Abdominal Distention

Abdominal distention can also occur as a consequence of overeating and other diseases like irritable bowel syndrome and abdominal hernia. To know more about abdominal distention symptoms, read on...

What is the abdomen? The area located between the chest and the pelvis, is called the abdomen. Abdominal distention is defined as the enlargement of the abdomen. In other words, the size of the abdomen increases and triggers an uncomfortable feeling. The unusual swelling of the abdomen may last for a few minutes or last for a considerable period of time depending upon the underlying cause. Read more on swollen abdomen.

Abdominal Discomfort

The potential causes of abdominal discomfort can range from minor to major ones. This article will give you brief information on abdominal discomfort: symptoms, causes and treatment methods. Read on...

Abdominal pain and discomfort is one of the most common conditions experienced by people all over the world. The discomfort can be caused due to cramping and pain that arises due to diseases and disorders related to the stomach, liver, kidneys, and other organs located in the body. As mentioned above, abdominal discomfort can be a symptom of any minor as well as a severe disorder. Let us have a look at the causes of abdominal discomfort in detail.

Science as marketing

A new peer-reviewed study paints a disturbing picture of the use and abuse of science by pharmaceutical companies to help them sell drugs.

Published in the latest edition of the Journal of Bioethical Inquiry, the study goes through several case studies of big drug companies using questionable science to boost the apparent effectiveness and/or safety of their products. Authors Glen Spielmans and Peter Parry sifted through internal court documents released to the public through lawsuits against the drug companies in one of the first peer-reviewed studies to rely on such documents.

They outline several ways they say that companies used science improperly to market their drugs, including selective use of trial results (or "data fishing") to suppress or spin negative results, and ghostwriting -- in which a report written by or for a drug company to give a psitive review to one of its products is then published under the name of a respected academic or research who had little (if anything) to do with its preparation.

Questions raised about Avandia tests

Despite government investigations into the safety of diabetes drug Avandia, test subjects are still being recruited for studies into the controverial drug, according to a report.

That has some researchers scratching their heads, since regulators in Canada and the US are grappling with what to do about the drug.

"Exposing thousands of people to this drug for many years, just to see if existing studies are right, doesn't make a lot of sense," says Dr. David Juurlink, the scientist who was the lead investigator in the ICES study that compared Avandia and Actos.

"The idea that you would enroll tens of thousands of patients into a study and give them this drug for years just to see if it is really more dangerous, that to me that is something you might do to guinea pigs, not to patients," he says.

Summit wrap

This will likely be the last blog from the Health Care Globalization Summit. Cards have been exchanged, hands shook and business deals among the delegates begun -- if not complete.

It's been fascinating for me to immerse myself into the business side of health care. It's something we don't see that often in Canada. This being a business conference, there was was no discussion of whether for-profit medical care is a good thing, or whether higher profits are a measure of quality of care -- topics that always come up when business and health care are discussed in Canada.

The question all week was not should profits be made from health care, but how can more money be made.

Steve Jobs' health privacy investigated

It seems the US Securities and Exchange Commission will soon weigh in on the tricky ethical issue of health privacy for public figures.

According to a Bloomberg report, the regulator is investigating whether investors were misled as concerns about the health of Apply CEO and founder Steve Jobs began to surface.

Investors have been pressing for information on Jobs’s health since June, when he appeared thinner at an Apple event. The company’s stock whipsawed this month after Jobs, who battled pancreatic cancer in 2004, said he would remain CEO while seeking a “relatively simple” treatment for a nutritional ailment. Nine days later, Jobs said he would take a five-month medical leave after learning his health issues were “more complex.