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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)
Stem cell guidelines should be modifiedA UCSF team, led by bioethicist Bernard Lo, MD, recommends that the National Institutes of Health ethics guidelines for embryonic stem cell research be modified to better protect the rights of individuals donating egg or sperm to patients undergoing in vitro fertilization.
The recommendation is published in the February 19, 2010 issue of Science
Third parties frequently donate sperm and egg, or "gametes," for patients attempting to create........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 2/18/2010 9:14:39 PM)
what happens to nerve cells in Parkinson's diseaseA newly released study from The Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital - The Neuro - at McGill University is the first to discover a molecular link between Parkinson's disease and defects in the ability of nerve cells to communicate. The study, reported in the prestigious journal Molecular Cell and selected as Editor's Choice in the prominent journal Science, provides new insight into the mechanisms underlying Parkinson's disease, and........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 2/10/2010 8:23:18 AM)
Intense sweets taste especially good to some kidsNew research from the Monell Center reports that children's response to intense sweet taste is correlation to both a family history of alcoholism and the child's own self-reports of depression.
The findings illustrate how liking for sweets differs among children based on underlying familial and biological factors.
"We know that sweet taste is rewarding to all kids and makes them feel good," said study main author Julie A. Mennella, PhD, a........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 2/10/2010 7:43:46 AM)
Dangers of third-hand smokeNicotine in third-hand smoke, the residue from tobacco smoke that clings to virtually all surfaces long after a cigarette has been extinguished, reacts with the common indoor air pollutant nitrous acid to produce dangerous carcinogens. This new potential health hazard was revealed in a multi-institutional study led by scientists with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab).
"The burning of tobacco releases nicotine in the........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 2/9/2010 8:13:01 AM)
Inhibiting serotonin in gutAn investigational drug that inhibits serotonin synthesis in the gut, administered orally once daily, effectively cured osteoporosis in mice and rats reports an international team led by scientists from Columbia University Medical Center, in the Feb. 7 issue of Nature Medicine Serotonin in the gut has been shown in recent research to stall bone formation. The finding could lead to new therapies that build new bone; most current drugs for........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 2/8/2010 8:03:20 AM)
More smokers than non-smokers accept HPVA parent's existing health habits or behaviors, like cigarette smoking, may influence the likelihood that they will have their daughters vaccinated against HPV.
As per survey results on correlates of HPV vaccine use, whether parents would choose to vaccinate their daughters was not linked to one's background or medical history, but was more closely linked to certain behavioral factors of the parents.
Results of this survey are reported in........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 2/8/2010 7:42:36 AM)
Flu vaccination rate at BJC HealthCare rises dramaticallyMaking flu shots required in 2008 dramatically increased the vaccination rate among St. Louis-based BJC HealthCare's nearly 26,000 employees to more than 98 percent, as per a report now online in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.
The study's main author, infectious disease specialist Hilary Babcock, M.D., says the success of the required program demonstrates it is possible to implement a vaccination campaign on a large scale in a........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 2/4/2010 8:04:35 AM)
Test to Predict preeclampsiaScientists at Yale School of Medicine have developed a simple urine test to rapidly predict and diagnose preeclampsia, a common, but serious hypertensive complication of pregnancy.
Dubbed the "Congo Red Dot Test" by the research team, the test accurately predicted preeclampsia in a study of 347 pregnant women, allowing health care providers to offer better preventive care to pregnant women. The research will be presented February 4 at the........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 2/4/2010 7:34:39 AM)
Not using Established CriteriaA new study led by Mark Zimmerman, MD, of Rhode Island Hospital indicates that a majority of non-psychiatrist physicians and a substantial minority of psychiatrists reported that they often do not use the criteria outlined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) when diagnosing major depressive disorder (MDD) in patients. The study appears online ahead of print in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 2/3/2010 8:18:33 AM)
Mechanical forces could affect gene expressionUniversity of Michigan scientists have shown that tension on DNA molecules can affect gene expression---the process at the heart of biological function that tells a cell what to do.
Researchers understand the chemistry involved in gene expression, but they know little about the physics. The U-M group is thought to bethe first to actually demonstrate a mechanical effect at work in this process. Their paper is reported in the current edition........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 2/3/2010 8:16:19 AM)
New vaccine effective in preventing TBInvestigators from Dartmouth Medical School (DMS) have reported results of a clinical trial showing that a new vaccine against tuberculosis, Mycobacterium vaccae (MV), is effective in preventing tuberculosis in people with HIV infection. The DarDar Health Study, named for Dartmouth and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, observed that MV immunization reduced the rate of definite tuberculosis by 39 percent among 2,000 HIV-infected patients in Tanzania.
........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 2/1/2010 8:17:09 AM)
Obstructive Sleep Apnea and BrainA study in the Feb. 1 issue of the journal SLEEP found gray matter concentration deficits in multiple brain areas of people with severe obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). The study suggests that the memory impairment, cardiovascular disturbances, executive dysfunctions, and dysregulation of autonomic and respiratory control frequently observed in OSA patients appears to be correlation to morphological changes in brain structure.
Results indicate........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 2/1/2010 7:34:32 AM)
New treatment for malaria possibleMalaria causes more than two million deaths each year, but an expert multinational team battling the global spread of drug-resistant parasites has made a breakthrough in the search for better therapy. Better understanding of the make-up of these parasites and the way they reproduce has enabled an international team, led by John Dalton, a biochemist in McGill's Institute of Parasitology, to identify a plan of attack for the development of........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 1/29/2010 8:12:11 AM)
Brain responses during anesthesiaThe brains of people under anesthesia respond to stimuli as they do in the deepest part of sleep lending credence to a developing theory of consciousness and suggesting a new method to assess loss of consciousness in conditions such as coma.
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, led by brain researcher Fabio Ferrarelli, reported their findings in this week's edition of the Proceedings of the........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 1/28/2010 8:00:14 AM)
Blood test can predict rheumatoid arthritisScientists from University Hospital in Umea, Sweden, have identified several cytokines, cytokine-related factors, and chemokines that increase significantly previous to rheumatoid arthritis (RA) disease onset. These findings confirm those of earlier studies which suggest that the risk of developing RA can be predicted and disease progression appears to be prevented. Complete findings of this study are reported in the recent issue of Arthritis........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 1/28/2010 7:39:23 AM)
Trauma patients safe from weekend effectPeople who are in car crashes or suffer serious falls, gunshot or knife wounds and other injuries at nights or on weekends do not appear to be affected by the same medical care disparities as patients who suffer heart attacks, strokes, cardiac arrests and other time-sensitive illnesses during those "off hours," as per new research from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. In contrast to previous, multi-hospital studies showing........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 1/25/2010 8:06:37 AM)
Regenerative MedicineTEDMED is one of the most prestigious and innovative medical conferences and it just started streaming presentations via videos. In the first video, streaming presentations via videos how he held his breath for 17 minutes. Now Anthony Atala talks about regenerative medicine:........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 1/24/2010 11:36:23 PM)
Newly identified genes influence insulin and glucose regulationAn international research consortium has found 13 new genetic variants that influence blood glucose regulation, insulin resistance, and the function of insulin-secreting beta cells in populations of European descent. Five of the newly discovered variants increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, the most common form of diabetes.
The results of two studies, conducted by the Meta-Analyses of Glucose and Insulin Related Traits........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 1/18/2010 8:10:43 AM)
Calcium And Vitamin D In Preventing FracturesTaking both calcium and vitamin D supplements on a daily basis reduces the risk of bone fractures, regardless of whether a person is young or old, male or female, or has had fractures in the past, a large study of nearly 70,000 patients from throughout the United States and Europe has found.
The study included data published in 2006 from clinical trials conducted at UC Davis in Sacramento as part of the Women's Health Initiative (WHI). It........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 1/15/2010 7:44:01 AM)
African-Americans bear disproportionate burden of smoking costsAfrican Americans comprise six percent of the California adult population, yet they account for over eight percent of the state's smoking-attributable health care expenditures and 13 percent of smoking-attributable mortality costs, as per a new analysis by UCSF researchers.
In order to provide an objective picture of the disproportionate economic burden of tobacco use for African American Californians, the UCSF team assessed data from 2002,........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 1/14/2010 8:15:53 AM)
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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)
Prevention is key research goal for premature babiesFamily history, infection and stress all may play a role in raising a woman's risk of having a premature baby but they don't fully explain why some women give birth too soon and others don't, as per a review article published recently in the New England Journal (NEJM).
Only if researchers of all disciplines work together and share information databases, biological samples and new perspectives will the research community be able to........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 2/11/2010 8:10:46 AM)
Voluntary system works for swine Flu vaccination:Social interaction between neighbours, work colleagues and other communities and social groups makes voluntary vaccination programs for epidemics such as Swine Flu, SARS or Bird Flu a surprisingly effective method of disease control.
New research published recently, Thursday 11 February, in New Journal of Physics (co-owned by the Institute of Physics and German Physical Society), shows that contact with others can positively influence........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 2/11/2010 8:03:12 AM)
Adapting to clogged airwaysPeople with cystic fibrosis, an inherited disease that clogs airways with thick mucous, frequently have lung infections that defy therapy. While the life expectancy for children with cystic fibrosis has increased over the past few decades, a number of lives are still shortened in young adulthood by the ravages of lung infections.
These chronic infections are often caused by common, environmental microbes that mutate in ways that let them........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 2/10/2010 8:18:31 AM)
Advances in Huntington's diseaseAn early stage clinical trial of the experimental drug dimebon (latrepirdine) in people with Huntington's disease may be safe and may improve cognition. That is the conclusion of a study published recently in the Archives of Neurology
"This is the first clinical trial that has focused on what is perhaps the most disabling aspect of the disease," said University of Rochester Medical Center neurologist Karl Kieburtz, M.D., the main author of........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 2/9/2010 8:11:28 AM)
Making stem cells pluripotentTiny circles of DNA are the key to a new and easier way to transform stem cells from human fat into induced pluripotent stem cells for use in regenerative medicine, say researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine. Unlike other usually used techniques, the method, which is based on standard molecular biology practices, does not use viruses to introduce genes into the cells or permanently alter a cell's genome.
It is the first........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 2/8/2010 7:59:34 AM)
Early abuse tied to depression in childrenEventhough children can be depressed for a number of reasons, new evidence suggests that there are physiological differences among depressed children based on their experiences of abuse before age 5. Early abuse appears to be particularly damaging due to the very young age at which it occurs.
Those are the findings of a newly released study of low-income children that was conducted by scientists at the University of Minnesota and the........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 2/5/2010 7:49:48 AM)
Genes that increase preterm birth riskScientists at the National Institutes of Health have identified DNA variants in mothers and fetuses that appear to increase the risk for preterm labor and delivery. The DNA variants were in genes involved in the regulation of inflammation and of the extracellular matrix, the mesh-like material that holds cells within tissues.
"A substantial body of scientific evidence indicates that inflammatory hormones may play a significant role in the........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 2/4/2010 7:36:44 AM)
Imaging method for eye diseaseResearchers in Poland are describing how a medical imaging technique has taken on a second life in revealing forgery of an artist's signature and changes in inscriptions on paintings that are hundreds of years old. A report on the technique, called optical coherence tomography (OCT), is in ACS' Accounts of Chemical Research, a monthly journal.
Piotr Targowski notes that easel paintings prepared as per traditional techniques consist of........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 2/3/2010 2:31:47 PM)
How antiviral drugs bind to and block flu virusAntiviral drugs block influenza A viruses from reproducing and spreading by attaching to a site within a proton channel necessary for the virus to infect healthy cells, as per a research project led by Iowa State University's Mei Hong and reported in the Feb. 4 issue of the journal Nature
Hong, Iowa State's John D. Corbett Professor of Chemistry and an associate scientist for the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory, said the findings........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 2/3/2010 2:26:30 PM)
Social barriers in Parkinson's diseasePeople with Parkinson's disease suffer social difficulties simply because of the way they talk, a McGill University researcher has discovered. Marc Pell, at McGill's School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, has learned that a number of people develop negative impressions about individuals with Parkinson's disease, based solely on how they communicate. These perceptions limit opportunities for social interaction and full participation in........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 2/3/2010 8:12:52 AM)
Earlier Surgery Can Stop SeizuresWhen medicine fails to control seizures in children with tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC), a rare genetic disorder that affects multiple organ systems and frequently causes epilepsy, surgery to remove part of the brain is often necessary. But pre-surgical testing, which involves the implanting of electrodes into a child's head, can lead to longer hospital stays and greater risks from surgery.
Now, a study by scientists with UCLA's Pediatric........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 2/1/2010 8:21:09 AM)
Any possible risk associated with low-dose radiation exposureScientists at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Clinical Center are incorporating radiation dose exposure reports into the electronic medical record, an effort that they hope will lead to an accurate evaluation of whether any cancer risk is linked to low-dose radiation exposure from medical imaging tests, as per an article in the recent issue of the Journal of the American College of Radiology (JACR). The electronic medical record allows........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 2/1/2010 7:37:37 AM)
Are new genes always better?Re-vegetation seems like a beneficial strategy for conserving and restoring damaged ecosystems, and using a variety of species can help increase biodiversity in these systems. But what are the risks involved with introducing seeds from other locations to plants located near the damaged site? Introduced populations often hybridize with the local populations from the same species, which can result in "polluting" neighboring populations with........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 1/29/2010 8:16:09 AM)
Research may find new treatment for aneurysmsNew research findings from a team at the Providence Heart + Lung Institute at St. Paul's Hospital and the University of British Columbia (UBC) may lead to new therapy options for abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA) a potentially fatal disease that currently has no pharmacological therapys.
An aortic aneurysm is a bulging of the aorta, the largest blood vessel in the body. If the aneurysm ruptures, it causes rapid blood loss and a high risk of........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 1/28/2010 7:57:06 AM)
Prenatal exposure to certain chemicalsA newly released study led by Mount Sinai scientists in collaboration with researchers from Cornell University and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has found higher prenatal exposure to phthalatesmanmade chemicals that interfere with hormonal messagingto be connected with disruptive and problem behaviors in children between the ages of 4 and 9 years. The study, which is the first to examine the effects of prenatal phthalate........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 1/28/2010 12:16:30 AM)
Autism Clusters in CaliforniaTwo recent, separate publications identified regions with higher than expected numbers of autism cases - or clusters - in California. Using data collected by the California Department of Developmental Services (DDS) on 2.5 million births including almost 10,000 autism cases from 1996-2000, researchers at UC Davis1 uncovered several clusters of elevated risk for autism. Autism Speaks, the nation's largest autism science and advocacy........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 1/25/2010 8:13:38 AM)
Promising candidates for malaria vaccineWalter and Eliza Hall Institute scientists have uncovered a group of proteins that could form the basis of an effective vaccine against malaria.
Presently there is no malaria vaccine available, and these new findings support the development of a vaccine against the blood-stage of malaria.
Malaria is an infection of blood cells and is transmitted by mosquitoes. The most common form of malaria is caused by the parasite Plasmodium falciparum........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 1/19/2010 8:33:51 AM)
How Other People's Unspoken Expectations Control UsWe quickly sense how others view us and play up to these expectations
A good exercise for learning about yourself is to think about how other people might view you in different ways. Consider how your family, your work colleagues or your partner think of you
Now here"s an interesting question: to what extent do you play up to these expectations about how they view you
This idea that other people"s expectations about us directly affect........Go to the Health-articles (Added on 1/17/2010 10:57:50 PM)
Toward a less expensive version TamifluResearchers have developed an alternative method for producing the active ingredient in Tamiflu, the mainstay for fighting H1N1 and other forms of influenza. The new process could expand availability of the drug by reducing its cost, which now retails for as about $8 per dose. Their study is in ACS' Organic Letters, a bi-weekly journal.
Anqi Chen, Christina Chai and his colleagues note that the global pandemic of H1N1 has resulted in........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 1/14/2010 8:21:46 AM)
Insight into curbing health-care costsAnalyzing physicians' practice patterns may hold valuable clues about how to curb the nation's rising health care costs, as per a research studyby scientists at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
As per a Johns Hopkins study reported in the January edition of the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, the practice patterns of physicians participating in a workers' compensation system had a profound impact on the........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 1/12/2010 8:50:35 AM)
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