Health News

A more effective molecular modeling process

Date: Sep-30-2013
It's difficult and time-consuming to produce accurate computer models of molecules, primarily because traditional modeling methods are limited in their ability to handle alternative molecular shapes and, consequently, are subject to multiple errors. Moreover, the traditional approach uses mathematical formulas or algorithms that are run sequentially, refining the structural details of the model with each separate algorithm - a method that has been revolutionized by personal computing, but still requires labor-intensive human intervention for error correction...

Study shows police frustrated by limitations to medical role in response to drug overdose

Date: Sep-30-2013
A recent study from Rhode Island Hospital has found that a change in the way police respond to drug-related overdose emergencies could contribute to improved outcomes of the victims and to the communities where overdoses occur. The study found that while law enforcement officers often serve as medical first responders, there is a lack of clarity as to what police can do, or should do, at the scene of an overdose. The study is published online in advance of print in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence...

Novel tool developed by colorectal surgeons for measuring quality and outcomes

Date: Sep-30-2013
Since the publication in 2000 of a report titled "To Err is Human" by the Institute of Medicine which called for a reduction in preventable medical errors, there has been an increasing demand for making improvements in the quality and measurement of health care outcomes. Although many measures have been developed, they tend to be complex, labor intensive, have an unclear relationship with improved outcomes, and concentrate on processes of care rather than clinical outcomes...

Natural form of Tramadol discovered in Africa

Date: Sep-30-2013
A team of researchers led by Michel De Waard, Inserm Research Director at the Grenoble Institute of Neurosciences (Inserm, University Joseph Fourier, CNRS), has discovered that an African medicinal plant produces large quantities of molecules with analgesic properties. Even more surprising, analysis show that the molecule is identical to Tramadol, a wholly synthetic medication that is used world-wide as a painkiller...

Identification of new dwarfism mutation in dogs also has implications for humans

Date: Sep-30-2013
Professor Hannes Lohi's research group at the University of Helsinki and Folkhalsan Research Center has identified a mutation in ITGA10 gene, causing chondrodysplasia in two dog breeds, the Norwegian Elkhound and the Karelian Bear Dog. The research revealed a new chondrodysplasia gene in dogs, and a candidate gene for human chondrodysplasias. The finding has implications on bone biology as well as canine health. A genetic test can now be used to identify mutation carriers in the two affected dog breeds. The study was published on the scientific journal PLOS ONE...

Debt and mental health problems

Date: Sep-30-2013
New research, led by the University of Southampton, has shown that people in debt are three times more likely to have a mental health problem than those not in debt. There is currently around £156 billion in unsecured debt such as credit cards in the UK, of which the average family owes more than £11,000. Levels of debt have increased in recent years due to the economic recession and are predicted to increase further...

Zebrafish embryo's cells can move in one direction by creating their own gradient: Study has possible implications for cancer and metastasis

Date: Sep-30-2013
Migrating cells, it seems, cover their tracks not for fear of being followed, but to keep moving forward. Scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany, have now shown that cells in a zebrafish embryo determine which direction they move in by effectively erasing the path behind them. The findings, published online in Nature, could have implications not just for development but also for cancer and metastasis. As a zebrafish embryo develops, a group of cells migrate down the side of its body, leaving clumps of cells along the way...

The immunological function of mucus

Date: Sep-30-2013
Researchers at Institut Hospital del Mar d'Investigacions Mediques (IMIM) in Barcelona, in collaboration with the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York and other U.S. Institutions, have found that intestinal mucus not only acts as a physical barrier against commensal bacteria and dietary antigens, but also prevents the onset of inflammatory reactions against these agents. This fundamental property of mucus was unknown until now and its discovery could potentially improve the life of people suffering from inflammatory bowel disease...

Detection of rheumatic heart disease increasing with echocardiography

Date: Sep-30-2013
How using echocardiography is increasing detection rates of rheumatic heart disease (RHD) many-fold is the subject of one of the papers in the RHD special issue of Global Heart, the journal of the World Heart Federation, and written by Dr Anita Saxena, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India; Dr Liesl Zühlke, University of Cape Town and Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa; and Dr Nigel Wilson, Starship Hospital, Auckland, New Zealand...

Genetic mapping has potential to open many new avenues of future research for complex diseases

Date: Sep-30-2013
Although heavily studied, the specific genetic causes of "complex diseases," a category of disorders which includes autism, diabetes and heart disease, are largely unknown due to byzantine genetic and environmental interactions. Now, scientists from the University of Chicago have created one of the most expansive analyses to date of the genetic factors at play in complex diseases - by using diseases with known genetic causes to guide them...