Health News

Potential rapid bedside blood test for sepsis

Date: Oct-17-2013
Researchers are hopeful they have discovered a biomarker or biological footprint for sepsis that could form the basis of a rapid bedside blood test that returns results within 2 hours instead of the 2 days required by current diagnostics. The team, led by King's College London in the UK, reports the discovery in the latest online issue of the journal PLOS ONE. Sepsis, sometimes referred to as blood poisoining, is a potentially fatal condition where the body's immune system overreacts to an infection, which may result in septic shock...

Oreo cookies as addictive as cocaine - to lab rats

Date: Oct-17-2013
A group of students and a professor of neuroscience have discovered that Oreo cookies may be as addictive as cocaine or morphine - to lab rats at least. Professor Joseph Schroeder and his students at Connecticut College were conducting research on the addictiveness of high-fat and high-sugar foods, and how, for instance, they may contribute to the obesity epidemic. Prof. Schroeder says: "Our research supports the theory that high-fat, high-sugar foods stimulate the brain in the same way that drugs do...

Nanostim leadless pacemaker represents one of the most important advances in the history of pacing technology

Date: Oct-17-2013
St. Jude Medical, Inc. (NYSE:STJ), a global medical device company, has announced the completion of its acquisition of Nanostim, Inc., a privately-owned developer of miniaturized, leadless pacemakers. The acquisition adds the world's first and only leadless pacemaker to the St. Jude Medical product portfolio and culminates a two-year partnership between the two companies during which St. Jude Medical invested in and collaborated with Nanostim throughout its product development and commercialization initiatives...

Cognitive skills of kids born to teen mums don't lag behind those of other kids

Date: Oct-17-2013
Contrary to popular belief, the intellectual development of children born to teen mums does not lag behind that of children born to mums in their 20s and 30s, finds research published online in the Archives of Disease in Childhood. While there is some difference in the speed of language development, the spatial and non-verbal skills of children born to teen mums don't differ from those of children born to older mums, after influential factors are taken into account, say the authors...

New cases of autism in UK have levelled off after five-fold surge during 1990s

Date: Oct-17-2013
The number of newly diagnosed cases of autism has levelled off in the UK after a five-fold surge during the 1990s, finds research published in the online journal BMJ Open. The findings differ from widely publicised results issued by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) last year, which reported a 78% increase in the prevalence of the condition in eight year old children between 2004 and 2008 in the US...

Rapid reversal of diabetes after gastric banding surgery

Date: Oct-17-2013
Clinical researchers from Sydney's Garvan Institute of Medical Research and St. Vincent's Hospital have shown that a form of weight loss surgery, known as 'gastric banding', brings about reversal of diabetes in some patients, and dramatic improvement of glucose tolerance in others, within 12 weeks. Type 2 diabetes is a complex metabolic disorder that develops over time, with the body becoming progressively less able to control blood sugar levels. High blood sugars cause damage to tissues and organs, and can lead to very serious complications such as kidney failure and blindness...

Air pollution still harming health across Europe

Date: Oct-17-2013
Around 90 % of city dwellers in the European Union (EU) are exposed to one of the most damaging air pollutants at levels deemed harmful to health by the World Health Organisation (WHO). This result comes from the latest assessment of air quality in Europe, published by the European Environment Agency (EEA). The report, 'Air quality in Europe - 2013 report', is an EEA contribution to the European Commission's review of air quality policy and the EU 'Year of Air'. Vehicles, industry, agriculture and homes are contributing to air pollution in Europe...

Understanding and managing non-coeliac gluten sensitivity: "We are all on a learning curve", says UK expert

Date: Oct-17-2013
The newly-emerged clinical syndrome non-coeliac gluten sensitivity continues to puzzle gastroenterologists and other medical professionals, as scientists and clinicians grapple to understand the condition and how best to manage it...

Pitt Public Health study finds nearly a third of Pittsburgh homicides might have been prevented

Date: Oct-17-2013
More than 30 percent of the homicides in Pittsburgh last year were likely related to peer violence, not gang activity, and are the type of crime most readily prevented by early intervention, according to a first-of-its-kind report by the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health's Community Violence Prevention Project. The group's research indicates that 19 percent of the 42 homicides in the city last year were due to peer violence and not gang-related; another 12 percent were identified as possibly related to peer violence...

UF faculty finds some mind-body therapies may reduce effects of functional bowel disorders

Date: Oct-17-2013
Although some health care providers may overlook alternative therapies when treating functional bowel disorders such as irritable bowel syndrome, University of Florida faculty members have found evidence that hypnosis and cognitive behavioral therapy may benefit patients suffering from these diseases.  Led by researchers Oliver Grundmann of the UF College of Pharmacy and Saunjoo "Sunny" Yoon of the UF College of Nursing, the study was published in the European Journal of Integrative Medicine...