Health News

Increase in heart attacks due to air pollution

Date: Oct-10-2013
Air pollution increases heart attacks, according to research that will be presented at the Acute Cardiac Care Congress 2013 by Dr Savina Nodari from Brescia, Italy. The Acute Cardiac Care Congress 2013 is the annual meeting of the Acute Cardiovascular Care Association (ACCA) of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). It will take place from Saturday 12 to 14 October in Madrid, Spain. Cutting edge science and the latest treatments in acute cardiovascular care will be presented by scientists from across the world...

Identification of early-onset lumbar disc degeneration-associated mutation

Date: Oct-10-2013
Lumbar disc degeneration (LDD) is characterized by pain in the lumbar region of the spine as a result of a compromised disc. LDD is fairly common and thought to be the result of both environmental and genetic risk factors; however, the genetic factors that promote LDD are largely unknown. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Danny Chan and colleagues at the University of Hong Kong found mutations that reduced production of carbohydrate sulfotransferase 3 (CHST3) were associated with early-onset LDD...

Association between treatment failure and Leishmania parasites with greater infectivity

Date: Oct-10-2013
Relapses after treatment for Leishmania infection may be due to a greater infectivity of the parasite rather than drug resistance, as has been previously thought, according to a study published in mBio®, the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology. Visceral leishmaniasis, also called kala-azar, is a parasitic disease that strikes 400,000 people every year and kills around 1 in 10 of its victims...

International perspective on taking sick days

Date: Oct-10-2013
Susan is a highly productive employee but is absent more often than her co-workers. She has decided to take a me-day because she believes that her absence will not affect her overall productivity. Legitimate reason to be out of the office, or punishable offence? Depending on where "Susan" lives, it can be either shows new research from Concordia University's John Molson School of Business. According to a study recently published in Cross Cultural Management, there are considerable differences in attitudes towards workplace absences across nations...

Attitudes toward drug use among high school seniors

Date: Oct-10-2013
High school seniors who frown upon the use of drugs are most likely to be female, nonsmokers or hold strong religious beliefs, according to a study¹ by Joseph Palamar of New York University. Palamar examines how teenagers' attitudes toward marijuana influenced their thoughts on the further use of other illicit drugs. The work appears online in the journal Prevention Science², published by Springer. The study was conducted as marijuana use continues to be on the upswing in the United States, along with more lenient legislation and diminishing public disapproval toward its use...

Combination of anemia and high altitude negatively impacts children with pneumonia

Date: Oct-10-2013
Pneumonia is the leading cause of death of young children around the world, and a study from an international group of researchers now finds that the risk of poor outcomes - including persistent pneumonia, secondary infections, organ failure or death - in children who contract pneumonia is four times higher in those who also have anemia and live at high altitudes (over 2,000 meters or about 6,500 feet). The report in the November issue of Pediatrics has been released online...

Employers should look for 5 personality traits in a job applicant's social media content

Date: Oct-10-2013
Job applicants try to make a good impression when meeting a prospective employer, but employers may be able to learn what applicants are really like by screening their social media posts. Unfiltered personal communications, photos, comments about others, and references to alcohol and drug use reflect five revealing personality characteristics that might impact their work performance, according to an article in Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers...

Potential new therapeutic target that prevents cell division

Date: Oct-10-2013
Cell division is an essential process for the development of an organism. This process, however, can cause tumour growth when it stops working properly. Tumour cells accumulate alterations in their genetic material, and this makes them divide in an uncontrolled fashion, thus encouraging growth of the tumour. Over the past few years, knowledge of the regulation of this process has led to the discovery of new therapeutic strategies based on blocking cell division or mitosis...

Anxiety from online searches about health is worse for those who fear the unknown

Date: Oct-10-2013
Turning to the Internet to find out what ails you is common, but for folks who have trouble handling uncertainty, "cyberchondria" - the online counterpart to hypochondria - worsens as they seek answers, according to a Baylor University researcher. "If I'm someone who doesn't like uncertainty, I may become more anxious, search further, monitor my body more, go to the doctor more frequently -- and the more you search, the more you consider the possibilities," said Thomas Fergus, Ph.D., an assistant professor of psychology and neuroscience in Baylor's College of Arts & Sciences...

Understanding sarcasm in childhood aided by empathy

Date: Oct-10-2013
The greater the empathy skills of children, the easier it is for them to recognize sarcasm, according to a new study in the open-access journal Frontiers in Psychology. For children, sarcastic language can be difficult to understand. They generally begin to recognize sarcasm between ages 6 and 8, especially familiar sarcastic praise such as "Thanks a lot!" and "Nice going!" But some children take much longer to begin to understand sarcasm, with detection improving even through adolescence...