Medical Treatments

For children diagnosed with worsening myopia, bifocals might be a better choice than standard lenses for nearsightedness; researchers have found that the condition doesn't seem to progress as rapidly among bifocal-wearing children. Those findings, released Monday, raise the intriguing question of whether there is a better way to treat myopia early in its course, slowing its typical progression. The condition, in which near vision is clear but distance vision is blurry, is usually identified in childhood and worsens until late adolescence.

Johnson & Johnson won U.S. approval of a rheumatoid arthritis drug designed to be injected less often than its top-selling product, Remicade. The Food and Drug Administration on Friday announced its decision on the medicine, golimumab. The drug, to be co-marketed outside the U.S. by Schering-Plough Corp., will compete with Amgen Inc.'s Enbrel and Abbott Laboratories' Humira. Remicade produced more than $5 billion in revenue last year, according to the data research firm IMS Health Inc.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday overturned the death sentence of a mentally disturbed murderer who was being forcibly medicated by Louisiana prison officials so that he could be executed. The case of Michael Owen Perry has been the most closely watched death penalty case of the current term because it tested the willingness of the court's dominant conservatives to uphold executions.

Accidents, burns and surgery all leave their marks on skin. For years, most people have had little recourse but to suffer these scars or resort to expensive medical procedures to minimize them. Now they have another option. Several new over-the-counter products promise to make scars look better, at a fraction of the cost of a physician's treatment.

In a unanimous decision filed Thursday, the California Supreme Court struck down the state's specific limits on how much medical marijuana a patient can possess, concluding that restrictions imposed by the Legislature were an unconstitutional amendment of a voter-approved initiative. The decision, which affirmed an appellate decision, means people who have a doctor's recommendation to use marijuana can possess and cultivate as much as is "reasonably necessary." The court invalidated a provision of a 2003 state law passed to clarify the initiative.

WHEN fungus invaded her toenails 10 years ago, Ruth Carsch of San Francisco didn't care too much at first. Her nails became "thick and fat and yellow," says the 61-year-old information specialist, but she could always hide that behind colorful nail polish. What she really minded, she says, was how the nail plates grew so thick from the infection that they squashed the toes beneath. "My toes are much fatter than they used to be. My feet are wider," Carsch says. "It seems to have deformed my toes."

A tracheostomy like that undergone by Pope John Paul II on Thursday is a relatively common procedure among the elderly who are sick and having difficulty breathing, experts said Thursday, and it can be even more beneficial to Parkinson's disease patients, such as the pontiff, whose breathing is already impaired. "The immediate benefit is that it reduces the amount of air you have to move [with your lungs] with every breath by 50%," said Dr.

In a sense, the 2 million plus Americans with celiac disease are lucky. No other autoimmune disease has such a safe and effective treatment. Purging the diet of gluten -- the protein in wheat, rye and barley that triggers an immune reaction in the gut -- can reverse the disease and reduce intestinal inflammation. That's important, because studies now show that the consequences of untreated celiac disease are graver than previously thought, causing anemia, arthritis, osteoporosis, hepatitis, neurological problems and even malignancies, as well as increased general mortality.

When a recent study found that a popular knee operation was only as good as a placebo for arthritis, some sufferers misconstrued the results, assuming that no surgery would help them. Doctors are now trying to reassure people this isn't the case.

With the rise in cases of diabetes, more and more people will suffer from foot ulcers that do not heal and may end up needing amputation because treatment of chronic wounds is so difficult. Today, an alternative treatment based on a remedy used since antiquity is getting increased attention -- smearing wounds with honey. Manuka Honey, a medicinal honey harvested from beekeepers in New Zealand, is now being marketed for application on wounds.