Medical Headlines - December 21, 2006

Teens Getting High on Medicine as Abuse of Illegal Drugs Falls
Bloomberg
By Robert Schmidt. Dec. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Use of illegal drugs by teenagers fell slightly over the past year as adolescents took prescription drugs and over-the-counter cough medicines to get high, a US government-funded study showed.


Flu 'could wipe out 62 million'
BBC News
The 1918 pandemic claimed 50 million lives, and experts in The Lancet predict the toll today would be higher than this, despite medical advances.


Brain Scan May Detect Alzheimer's
FOX News
By Salynn Boyles. A newly identified imaging compound that shows how Alzheimer?s disease ravages the brain could lead to better tools to diagnose the disease and better ways to evaluate new treatments.


Biomarkers Little Help for Heart Attacks
ABC News
There may be nothing better than basic risk factors to predict a patient's chance of suffering a heart attack, says new research.


Fish oil gives babies head start: study
The Age
Toddlers born to women who consume fish oil during pregnancy know more words and longer phrases than other children, a study has found.


Botox Soothes Writer's Cramp
Forbes
THURSDAY, Dec. 21 (HealthDay News) -- Already hailed for its wrinkling-erasing properties, Botox is now being touted as an effective treatment for writer's cramp, too.