexy Years" in which she promoted so-called bioidentical hormones as a more natural alternative to hormones produced by drug companies for menopausal women. Somers, now 60, claimed that these individually prepared doses of estrogen and other hormones, sold via the Internet or by compounding pharmacies, made her look and feel half her age. As the popularity of bioidenticals soared, major medical organizations like the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists grew so alarmed that they mounted publicity campaigns to convince Somers's readers that these alternative treatments, which are usually custom made for each patient, haven't been proven safe or more effective than traditional hormone therapy for symptoms like hot flashes. Read More »
More than 500 new energy drinks launched worldwide this year, and coffee fans are probably too old to understand why.
Energy drinks aren’t merely popular with young people. They attract fan mail on their own MySpace pages. They spawn urban legends. They get reviewed by bloggers. And they taste like carbonated cough syrup.
Vying for the dollars of teenagers with promises of weight loss, increased endurance and legal highs, the new products join top-sellers Red Bull, Monster and Rockstar to make up a $3.4 billion-a-year industry that grew by 80 percent last year. Read More »
Seven people were shot as a massive Halloween street party in the city's Castro district wound down Tuesday night, police said.
The shootings occurred around 10:40 p.m., as authorities began dispersing thousands of revelers under a new curfew that was aimed at controlling the traditionally raucous event.
Two people were taken to the hospital with life-threatening injuries, and five others were injured by gunfire, said police spokesman Sgt. Neville Gittens. Read More »
A drug cocktail that backers say is the first effective treatment for methamphetamine and cocaine addiction is dividing substance abuse experts into two hostile camps — those who say they have seen it work miracles and those who say it has been rushed to market without any scientific testing.
The strident debate over the "Prometa protocol," manufactured by the Hythiam Corp., is complicated by the checkered Wall Street career of the company's CEO, Terren Peizer, who previously championed an anti-AIDS drug that has yet to make it to market. Read More »
