Health News

How multisensory stimuli influence multimodal behavior

Date: Nov-08-2013
To survive, animals must explore their world to find the necessities of life. It's a complex task, requiring them to form them a mental map of their environment to navigate the safest and fastest routes to food and water. They also learn to anticipate when and where certain important events, such as finding a meal, will occur. Understanding the connection between these two fundamental behaviors, navigation and the anticipation of a reward, had long eluded scientists because it was not possible to simultaneously study both while an animal was moving...

Three "hands on" nutrition classes - enough to impact health behaviors in lower income women

Date: Nov-07-2013
The knowledge and skills required to change poor nutrition and health behavior choices are often unavailable to those living with financial limitations. Competing demands on time and resources may pose obstacles to their achieving better diets. However, two researchers at the University of Minnesota recently completed a study that looked at the effects that three educational sessions might have on knowledge and behaviors of 118 low-income women of ethnically diverse backgrounds...

Common injuries among children of teenage parents

Date: Nov-07-2013
Prevention is always better than cure, and the same applies to accidental injuries sustained during childhood. Common sense and personal experience are often cited as the source of accident prevention measures, and a new study calls for more support for teen parents who may not have a wealth of experience from which to draw their strategies. Parenting is one of those areas where everyone thinks they are an expert. But when the parents are still teens themselves, they come under even greater scrutiny, with many people quick to jump to conclusions about their abilities...

HIV risk 'no higher' for bisexual men than heterosexual men

Date: Nov-07-2013
Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health say that the number of HIV-positive men in the US who have sex with both men and women is likely to be equal to the number of HIV-positive men who only have sex with women. Their research, presented at the American Public Health Association's 141st Annual Meeting and Exposition in Boston, MA, is thought to challenge the "popular assumption" that men who are bisexual are predominantly responsible for transmitting HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) to female partners...

Diabetic eye disease: How regular eye exams could save vision

Date: Nov-07-2013
Individuals with diabetes are likely accustomed to regular insulin injections or a strict diet. But are they as familiar with regular eye examinations? According to the results of a new survey coinciding with National Diabetes Month, the majority of diabetic patients would say no, even though diabetes is a leading cause of vision loss in the US. According to the National Eye Institute (NEI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), around 25 million Americans suffer from diabetes...

Brain may play key role in development of type 2 diabetes

Date: Nov-07-2013
A review of new research says there is growing evidence to support the idea that the brain plays a key role in normal glucose regulation and the development of type 2 diabetes. In the latest online issue of Nature, researchers from the Universities of Washington, Cincinnati and Michigan in the US, and the Technical University of Munich in Germany, present evidence of a brain-centered system that can lower blood sugar or glucose via insulin and non-insulin mechanisms...

Clear association found between ACE inhibitors and acute kidney injury

Date: Nov-07-2013
Cambridge scientists have found an association between ACE inhibitors (and similar drugs) and acute kidney injury - a sudden deterioration in kidney function. The research is published in the journal PLOS ONE. ACE inhibitors and related drugs known as angiotensin receptor antagonists (ARAs or 'sartans') are the second most frequently prescribed medicines in UK clinical practice, and are used to treat common conditions such as high blood pressure, heart disease and kidney problems, especially in people with diabetes...

Common diabetes drug fails to fulfil promise of improving cardiovascular risk in people without diabetes

Date: Nov-07-2013
Despite high expectations for the commonly used diabetes drug metformin to improve risk factors for heart disease in people without diabetes, few beneficial effects have been found in a randomised trial of patients with established cardiovascular disease, published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology. "There has been a lot of anticipation based on research in diabetic patients suggesting that metformin has cardiovascular benefits beyond its effects on blood glucose...

Better tests needed to improve patient care, public health

Date: Nov-07-2013
Despite advances in diagnostic technology, there is an urgent need for tests that are easy to use, identify the bug causing an infection and provide results faster than current tests, according to a report from the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) published in a special supplement to Clinical Infectious Diseases.  The report, "Better Tests, Better Care: Improved Diagnostics for Infectious Diseases," outlines specific recommendations to spur research and development of new diagnostics, and to encourage their use in patient care and public health...

Cancer mortality is declining in some countries of the Americas

Date: Nov-07-2013
Deaths from cancer are decreasing in some countries of the Americas and for certain kinds of cancer, while deaths from other cancer types are on the rise in the region, according to a new report from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Regional Office for the Americas of the World Health Organization (WHO). Overall, cancer is holding steady as the second-leading cause of death in the Americas, claiming an estimated 1.3 million lives each year, according to Cancer in the Americas: Country Profiles, 2013, released at the 5th International Cancer Control Congress (Nov...