Health News

Exposure/ritual prevention therapy boosts antidepressant treatment of OCD

Date: Sep-16-2013
NIMH grantees have demonstrated that a form of behavioral therapy can augment antidepressant treatment of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) better than an antipsychotic. The researchers recommend that this specific form of cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) - exposure and ritual prevention - be offered to OCD patients who don't respond adequately to treatment with an antidepressant alone, which is often the case. Current guidelines favor augmentation with antipsychotics...

Medicare Center of Excellence Policy may limit minority access to weight-loss surgery

Date: Sep-16-2013
Safety measures intended to improve bariatric surgery outcomes may impede obese minorities' access to care. This is according to a new research letter published online in the September 12 issue of JAMA which compares rates of bariatric (weight-loss) surgery for minority Medicare vs. non-Medicare patients before and after implementation of a Medicare coverage policy. The policy limits Medicare patients seeking bariatric surgery to high-volume hospitals designated as centers of excellence...

Stem cells are wired for cooperation, down to the DNA

Date: Sep-16-2013
We often think of human cells as tiny computers that perform assigned tasks, where disease is a result of a malfunction. But in the current issue of Science, researchers at The Mount Sinai Medical Center offer a radical view of health - seeing it more as a cooperative state among cells, while they see disease as result of cells at war that fight with each other for domination. Their unique approach is backed by experimental evidence...

Dreaming is still possible even when the mind is blank

Date: Sep-16-2013
Isabelle Arnulf and colleagues from the Sleep Disorders Unit at the Université Pierre et Marie Curie (UPMC) have outlined case studies of patients with Auto-Activation Deficit who reported dreams when awakened from REM sleep - even when they demonstrated a mental blank during the daytime. This paper proves that even patients with Auto-Activation Disorder have the ability to dream and that it is the "bottom-up" process that causes the dream state...

Faulty stem cell regulation may contribute to cognitive deficits associated with Down syndrome

Date: Sep-16-2013
The learning and physical disabilities that affect people with Down syndrome may be due at least in part to defective stem cell regulation throughout the body, according to researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine. The defects in stem cell growth and self-renewal observed by the researchers can be alleviated by reducing the expression of just one gene on chromosome 21, they found. The finding marks the first time Down syndrome has been linked to stem cells, and addresses some long-standing mysteries about the disorder...

Diabetes drug enters clinical trial for Alzheimer's treatment

Date: Sep-16-2013
A drug commonly used for treating diabetes may reverse symptoms of late-stage Alzheimer's disease and is now in the process of entering a major clinical trial. Researchers from Lancaster University in the UK conducted a study revealing that the drug, liraglutide, may reverse memory loss in the late stages of Alzheimer's, as well as prevent the build-up of toxic plaques on the brain that contribute to symptoms of the disorder. Liraglutide is from a class of drugs known as GLP-1 (Glucagon-like peptide-1) analogue...

T-rays offer potential for earlier diagnosis of melanoma

Date: Sep-16-2013
The technology that peeks underneath clothing at airport security screening check points has great potential for looking underneath human skin to diagnose cancer at its earliest and most treatable stages, a scientist has said. The report on efforts to use terahertz radiation - "T-rays" - in early diagnosis of skin cancer was part of the 246th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society. Almost 7,000 reports on new advances in science and other topics were on the schedule for the meeting. Anis Rahman, Ph.D...

Obesity combined with exposure to cigarette smoke may pose new health concerns

Date: Sep-16-2013
Millions of people who are obese and smoke tobacco may face additional health problems - including their responses to common prescription medicines - that extend beyond the well-known links with cancer, heart attacks and stroke, according to a report presented here today. Scientists told an audience at the 246th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS), the world's largest scientific society, that those health threats may include "passive" or "second-hand" smoking. It occurs when non-smokers inhale smoke from cigarettes smoldering nearby...

Variation in bitter receptor mRNA expression affects taste perception

Date: Sep-16-2013
Do you love chomping on raw broccoli while your best friend can't stand the healthy veggie in any form or guise? Part of the reason may be your genes, particularly your bitter taste genes. Over the past decade, scientists at the Monell Center and elsewhere have made headway in understanding how variants of bitter taste receptor genes can help account for how people differ with regard to taste perception and food choice...

Test could identify which prostate cancers require treatment

Date: Sep-16-2013
The level of expression of three genes associated with aging can be used to predict whether seemingly low-risk prostate cancer will remain slow-growing, according to researchers at the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center at Columbia University Medical Center. Use of this three-gene biomarker, in conjunction with existing cancer-staging tests, could help physicians better determine which men with early prostate cancer can be safely followed with "active surveillance" and spared the risks of prostate removal or other invasive treatment...