Study: Gingko Extract Sharply Reduces Stroke Damage
(Washington, DC) -- Extract from the leaves of the ginkgo tree might limit brain damage from strokes. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore found that mice given daily doses of ginkgo biloba extract suffered far less damage when strokes were induced in the lab. Those given the extract before the stroke had half the damage as mice who didn't receive any. Those animals given ginkgo within five minutes after the stroke suffered 60-percent less damage in the day afterward than the control group. Mice given ginkgo four-and-a-half hours after their strokes had about a third less damage.
The researchers said ginkgo could be a huge breakthrough for people since currently not much can be done to protect the brain after a stroke. Ginkgo is one of the top five selling medicinal herbs in the U.S. and comes from one of the oldest types of trees on Earth. The findings are published in the journal "Stroke."
>Quarter of Young Girls Got HPV Vaccine
(Washington, DC) -- Just 25-percent of young girls received Merck & Co's Gardasil vaccine last year. That's the new vaccine that protects against the human papillomavirus, which can lead to cervical cancer. A Centers for Disease Control report offers the first glimpse of how many girls are taking the just approved vaccine, that also protects against genital warts in girls between nine and 26 years old. The CDC says overall they're pleased with the results, but that it just proves they've got a long way to go.
Dr. Lance Rodewald, with the CDC's division of immunization services says it usually takes seven or eight years for 90-percent of the target group to start getting vaccinated when a new vaccine is released. The CDC looked at national data on about three-thousand girls between 13 and 17 years old to come up with their results. Rodewald says they don't know how many women between 18 and 26 are getting vaccinated. Some doctors and consumer groups have raised questions about Gardasil's safety, but the FDA and CDC have said the most serious adverse events don't seem to be linked to the vaccine. |