Health News

Study of fruit flies could help us understand food choice in obese people

Date: Oct-10-2013
Think of the smell of freshly baking bread. There is something in that smell, without any other cues - visual or tactile - that steers you toward the bakery. On the flip side, there may be a smell, for instance that of fresh fish, that may not appeal to you. If you haven't eaten a morsel of food in three days, of course, a fishy odor might seem a good deal more attractive...

Tackle aging, not cancer and heart disease, for 'better returns'

Date: Oct-10-2013
Medical research that brings about a delay to the aging process would represent a "better investment" than tackling specific diseases, such as cancer and heart disease, an economic analysis claims. In terms of its impact on longevity, disability and major entitlement program costs, finding a way to delay aging makes better sense than targeting specific conditions, say the researchers publishing in the journal Health Affairs...

Prenatal depression linked to offspring depression in adulthood

Date: Oct-10-2013
Depression in pregnant women appears to increase the risk that their children will experience depression when they are 18-years-old, according to a report published by JAMA Psychiatry.  According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), prenatal depression affects 8% of pregnant women in the US. Depression in late adolescence is a worldwide public health issue and identifying early-life risk factors will be important to guide prevention and intervention efforts, according to the study background...

Pathway links heartburn and esophageal cancer

Date: Oct-10-2013
Got heartburn? More than 60 million adults in the U.S. have acid reflux, or heartburn, and approximately 10 percent are at risk for developing esophageal cancer, due in part to complications from Barrett's esophagus. But researchers at Rhode Island Hospital discovered a pathway they believe links Barrett's esophagus to the development of esophageal cancer. Their data suggest that blocking this pathway, such as with a proton pump inhibitor (e.g. omeprazole), may prevent the development of esophageal cancer...

Pilot study tests biofeedback device in lowering grandmothers' stress

Date: Oct-10-2013
In a pilot study by Case Western Reserve University's Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing, 20 grandmothers were able to lower their stress levels with a biofeedback device that tracks breathing patterns. According to U. S. Census data, the number of children living with their grandparents has increased 64 percent in the past 20 years. Prior studies at the Case Western Reserve nursing school have found that many grandmothers suffer stress and depression from having to serve as full-time child-care givers at this stage in their lives...

Serious complications risk & high recurrence rates for pediatric atrial fibrillation

Date: Oct-10-2013
Atrial fibrillation (AF), characterized by a rapid and irregular heartbeat, is the most common chronic arrhythmia in adults, but is rare in children. In one of the first studies of pediatric "lone AF" (AF without associated heart disease), researchers found a nearly 40% recurrence rate and that AF in the young is accompanied by substantial symptoms. Three patients had significant complications: one with a stroke and two with substantially impaired heart function. The researchers' findings are published in the October issue of the Canadian Journal of Cardiology...

First-of-its-kind mathematical model for the biological process that keeps your immune system working

Date: Oct-10-2013
Scientists at USC have created a mathematical model that explains and predicts the biological process that creates antibody diversity - the phenomenon that keeps us healthy by generating robust immune systems through hypermutation. The work is a collaboration between Myron Goodman, professor of biological sciences and chemistry at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences; and Chi Mak, professor of chemistry at USC Dornsife. "To me, it was the holy grail," Goodman said. "We can now predict the motion of a key enzyme that initiates hypermutations in immunoglobulin (Ig) genes...

Stroke 'causes 60% loss of quality years'

Date: Oct-10-2013
For every 5 quality years of life, 3 are taken away for people who have had a stroke, long-term research has found - a loss of 60%. The study, published in Neurology, the journal of the American Academy of Neurology, involved 1,188 patients - 748 who had a stroke and 440 who had a transient ischemic attack (TIA). Researchers followed these patients for 5 years. The researchers used a measure called utility, which put a numerical value on the desirability of various health outcomes for patients responding to a questionnaire...

PET imaging shown to be effective in predicting lung cancer outcomes

Date: Oct-10-2013
Advanced imaging with Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scan shows great promise in predicting which patients with inoperable lung cancer have more aggressive tumors and need additional treatment following standard chemotherapy/radiation therapy, according to new research recently published online in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. The multi-site trial, led by study author and principal investigator Mitch Machtay, MD, University Hospitals Case Medical Center Seidman Cancer Center, enrolled 250 patients at 60 cancer centers around the country...

Genes increase risk for eating disorders

Date: Oct-10-2013
Eating disorders like anorexia nervosa and bulimia often run in families, but identifying specific genes that increase a person's risk for these complex disorders has proved difficult. Now scientists from the University of Iowa and University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center have discovered -- by studying the genetics of two families severely affected by eating disorders -- two gene mutations, one in each family, that are associated with increased risk of developing eating disorders...