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Journalism of Courage
It8217;s party season and many of you might want to indulge in a bit of alcohol, believing that homespun hangover cures will help. A team from the Peninsula Medical School, however, found 8216;8216;no compelling evidence8217;8217; that a range of herbal and conventional treatments were effective. A study in British Medical Journal, say only abstinence or moderation can really stop hangovers. The only thing you can do with a hangover is let your body heal itself.
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Developing resistance
The New England Journal of Medicine reported that the bird flu that killed two Vietnamese patients earlier this year was a strain that developed resistance to Tamiflu8212;the antiviral that is being stockpiled in anticipation of an avian flu pandemic. What was worse was the fact that the patient was given full dose of Tamiflu early in the course of disease, but the virus proved drug-resistant. The finding, according to researchers, shows there is a need to devise pandemic strategies that don8217;t rely solely on Tamiflu-type drugs.
Antacids may work too well
Curing that burning sensation with popular antacid treatments like Prilosec omeprazole or Zantac ranitidine may just cause another problem: a serious diarrhoeal infection called Clostridium difficile. The study reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association JAMA, said that reducing stomach acid makes it prone to the infection which has proved fatal in some cases.
COMPILED BY TOUFIQ RASHID
