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Before sharing genetic dataPeople want to be informed and asked for consent before deciding whether to let scientists share their genetic information in a federal database. This is as per a team of researchers at Group Health Research Institute and the University of Washington (UW). The team's report, called "Glad You Asked," is in the September 2010 Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics
To the team's knowledge, it is the first to ask research........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 9/1/2010 7:02:20 AM)
Lower-dose heparin use during coronary procedurePatients with acute coronary syndromes initially treated with the anticoagulant fondaparinux who underwent a coronary procedure (such as balloon angioplasty) and received a lower dose of the anticoagulant heparin during the procedure did not have a reduced rate of major bleeding and vascular access site complications, as per a research studythat will appear in the September 22 issue of JAMA The study is being released early online to coincide........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 8/31/2010 7:03:24 AM)
Where the fat's atn real estate, location is everything. The same might be said of lipids those crucial cellular fats and oils that serve as building blocks for cells and as key energy sources for the body.
In a paper reported in the recent issue of the Journal of Lipid Research, a team of scientists, led by scientists at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, has mapped for the first time the actual locations of specific lipids within a........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 8/26/2010 7:26:03 AM)
Low doses of BPA alters gene expressionA study posted today (Wednesday, August 25) at the online site of the journal Biology of Reproduction reports that exposure of pregnant female mice to the endocrine-disrupting chemical bisphenol A may produce adverse reproductive consequences on gene expression in fetal ovaries as early as 12 hours after the mother has first been exposed to the chemical.
Bisphenol A (BPA) is a chemical used in plastics for making some baby and water bottles,........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 8/25/2010 6:42:03 AM)
Rheumatoid arthritis signaling proteinA signaling protein released during rheumatoid arthritis dramatically reduced Alzheimer's disease pathology and reversed the memory impairment of mice bred to develop symptoms of the neurodegenerative disease, a newly released study by the University of South Florida reports. Scientists observed that the protein, GM-CSF, likely stimulates the body's natural scavenger cells to attack and remove Alzheimer's amyloid deposits in the brain.
The........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 8/23/2010 7:24:47 AM)
People Who Are Angry Pay More Attention to RewardsAnger is a negative emotion. But, like being happy or excited, feeling angry makes people want to seek rewards, as per a newly released study of emotion and visual attention. The scientists observed that people who are angry pay more attention to rewards than to threats-the opposite of people feeling other negative emotions like fear.
Prior research has shown that emotion affects what someone pays attention to. If a fearful or anxious person........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 8/11/2010 7:26:26 PM)
Stroke patients stop taking prevention medicationAt least a quarter of patients who have suffered a stroke stop taking one or more of their prescribed stroke prevention medications within the first three months after being hospitalized when the chance of having another stroke is highest as per a newly released study by scientists at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center and his colleagues.
Each year, there are an estimated 180,000 recurrent strokes in the United States. The study........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 8/11/2010 7:16:55 PM)
What Makes a Good Embryo?Researchers as well as fertility doctors have long tried to figure out what makes a good egg that will produce a healthy embryo. It's a especially critical question for fertility doctors deciding which eggs isolated from a woman will produce the best embryos and, ultimately, babies.
New research reveals healthy eggs need a tremendous amount of zinc to reach maturity and be ready for fertilization -- a finding that may ultimately help........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 8/10/2010 7:11:19 AM)
Gas pedal and brakefor uncontrolled cell growthScientists at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have identified a new way to regulate the uncontrolled growth of blood vessels, a major problem in a broad range of diseases and conditions.
The findings appear in the online edition of Nature Medicine by David A. Cheresh, PhD, professor of pathology in the UC San Diego School of Medicine and associate director for translational research at the Moores UCSD Cancer........Go to the Cancer-blog (Added on 8/2/2010 7:01:39 AM)
Brain alterations in patients with irritable bowel syndromeA large academic study has demonstrated structural changes in specific brain regions in female patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), a condition that causes pain and discomfort in the abdomen, along with diarrhea, constipation or both.
A collaborative effort between UCLA and Canada's McGill University, the study appears in the recent issue of the journal Gastroenterology
The findings show that IBS is linked to both decreases and........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 7/23/2010 7:09:57 AM)
Mother-to-child HIV transmission rate fallingTransmission of HIV to children before or at birth has dropped dramatically around the country in the last decade since the advent of powerful new therapies. That certainly is true for Florida, where each year, fewer than 10 babies are born with the disease despite the fact that more than 600 HIV-positive women each year, on average, give birth.
Still, more can be done to even further reduce the number of babies born with the disease, say........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 7/23/2010 6:47:55 AM)
Teenage Binge Drinking And OsteoporosisBinge-drinking teenagers appears to be putting themselves at risk for future osteoporosis and bone fractures, as per scientists at Loyola University Health System.
A new Loyola study has observed long-lasting disruptions in hundreds of genes involved in bone formation in rats. The study is reported in the July-recent issue of the journal Alcohol and Alcoholism.
"Lifestyle-related damage done to the skeleton during young adulthood may have........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 7/13/2010 6:56:42 AM)
Universal HIV testing and immediate treatmentImplementing a program of universal HIV testing and immediate antiretroviral therapy (ART) for infected individuals could have a major impact on the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Washington, DC, but a newly released study finds that it would not halt the epidemic, something that a prior report had projected. In a paper that will appear in the August 15 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases and has been released online, scientists find that the........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 7/12/2010 7:12:29 AM)
Extreme obesity in children linked to reflux diseaseExtremely obese children have a 40 percent higher risk of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and children who are moderately obese have a 30 percent higher risk of GERD in comparison to normal weight children, as per a Kaiser Permanente study published online in the International Journal of Pediatric Obesity
This large population-based study establishes an association between obesity and GERD in children, an association that has been........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 7/9/2010 6:44:01 AM)
Treatment for painful herniated discsAn immune cell known to cause chronic inflammation in autoimmune disorders has been identified as a possible culprit in low back pain linked to herniated discs, as per doctors at Duke University Medical Center.
The finding implicates the cytokine molecule interleukin-17, and supports the burgeoning theory that an immune response plays a significant role in disc disease, says William J. Richardson, MD, an orthopedic surgeon at Duke. It may........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 6/29/2010 7:15:59 AM)
Profiling prostate cancerA large scale genetic analysis of multiple prostate cancer samples, published online by Cell Press on June 24th in the journal Cancer Cell, is providing exciting new insight into the disease and may lead to more effective therapy strategies. In addition, the freely available genetic and clinical outcome data obtained in the study represents a valuable public resource for the cancer research community.
Prostate cancer is clinically diverse........Go to the Cancer-blog (Added on 6/24/2010 11:21:04 PM)
Language Recovery Following StrokeA team of scientists led by NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center has developed a method to predict post-stroke recovery of language by measuring the initial severity of impairment. Being able to predict recovery has important implications for stroke survivors and their families, as they plan for short and long-term therapy needs. Findings are reported online in the journal Stroke.
"These results indicate that if........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 6/24/2010 10:13:51 PM)
Radiotracer for Alzheimer's disease patientsA trial of a novel radioactive compound readily and safely distinguished the brains of Alzheimer's disease patients from healthy volunteers on brain scans and opens the doors to making such imaging available beyond facilities that can manufacture their own radioactive compounds. The results, reported by a Johns Hopkins team in the June Journal of Nuclear Medicine, could lead to better ways to distinguish Alzheimer's from other types of........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 6/24/2010 9:31:05 PM)
Progesterone is effective for hot flash treatmentPostmenopausal women who experience bothersome hot flashes or night sweats may have an alternative therapy to estrogen. As per a newly released study, oral micronized progesterone relieves those symptoms. The results will be presented Saturday at The Endocrine Society's 92nd Annual Meeting in San Diego.
"This is the first evidence that oral micronized progesterone, which is molecularly identical to the natural hormone, is effective for women........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 6/22/2010 7:26:03 AM)
Women who consume large amounts of teaWomen who drink tea have an increased risk of developing Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) compared with those who drink none (p=0.04), as per results presented today at EULAR 2010, the Annual Congress of the European League Against Rheumatism in Rome, Italy. Further results from the same study showed no connection between the amount of coffee consumption and RA incidence (p=0.16).
The results of the US based longitudinal cohort study involving........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 6/18/2010 6:50:32 AM)
How bacteria boost the immune systemResearchers have long known that certain types of bacteria boost the immune system. Now, Loyola University Health System scientists have discovered how bacteria perform this essential task.
Senior author Katherine L. Knight, PhD. and his colleagues report their discovery in a featured article in the June 15, 2010, issue of the Journal of Immunology, now available online. Knight is professor and chair of the Department of Microbiology and........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 6/14/2010 10:06:33 PM)
A launchpad for stem cell researchStem cell research holds promise for improving the quality of human life ― particularly embryonic stem cells, which can potentially develop into any tissue in the human body. However, basic scientific problems still remain unresolved but Tel Aviv University scientists are leading the way to inventive solutions.
"In order to use embryonic stem cells as a reliable and safe therapeutic tool, we have to find strategies to control their........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 6/9/2010 7:13:31 AM)
Sleep problems in US soldiers returning from wartime deploymentThere is an extremely high prevalence of sleep disturbances in U.S. soldiers returning from wartime deployment, as per a research abstract that will be presented Tuesday, June 8, 2010, in San Antonio, Texas, at SLEEP 2010, the 24th annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies LLC.
Results indicate that 86 percent of participants had sleep disturbances upon return from deployment and 45 days later even though the majority of........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 6/8/2010 6:44:57 AM)
Americans Split on Speed of Drug Approval ProcessNearly three-quarters of Americans are confident in our system for reviewing the effectiveness and safety of new medicines and medical devices, yet 41% say it takes too long to approve a drug and allow it to be sold to consumers. These are among the findings in a new poll from Research!America (pdf).
Three-quarters of Americans accurately named the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as the government agency that regulates products such as........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 5/21/2010 7:15:23 AM)
Potent new hepatitis C drugThe first clinical trials have started on a new investigational drug, discovered by scientists at Cardiff University, which is being developed to treat infections caused by Hepatitis C virus.
Approximately 170 million people worldwide are affected with Hepatitis C, which can lead to liver cancer, cirrhosis and death. It is the leading cause of liver transplantation in western countries. The current therapy involves two drugs ribavirin and........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 5/15/2010 8:53:12 PM)
Complex Brain Functions Help Adapt to New SituationsResearchers have long known that the brain's frontal cortex supports concrete rule learning. Less clear is how the brain processes more complex and unfamiliar knowledge. In a paper published recently (Wednesday, April 28, 2010) in the journal Neuron, a team of scientists at Brown University and the University of California-Berkeley tested whether the frontal lobe has the ability to process more abstract knowledge and how this ability could help........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 4/29/2010 6:43:17 AM)
Racial disparity study of knee OAA recent study determined that African-Americans were less likely to have a varus thrust, but more likely to have valgus thrust than Caucasians. Varus thrust is visualized during gait as the worsening or abrupt onset of varus (bow-legged) alignment as the leg accepts weight, with a return to less varus and more neutral alignment during lift-off of the foot and the swing phase of gait. Previous research has shown that varus thrust seen in gait........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 4/29/2010 6:24:17 AM)
Preterm children and psychiatric disorderSignificant advances in the neonatal intensive care have resulted in increased survival rates of children who are born at less than 26 weeks of gestation, so termed "extremely preterm children". Notably, however, improved survival rates have been accompanied by a higher risk for later cognitive, neuromotor, and sensory impairments in these children.
An 11-year follow-up study of 219 extremely preterm children by Johnson and his colleagues........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 4/24/2010 9:53:33 AM)
Benefits of pure maple syrupBefore you dig in to your next stack of French toast or waffles, you might want to pour on pure maple syrup.
That's because University of Rhode Island researcher Navindra Seeram, who specializes in medicinal plant research, has found more than 20 compounds in maple syrup from Canada that have been associated with human health, 13 of which are newly discovered in maple syrup. In addition, eight of the compounds have been found in the Acer........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 3/22/2010 7:46:57 PM)
New teaching tools aid visually impairedMastering mathematics can be daunting for a number of children, but scientists have observed that children with visual impairments face disproportionate challenges learning math, and by the time they reach the college level, they are significantly under-represented in science, technology, mathematics and engineering disciplines.
Scientists at the University of Illinois are helping shape the futures of children with visual disabilities by........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 3/15/2010 8:03:21 PM)
Steps enhance adolescents' healthimple, low-cost measures such as wearing a pedometer to inspire walking and spending a few minutes a day meditating can put adolescents on the track toward better health, scientists report.
These types of side-effect-free steps can quickly help lower important numbers like blood pressure, heart rate and even weight, counteracting today's unhealthy, upward trends among young people, said Dr. Vernon Barnes, physiologist at the Medical College........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 3/15/2010 7:51:31 PM)
Tool to study prostate cancerVan Andel Research Institute (VARI) scientists have developed a new method to better study the cells that line and protect the prostate in relation to the development of cancer. Using the model, they observed that normal cells and cancer cells depend on different factors to survive, which could aid in discovering how to target cancer cells without affecting normal cells when developing therapys.
Prostate cancer is the most common form of........Go to the Cancer-blog (Added on 3/12/2010 7:28:52 AM)
Long-term use of bone-building osteoporosis drugsisphosphonate therapys, proven to enhance bone density and reduce fracture incidence in post-menopausal women, may adversely affect bone quality and increase risk of atypical fractures of the femur when used for four or more years, as per preliminary research presented today at the 2010 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS).
Bisphosphonates are designed to slow or stop the bone loss that occurs during the........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 3/10/2010 8:16:27 AM)
Avoidable maternal deathsMore than 500,000 women die each year worldwide due to complications arising from pregnancy and childbirth. Half of these women live in sub-Saharan Africa. A research team from the King Juan Carlos University (URJC) in Madrid says these women are not dying as a result of any illness, but rather from a lack of basic healthcare measures.
"Maternal mortality is a good indicator of a country's healthcare situation and of the inequalities between........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 2/18/2010 10:06:34 PM)
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Risk of surgery for Crohn's diseaseA new multi-center study of 854 children with Crohn's disease shows a 5-year cumulative risk of bowel surgery is significantly lower than reported in recent studies. The findings of the study, led by Hasbro Children's Hospital, also indicate that children diagnosed between ages 13 and 16 had an increased risk of bowel surgery, and that a common therapy that begins at diagnosis, immunomodulator treatment, did not alter the risk of surgery. The........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 9/1/2010 7:01:03 AM)
Bacteria make thrift a habitIn these lean times, smart consumers refuse to pay a lot for throwaway items, but will shell out a little more for products that can be used again and again. The same is true of bacteria and other microbes, scientists at the University of Michigan have learned.
These organisms "spend" more on proteins that will be used and recycled internally than on proteins that are secreted from the cell and lost to the environment, said graduate student........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 8/27/2010 7:33:15 AM)
Secondhand smoke may provoke inflammatory responseWestminster, Colo. (August 26, 2010) Second-hand smoke is linked to many diseases and conditions, including cancer, heart disease, and emphysema. It is an irritant to lung tissue and blood vessels, but the processes through which the body reacts to second-hand smoke comprise a mystery researchers are only beginning to unravel. Scientists at the University of ColoradoDenver are currently studying how second-hand smoke affects the lungs of rats,........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 8/27/2010 7:31:10 AM)
Structural basis for autism disordersThere is still much that is unknown about autism spectrum disorders, but a University of Nevada, Reno psychology expert has added to the body of knowledge that scientists around the world are compiling to try to demystify, prevent and treat the mysterious condition.
"Autism is a unique developmental disability," states Jeffrey Hutsler, assistant professor of psychology at the University of Nevada, Reno, who recently completed a six-year........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 8/26/2010 7:04:56 AM)
A better way to grow stem cellsHuman pluripotent stem cells, which can become any other kind of body cell, hold great potential to treat a wide range of ailments, including Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis and spinal cord injuries. However, researchers who work with such cells have had trouble growing large enough quantities to perform experiments in particular, to be used in human studies. Furthermore, most materials now used to grow human stem cells include cells........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 8/23/2010 7:26:07 AM)
Cosmetic surgery for body dysmorphic disorder?A newly released study finds that while a number of who suffer from body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) seek cosmetic procedures, only two percent of procedures actually reduced the severity of BDD. Despite this poor long-term outcome, physicians continue to provide requested surgeries to people suffering from BDD. The study was recently published in Annals of Plastic Surgery
Katharine A. Phillips, MD, is the director of the body image program at........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 8/11/2010 7:32:44 PM)
Seeing melanomaA new imaging technique creates detailed three-dimensional images of the deadliest form of skin cancer.
Melanoma is one of the less common types of skin cancer but it accounts for the majority of the skin cancer deaths (about 75 percent).
The five-year survival rate for early stage melanoma is very high (98 percent), but the rate drops precipitously if the cancer is detected late or there is recurrence.
So a great deal rides on the........Go to the Cancer-blog (Added on 8/11/2010 6:58:25 PM)
Proteins linked with Alzheimer'sIn neurodegenerative diseases, clumps of insoluble proteins appear in patients' brains. These aggregates contain proteins that are unique to each disease, such as amyloid beta in Alzheimer's disease, but they are intertwined with small amounts of a number of other insoluble proteins that are normally present in a soluble form in healthy young individuals. For years, these other proteins were believed to be accidental inclusions in the........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 8/11/2010 6:59:54 AM)
Mapping gene interactionsIn one of the first efforts of its kind, UCLA scientists have taken mammalian genome maps, including human maps, one step further by showing not just the order in which genes fall in the genome but which genes actually interact.
The findings, reported in the recent issue of the journal Genome Research, will help scientists better understand which genes work together and shed light on how they collaborate to help cells thrive or die.
........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 8/10/2010 7:08:31 AM)
Negative effects of sleep restrictionA study in the Aug. 1 issue of the journal Sleep suggests that a dose of extra sleep on the weekend appears to be good medicine for adults who repeatedly stay up too late or wake up too early during the workweek. However, even a night of 10 hours in bed may not be enough to cure the negative effects of chronic sleep restriction.
Results show that neurobehavioral impairments such as increased lapses of attention and delayed reaction times........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 8/2/2010 6:59:40 AM)
Genes decide who wins against cancerScientists funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC) have discovered for the first time that two proteins called Mahjong and Lgl could be star players in helping to identify how the body's own cells fight back against cancer cells. This discovery, publishing today in the online, open-access journal PLoS Biology, could lead to future therapys to make our healthy cells better-equipped to attack cancer cells, an entirely new concept for cancer........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 7/14/2010 7:23:40 AM)
Computer algorithms to develop seasonal flu vaccinesDefeating the flu is challenging because the virus responsible for the disease undergoes frequent changes of its genetic code, making it difficult for researchers to manufacture effective vaccines for the seasonal flu in a timely manner. Now, a University of Miami (UM) computer scientist, Dimitris Papamichail, and a team of scientists from Stony Brook University have developed a rapid and effective approach to produce vaccines for new strains........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 7/12/2010 7:17:05 AM)
A fateful pauseWe take our blood for granted, but its creation requires a complicated series of steps, starting with the formation of blood stem cells during early embryonic development, followed by progressive differentiation into the progenitors of red cells, white cells and platelets, and ultimately the full set of blood cells. Now, in the July 9 issue of Cell, scientists at Children's Hospital Boston report a surprising twist in how mature red blood cells........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 7/9/2010 7:17:56 AM)
Depression and dementiaA newly released study shows that having depression may nearly double your risk of developing dementia during the later part of life. The research would be reported in the July 6, 2010, issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
For the study, scientists examined research data on 949 people with an average age of 79 from the Framingham Heart Study. At the start of the study, participants were free of........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 7/6/2010 7:20:55 AM)
Ovarian transplantation restores fertility in miceResearchers have discovered that when they transplant ovaries from young mice into aging female mice, not only does the procedure make the mice fertile again, but also it rejuvenates their behaviour and increases their lifespan. The question now is: could ovarian transplants in women have the same effect?
Dr Noriko Kagawa will tell the 26th annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Rome today (Tuesday)........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 6/29/2010 7:10:24 AM)
New data for Vimpat C-VNew long term data showed that Vimpat (lacosamide) C-V provided sustained reduction in seizure frequency for up to five years when used as an add-on treatment for uncontrolled partial onset seizures in adults with epilepsy. In addition post-hoc exploratory analyses showed that adjunctive lacosamide treatment reduced partial-onset seizure frequency and improved responder rates when added to a broad range of antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) including........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 6/29/2010 7:09:28 AM)
Link between iron overload and macular degenerationThe most common and under-diagnosed genetic disease in humans just appears to be a cause of the worst form of macular degeneration, Medical College of Georgia scientists report.
They are pursuing a link between hemochromatosis, which results in iron overload, and the wet form of macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in people 60 and older. They suspect that too much iron, known to wreak cumulative havoc on the body's organs,........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 6/24/2010 10:50:04 PM)
Preventing neurological diseasesA number of diseases of brain function, such as epilepsy and schizophrenia, are caused by problems in how neurons communicate with each other. A University of Houston (UH) researcher and his team are analyzing these commands and connections in an attempt to prevent those diseases.
Dr. Jan-ke Gustafsson, Robert A. Welch Professor in UH's biology and biochemistry department, describes his team's findings in a paper titled "Liver X receptor........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 6/24/2010 10:12:25 PM)
Women with polycystic ovary syndromeWomen with the polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), the most common hormone imbalance in women of reproductive age, appears to be more vulnerable to exposure to the chemical bisphenol A (BPA), found in a number of plastic household items, as per a newly released study. The results will be presented Sunday at The Endocrine Society's 92nd Annual Meeting in San Diego.
The study observed that BPA, a known hormone disrupter, is elevated and linked........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 6/22/2010 7:28:19 AM)
Feared side effect of Alzheimer's drugs is unlikelyThe first trial of a new model for testing Alzheimer's therapys has reassured scientists that a promising class of drugs does not exacerbate the disease if therapy is interrupted.
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Merck & Co. Inc studied the effects of a class of drugs known as gamma secretase inhibitors. Scientists had worried that these drugs might cause a build-up of proteins associated with........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 6/18/2010 7:12:16 AM)
How bacteria make syringesFor a successful infection, bacteria must outwit the immune system of the host. To this aim, they deliver so-called virulence factors through a transport channel located in the bacterial membrane. In some bacteria this transport channel is formed like a syringe, enabling them to inject virulence factors directly into the host cell. Researchers from the Max Planck Society and the Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing have now........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 6/13/2010 10:41:20 PM)
Results of individual genetic studiesGothenburg, Sweden: Individual results of genetic research studies should not be disclosed to participants without careful consideration, a scientist will tell the annual conference of the European Society of Human Genetics today (Monday). Dr. Robin Hayeems, from the Department of Health Policy, Management and Assessment at the University of Toronto, Canada, will say that she believes that the view held by a number of ethicists that individual........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 6/13/2010 10:38:44 PM)
Planes, trains and automobilesNighttime noise from nearby road traffic, passing trains and overhead planes disturbs sleep and impairs morning performance, as per a research abstract that will be presented Tuesday, June 8, 2010, in San Antonio, Texas, at SLEEP 2010, the 24th annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies LLC.
Results indicate that mean reaction time on a morning psychomotor vigilance task slowed significantly by 3.6 ms after exposure to........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 6/8/2010 6:42:27 AM)
Long Term Insomnia May Increase MortalityIndividuals with chronic insomnia have an elevated risk of death, as per a research abstract that will be presented Monday, June 7, 2010, in San Antonio, Texas, at SLEEP 2010, the 24th annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies LLC.
Results indicate that the adjusted hazard ratio for all-cause mortality was three times higher in people with chronic insomnia (HR = 3.0) than in people without insomnia. When examining........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 6/7/2010 6:40:34 AM)
Friendship and confiding in spouse eases stressA newly released study suggests that it may not help older men and women with sexual problems to talk to a doctor, but men who talk to their partner report greater happiness and those who talked with friends felt less depressed.
The research, to be reported in the Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, shows that the way men and women deal with sexual health and stress in their later years varies greatly and that there is not one solution........Go to the Health-articles (Added on 5/6/2010 6:49:04 AM)
Nausea and speeding heartNausea in pregnant women tends to fade after the first three months, but during the second and third trimesters it can be a sign of flu, scientists at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found in a study of expectant women who sought medical care.
"People don't necessarily think of influenza when you include the symptoms of nausea or vomiting, but our study showed that they are common with influenza in pregnancy," said Dr. Vanessa Rogers,........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 5/6/2010 6:45:07 AM)
New method for developing HIV vaccineLimited success in modelling the behaviour of the complex, unusual and unpredictable HIV virus has slowed efforts to develop an effective vaccine to prevent AIDS.
A new improved modelling system, developed by Chinese researchers, which attempts to incorporate more of the virus' random behavioural dynamics, suggests that a particular type of T cell could be useful in the development of an AIDS vaccine.
New research published recently,........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 4/29/2010 6:32:09 AM)
Dietary supplement speeds silver cyclistsTaking arginine supplements can improve the cycling ability of over-50s. Scientists writing in BioMed Central's Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition tested a combination of the amino acid and an antioxidant in sixteen cyclists, finding that it enhanced their anaerobic threshold the amount of work done before lactic acid begins to accumulate in the blood.
Zhaoping Li worked with a team of scientists from the University of........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 3/24/2010 12:21:56 PM)
Infertility increases risk of prostate cancerInfertile men have an increased risk of developing high grade prostate cancer, which is more likely to grow and spread quickly. That is the conclusion of a newly released study published early online in Cancer, a peer-evaluated journal of the American Cancer Society. The study's results suggest that because infertility appears to be an identifiable risk factor for prostate cancer, early screening appears to be warranted in infertile men.
........Go to the Cancer-blog (Added on 3/22/2010 7:38:13 PM)
Reducing tobacco smoke damageScientists in Australia have demonstrated that blocking a certain protein can reduce or prevent cigarette smoke-induced lung inflammation in mice. Inflammation underlies the disease process of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and a number of other smoking-related ailments.
The findings have been published online ahead of print publication in the American Thoracic Society's American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 3/17/2010 7:44:30 PM)
Solving a molecular mysteryThe muscle-building abilities of hormones known as insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) are legendary. Just do an online search and you'll find not only scientific papers discussing the effects of IGFs on the cells that give rise to muscle tissue, but also scores of ads touting the purported benefits of IGF supplements for bodybuilding.
But in spite of widespread interest in these potent molecules, key details about how IGFs work on muscle........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 3/15/2010 7:54:49 PM)
Stem cell functionThe promise of stem cells lies in their unique ability to differentiate into a multitude of different types of cells. But in order to determine how to use stem cells for new therapeutics, researchers and engineers need to answer a fundamental question: if a stem cell changes to look like a certain type of cell, how do we know if it will behave like a certain type of cell?
Scientists at Northwestern University's McCormick School of........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 3/11/2010 11:05:28 PM)
Two-faced testosteroneIs aggression always the best response to a challenge? Testosterone may not necessarily cause aggression but behavior can drive testosterone secretion.
In an assessment for Faculty of 1000, Robert Sapolsky highlights a study published in Nature which assessed how testosterone affects human behavior in a 'pro-social' situation an environment where it is beneficial for a person to help someone else.
In an 'Ultimatum Game', a 'proposer' is........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 3/8/2010 9:35:45 AM)
Gene for children's food allergyPediatrics scientists have identified the first major gene location responsible for a severe, often painful type of food allergy called eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE). In this disease, which may cause weight loss, vomiting, heartburn and swallowing difficulties, a patient appears to be unable to eat a wide variety of foods.
After performing a genome-wide association study, the study team found EoE was associated with a region of chromosome 5........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 3/8/2010 9:16:22 AM)
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