Kuala Lumpur: It happened suddenly. One morning in 2006, Lokasundari Vijaya Sankar, a former lecturer from Petaling Jaya, woke up with her whole body feeling stiff.

ANTIBODIES that exist in the joints before the onset of rheumatoid arthritis can cause pain even in the absence of arthritis, researchers from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden report.

KOTA KINABALU: Traditional and complementary medicine also referred as Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) has become popular among the population of Malaysian for health maintenance and disease prevention, especially cancer. A holistic approach of “emphasising on health rather than on disease” has greatly influenced the development of CAM and prevalence of CAM usage.

KOTA KINABALU: ‘Are these medications safe to be taken in pregnant women?’ ‘Can I take these medications if I’m pregnant?’ These are important questions yet rarely asked by patients when they’re collecting their medication at the pharmacy.

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) remains as one of the largest pandemics in the world. Since its outbreak in North America in the early 1970s, approximately 75 million people have become infected with HIV. Currently, approximately 37.5 million people are living with HIV while 22 million are already on treatment. .

KUALA LUMPUR: The number of asthma cases saw an increase of 3.5 per cent to 1,265 cases for the week of Sept 15 Sept to 21 compared to 1,222 cases in the previous week, due to the current haze blanketing most parts of the country since a few weeks ago.

A three-fold jump since 1975 in the percentage of adults worldwide who are obese has been driven mainly by a shift in diet and lack of exercise, but genes do play a role as well, according a large-scale study.

KOTA KINABALU: For the past 25 years, Jean Chan, has been living with a disease with a thousand faces or systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE or lupus), which can mimic so many other diseases.

PUTRAJAYA: Drug addicts in this country are no longer seen as criminals who must be punished but are patients in need of treatment and rehabilitation.

A new study by researchers at the University of Illinois suggests that three of the phenolic compounds in cocoa bean shells have powerful effects on the fat and immune cells in mice, potentially reversing the chronic inflammation and insulin resistance associated with obesity.