At the moment a man hears a diagnosis of prostate cancer, his first thought is often of survival. It’s later — sometimes after treatment — that the patient considers the cost medical intervention can have on his sexual and mental well-being, said Prof. Gabriela Ilie, who is conducting research on quality of life for prostate […]
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It’s time for First Nations leaders to consider a class action lawsuit against the federal government on behalf of Indigenous young people who have died by suicide, says Isadore Day, the Ontario regional chief with the Assembly of First Nations. Day’s comments came as Wapekeka First Nation revealed this week that it had asked for […]
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Friday December 30, 2016 more stories from this episode Change in the brushstrokes of painters over time could be a subtle sign of cognitive decline, according to a new study. The research team, led by Alex Forsythe, senior psychology lecturer at the University of Liverpool, analyzed more than 2,000 paintings from seven famous artists, including Canadian Indigenous […]
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Inmates released from the Hamilton Wentworth Detention Centre are being equipped with naloxone kits to combat opioid overdoses. Research shows that the rate of death from overdose is more than 50 times higher in the two weeks following a release from custody. “There is an over-representation of substance use disorders, and there also is an over-representation […]
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Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil says his government pursued a health accord for all of Atlantic Canada before deciding to go it alone and sign a bilateral deal with Ottawa last week. Talks between the provinces and federal government fell apart Dec. 19. Three days later, New Brunswick announced it reached its own deal with […]
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A new study says taking fish oil during the third trimester of pregnancy could reduce a baby’s risk of developing asthma by almost a third. The study, published Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine, was conducted by the Copenhagen Prospective Studies on Asthma in Childhood (COPSAC) at the Copenhagen University Hospital, with testing […]
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A unique program based in Thunder Bay, Ont., is using food bank donations to help people with kidney disease in four remote First Nations. Each month, a dietitian from the regional hospital sorts through the cans and cartons donated to the Regional Food Distribution Association with the goal of creating personalized packages for dialysis patients. The boxes are then […]
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Pregnancy may trigger changes in the structure and size of regions in a woman’s brain that are involved in responding to social and emotional cues, a recent study suggests. Many of these changes appeared to last at least two years after giving birth, the study found. Mothers who had the most pronounced alterations in their […]
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Every holiday season, Canadian Blood Services finds itself sharing a similar message — it needs blood donors. But this year, the need is an anxious plea. Typically, the blood collection agency builds its inventory before Christmas. However, storms forced the closure of several clinics in the Atlantic region leading into the holidays and the inventory is low. […]
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The health care funding deal made between the Nova Scotia government and Ottawa is getting mixed reactions from politicians and advocacy groups. “Stephen McNeil made a lousy deal. He signed away a lot of hope when he made his side deal yesterday,” said Jamie Baillie, leader of the provincial Progressive Conservatives, Saturday. On Monday, Ottawa […]
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Regular use of pain relievers over many years may increase the risk of hearing loss, a recent study suggests. Researchers analyzed long-term data on almost 56,000 U.S. women and found using non-steroidal anti-inflammatories (NSAIDS) like naproxen (Aleve) and ibuprofen (Motrin) as well as acetaminophen (Tylenol) for six years or more was tied to a greater […]
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Looking back, 2016 was clearly the year of the Zika virus. The epidemic began with a mysterious cluster of microcephaly cases in northeastern Brazil, and by February the World Health Organization had declared a world health emergency. There’s still much that remains unknown. It was also the year of CRISPR, a revolutionary gene-editing tool that […]
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New Brunswick has secured $ 230 million more for health care from the federal government over the next decade, Premier Brian Gallant announced today. The bilateral deal — the first reached since talks between federal and provincial governments broke down earlier this week — includes funding for home care and mental health, he said at […]
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Cereal makers have happily encouraged the belief that eating breakfast can help keep us thin and bring other benefits, partly by paying for studies that seem to support the idea. So, does that mean breakfast is bad for you? Not that either. What it does show is how difficult it can be to sort the […]
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Children under age five could choke on grapes and similarly shaped foods, and parents should cut them in half or quarters to reduce the risk, Scottish doctors say. Although some parents may know to cutgrapes, cherry tomatoes and hot dogs, to name a few, into smaller pieces, not all do. Public health officials should spread the message […]
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Post-traumatic stress disorder can be a debilitating condition. It’s estimated that it affects nearly one in 10 Canadian veterans who served in Afghanistan. Now, there’s promising research that could lead to the treatment of the disorder. Following a particularly traumatic event — one where there is the serious threat of death or a circumstance that […]
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Restaurant-goers in Ontario are going to notice a little extra something on some menus as of Jan. 1: calorie counts. Legislation that comes into effect Sunday under the Healthy Menu Choices Act, 2015 requires that all restaurants with 20 or more locations must clearly display the caloric information for any food and drink items. Not only will the information […]
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Marjorie Schenkels had unprotected sex three times with a friend, while they both had been drinking, as she was going through a difficult and volatile time in her life. The Manitoba woman was also living with HIV — a diagnosis she had told only her mother about — and feared she would lose her friends […]
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For Betty Harper and Bill Harvey, it’s the simple things that matter — like doing their own laundry. Both live at a long-term care facility in Hamilton, Ont. Betty was born with cerebral palsy. Bill jumped out of a burning building and suffered a severe spinal cord injury. Both use wheelchairs. So when first-year engineering students at McMaster […]
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Single dads are twice as likely to report poor physical and mental health as fathers with partners, according to a new study from a group of Toronto-area researchers. In addition, solo fathers experience the same stress and strain as single mothers, which is likely related to low income and unemployment, the researchers say. “We have […]
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Peter Chaban was up early doing dishes one morning in 2012 when he noticed there was water flowing over his hand — but he couldn’t feel it. Next thing he knew, he lost all sensation and strength on his left side and dropped to floor. Within seconds he was lying there completely immobilized. By the […]
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As the number of deaths linked to fentanyl and carfentanil in 2016 continue to rise in British Columbia and Alberta, the “unprecedented drug safety and public health crisis” is “spreading like a cancer” across Canada, a prominent drug expert says. “There has never been a more dangerous time to source drugs on the street,” said Dr. David Juurlink, head of clinical […]
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Have you been dreaming about that second helping of turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy? Are you planning to eat chocolate now and diet later? You might want to think about this first. The overwhelming majority of dieters fail. Depending on which study you look at, between 80 and 95 per cent of people who lose […]
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An experimental Ebola vaccine partially designed at Canada’s National Microbiology Laboratory was found to be highly protective in a major clinical trial in Guinea, researchers report, suggesting future outbreaks could be easily contained. The largest Ebola outbreak in history swept through West Africa in 2014 and 2015, resulting in more than 15,000 lab-confirmed cases and […]
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A mother raising a child with a major birth defect may face a higher risk of dying early compared with a mother whose child doesn’t have a birth defect, Danish research suggests. But, the researchers added, the risk of early death was “marginal.” The finding is based on a review involving more than 455,000 Danish […]
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