Health News

'Good cholesterol' levels increased in obese primates

Date: Nov-22-2013
A strategy developed by Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH)-based investigators to increase levels of beneficial high-density lipoprotein (HDL) has been shown for the first time to be effective in non-human primates. The approach uses tiny antisense sequences to block the action of microRNAs that would otherwise inhibit a protein required for generation of HDL, the "good cholesterol" that helps remove harmful lipids from the body. The report appears in Science Translational Medicine.

Children's health improved by more frequent breaks from sedentary behavior

Date: Nov-22-2013
Canadian kids spend more than half their waking hours engaged in sedentary behaviour - watching television, playing video games or just sitting around. Studies involving adult populations suggest that breaks in sedentary time are associated with reduced global health risks. Today these findings have been replicated in a study involving children between the ages of 8 and 11 as published in PLOS ONE.

Type of antimalarial drug resistance explained

Date: Nov-22-2013
A Georgetown University professor published in the online journal PLOS ONE the first study explaining why drugs designed to fight off malaria stop working in some people with the disease.Malaria, a mosquito-borne disease caused by a parasite, killed more than 650,000 people in 2010 - most of them children in Africa, according to the World Health Organization.While several antimalarial drugs have successfully treated the disease, in some regions they no longer work due to drug resistance. Given that just last month the CDC reported that malaria cases in the U.S.

There are still health risks for metabolically healthy obese individuals

Date: Nov-22-2013
Obese people who are currently metabolically healthy face a higher risk of developing diabetes and cardiovascular disease, according to new research accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.Research has found conflicting evidence about whether it is possible for some obese people to avoid health complications that increase the risk of metabolic diseases.

Study pinpoints optimal testosterone range for longer male lifespan

Date: Nov-22-2013
Older men whose testosterone levels were neither low nor high tended to live longer, according to new research accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.Testosterone is a key male sex hormone involved in maintaining sex drive, sperm production and bone health. Physicians have long known that low testosterone levels can signal health problems, but the new study found men may not fare better when levels of the hormone rise too high.

John F. Kennedy was able to hide serious health problems from the public in an era of less media scrutiny

Date: Nov-22-2013
An article published in Annals of Internal Medicine discusses the surprising health history of President John F. Kennedy. At the age of 43, Kennedy was the youngest man ever elected president. During his campaign and presidency, the media portrayed him as the epitome of youth and vigor. However, a review of Kennedy's White House medical records, as well as correspondence from his physicians, reveal that Kennedy had the most complex medical history of any U.S. president.

A leading driver of cancer blocked

Date: Nov-22-2013
The protein in cells that most often drives the development of cancers has eluded scientists' efforts to block it for three decades - until now.Using a new strategy, UC San Francisco researchers have succeeded in making small molecules that irreversibly target a mutant form of this protein, called ras, without binding to the normal form. This feature distinguishes the molecules from all other targeted drug treatments in cancer, according to the researchers.When tested on human lung cancer cells grown in culture, the molecules efficiently killed the ras-driven cancer cells.

Vitamin D deficiency may be over-diagnosed by current practice

Date: Nov-22-2013
The current "gold standard" test for measuring vitamin D status may not accurately diagnose vitamin D deficiency in black individuals. In an article in the New England Journal of Medicine, a team of researchers report finding that genetic differences in a vitamin D carrier protein referred to as D-binding protein may explain the discrepancy between the prevalence of diagnosed vitamin D deficiency in black Americans - based on measuring the molecule 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25OHD) - and a lack of the usual symptoms of vitamin deficiency.

Association between size, connectivity of brain region and anxiety level in young children

Date: Nov-22-2013
Prolonged stress and anxiety during childhood is a risk factor for developing anxiety disorders and depression later in life. Now, Stanford University School of Medicine researchers have shown that by measuring the size and connectivity of a part of the brain associated with processing emotion - the amygdala - they can predict the degree of anxiety a young child is experiencing in daily life.

Research challenges 30-year-old hypothesis of how humans perceive sound

Date: Nov-22-2013
A key piece of the scientific model used for the past 30 years to help explain how humans perceive sound is wrong, according to a new study by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine.The long-held theory helped to explain a part of the hearing process called "adaptation," or how humans can hear everything from the drop of a pin to a jet engine blast with high acuity, without pain or damage to the ear. Its overturning could have significant impact on future research for treating hearing loss, said Anthony Ricci, PhD, the Edward C. and Amy H.