Tag: study

Fish oil supplements don’t help dry eye disease: study

TAMPA, United States (AFP) — Fish oil supplements have long been recommended to people suffering from dry eye disease, a common ailment that affects millions worldwide — but a study out Friday says they don’t work. “Omega-3 supplements are no more effective than placebo at alleviating dry eye symptoms,” read the findings from a randomized clinical trial involving 535 people and published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Dry eye disease affects more than […]

Milky Way core may harbour thousands of black holes: study

by Mariëtte Le Roux Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — Astrophysicists have detected a dozen black holes at the center of our Milky Way galaxy and said Wednesday there could be as many as 10,000. The find provides the first evidence for a long-held theory that the massive black hole at the core of every large galaxy should be surrounded by thousands of smaller ones, they wrote in the science journal Nature. “We observed […]

Ants nurse wounded warriors back to health: study

by Mariette le Roux and Laurence Coustal Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — African Matabele ants dress the wounds of comrades injured during hunting raids and nurse them back to health, according to an “astonishing” discovery reported Wednesday. After collecting their wounded from the battlefield and carrying them back home, nestmates become medics, massing around patients for “intense licking” of open wounds, according to a study in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society […]

Stereo vision: Mantises see 3-D differently, study says

by Mariëtte Le Roux Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — Praying mantises sporting tiny 3-D glasses that were held in place with beeswax have revealed a new kind of “stereo” vision that may help improve robot sight, researchers said Thursday. With two teardrop-shaped, light-filtering lenses perched on their heads, the insects lashed out in lab experiments at images of tempting prey in a special 3-D film, a team of scientists said. Scientists then observed […]

Vaping may raise cancer risk: study

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Vaping may raise the risk of cancer because it leads to DNA damage, even though it contains fewer carcinogens than tobacco smoke, a US study has found. The report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences did not compare the cancer-causing potential of traditional cigarettes to e-cigarettes. However, in studies on lab mice, those exposed to e-cigarette smoke “had higher levels of DNA damage in the heart, lungs, […]

Vaping may be bad for kids, good for adults: study

MIAMI, United States (AFP) — Vaping, or smoking battery powered devices known as e-cigarettes, may encourage youths to start smoking but may also help adults quit, said a US review of scientific research out Tuesday. The report by the US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine is based on more than 800 peer-reviewed scientific studies on the health effects of electronic cigarettes. It was compiled at the request of the US Congress, amid a […]

Breastfeeding for 6 months cuts diabetes risk in half: study

MIAMI, United States (AFP) — Women who breastfeed their babies for six months or more may be able to cut their risk of developing diabetes in the future by nearly half, according to a study Tuesday. The findings from a three-decade US study of more than 1,200 white and African-American women were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Internal Medicine. “We found a very strong association between breastfeeding duration and lower […]

Suppressing a sneeze can be dangerous, doctors warn

PARIS, France (AFP) — Stifling a sneeze can rupture your throat, burst an ear drum, or pop a blood vessel in your brain, researchers warned Tuesday. Many people — when they feel a sneeze coming on — block all the exits, essentially swallowing the sneeze’s explosive force. Just how dangerous this can be was illustrated when a 34-year-old man showed up at the emergency service of a hospital in Leicester, England recently, with a swollen […]

Don’t feed your dog raw meat, study says

PARIS, France (AFP) — Raw meat, touted by some as an easily-digestible, nutrient-filled superfood for domestic dogs and cats, may put not only your pet at risk, but your own health too, researchers warned Friday. A survey of frozen, raw meat products sold at pet stores and supermarkets in the Netherlands, where more than half of dog owners buy such items, revealed worrying levels of bacteria and parasites, a Dutch team reported in the journal […]

When humans wage war, animals suffer too: study

by Mariëtte Le Roux Agence France Presse PARIS , France (AFP) — When humans wage war, they harm more than just one another. Wild animals suffer too, and some have verged on annihilation in Africa’s many anti-colonial and civil conflicts, researchers said Wednesday. More than 70 percent of the continent’s protected natural areas has been touched by war between 1946 and 2010, triggering a “downward spiral” for many populations of big plant-eating mammals, according to […]

Women who work nights face higher cancer risk: study

MIAMI, United States (AFP) — Women who regularly work the night shift in Europe and North America may face a 19 percent higher risk of cancer than those who work during the day, said a study Monday. These heightened risks were not apparent among female night-shift workers in Australia and Asia, said the meta-analysis in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention. “Our study indicates that night shift work serves as a risk factor for […]

Samsung overtakes Intel as world’s biggest chip maker: study

PARIS, France (AFP) — South Korea’s Samsung has overtaken US rival Intel as the world’s biggest maker of semi-conductors as sales in the sector boom, a study published by consultancy Gartner showed on Thursday. Samsung Electronics “gained the most market share and took the number one position from Intel -— the first time Intel has been toppled since 1992,” said Gartner analyst, Andrew Norwood. The total global market for semi-conductors grew by 22 percent to […]