The death rate from cardiac arrest rose surprisingly among young American adults in the 1990s, climbing 10 percent in men and 32 percent in women, federal officials say. Cardiac arrest is still rare under age 35, accounting for just 1 percent of all deaths from this cause. But experts say the newly recognized increase is troubling and almost certainly represents a real trend and not a statistical blip. Researchers believe a major reason for the increase is the epidemic of obesity, along with increased smoking and drug abuse, particularly cocaine, which can be a powerful trigger of cardiac arrest. [continues 503 words]
Science: Tests Will Prove Or Disprove Belief In Marijuana As Remedy Maybe the smoke is about to clear in the debate over medical marijuana. Few ideas, it seems, are so firmly held by the public and so doubted by the medical profession as the healing powers of pot. But at last, researchers are tiptoeing into this field, hoping to prove once and for all whether marijuana really is good medicine. To believers, marijuana's benefits are already beyond discussion: Pot eases pain, settles the stomach, builds weight and steadies spastic muscles. And that's hardly the beginning. They speak of relief from PMS, glaucoma, itching, insomnia, arthritis, depression, childbirth, attention deficit disorder and ringing in the ears. [continues 1218 words]
SAN DIEGO - Maybe the smoke is about to clear in the debate over medical marijuana. Few ideas, it seems, are so firmly held by the public and so doubted by the medical profession as the healing powers of pot. But at last, researchers are tiptoeing into this field, hoping to prove once and for all whether marijuana really is good medicine. To believers, marijuana's benefits are already beyond discussion: Pot eases pain, settles the stomach, builds weight, and steadies spastic muscles. And that's hardly the beginning. They speak of relief from PMS, glaucoma, itching, insomnia, arthritis, depression, childbirth, attention-deficit disorder, and ringing in the ears. [continues 1717 words]
SAN DIEGO -- Maybe the smoke is about to clear in the debate over medical marijuana. Few ideas, it seems, are so firmly held by the public and so doubted by the medical profession as the healing powers of pot. But, at last, researchers are tiptoeing into this field, hoping to prove once and for all whether marijuana really is good medicine. And this past week, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to decide whether the drug can be provided to patients out of "medical necessity" even though federal law makes distribution of the drug a crime. [continues 1228 words]
SAN DIEGO -(AP)- Maybe the smoke is about to clear in the debate over medical marijuana. Few ideas, it seems, are so firmly held by the public and so doubted by the medical profession as the healing powers of pot. But at last, researchers are tiptoeing into this field, hoping to prove once and for all whether marijuana really is good medicine. To believers, marijuana's benefits are already beyond discussion: Pot eases pain, settles the stomach, builds weight, and steadies spastic muscles. And that's hardly the beginning. They speak of relief from PMS, glaucoma, itching, insomnia, arthritis, depression, childbirth, attention deficit disorder, and ringing in the ears. [continues 1092 words]
SAN DIEGO (AP) Maybe the smoke is about to clear in the debate over medical marijuana. Few ideas, it seems, are so firmly held by the public and so doubted by the medical profession as the healing powers of pot. But at last, researchers are tiptoeing into this field, hoping to prove once and for all whether marijuana really is good medicine. To believers, marijuana's benefits already are beyond discussion: Pot eases pain, settles the stomach, builds weight and steadies spastic muscles. And that's hardly the beginning. [continues 1129 words]
SAN DIEGO -- Maybe The Smoke Is About To Clear In The Debate Over Medical Marijuana. Few ideas, it seems, are so firmly held by the public and so doubted by the medical profession as the healing powers of pot. But at last, researchers are tiptoeing into this field, hoping to prove once and for all whether marijuana really is good medicine. To believers, marijuana's benefits are already beyond discussion: Pot eases pain, settles the stomach, builds weight and steadies spastic muscles. And that's hardly the beginning. They speak of relief from PMS, glaucoma, itching, insomnia, arthritis, depression, childbirth, attention deficit disorder and ringing in the ears. [continues 579 words]
SAN DIEGO -- Maybe the smoke is about to clear in the debate over medical marijuana. Few ideas, it seems, are so firmly held by the public and so doubted by the medical profession as the healing powers of pot. But at last, researchers are tiptoeing into this field, hoping to prove once and for all whether marijuana really is good medicine. To believers, marijuana's benefits are already beyond discussion: Pot eases pain, settles the stomach, builds weight and steadies spastic muscles. And that's hardly the beginning. They speak of relief from PMS, glaucoma, itching, insomnia, arthritis, depression, childbirth, attention deficit disorder and ringing in the ears. [continues 761 words]
California Researchers Will Receive $9 Million During The Next Three Years To Conduct Marijuana Studies SAN DIEGO -- Maybe the smoke is about to clear in the debate over medical marijuana. Few ideas, it seems, are so firmly held by the public and so doubted by the medical profession as the healing powers of pot. But at last, researchers are tiptoeing into this field, hoping to prove once and for all whether marijuana really is good medicine. To believers, marijuana's benefits are beyond discussion: Pot eases pain, settles the stomach, builds weight and steadies spastic muscles. It relieves PMS, glaucoma, itching, insomnia, arthritis, depression, childbirth, attention deficit disorder and ringing in the ears. [continues 1317 words]
Maybe the smoke is about to clear in the debate over medical marijuana. Few ideas, it seems, are so firmly held by the public and so doubted by the medical profession as the healing powers of pot. But at last, researchers are tiptoeing into this field, hoping to prove once and for all whether marijuana really is good medicine. To believers, marijuana's benefits are already beyond discussion: Pot eases pain, settles the stomach, builds weight and steadies spastic muscles. And that's hardly the beginning. They speak of relief from PMS, glaucoma, itching, insomnia, arthritis, depression, childbirth, attention deficit disorder and ringing in the ears. [continues 1667 words]
SAN DIEGO -- Maybe the smoke is about to clear in the debate over medical marijuana. Few ideas, it seems, are so firmly held by the public and so doubted by the medical profession as the healing powers of pot. But at last, researchers are tiptoeing into this field, hoping to prove once and for all whether marijuana really is good medicine. To believers, marijuana's benefits are already beyond discussion: Pot eases pain, settles the stomach, builds weight and steadies spastic muscles. And that's hardly the beginning. They speak of relief from PMS, glaucoma, itching, insomnia, arthritis, depression, childbirth, attention deficit disorder and ringing in the ears. [continues 1676 words]
San Diego -- Maybe the smoke is about to clear in the debate over medical marijuana. Few ideas, it seems, are so firmly held by the public and so doubted by the medical profession as the healing powers of pot. But at last, researchers are tiptoeing into this field, hoping to prove once and for all whether marijuana really is good medicine. To believers, marijuana's benefits are already beyond discussion: Pot eases pain, settles the stomach, builds weight and steadies spastic muscles. And that's hardly the beginning. They speak of relief from PMS, glaucoma, itching, insomnia, arthritis, depression, childbirth, attention deficit disorder and ringing in the ears. [continues 1677 words]
HEALTH: The increased risk is small,but babyboomer users with other risk factors should take note. SAN DIEGO - Warning to middle-age potheads: Smoking marijuana may be bad for your middle-age hearts. In the first study to find a link between pot and heart trouble, Harvard researchers reported Thursday that the risk of a heart attack is five times higher than usual in the hour after smoking a joint. Until now, marijuana has not been much of an issue in heart disease, since older folks do not typically smoke pot. However, this could change as baby boomers take their pot smoking habits into middle age and beyond. [continues 483 words]
Serious statistical link to heart attacks is found SAN DIEGO -- Warning to middle-aged marijuana smokers: Smoking marijuana may be bad for your middle-aged hearts. In the first study to find a statistical link between marijuana and heart trouble, Harvard researchers reported yesterday that the risk of a heart attack is five times higher than usual in the hour after smoking a joint. Until now, marijuana has not been much of an issue in heart disease, since older folks do not typically smoke pot. However, this could change as baby boomers take their pot-smoking habits into middle age and beyond. [continues 479 words]
SAN DIEGO--Warning to middle-aged potheads: Smoking marijuana may be bad for your middle-aged hearts. In the first study to find a link between pot and heart trouble, Harvard researchers reported Thursday that the risk of a heart attack is five times higher than usual in the hour after smoking a joint. Until now, marijuana has not been much of an issue in heart disease, since older folks do not typically smoke pot. However, this could change as baby boomers take their pot-smoking habits into middle age and beyond. [continues 499 words]
Dispute over use of name forces resignation BOSTON -- The top editor of the New England Journal of Medicine has been forced out in a dispute over the use of its name to sell consumer newsletters and other publications. Dr. Jerome P. Kassirer was asked to step down, friends say, because of his long-standing opposition to the Massachusetts Medical Society's practice of launching new magazines and advertising them as being from "the publishers of the New England Journal of Medicine." [continues 322 words]
Medicine: Doctors say standards should be the same as for mainstream treatments. Boston Citing the hazards of poorly tested herbal remedies,one of the nation's most distinguished medical journals says alternative medicines should be subjected to the same rigorous standards as mainstream treatments. In an editorial, Drs. Marcia Angell and Jerome P. Kassirer of the New England Journal of Medicine argued that testimonials and speculation are no substitute for precise medical evidence that treatments are safe and effective. "There cannot be two kinds of medicine - conventional and alternative," they wrote in today's issue. "There is only medicine that has been adequately tested and medicine that has not, medicine that works and medicine that may or may not work." [continues 189 words]
BOSTON (AP) -- Drunken flies that carry a genetic mutation named ``cheapdate'' are helping scientists unravel one of life's mysteries: why some people can hold their liquor better than others. The research found that fruit flies -- and perhaps people, too -- are especially apt to get inebriated if they naturally produce low levels of a chemical called cyclic AMP. These are, of course, just flies, but scientists have long known that the basic processes of life in such simple creatures often turn out to be virtually identical to the ones involved in more complicated animals, like people. [continues 534 words]
Pictures the researchers receive are described as 'way beyond fried eggs.' BOSTON-All that could be seen of the drug addict were his gray wool socks sticking out of an MRI machine the size of a walk-in closet. He'd been in there about an hour when a technician pushed a big white button and infused 40 milligrams of cocaine into his bloodstream. Two psychiatrists watched intently, along with a heart specialist, a drug counselor and a nurse. If all went well, they would capture amazingly clear pictures of the drug's effects on this man's brain, a step toward mapping addiction's grip and, ultimately, perhaps even curing it. [continues 980 words]
MRI machine yields clear images of drug's effect on brain All that could be seen of the drug addict were his gray wool socks sticking out of an MRI machine the size of a walk-in closet. He'd been in there about an hour when a technician pushed a big white button and infused 40 milligrams of cocaine into his bloodstream. Two psychiatrists watched intently, along with a heart specialist, drug counselor and nurse. If all went well, they would capture amazingly clear pictures of the drug's effects on this man's brain, a step toward mapping addiction's grip and, ultimately, perhaps curing it. [continues 771 words]
