The Korea Herald

What can we do for misaligned eyes?

Mar 9, 2011

Strabismus is a visual defect in which the eyes are misaligned and point in different directions. One eye may look straight ahead, while the other eye turns inward, outward, upward or downward. You may always notice the misalignment, or it may come and go. The turned eye may straighten at times and the straight eye may turn.Strabismus is one of the most common pediatric eye problems ― approximatel
Stomach pacemaker could help obese lose weight

Mar 7, 2011

LONDON (AP) _ Patrick Hetzner tried diets and exercise, just about everything short of stomach stapling to lose weight. Nothing worked. Five months ago he tried something new: a stomach pacemaker that curbed his appetite. (MCT)Since having it implanted, Hetzner, a 20-year-old Munich mailman, has knocked off more than 10 kilos (22 pounds) from his earlier weight of 104 kilos (229 pounds).Hetzner go
Treat yourself, in moderation

Mar 3, 2011

Humans, perhaps Americans in particular, tend to share a certain creed that goes something like this: If one is good, two are better.That’s fine when it comes to dollars in the collection plate or hours spent volunteering, but not so with certain research-has-shown items consumed in the name of health. Think nuts, red wine, dark chocolate, coffee.Nuts, for instance, once thought to be merely delic
Asan hospital adopts new Gamma knife

Mar 3, 2011

The Asan Medical Center has adopted the cutting-edge Gamma knife device, “Perfexion” for its Gamma Knife Center.The center, which has recently marked 5,000 cases of operation for the first time in the nation, said the device will enhance accuracy and sophistication in the surgery room. Gamma Knife is a radiosurgical treatment that delivers a dose of gamma radiation to the target with surgical prec
Fertility treatment ‘Elonva’ approved

Mar 3, 2011

Elonva, infertility treatment by MSD-Korea, the Korean branch of the Merck & Co., gained the Korea Food and Drug Administration’s approval last week, the company said Monday. The follitropin beta (gene recombination)-based injection was proven effective for controlled ovarian stimulation (COS) on women receiving assisted reproductive technology. The drug can replace the seven-session injection of
SNU develops Parkinson’s treatment

Mar 3, 2011

Seoul National University Hospital’s Parkinson Center said Monday it has developed an original DBS Electrode Location Analysis System to treat Parkinson’s disease and will provide an international service online at http://delas.ondemand3d.com.The DELAS method involves transplantation of a 1.27 millimeter-thin electrode to the focus of the brain and providing constant electrostimulation to it. The
Alzheimer's disease may be passed down from ailing mothers, study suggests

Mar 2, 2011

Mothers may be more likely to pass down Alzheimer’s disease to their children than fathers, a finding that may help identify patients earlier, researchers from the University of Kansas School of Medicine said. Healthy older adults with no cognitive problems whose mothers had Alzheimer’s disease had more brain shrinkage than those who had a father or no parent with the disease, according to researc
Low fat or low carb? Which is the better way to lose weight?

Feb 28, 2011

A low-fat diet will help you lose weight. Or is it a low-carbohydrate diet? Pore over decades of research and dozens of studies over this debate and you’re likely to be confused about the best way to go about reducing your waistline.“I think lowering carbs is what you should do,” says Heather Straight, a Pleasant Hill, California, mom of three who says she’s tried several diets. “At least, I think
Glaucoma: the silent thief of sight

Feb 24, 2011

By Kee Chang-won, MD, Ph.D.Glaucoma is an eye disorder in which the optic nerve suffers damage, permanently impacting vision and progressing to complete blindness if untreated. Glaucoma has been nicknamed the “silent thief of sight” because the loss of vision normally occurs gradually over a long period of time. Once lost, this damaged visual field cannot be recovered. Worldwide, it is the second
Laughing gasreturning as option for laboring moms

Feb 14, 2011

CONCORD, New Hampshire (AP) ― Labor pain is nothing to laugh at.Yet.The use of nitrous oxide, or laughing gas, during childbirth fell out of favor in the United States decades ago, and just two hospitals ― one in San Francisco and one in Seattle ― still offer it. But interest in returning the dentist office staple to the delivery room is growing: respected hospitals including Dartmouth-Hitchcock M
With love and grit, he marches on

Jan 31, 2011

In a Vietnamese jungle on Sept. 4, 1969, the stubby bullet of a Russian-made AK-47 ripped into the skull of Army Spc. Leonard Rugh, then 24. It didn’t stop until it had torn through his brain’s right frontal lobe, powered its way through the right parietal lobe and lodged itself in the dome of his helmet.Leonard Rugh is photographed with his wife, Luanna, at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo, Ca
Seoul to hike milk output quota to tackle FMD-sparked dearth

Jan 18, 2011

South Korea will temporarily allow local dairy farms to increase milk production to counter shortfalls caused by the culling of dairy cows due to the recent foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreak, the farm ministry said Tuesday.The move calls for production quotas to be raised by 5 percent for the next two years to help boost supply and preempt price hikes that can exacerbate inflationary concerns
Additional FMD case found in central S. Korea

Jan 18, 2011

South Korea confirmed an additional case of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in the country's central region on Tuesday, though nationwide vaccinations and quarantine efforts are having some effect on containing the disease.The additional case at a pig farm in Yesan, 134 kilometers south of Seoul, brings the total number of confirmed FMD outbreaks to 121, since animals started showing symptoms in late
‘Korea faced with deepening health care deficit’

Jan 17, 2011

Fast-aging Korea could see a deficit of 16 trillion won ($14 billion) in its medical insurance financing by 2020, a report warned Monday. Without “fundamental change” in the overall system, the deficit would continue to swell in the coming years, the Institute for National Health Insurance, an affiliate of the National Health Insurance Corporation, said in its mid- and long-term financial report.
Lee inspects quarantine activities against animal disease

Jan 16, 2011

President Lee Myung-bak on Sunday instructed civil servants to step up efforts to stem the nationwide spread of livestock foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) ahead of the three-day Lunar New Year holidays to begin on Feb. 2. President Lee Myung-bak visiting Hoengseong in Gangwon Province to inspect the quaratine efforts against highly contagious livestock epidemic. (Yonhap News)Lee gave the instructions