http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. Bitter cumin is used extensively in traditional medicine to treat a range of diseases from vitiligo to hyperglycemia. It is considered to be antiparasitic and antimicrobial and science has backed up claims of its use to reduce fever or as a painkiller. New research published in BioMedCentral's open access journal BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine shows that this humble spice also contains high levels of antioxidants. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-traditional-remedy-bitter-cumin-great.html Health Fri, 20 May 2011 02:37:37 EST news225077828 An antioxidant may prevent damage to the liver caused by excessive alcohol, according to new research from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. The findings, published online April 21, 2011, in the journal Hepatology, may point the way to treatments to reverse steatosis, or fatty deposits in the liver that can lead to cirrhosis and cancer. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-antioxidant-alcohol-induced-liver-disease.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Mon, 02 May 2011 17:10:31 EST news223575004 Thalidomide may have been withdrawn in the early 1960s for use by pregnant women, but its dramatic effects remain memorable half a century later. Now, researchers have taken a major step toward understanding exactly how thalidomide causes the birth defects. This is important as thalidomide is still used to treat diseases like multiple myeloma and leprosy, and is being tested for cancers and autoimmune disorders. This discovery was recently published online in the FASEB Journal. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-04-precisely-thalidomide-birth-defects.html Medical research Tue, 19 Apr 2011 11:18:45 EST news222430684