Health News

What are the benefits of garlic?

Date: Sep-09-2013
Garlic (Allium sativum), an herb used widely as a flavoring in cooking, has also been used as a medicine throughout ancient and modern history to prevent and treat a wide range of conditions and diseases. Garlic belongs to the onion genus Allium, and is closely related to the onion, rakkyo, chive, leek, and shallot. It has been used by humans for thousands of years and was used in Ancient Egypt for both culinary purposes and its therapeutic benefits. Garlic for food and medicine - a brief history Garlic has been used all over the world for thousands of years...

Heart health can be measured by finger pulse

Date: Sep-09-2013
A physiologist has developed a new method of detecting heart disease by measuring the pulse in a finger, according to a study published in the American Journal of Physiology Heart and Circulatory Physiology. The new technique, created by Gary Pierce, assistant professor in the Department of Health and Human Physiology at the University of Iowa, is able to measure the stiffness of the aorta - a factor linked to the risk of heart disease. The aorta is the largest artery in body and is responsible for delivering blood to the body's tissues...

Study emphasizes value of mammograms in young women

Date: Sep-09-2013
The majority of deaths resulting from breast cancer occur in younger women who do not have regular mammograms, according to a study published in the journal Cancer. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there were more than 18.7 million mammograms ordered or provided throughout 2010. But in this most recent study, the researchers say there is a significant lack of mammography in women under the age of 50...

Programmed cell death activates latent herpesviruses

Date: Sep-09-2013
Researchers have found that apoptosis, a natural process of programmed cell death, can reactivate latent herpesviruses in the dying cell. The results of their research, which could have broad clinical significance since many cancer chemotherapies cause apoptosis, was published ahead of print in the Journal of Virology. Human herpesviruses (HHV) are linked to a range of childhood and adult diseases, including chickenpox, mononucleosis, cold sores, and genital sores, and are of a particular concern for patients who are immunosuppressed due cancer or AIDS...

Peering into genetic defects, CU scientists discover a new metabolic disease called cobalimin X, or cblX

Date: Sep-09-2013
An international team of scientists, including University of Colorado School of Medicine and Children's Hospital Colorado researchers, has discovered a new disease related to an inability to process Vitamin B12. The disorder is rare but can be devastating. "Some people with rare inherited conditions cannot process vitamin B 12 properly," says CU researcher Tamim Shaikh, PhD, a geneticist and senior author of a paper about the new disease. "These individuals can end up having serious health problems, including developmental delay, epilepsy, anemia, stroke, psychosis and dementia...

TB and Parkinson's disease linked by unique protein

Date: Sep-09-2013
A protein at the center of Parkinson's disease research now also has been found to play a key role in causing the destruction of bacteria that cause tuberculosis, according to scientists led by UC San Francisco microbiologist and tuberculosis expert Jeffery Cox, PhD. The protein, named Parkin, already is the focus of intense investigation in Parkinson's disease, in which its malfunction is associated with a loss of nerve cells. Cox and colleagues now report that Parkin also acts on tuberculosis, triggering destruction of the bacteria by immune cells known as macrophages...

LSUHSC researchers develop new system to better study behavior, cell function of fruit flies

Date: Sep-09-2013
A team of researchers led by Charles D. Nichols, PhD, Associate Professor of Pharmacology at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans, has successfully translated a new technology to better study behaviors and cellular function to fruit flies. This powerful genetic tool - Designer Receptors Exclusively Activated by Designer Drugs - allows scientists to selectively, rapidly, reversibly, and dose-dependently remotely control behaviors and physiological processes in the fly...

Molecular beacons light path to cardiac muscle repair

Date: Sep-09-2013
Pure cardiac muscle cells, ready to transplant into a patient affected by heart disease. That's a goal for many cardiology researchers working with stem cells. Having a pure population of cardiac muscle cells is essential for avoiding tumor formation after transplantation, but has been technically challenging. Researchers at Emory and Georgia Tech have developed a method for purifying cardiac muscle cells from stem cell cultures using molecular beacons. Molecular beacons are tiny "instruments" that become fluorescent only when they find cells that have turned on certain genes...

UCLA researchers describe new form of irritable bowel syndrome

Date: Sep-09-2013
UCLA researchers have described a new form of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) that occurs after an acute bout of diverticulitis, a finding that may help lead to better management of symptoms and relief for patients. The discovery of this new condition, called Post-Diverticulitis Irritable Bowel Syndrome (PDV-IBS), validates the irritable bowel symptoms that many patients report long after suffering a bout of diverticulitis, but that many physicians wave off as being part of the original condition, said study senior author Dr...

Megabladder mouse model may help predict severity of pediatric kidney damage

Date: Sep-09-2013
A new study of the megabladder mouse model suggests that tracking changes in the expression of key genes involved in kidney disease could help physicians predict the severity of urinary tract obstruction in pediatric patients, which could help identify children at the greatest risk of chronic kidney disease and permanent organ damage. The work was led by a team that includes Brian Becknell, MD, PhD, a clinician and assistant professor in the Division of Nephrology at Nationwide Children's Hospital...