Health News

International structures needed for equitable access to DNA identification after disaster

Date: Sep-15-2013
The April 2013 collapse of the Rana Plaza Factory Building in Bangladesh, in which more than 1,130 people were killed, is only the latest in a long line of events that has made plain the plight of the families whose loved ones go missing after conflict and disaster...

Sober drinking knowledge often fails 'in the moment' of intoxication

Date: Sep-15-2013
Approximately one-third of all fatal crashes each year in the U.S. involve an alcohol-impaired driver. Prior research has shown that alcohol alters perceptions of risky behaviors such as drinking and driving. However, studies testing these perceptions typically measure them while participants are sober. A new study measuring the perceived dangerousness of driving after drinking assessed while individuals were intoxicated, and comparing these perceptions to those assessed while sober, found that sober knowledge does not necessarily translate into responsible judgment while intoxicated...

Left and right-handed genes discovered

Date: Sep-15-2013
Scientists have uncovered genes that are involved in determining whether a person is left or right-handed, according to a study published in the journal PLOS ONE. Researchers from the UK and the Netherlands say they have discovered correlations between left and right-handedness and a network of genes present within developing embryos. According to the researchers, humans are the only species that show a strong preference for which hand they use, with 90% of the population being right-handed...

Gene-expression-based biomarker predicts long-term risk of breast cancer recurrence

Date: Sep-15-2013
A comparison of three methods of predicting the risk of recurrence in women treated for estrogen-receptor (ER)-positive breast cancer finds that only the breast cancer index (BCI) - a biomarker based on the expression levels of seven tumor-specific genes - accurately identifies patients who continue to be at risk after five years of treatment with either tamoxifen or the aromatase inhibitor anastrozole. The study comparing the BCI with two other prognostic tests has been published online in Lancet Oncology...

Meningitis A mass vaccination campaign in sub-Saharan Africa shows dramatic impact of new vaccine

Date: Sep-15-2013
Evaluation of the effectiveness of a mass vaccination campaign with a new meningitis serogroup A vaccine, PsA-TT, in sub-Saharan Africa found that it had a dramatic impact on cases of serogroup meningitis and on carriage of the disease-causing bacteria in the throat, according to new research published in The Lancet...

Mosquito bites deliver potential new malaria vaccine

Date: Sep-15-2013
This study suggests that genetically engineered malaria parasites that are stunted through precise gene deletions (genetically attenuated parasites, or "GAP") could be used as a vaccine that protects against malaria infection. This means that the harmless (attenuated) version of the parasite would interact with the body in the same way as the infective version, but without possibility of causing disease. GAP-vaccination would induce robust immune responses that protect against future infection with malaria...

Study gives new hope for women suffering from recurrent miscarriage

Date: Sep-15-2013
A team of researchers, led by the University of Warwick, have published new data that could prove vital for advances in care for women who suffer from recurrent miscarriage. The recurrent loss of pregnancy through miscarriage causes significant distress to couples, often exacerbated by there being so few treatments available to clinicians. The search for an effective treatment has been the cause of significant controversy in the field of medical research, centering on the role of natural killer cells (or NK cells) and the ability of steroids to prevent miscarriage...

Versatile microRNAs choke off cancer blood supply, suppress metastasis

Date: Sep-15-2013
A family of microRNAs (miR-200) blocks cancer progression and metastasis by stifling a tumor's ability to weave new blood vessels to support itself, researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center report in Nature Communications. Patients with lung, ovarian, kidney or triple-negative breast cancers live longer if they have high levels of miR-200 expression, the researchers found. Subsequent experiments showed for the first time that miR-200 hinders new blood vessel development, or angiogenesis, and does so by targeting cytokines interleukin-8 (IL-8) and CXCL1...

Hormone-disrupting chemical detected in bottled water

Date: Sep-15-2013
Many of us prefer to drink bottled water, swayed by the belief that it is fresher and better for us. But now, researchers have uncovered an endocrine-disrupting chemical (EDC) in commercialized bottled water, according to a study published in the journal PLOS ONE. EDCs are man-made compounds that are commonly used in many plastics. The compounds have been found to interfere with the hormonal systems of several organisms, particularly reproductive systems...

Transplanting fat may be effective treatment for metabolic disease

Date: Sep-15-2013
Transplanting fat may treat such inherited metabolic diseases as maple syrup urine disease (MSUD) by helping the body process the essential amino acids that these patients cannot, according to Penn State College of Medicine researchers. The researchers are targeting maple syrup urine disease because it disproportionately affects the Amish and Mennonites who reside in the central Pennsylvania communities surrounding the College of Medicine and its hospital, Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center...