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Genetic Model For Parkinson's Disease

In the mouse model generated by the research team, a gene called TFAM is automatically deleted from the genome in dopamine nerve cells only. Without TFAM, mitochondria cannot function normally. The so called respiratory chain is compromised and energy production decreases severely in the dopamine cells.

The new mice are born healthy from healthy but genetically modified parents and will develop spontaneous disease. Previous studies in the........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 7/29/2006 8:50:54 PM)

River Blindness Treatment

Onchocerciasis, river blindness or craw craw is an endemic disease in Bioko Island, Equatorial Guinea. This pathology causes a weakening in affected individuals, most of them within the labour force population, making this disease one of the limiting factors for the economic development of the island. Onchocerciasis is caused by the worm Onchocerca volvulus. It is transmitted through the bite of the black fly, Simulium. Enviromental conditions........Go to the Health-articles (Added on 7/28/2006 10:15:13 PM)

Peaks And Troughs Of Dengue Epidemics

Scientists have long known that epidemics of dengue fever wax and wane over a period of several years, but they've never been quite sure why. With the incidence and range of the potentially deadly mosquito-borne illness increasing, understanding the factors that influence these epidemics has never been more important.

A new study by researchers at the University of Georgia suggests that a brief period of cross-immunity conferred by any one........Go to the Health-articles (Added on 7/28/2006 10:04:34 PM)

Regular Multivitamin Use Near Time Of Conception

Pittsburgh, July 26 Women who are considering becoming pregnant may significantly reduce their risk of developing a common life-threatening complication called preeclampsia by taking a multivitamin supplement regularly three months before conception and during the first trimester of pregnancy. This finding is being reported in a University of Pittsburgh study available online now through an "advance access" feature of the American Journal of........Go to the Health-articles (Added on 7/26/2006 5:43:14 PM)

Human Behavior Changes Infectious Diseases

Simple models predict that only one strain of an infectious disease can exist at one time, but observation suggests otherwise. In a study in the recent issue of The American Naturalist, Ken Eames and Matt Keeling (University of Warwick) use a mathematical model to help explain multiple strains, showing that the way humans interact is all-important. The researchers found that the coexistence of multiple infectious disease strains result from........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 7/26/2006 5:29:15 PM)

how much the eye tells the brain

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine estimate that the human retina can transmit visual input at about the same rate as an Ethernet connection, one of the most common local area network systems used today. They present their findings in the recent issue of Current Biology. This line of scientific questioning points to ways in which neural systems compare to artificial ones, and can ultimately inform the design of........Go to the Health-articles (Added on 7/26/2006 4:55:22 PM)

Keeping Babies From Deadly Infections

The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday approved a new test studied at the University of Florida that could lead to better screening for the most common cause of infection in newborn babies.

Passed from mother to child during birth, group B streptococcus can cause sepsis, pneumonia, meningitis, neurological damage and, in a small percentage of newborns, even death.

Eventhough all women are tested for group B streptococcus during........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 7/26/2006 4:50:57 PM)

Identical Twins Be Genetically Different

They sleep together, eat together, and most people find it impossible to tell them apart. Identical twins who grow up together share just about everything, including their genes. But sometimes only one twin will have health problems when genetics predicts both of them should.

Scientists at the University of Michigan Medical School are just beginning to understand how two people who are so similar biologically can be so different when it........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 7/25/2006 8:18:01 PM)

Take a deep breath

Ventilation therapy burst into the public consciousness more than 60 years ago with the "iron lung" and the polio epidemic. Mechanical ventilation has come a long way since then and is used today with patients who cannot breathe on their own because of trauma, lung injuries and chronic lung disease.

But ventilation demands a delicate balance between over inflating and under inflating the lungs, either of which can lead to further injury.........Go to the Health-articles (Added on 7/25/2006 6:32:04 AM)

Honored For Aiding Voting For Disabled

Ever since the 2000 presidential race, a national debate has raged over protecting one of democracy's most fundamental rights: the right to vote. But for voters with disabilities, every Election Day poses obstacles comparable to those infamous butterfly ballots of Palm Beach County, Fla.

MIT Associate Professor of Media Arts and Sciences Ted Selker has long been intrigued by how to ease the polling-place challenges facing sight, hearing and........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 7/24/2006 10:45:35 PM)

Marketing Fortified Water To Mothers-to-be

Gretchen Cook-Anderson couldn't forget the bottles and bottles of water her doctor ordered her to drink during a difficult pregnancy with her twin boys in 2001.

That eventually led the former public relations agent to her new role as president and chief executive of Saphia Lifestyle Beverages of Silver Spring. Its first product, offered online, is bottled water billed as specially formulated for "nursing moms, expectant moms and hopeful........Go to the Health-articles (Added on 7/20/2006 6:46:56 PM)

Antioxidants May Slow Vision Loss

Scientists at Johns Hopkins have successfully blocked the advance of retinal degeneration in mice with a form of retinitis pigmentosa (RP) by treating them with vitamin E, alpha-lipoic acid and other antioxidant chemicals.

"Much more work needs to be done to determine if what we did in mice will work in humans," said Peter Campochiaro, the Eccles Professor of Ophthalmology and Neuroscience at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 7/19/2006 10:08:49 PM)

Earlier Use Leads To Better Speech

"Bye-bye, bye-bye," said one 3 and a half-year old child, born deaf but with a cochlear implant that partially restored hearing nine months earlier. That's the most complex speech the child uttered during a testing session that involved play with a toy train set.

In contrast, a child of the same age who had a cochlear implant 31 months earlier made more sophisticated statements: "OK, now the people goes to stand there with that noise and now........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 7/18/2006 9:02:07 PM)

Communication Signal For Tissue Development

Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have discovered a communication signal between cells that plays an important role in cell adhesion and detachment. The finding provides new information about how cells and tissues determine when to let go from surfaces during new growth, according to the researchers.

Our discovery of this new signaling pathway adds to fundamental information about how cells work together during the remodeling........Go to the Cancer-blog (Added on 7/18/2006 6:05:52 AM)

Diabetes Drug Shows Promise In Treating Alzheimer's

Treatment of high blood sugar may have a scientific connection to memory loss that could, one day, benefit millions of people with Alzheimer's Disease, which affects up to 4.5 million older Americans, bringing with it impaired thinking and memory.

New research at the University of Virginia Health System and Case Western Reserve University shows that a drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat type 2 diabetes may hold promise........Go to the Cancer-blog (Added on 7/17/2006 10:24:38 PM)

Computer Helps Paralyzed Patients

How can we make a paralyzed person perform actions that he or she wants to do? Technology is now coming to aid people who were paralyzed for long time.

People with long-standing, severe paralysis can generate signals in the area of the brain responsible for voluntary movements. These signals can be detected, recorded, routed out of the brain to a computer and converted into actions, enabling a paralyzed patient to perform basic tasks.

The........Go to the Health-articles (Added on 7/12/2006 9:54:16 PM)

Who Eat More Fruits

Those who are sweet lover may be eating more fruits compared to those who love salty-snacks. People who like fruit eat more sweets than vegetable lovers do. These findings are according to scientists from Cornell University analyses.

"If we know a person likes one type of food, this kind of study helps us better predict what other types of foods he or she might prefer," said the researcher and director of the Cornell Food and Brand Lab that........Go to the Health-articles (Added on 7/12/2006 8:27:20 PM)

Dealing With Unexplained Symptoms

People who like sweets eat more fruit than salty-snack lovers, and people who love fruit eat more sweets than vegetable lovers do, as per two Cornell University analyses.

"If we know a person likes one type of food, this kind of study helps us better predict what other types of foods he or she might prefer," said Brian Wansink, director of the Cornell Food and Brand Lab that studies the psychology behind what people eat and how often they........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 7/12/2006 8:21:09 PM)

Physical activity does not protect from ovarian cancer

There are several benefits to a regular exercise program. It keeps you fit, it prevents heart attack, and it protects you from breast cancer. But the benefits of exercise do not extend to the field of ovary cancer.

A new research has found that exercise programs do not protect women from developing ovary cancer. This is according to reports published in International Journal of Cancer.

"However, despite not protecting for ovary cancer,........Go to the Cancer-blog (Added on 7/12/2006 7:25:08 AM)

Removal Of Ovaries Does Not Completely Eliminate Risk

Even after having their ovaries and fallopian tubes removed on a preventive basis, women who carry one of two gene mutations known to be linked to high rates of breast and ovarian cancer are still at risk of developing a form of ovarian cancer, cancer in the peritoneum, a large international study released Tuesday confirms.

About four per cent of women who had the preventive procedure, called a salpingo-oophorectomy, went on to develop........Go to the Cancer-blog (Added on 7/12/2006 7:11:20 AM)

meditation and cognitive impairment

Scientists at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine are examining the effectiveness of meditation on early cognitive impairment. Once this new study is completed, the results could help answer lingering questions over whether or not stress-reducing techniques and mind exercises can lessen or even prevent cognitive decline. This is the first study at Penn's new "Center for Spirituality and the Mind," which evolved from work initiated........Go to the Health-articles (Added on 7/29/2006 8:14:36 PM)

Radiation Cocktail For Breast Cancer

A carefully determined mixture of electron and x-ray beams precisely treated breast tumors while significantly reducing collateral skin damage in 78 patients, researchers will report on August 1 at the annual meeting of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine in Orlando. The key to choosing the right mixture of beams, as well as their individual properties, was a sophisticated computer approach developed by medical physicists........Go to the Cancer-blog (Added on 7/28/2006 10:42:15 PM)

Making Clearer Pictures

Software makes pictures clearer.

Software helps astronomers see what's hidden in noisy and blurred images of stars and galaxies. Metropolis Data Consultants uses the same techniques to give doctors and the police clearer pictures to work on.

Astronomers use all sorts of telescopes to explore outer space. Some are optical telescopes - bigger and better versions of those you might have at home. Using lenses and mirrors, they make distant........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 7/28/2006 9:47:53 PM)

Treating Severe Psoriasis

NICE's announcement comes as welcome relief to the thousands of UK patients who have exhausted current available treatment options and failed to sustain a long-term benefit. It is a positive sign for patients throughout Europe, whose healthcare systems are influenced by NICE decisions. Leeroy Blake in England was fortunate enough to be offered treatment with a biological therapy, after years of trying every other available psoriasis........Go to the Health-articles (Added on 7/26/2006 5:48:13 PM)

Identifying Medical Proxy

One-third of married individuals choose someone other than their spouse as a surrogate for medical decision-making. And more often than not, when adult patients chose a parent, sibling or child, they prefer their mothers, sisters and daughters to serve as medical proxies over their fathers, brothers and sons.

These are among the results of a study on advance care planning conducted by Northwestern University researcher K. Michael Lipkin,........Go to the Cancer-blog (Added on 7/26/2006 5:20:48 PM)

New MRI Technique And 3-d Images Of Knees

A faster magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data-acquisition technique will cut the time many patients spend in a cramped magnetic resonance scanner, yet deliver more precise 3-D images of their bodies.

Developed at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the faster technique will enable clinics to image more patients - particularly the burgeoning group of older adults with osteoarthritis-related knee problems - and can help researchers more........Go to the Health-articles (Added on 7/26/2006 4:59:49 PM)

Overweight Teens Reduce Risk Of Diabetes

Teens at risk of developing diabetes can prevent or delay its onset through strength training exercise, a University of Southern California study has observed.

Research led by Michael Goran, PhD, professor of preventive medicine in the Keck School of Medicine of USC, showed that overweight Latino teenage boys who lifted weights twice per week for 16 weeks significantly reduced their insulin resistance, a condition in which their bodies don't........Go to the Health-articles (Added on 7/25/2006 8:53:52 PM)

What is hepatitis A?

What is hepatitis A?

Hepatitis A is a liver disease caused by hepatitis A virus.

How is hepatitis A virus transmitted?

Hepatitis A virus is spread from person to person by putting something in the mouth that has been contaminated with the stool of a person with hepatitis A. This type of transmission is called "fecal-oral." For this reason, the virus is more easily spread in areas where there are poor sanitary conditions........Go to the Health-articles (Added on 7/25/2006 6:38:11 PM)

Quit smoking

Now That You're Pregnant, You're Not Just Eating for Two. You're Breathing for Two.

U.S. Surgeon General Luther L. Terry's original report on the health consequences of smoking, published in 1964, warned that smoking during pregnancy increased the risk of low birth weight and other complications in newborns. These dangers were confirmed by subsequent research. During the 1980s, it had become a major scientific argument in the campaign........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 7/25/2006 6:54:35 AM)

Watching Real-time Chemical Activity In Cells

Attempts to identify potential drugs that interfere with the action of one particular enzyme associated with heart disease and similar health problems led researchers at Johns Hopkins to create a new tool and new experimental approach that allow them to see multiple, real-time chemical reactions in living cells. Their report on the work is published July 21 in the journal ACS Chemical Biology.

Most current drug development operations test........Go to the Health-articles (Added on 7/22/2006 10:46:30 PM)

Developing Safer Anti-obesity Drugs

A study led by a UT Southwestern Medical Center researcher sheds light on how the brain chemical serotonin, when spurred by diet drugs such as Fen-phen, works to curb appetite.

That knowledge could aid in the design of safer anti-obesity drugs nearly a decade after Fen-phen was banned for causing harmful side effects.

The study, which tested the effect of several drugs that alter serotonin levels in the brain, found that serotonin........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 7/19/2006 10:41:10 PM)

Spinal Cord Stem Cell Transplantation is Safe

Transplanting human embryonic stem cells does not cause harm and can be used as a therapeutic strategy for the treatment of acute spinal cord injury, according to a recent study by UC Irvine researchers.

UCI neurobiologist Hans Keirstead and colleagues at the Reeve-Irvine Research Center found that rats with either mild or severe spinal cord injuries that were transplanted with a treatment derived from human embryonic stem cells suffered no........Go to the Health-articles (Added on 7/19/2006 9:46:55 PM)

Distinguished Professor Of Ophthalmology

J. William Harbour, M.D., has been named the Paul A. Cibis Distinguished Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Washington University Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton joined Larry J. Shapiro, M.D., executive vice chancellor for medical affairs and dean of the School of Medicine, in announcing the appointment.

"Endowed professorships are among the most important gifts a........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 7/18/2006 9:05:01 PM)

Urgent Need For Worldwide Ban On Lead-based Paint

Environmental and occupational health experts at the University of Cincinnati (UC) have observed that major countries-including India, China and Malaysia-still produce and sell consumer paints with dangerously high lead levels.

The report appears in the early online edition of the journal Environmental Research, would be published in September 2006.

The scientists say that this lead-based paint production poses a global health threat, and........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 7/17/2006 10:28:46 PM)

Don't Let Job Get In The Way Of Your Relationship

Do we see our spouses as loving us for better or worse? Do we feel accepted by our partners no matter how good or bad our professional life is going? These questions are explored in a recent study included in the recent issue of SAGE's Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, an official publication of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, published by SAGE Publications.

The article, "For better or worse? Self-esteem and the........Go to the Health-articles (Added on 7/13/2006 10:01:28 PM)

Mesothelioma Drug In Progress

CuraGen Corporation and TopoTarget have initiated patient dosing in a phase II clinical trial evaluating the activity of PXD101, a small molecule histone deacetylase inhibitor, for the therapy of a type of cancer called mesothelioma.

Mesothelioma is a type of cancer arising from the cells, known as mesothelium, with the majority of cancers beginning in the chest cavity. The occurence rate of mesothelioma increases with age and is rarely........Go to the Cancer-blog (Added on 7/12/2006 9:21:38 PM)

Late Talking Toddler Debunking The Myth

New research findings from the world's largest study predicting children's late language emergence has revealed that parents are not to blame for late talking toddlers.

The LOOKING at Language project has analysed the speech development of 1766 children in Western Australia from infancy to seven years of age, with particular focus on environmental, neuro-developmental and genetic risk factors. It is the first study to look at predictors of........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 7/12/2006 8:44:09 PM)

Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS)

The ovaries are two small organs, one on each side of a woman's uterus. A woman's ovaries have follicles, which are tiny sacs filled with liquid that hold the eggs. These sacs are also called cysts. Each month about 20 eggs start to mature, but commonly only one becomes dominant. As the one egg grows, the follicle accumulates fluid in it. When that egg matures, the follicle breaks open to release the egg so it can travel through the fallopian........Go to the Health-articles (Added on 7/12/2006 5:51:56 PM)

Prices Soaring For Cancer Drugs

With the discovery of newer and newer drugs prices for cancer drugs are going only one way, up towards the ceiling.

Spiraling prices for new cancer therapies, up to $10,000 a month for a single drug, are causing alarm among patients and insurance companies.

"These costs are out of control," says Fran Visco, president of the National Breast Cancer Coalition, which is planning a conference focused on drug costs in the fall. "We can't allow........Go to the Cancer-blog (Added on 7/12/2006 7:18:35 AM)

Wrinkle Treatment For Radiation Side Effects

Doctors are testing a new way to ease the painful side effects of radiation for breast cancer patients.

Penny Cecil said she was stunned when she was diagnosed with breast cancer a year ago.

"I had no problems. No pain. No lumps. Nothing," said Cecil.

She said the discovery was made in a routine mammogram.

Cecil said she was determined to survive for the sake of her daughter.

"I just couldn't imagine her going through life........Go to the Cancer-blog (Added on 7/12/2006 7:14:24 AM)

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