http://www.health-news-blog.com/blogs/health-blog.html Health blog From Health news blog Wed, 20 May 2009 11:20:12 GMT en-us http://www.health-news-blog.com/images/blogs/health-blog-54220.jpg http://www.health-news-blog.com/blogs/health-blog.html 100 63 http://www.health-news-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/5-2009/protein-erbin-could-become-treatment-target.html http://www.health-news-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/5-2009/protein-erbin-could-become-treatment-target.html Wed, 20 May 2009 11:20:12 GMT A new protein identified as critical to insulating the wiring that connects the brain and body could one day be a therapy target for divergent diseases, from rare ones that lower the pain threshold to cancer, Medical College of Georgia scientists say. They report this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Online Early Edition that in the peripheral nervous system that controls arms and legs, the protein erbin regulates the protein neuregulin 1, stabilizing and interacting with the ErbB2 receptor on Schwann cells so they can make myelin, which insulates the wiring........ ]]> http://www.health-news-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/5-2009/train-through-medical-simulation.html http://www.health-news-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/5-2009/train-through-medical-simulation.html Wed, 20 May 2009 11:20:12 GMT Soldiers and pilots use simulation training to learn accuracy, safety and confidence. Now, University of Missouri medical, nursing, health professions and University of Missouri- Kansas City pharmacy instructors are using medical simulation to train students to recognize safety risks, communicate effectively and work with other health professionals........ ]]> http://www.health-news-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/5-2009/the-cardiovascular-benefits-of-daily-exercise.html http://www.health-news-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/5-2009/the-cardiovascular-benefits-of-daily-exercise.html Wed, 20 May 2009 11:20:12 GMT School children as young as 11 can benefit from a daily exercise programme in reducing their levels of several known risk factors for cardiovascular disease. A research study that's ongoing, which began four years ago in the German city of Leipzig, shows already that children assigned to daily exercise lessons reduced their overall prevalence of obesity, improved their exercise capacity, increased their levels of HDL-cholesterol, and reduced their systolic blood pressure........ ]]> http://www.health-news-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/5-2009/no-insurance-no-colonoscopy.html http://www.health-news-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/5-2009/no-insurance-no-colonoscopy.html Wed, 20 May 2009 11:20:12 GMT John M Inadomi highlights the disparity in colorectal cancer screening (CRCS) among different socioeconomic and ethnic groups in US society in a recent review published by F1000 Medicine Reports (www.f1000medicine.com/reports). Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related death in the developed world. In this report, John Inadomi, chief of Clinical Gastroenterology at the San Francisco General Hospital and a frequent contributor to F1000 Medicine, writes that the uptake of certain types of screening has been associated with inadequate medical insurance amongst the poorer socio-economic and ethnic groups........ ]]> http://www.health-news-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/5-2009/osteo-necrosis-of-the-jaw.html http://www.health-news-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/5-2009/osteo-necrosis-of-the-jaw.html Wed, 20 May 2009 11:20:12 GMT Patients with breast cancer, individuals at risk for osteoporosis and those undergoing certain types of bone cancer therapies often take drugs containing bisphosphonates. These drugs have been found to place people who are at risk for developing osteonecrosis of the jaws (a rotting of the jaw bones). Dentists, as well as oncologists, are now using X-rays to detect "ghost sockets" in patients that take these drugs and when these sockets are found, it signals that the jawbone is not healing the right way. Early detection of these ghost sockets can help the patient avoid permanent damage to their jawbone, as per an article in the March/April 2009 issue of General Dentistry, the Academy of General Dentistry's (AGD) clinical, peer-evaluated journal........ ]]> http://www.health-news-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/5-2009/what-teens-dont-know-about-otc-medications.html http://www.health-news-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/5-2009/what-teens-dont-know-about-otc-medications.html Wed, 20 May 2009 11:20:12 GMT Teens, who are starting to make more decisions about their own health care, may not know enough about over-the-counter pain medications to avoid complications or inadvertent misuse. A University of Rochester Medical Center study surveyed almost 100 young people between 14 and 20 years old and observed that the average score on series of questions about knowledge of over-the-counter medicine was 44 percent. Despite that obvious knowledge gap, more than 75 percent of them had taken over-the-counter medications in the prior month........ ]]> http://www.health-news-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/5-2009/moving-gene-therapy-forward.html http://www.health-news-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/5-2009/moving-gene-therapy-forward.html Wed, 20 May 2009 11:20:12 GMT Gene treatment is the introduction of genetic material into a patient's cells resulting in a cure or a therapeutic effect. In recent years, it has been shown that gene treatment is a promising technology to treat or even cure several fatal diseases for which there is no attractive alternative treatment. Gene treatment can be used for hereditary diseases, but also for other diseases that affect heart, brain and even for cancer. Indeed, recent results suggest that gene treatment can be beneficial for patients suffering from aggressive brain cancer that would otherwise be lethal........ ]]> http://www.health-news-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/5-2009/bedtime-routine-improves-sleep.html http://www.health-news-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/5-2009/bedtime-routine-improves-sleep.html Wed, 20 May 2009 11:20:12 GMT A study in the May 1 issue of the journal SLEEP demonstrates that the use of a consistent bedtime routine contributes to improvements in multiple aspects of infant and toddler sleep, bedtime behavior and maternal mood. Results indicate that the establishment of a nightly bedtime routine produced significant reductions in problematic sleep behaviors for infants and toddlers. Improvements were seen in latency and sleep onset and in the number and duration of night wakings. Toddlers were less likely to call out to their parents or get out of their crib/bed during the night. Sleep continuity increased and there was a significant decrease in the number of mothers who rated their child's sleep as problematic. Maternal mood also significantly improved........ ]]> http://www.health-news-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/4-2009/limping-rat-provides-sciatica-insights.html http://www.health-news-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/4-2009/limping-rat-provides-sciatica-insights.html Wed, 20 May 2009 11:20:12 GMT A newly developed animal model for the painful nerve condition known as sciatica should help scientists diagnose and treat it, as per Duke University bioengineers and surgeons. Sciatica is not a single disorder, but rather a diverse range of symptoms, such as numbness or pain from the lower back to the feet, radiating leg pain or difficulty in controlling the leg. It is often caused by compression, or pinching, of any of the five nerve roots that combine to make up the sciatic nerve. These roots are the parts of the nerve that pass through openings in the spine to the spinal cord........ ]]> http://www.health-news-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/4-2009/simulated-gene-therapy.html http://www.health-news-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/4-2009/simulated-gene-therapy.html Wed, 20 May 2009 11:20:12 GMT In a recent issue of The Journal of Chemical Physics, published by the American Institute of Physics (AIP), a group of scientists at the University of California, Berkeley and Los Alamos National Laboratory describe the first comprehensive, molecular-level numerical study of gene treatment. Their work should help researchers design new experimental gene therapies and possibly solve some of the problems linked to this promising technique........ ]]> http://www.health-news-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/4-2009/brain-works-best-when-cells-keep-right-rhythms.html http://www.health-news-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/4-2009/brain-works-best-when-cells-keep-right-rhythms.html Wed, 20 May 2009 11:20:12 GMT It is said that each of us marches to the beat of a different drum, but new Stanford University research suggests that brain cells need to follow specific rhythms that must be kept for proper brain functioning. These rhythms don't appear to be working correctly in such diseases as schizophrenia and autism, and now two papers due to be published online this week by the journals Nature and Science demonstrate that precisely tuning the oscillation frequencies of certain neurons can affect how the brain processes information and implements feelings of reward........ ]]> http://www.health-news-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/4-2009/details-of-bacterial-injection-system.html http://www.health-news-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/4-2009/details-of-bacterial-injection-system.html Wed, 20 May 2009 11:20:12 GMT New details of the composition and structure of a needlelike protein complex on the surface of certain bacteria may help researchers develop new strategies to thwart infection. The research, conducted in part at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory, will be published April 26, 2009, in the advance online edition of Nature Structural and Molecular Biology....... ]]> http://www.health-news-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/4-2009/making-waves-in-the-brain.html http://www.health-news-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/4-2009/making-waves-in-the-brain.html Wed, 20 May 2009 11:20:12 GMT Researchers have studied high-frequency brain waves, known as gamma oscillations, for more than 50 years, believing them crucial to consciousness, attention, learning and memory. Now, for the first time, MIT scientists and his colleagues have found a way to induce these waves by shining laser light directly onto the brains of mice........ ]]> http://www.health-news-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/4-2009/building-the-lymphatic-drainage-system.html http://www.health-news-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/4-2009/building-the-lymphatic-drainage-system.html Wed, 20 May 2009 11:20:12 GMT Our bodies' tissues need continuous irrigation and drainage. Blood vessels feeding the tissues bring in the fluids, and drainage occurs via the lymphatic system. While much is known about how blood vessels are built, the same was not true for lymph vessels. Now though, Norrmn et al. have identified two of the lead engineers that direct drainage construction in the mouse embryo........ ]]> http://www.health-news-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/4-2009/chromosome-breakpoints-genetic-variation.html http://www.health-news-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/4-2009/chromosome-breakpoints-genetic-variation.html Wed, 20 May 2009 11:20:12 GMT A newly released study reveals that contrary to decades of evolutionary thought chromosome regions that are prone to breakage when new species are formed are a rich source of genetic variation. The functions of genes found in these "breakpoint regions" differ significantly from those occurring elsewhere in the chromosomes. This suggests that chromosomal organization plays an important evolutionary role, the scientists report........ ]]> http://www.health-news-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/4-2009/vitamin-d-levels-linked-to-asthma-severity.html http://www.health-news-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/4-2009/vitamin-d-levels-linked-to-asthma-severity.html Wed, 20 May 2009 11:20:12 GMT New research provides evidence for a link between vitamin D insufficiency and asthma severity. Serum levels of vitamin D in more than 600 Costa Rican children were inversely associated with several indicators of allergy and asthma severity, including hospitalizations for asthma, use of inhaled steroids and total IgE levels, as per a research studythat will appear in the first issue for May of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine....... ]]> http://www.health-news-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/4-2009/gene-switches-on-during-development-of-epilepsy.html http://www.health-news-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/4-2009/gene-switches-on-during-development-of-epilepsy.html Wed, 20 May 2009 11:20:12 GMT A discovery made by scientists at Wake Forest University School of Medicine while studying mice may help explain how some people without a genetic predisposition to epilepsy can develop the disorder. As per a research findings published this month in the Journal of Neuroscience, senior researcher Dwayne W. Godwin, Ph.D., a professor of neurobiology and anatomy, and his colleagues, report discovering that a gene, already known to predispose people who inherit an active form of it to certain forms of epilepsy, can actually be "switched on" in animals that do not appear to have inherited the active form, and therefore a genetic predisposition, to the condition. The gene codes a calcium channel in the brain that underlies seizures, so the finding may reveal a mechanism by which epilepsy develops in those with no apparent genetic predisposition to it........ ]]> http://www.health-news-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/4-2009/is-it-better-for-doctors-or-patient-families-to-decide.html http://www.health-news-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/4-2009/is-it-better-for-doctors-or-patient-families-to-decide.html Wed, 20 May 2009 11:20:12 GMT In the medical realm, people sometimes need to make very difficult choices, such as deciding to end life-support for a terminally ill patient. A newly released study in the Journal of Consumer Research delves into the question of whether it is preferable for patients' families or doctors to make those "tragic choices."....... ]]> http://www.health-news-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/4-2009/health-of-retinal-blood-vessels.html http://www.health-news-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/4-2009/health-of-retinal-blood-vessels.html Wed, 20 May 2009 11:20:12 GMT Researchers at Schepens Eye Research Institute have observed that the growth factor known as TGF-and#946; is essential to the health of blood vessels in the retina and that blocking it can cause retinal dysfunction. These findings, reported in the April 2 issue of PLoS ONE, may have an important impact on the prevention and therapy of diseases such as diabetic retinopathy and macular degeneration........ ]]> http://www.health-news-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/4-2009/evolution-proof-insecticides-malaria.html http://www.health-news-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/4-2009/evolution-proof-insecticides-malaria.html Wed, 20 May 2009 11:20:12 GMT Killing just the older mosquitoes would be a more sustainable way of controlling malaria, as per entomologists who add that the approach may lead to evolution-proof insecticides that never become obsolete. Each year malaria -- spread through mosquito bites -- kills about a million people, but a number of of the chemicals used to kill the insects become ineffective. Repeated exposure to an insecticide breeds a new generation of mosquitoes that are resistant to that particular insecticide........ ]]>