Health News

NHS 111 increases ambulance and urgent and emergency care use

Date: Nov-14-2013
The call handling service NHS 111 increased the use of ambulance and urgent and emergency care services during its first year of operation, shows a detailed evaluation, published in the online journal BMJ Open.This is despite the fact that NHS 111 was set up with the intention of relieving pressure on these services by ensuring that patients are directed to care that is appropriate for their level of need, say the researchers.

Resting pulse rates of UK pre-teens have risen during past 30 years

Date: Nov-14-2013
The resting pulse rate of UK pre-teens may have risen by up to two beats a minute during the past 30 years. But the rise does not seem to be linked to the overall weight gain seen in this age group during this period, reveals research published online in the Archives of Disease in Childhood.While this rise may seem modest, resting pulse rate is a proxy for general physical fitness and cardiovascular health, say the authors. And it could translate into higher risks of diabetes and heart disease in later life, they warn.

Novel therapies for nicotine, heroin, and gambling addiction show promise

Date: Nov-14-2013
Studies just released suggest promising new treatments for nicotine and heroin addiction, and further our understanding of pathological gambling and heroin abuse in those suffering chronic pain. This new knowledge, released at Neuroscience 2013, the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience and the world's largest source of emerging news about brain science and health, may one day lead to non-pharmaceutical interventions and therapies to treat addiction.According to the World Health Organization, 15.3 million people worldwide suffer from drug use disorders.

New understanding of the stress mechanism for development of rheumatoid arthritis

Date: Nov-14-2013
Collaborating with researchers from the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, a research team at Wayne State University's School of Medicine led by Kezhong Zhang, Ph.D., has contributed to an important discovery in the inflammatory stress mechanism and specific inhibitor for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.The team led by Zhang, associate professor of immunology and microbiology and Wayne State's Center for Molecular Medicine and Genetics, and the team led by Deyu Fang, Ph.D.

Pain may be prolonged by use of morphine after abdominal surgery

Date: Nov-14-2013
Using morphine to fight the pain associated with abdominal surgery may paradoxically prolong a patient's suffering, doubling or even tripling the amount of time it takes to recover from the surgical pain, according to researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder.The research team from CU-Boulder's Department of Psychology and Neuroscience - led by Peter Grace, a postdoctoral research fellow, together with Erika Galer, a professional research assistant - was able to identify the mechanism that caused the prolonged pain.

New treatments for binge eating, how our diet impacts brain function, and the connection between marijuana and obesity

Date: Nov-14-2013
A growing body of evidence shows the impact of diet on brain function, and identifies patterns of brain activity associated with eating disorders such as binge eating and purging. The findings were presented at Neuroscience 2013, the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience and the world's largest source of emerging news about brain science and health.Millions of people worldwide suffer from eating disorders such as anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating.

Pain may be prolonged by use of morphine after abdominal surgery

Date: Nov-14-2013
Using morphine to fight the pain associated with abdominal surgery may paradoxically prolong a patient's suffering, doubling or even tripling the amount of time it takes to recover from the surgical pain, according to researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder.The research team from CU-Boulder's Department of Psychology and Neuroscience - led by Peter Grace, a postdoctoral research fellow, together with Erika Galer, a professional research assistant - was able to identify the mechanism that caused the prolonged pain.

New compound inhibits cognitive impairment in animal models of Alzheimer's disease

Date: Nov-13-2013
The novel compound IRL-1620 may be useful in treating Alzheimer's disease (AD) as it has been shown to prevent cognitive impairment and oxidative stress in animal models. This research is being presented at the 2013 American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) Annual Meeting and Exposition, the world's largest pharmaceutical sciences meeting, in San Antonio, Nov. 10 - 14.  AD is a form of dementia that worsens over time, leading to a slow decline in cognitive functions and affecting memory, thinking, and behavior...

New breathalyzer 'monitors blood glucose' in diabetics

Date: Nov-13-2013
A scientist has created a novel noninvasive breathalyzer device that he says can monitor blood glucose levels in diabetics. This is according to research presented at the 2013 American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) Annual Meeting and Exposition. According to the American Diabetes Association, 25.8 million people in the US suffer from diabetes - a disease that stops the natural uptake of sugar in the blood and often needs regular blood glucose monitoring. Current technology to measure glucose in the blood includes the use of a portable testing meter...

Anti-parasite drugs may treat cancer, immune diseases

Date: Nov-13-2013
US researchers have discovered that by modifying a long-standing drug used to treat serious parasitic diseases like malaria, they could get it to affect human proteins in a way that looks promising for the treatment of cancer and immune-related diseases. One of the researchers, Dr. Gregory Poon, a pharmaceutical scientist at Washington State University (WSU), says of their discovery: "This was rather unexpected, given how relatively simple the molecules are that we modified and how difficult it has been to affect these proteins...