Health News

DNA 'cages' may aid drug delivery

Date: Sep-03-2013
Nanoscale "cages" made from strands of DNA can encapsulate small-molecule drugs and release them in response to a specific stimulus, McGill University researchers report in a new study. The research, published online Sept. 1 in Nature Chemistry, marks a step toward the use of biological nanostructures to deliver drugs to diseased cells in patients. The findings could also open up new possibilities for designing DNA-based nanomaterials...

Breakthrough in sensing at the nanoscale

Date: Sep-03-2013
Researchers have made a breakthrough discovery in identifying the world's most sensitive nanoparticle and measuring it from a distance using light. These super-bright, photostable and background-free nanocrystals enable a new approach to highly advanced sensing technologies using optical fibres...

Physical activity decreases sudden cardiac death risk in unfit men

Date: Sep-03-2013
Dr Laukkanen said: "Sudden cardiac death (SCD) accounts for approximately 50% of deaths from coronary heart disease. SCD typically occurs shortly after the onset of symptoms, leaving little time for effective medical interventions, and most cases occur outside hospital with few or no early warning signs. Finding ways to identify individuals at elevated risk of SCD would allow early interventions on risk factors to be implemented." The current study investigated the impact of high leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) combined with cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) on risk of SCD...

Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest survival just 7 percent

Date: Sep-03-2013
Survival for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest is just 7%, according to research presented at ESC Congress 2013 by Professor Xavier Jouven and Dr Wulfran Bougouin from France. Professor Jouven said: "Sudden cardiac death (SCD) is an important public health problem, accounting for more than 400,000 deaths every year. The main cause is ventricular tachyarrhythmias which are often triggered by acute ischaemic events that can occur in persons with or without known heart disease...

Study finds mechanical chest compressions are equally as effective as manual CPR

Date: Sep-03-2013
"The study was designed to show a better 4-hour survival in the group treated with mechanical chest compressions, and this was not achieved," said lead investigator Sten Rubertsson, MD, PhD, professor and specialist consultant at Uppsala University and Uppsala University Hospital. "But we now have the scientific support to allow us to use mechanical chest compressions and defibrillate during ongoing compressions," he said, adding that this could potentially increase the efficiency and safety of emergency personnel as they deliver care during transportation of patients...

A shorter interruption of anti-thrombotics does not influence peri-operative complications

Date: Sep-03-2013
A shortened pre-surgical interruption of anti-thrombotic therapy, compared to the more traditional one-week interruption, has no influence on perioperative complications in cardiac patients, according to the results of the PRAGUE 14 trial. "Thus, there is no evidence to support changing the traditional approach of interrupting antithrombotic therapy one week before surgery," said lead investigator Petr Widimsky, MD., DrSc., from the Cardiocenter of Charles University, in Prague, Czech Republic...

Mosquitoes smell you better at night, study finds

Date: Sep-03-2013
In work published this week in Nature: Scientific Reports, a team of researchers from the University of Notre Dame's Eck Institute for Global Health, led by Associate Professor Giles Duffield and Assistant Professor Zain Syed of the Department of Biological Sciences, revealed that the major malaria vector in Africa, the Anopheles gambiae mosquito, is able to smell major human host odorants better at night. The study reports an integrative approach to examine the mosquito's ability to smell across the 24-hour day and involved proteomic, sensory physiological, and behavioral techniques...

Big belly increases death risk in heart attack survivors

Date: Sep-03-2013
Having a big belly increases the risk of death in heart attack survivors, according to research presented at ESC Congress 2013 by Professor Tabassome Simon and Professor Nicolas Danchin from France. The findings from the FAST-MI 2005 registry suggest that lifestyle interventions in heart attack patients should focus on losing abdominal fat. Professor Simon said: "The impact of obesity on long term mortality and cardiovascular complications in the general population has been the object of recent debate. Much emphasis has also been given to the deleterious role of abdominal obesity...

Singing mice may give clues for human speech disorders

Date: Sep-03-2013
Researchers are in the process of studying singing mice to gain insight into their unique behavior, in the hopes of identifying genes that cause speech disorders in humans. The research team from the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) at The University of Texas in Austin are analyzing the genes of the singing mice (scotinomys teguina), which hail from forests in the mountains of Costa Rica. They produce a string of high-pitched chirps of up to 20 squeaks per second, which sounds similar to a birdsong, in order to communicate with other mice...

Heart disease risk highest in winter

Date: Sep-03-2013
Researchers have discovered that the risk of heart disease is highest during the winter months but lowest in summer, according to a study from the European Society of Cardiology. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the US, causing an average of 193.6 deaths per every 100,000 people, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). As deaths from cardiovascular disease tend to be higher in winter, researchers from Switzerland decided to conduct a large-scale study to determine whether the risk of heart disease has a seasonal pattern...