Health News

Dating abuse in the internet age

Date: Sep-18-2013
Non-physical abuse by a dating partner such as threats, controlling behavior and harassing text messages can have a serious effect on a teenager's health and well-being, finds new research led by a Michigan State University scholar. The study, which appears in the research journal BMC Public Health, is one of the first to examine the effects of both physical and non-physical dating abuse that is relevant to today's highly connected adolescents...

Patients have a right to participate in risky research

Date: Sep-18-2013
Individuals have a right to participate in risky research trials, which might harm their health or even kill them, and institutional review boards (known as research ethics committees in the UK) - which are responsible for deciding whether a particular research trial can take place in a given institution - are potentially impeding the progress of research by rejecting such studies on ethical grounds, according to a Viewpoint published in The Lancet on Wednesday 18 September...

Inducing neural differentiation via Noggin and bFGF

Date: Sep-18-2013
The difference between Noggin and basic fibroblast growth factor for the neural precursor differentiation from human embryonic stem cells has not been studied. Prof. Xuejin Chen and colleagues from Shanghai Jiao Tong University were the first to utilize 100 µg/L Noggin or 20 µg/L basic fibroblast growth factor in serum-free neural induction medium to differentiate human embryonic stem cells H14 into neural precursors using monolayer differentiation...

Nerves in the stomach remain desensitized to fullness after weight loss

Date: Sep-18-2013
The way the stomach detects and tells our brains how full we are becomes damaged in obese people but does not return to normal once they lose weight, according to new research from the University of Adelaide. Researchers believe this could be a key reason why most people who lose weight on a diet eventually put that weight back on. In laboratory studies, University of Adelaide PhD student Stephen Kentish investigated the impact of a high-fat diet on the gut's ability to signal fullness, and whether those changes revert back to normal by losing weight...

Brain harmed by low level blast explosions

Date: Sep-18-2013
Repeated exposure to low level blasts (LLB) can cause symptoms similar to sports concussion. Soldiers or law enforcement officers called "breachers" receive training in using low level blasts for forced entry. They may be at risk for diminished neurocognitive performance and symptoms caused by the harmful effects of blast-related pressure changes on the brain, as described in a study published in Journal of Neurotrauma, a peer-reviewed publication from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available on the Journal of Neurotrauma website...

For smoking cessation in patients with current or past depression varenicline proves safe and effective

Date: Sep-18-2013
Varenicline is safe and effective to help smokers with current or past major depression quit smoking. Approximately half of smokers seeking treatment have a history of depression. This is a clinically important relationship because depression and smoking are among the leading causes of disability and death in the world and having depression makes quitting smoking more difficult. Varenicline has proven more effective than bupropion for smoking cessation, but because of its mechanism of action, there are concerns about the safety of varenicline in patients with psychiatric disorders...

Global economic crisis linked to increased suicide rates

Date: Sep-18-2013
Researchers have said that the 2008 global economic crisis may be to blame for a rise in suicide rates across the Americas and Europe, particularly in males, according to a study published in the BMJ. The data comes from the World Health Organization (WHO) mortality database, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the International Monetary Fund's World Economic Outlook database. Researchers from the Universities of Hong Kong, Oxford and Bristol assessed the changes in suicide rates of 54 countries since the 2008 economic crisis...

Gene mutations influence muscle performance

Date: Sep-18-2013
Elite endurance athletes commonly have mutations that result in the loss of the protein α-actinin-3, which is a major component of fast-twitch muscle fibers. Loss of α-actinin-3 is associated with reduced power, increased endurance capacity, and enhanced response to endurance training. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Kathryn North and colleagues at the Murdoch Children's Research Institute report that the loss of α-actinin-3 in fast-twitch muscle fibers, results in compensation by α-actinin-2...

Huge increase in prescriptions for opioid drugs for non-cancer pain

Date: Sep-18-2013
As opioid deaths soar, use of safer alternatives for pain treatment are 'flat or declining' Prescribing of strong opioid medications for non-cancer pain in the United States has nearly doubled over the past decade, reports a study in the October issue of Medical Care, published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health. At the same time, prescribing of non-opioid pain relievers has been stable or declined, according to the new research by Dr G. Caleb Alexander of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, and colleagues...

Oxytocin shows evidence of therapeutic value for autism and schizophrenia

Date: Sep-18-2013
The hormone oxytocin could play a role in treating psychiatric disorders such as autism and schizophrenia, according to a review article in the September Harvard Review of Psychiatry. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health. Among other biological effects, oxytocin is "an important regulator of human social behaviors," according to the research review by Dr David Cochran of University of Massachusetts Medical School and colleagues...