Health News

First prospective study to date on nut consumption and pancreatic cancer

Date: Nov-11-2013
In a large prospective study published online in the British Journal of Cancer, researchers looked at the association between nut consumption and risk of pancreatic cancer among 75,680 women in the Nurses' Health Study, with no previous history of cancer. Consumption of nuts, including tree nuts (such as almonds, Brazil nuts, cashews, hazelnuts, macadamias, pecans, pine nuts, pistachios and walnuts), was inversely associated with risk of pancreatic cancer, independent of other potential risk factors for pancreatic cancer...

New driver of breast cancer discovered

Date: Nov-11-2013
A team of researchers at UT Southwestern has found that as cholesterol is metabolized, a potent stimulant of breast cancer is created - one that fuels estrogen-receptor positive breast cancers, and that may also defeat a common treatment strategy for those cancers. The multidisciplinary team discovered that a cholesterol metabolite called 27-hydroxycholesterol, or 27HC, promotes tumor growth in estrogen-receptor positive breast cancers, which are the most common type of breast cancer...

Understanding of human skin color variation improved by genetic study on South Asians

Date: Nov-11-2013
Though genetics of skin pigmentation has shown recent advancements in the last decade, studies involving populations of South Asia, one of the major hot spots of pigmentation diversity, is still in its infancy...

In mouse model, researchers regrow hair, cartilage, bone, soft tissues

Date: Nov-11-2013
Young animals are known to repair their tissues effortlessly, but can this capacity be recaptured in adults? A new study from researchers at the Stem Cell Program at Boston Children's Hospital suggests that it can. By reactivating a dormant gene called Lin28a, which is active in embryonic stem cells, researchers were able to regrow hair and repair cartilage, bone, skin and other soft tissues in a mouse model...

Overall function may be limited 2 years after shoulder replacement surgery

Date: Nov-11-2013
Patients with obesity undergo a disproportionately higher number of elective orthopaedic surgeries in the U.S. Obesity has been linked to higher costs, complications, infections and revisions in total knee and total hip replacement surgeries. In a new study published in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, researchers looked at the impact of obesity on the costs and outcomes of total shoulder arthroplasty (TSA) surgery...

Breaking new ground for drug discovery research in the fight against sleeping sickness

Date: Nov-11-2013
Scientists at the University of Oulu, Finland, and at the Helmholtz Center Berlin (HZB) have shown the way to new directions in drug development against African sleeping sickness and other tropical parasitic infections. This was based on the structural analysis of the enzyme thiolase, which plays a central role in lipid metabolism in the parasite that causes sleeping sickness. The researchers examined the biomolecule's structure at the MX beamline of electron storage ring, BESSY II, at the HZB...

Software for seizure prediction in the pipeline

Date: Nov-11-2013
A device that could predict when a person with epilepsy might next have a seizure is one step closer to reality thanks to the development of software by researchers in the USA. Details are to be published in a forthcoming issue of the International Journal of Data Mining and Bioinformatics. Seizure prediction is an important medical aim for the many people who suffer from epilepsy and related neurological disorders...

Cognitive behavioral therapy helps older veterans with depression

Date: Nov-11-2013
New research has found that both older and younger veterans suffering from depression who underwent cognitive behavioral therapy showed reductions in depressive symptoms. This is according to a study published in The Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences. Researchers led by Bradley Karlin, of the US Department of Veterans Affairs, say their study is one of the first to use a diverse national sample of veterans, compare changes in depression and quality of life, and determine the effects of therapeutic interventions...

Excessive youth exposure to TV alcohol advertisements

Date: Nov-11-2013
In twenty-five of the largest television markets in the U.S., almost 1 in 4 alcohol advertisements on a sample of national TV programs most popular with youth exceeded the alcohol industry's voluntary standards, according to researchers from the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth (CAMY) at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)...

Syria polio outbreak 'could hit Europe,' say experts

Date: Nov-11-2013
A new outbreak of polio in Syria that has recently been confirmed by the World Health Organization could potentially put neighboring regions, including Europe, at risk. This is according to an article published in The Lancet. Polio, also known as poliomyelitis, is a highly contagious viral infection that can cause paralysis and breathing problems, with more severe cases leading to death. Last month, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed 10 cases of polio in the Syrian Arab Republic...