If you got a pesky cough and it hasn`t gone away in a week, you shouldn`t fret as a new study has found that the average cough lasts 18 days.

The problem is that people may believe that acute coughs - otherwise known as acute bronchitis-last about 10 days shorter than that, leading researchers to believe that many of them unnecessarily ask their doctor for antibiotics.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that acute cough illness makes up two to three percent of doctor visits, and more than half of them leave with an antibiotic prescription.

"There is a mismatch in what people believe and reality," CBS News quoted Dr. Mark Ebell, associate professor of epidemiology in the UGA College of Public Health, as saying.

"If someone gets acute bronchitis and isn`t better after four to five days, they may think they need to see a doctor and get an antibiotic. And when the first one doesn`t work, they come back four or five days later for another," he said.

The study looked at 19 observational studies that had between 23 and 1,230 patients. The studies took place in the US, Europe, Russia and Kenya.

From the data, it was determined that acute cough illness lasts 17.8 days on average.

The study is published in the journal Annals of Family Medicine.

Eating strawberries and blueberries all year round can cut the risk of heart attack by up to a third in women, a new study has claimed.

Experts believe the benefits come from the high content of flavonoids in berry fruits, which appear to combat blocked arteries, the `Daily Mail` reported.

Flavonoids are antioxidant compounds found in plants, as well as tea and red wine, which can protect against a wide range of diseases, including heart disease, hypertension, some cancers and dementia.

The findings are from an ongoing study of nurses which involves only women, but may also apply to men, researchers said.

The study involved 93,600 participants in the Nurses` Health Study II, a major US investigation of women`s health.

Women aged 25 to 42 completed questionnaires about their diet while their health was monitored over 18 years.

During the study, 405 heart attacks were recorded.

Women who ate the most strawberries and blueberries - at least three times a week - were at 32 per cent lower risk than those consuming the berries once a month or less.

Even participants with diets rich in other fruits and vegetables were more likely to experience heart attacks if they avoided strawberries and blueberries.

"Blueberries and strawberries can easily be incorporated into what women eat every week. This simple dietary change could have a significant impact on prevention efforts," Dr Eric Rimm, one of the senior study authors from the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, said.

Scientists believe the protective effect could be linked to anthocyanins, a type of flavonoid that may help open up arteries and counter the build-up of fatty deposits on blood vessel walls.

"We have shown that even at an early age, eating more of these fruits may reduce risk of a heart attack in later life," Nutritionist Dr Aedin Cassidy, from the University of East Anglia, who took part in the research, said.

"This study found an association between a diet rich in red and purple fruits, such as blueberries, blackberries and strawberries, and a reduction in heart attack risk for young and middle aged women," Victoria Taylor, Senior Dietitian at the British Heart Foundation, said.

"However, more research is needed to understand why this link between berries and better heart health exists. We would need to know more before we make specific recommendations about individual fruit and vegetables in relation to heart disease," Taylor said.

The study was published in the American Heart Association journal Circulation.

Vitamin D supplements do not appear to ease knee pain in people with kneeosteoarthritis, a new study has claimed.

Researchers found that people with kneeosteoarthritis who took vitamin D supplements every day for two years did not experience improvements in knee pain compared to people who took a placebo.

Knee osteoarthritis is a form of arthritis in which cartilage in the knee joint breaks down, resulting in bone rubbing on bone.

It typically affects men and women over 50 years of age, and occurs most frequently in obese individuals. Symptoms include pain or stiffness in or around the knee, swelling and limited range of motion, website MyHealthNewsDaily reported.

Currently, there are no proven treatments to slow the course of the disease, the researchers said.

Vitamin D plays a role in bone health, and previous studies had suggested that knee osteoarthritis progresses more slowly in people with high vitamin D levels.

During the new study, 146 people ages 45 and older who had knee osteoarthritis were randomly assigned to receive either 2000 International Units (IUs) of vitamin D per day or a placebo.

Dosages of vitamin D were periodically increased to more than 2000 IUs so that the amount of the vitamin in the blood reached a level that has been associated with benefits.

The recommended daily dose is 600 IUs for people younger than 70, and 800 IUs for people older than that.

Every two to four months, subjects rated the pain in their knee on a scale of zero to 20, with 20 representing extreme pain. Researchers also took images of each person`s knees using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

After two years, the two groups showed no difference in knee pain: on average, pain scores in both groups decreased by about two points.
In addition, the image results showed that people who took Vitamin D lost just as much cartilage in the knee joint as those who took a placebo.

The study researchers could not say whether or not people who take vitamin D before they develop knee osteoarthritis might experience a benefit.

But previous studies have found no link between a person`s vitamin D levels and the risk of developing knee osteoarthritis, said study researcher Dr Timothy McAlindon, a rheumatologist at Tufts University Medical Center in Boston.
Pain medication, as well as physical therapy, may help reduce pain from osteoarthritis, according to the Mayo Clinic.

The study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Doctors have made a pill-sized device that can take detailed microscopic images of inside the gullet.

It is hoped the US technology could become an easier way of screening people for a condition called Barrett's oesophagus, which can lead to cancer.

Unlike current imaging techniques, the device can be used while the patient is conscious and takes only a few minutes.

The device has been tested in a small number of patients so far, Nature Medicine reports.

Although researchers at Wellman Center for Photomedicine at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston say the device has potentially wide application, it could be particularly useful for Barrett's oesophagus where many people do not realise they have it, but there is no easy way to screen for it.

In those with the condition, the cells in the lower gullet become abnormal due to chronic acid reflux, which puts them at a higher risk of developing cancer of the oesophagus.

Doctors can screen those at risk using an endoscope - a flexible tube containing a tiny video camera - but this is unpleasant and usually has to be done under sedation.
Tiny capsule

The new device is contained in a capsule about the size of a multivitamin pill connected by a thin wire.

Within the capsule is a rapidly rotating laser tip which emits infrared light that is then reflected back from the lining of the oesophagus.

The image doctors see on the screen is a 3D landscape showing far more microscopic detail than can be seen with endoscopy.

When the patient swallows the capsule it is carried down the oesophagus in the same way any piece of food would be then once it reaches the stomach it can be pulled back out using the wire.

Images are taken the whole time the device is moving up and down the gullet and the whole process takes a matter of minutes.

Testing the equipment in six patients known to have Barrett's oesophagus and seven healthy volunteers, the researchers said the images clearly showed the cellular changes that occur in those with the condition.
'Best pictures'

Prof Gary Tearney, one of the research collaborators, said the technology is cheaper than endoscopy and avoids the need for sedation, specialised equipment or special training.

And the microscopic detail shown in the images means a biopsy can be avoided.

"The images produced have been some of the best we have seen of the oesophagus," says Prof Tearne, a professor of pathology at Harvard Medical School.

"We originally were concerned that we might miss a lot of data because of the small size of the capsule, but we were surprised to find that, once the pill has been swallowed, it is firmly 'grasped' by the oesophagus, allowing complete microscopic imaging of the entire wall."

Prof Tearney added that the device could help doctors work out who is at risk and detect cancers at potentially more treatable stage.

Prof Rebecca Fitzgerald, a specialist on Barrett's oesophagus at the Cambridge Cancer Centre, said: "It is elegant technology. The downside is that you will have to endoscope anyone with suspected Barrett's as you will have no way of sampling and detecting dysplasia [abnormalities] with this technology."

Drinking four cups of tea a day can reduce the risk of a stroke by more than a fifth, a new study claims.

Scientists who studied how consumption of black tea - the kind mostly drunk in the UK - related to strokes found downing at least four cups every day lowered the chances of a brain blood clot by 21 percent, the Daily Mail reported.
But drinking any less than that did not seem to have a beneficial effect.

The findings, by scientists at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, come from a population study involving nearly 75,000 men and women.

Strokes kill around 200 people every day in the UK. Many more are left disabled and living in fear that a second or even third attack could kill them.

Around 85 percent of victims are affected by ischaemic strokes, where a clot travels to the brain and shuts off its blood supply.

The rest are called haemorrhagic strokes, where a blood vessel bursts in the brain, causing potentially fatal bleeding.

Although numerous studies have highlighted the protective effects of green tea on the brain, the evidence on black tea has been less conclusive.

The Swedish team studied 74,961 Swedish adults who were in good health when they signed up to a long-term health study in 1997.

Over the next ten years, just over 4,000 of the volunteers suffered a stroke, mostly ischaemic.

As part of the study, researchers monitored tea drinking habits.

Once they allowed for other factors that might determine stroke risk - such as whether volunteers smoked or had high blood pressure - they found that four cups or more a day had a significant effect.

British consumers get through an estimated 165 million cups every day of mostly black tea.

It is packed with components called flavonoids that are thought to be good for the heart and brain.