Health News

Pregnancy infections: risk of transmission to baby

Date: Aug-21-2013
Researchers have discovered that mothers who have a bacterial infection or colonization during pregnancy may transmit the infection to their babies, causing early-onset neonatal infection. The study, published in the journal PLOS Medicine, analyzed various medical literature databases for studies conducted between January 1960 and March 2013, in order to identify studies of maternal infection, vertical transmission and neonatal infection...

Glioblastoma survival improved following FDA approval of bevacizumab

Date: Aug-21-2013
A new population-based study has found that patients with glioblastoma who died in 2010, after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of bevacizumab, had lived significantly longer than patients who died of the disease in 2008, prior to the conditional approval of the drug for the treatment of the deadly brain cancer. Bevacizumab is used to treat patients with certain cancers whose cancer has spread. The study appears in the journal Cancer...

Time-release coating allows drug for macular degeneration to last longer

Date: Aug-21-2013
Johns Hopkins biomedical engineers have teamed up with clinicians to create a new drug-delivery strategy for a type of central vision loss caused by blood vessel growth at the back of the eye, where such growth should not occur. In addition to testing a new drug that effectively stops such runaway vessel growth in mice, the team gave the drug a biodegradable coating to keep it in the eye longer. If proven effective in humans, the engineers say, it could mean only two or three needle sticks to the eye per year instead of the monthly injections that are the current standard of care...

Study documents brain activation during concussion recovery

Date: Aug-21-2013
For the first time, researchers have documented irregular brain activity within the first 24 hours of a concussive injury, as well as an increased level of brain activity weeks later - suggesting that the brain may compensate for the injury during the recovery time. The findings are published in the September issue of the Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society. Thomas Hammeke, PhD, professor of psychiatry and behavioral medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin, is the lead author. Collaborators at the Cleveland Clinic; St. Mary's Hospital in Enid, Okl...

Flame retardants shown to mimic estrogens in NIH study

Date: Aug-21-2013
By determining the three-dimensional structure of proteins at the atomic level, researchers at the National Institutes of Health have discovered how some commonly used flame retardants, called brominated flame retardants (BFRs), can mimic estrogen hormones and possibly disrupt the body's endocrine system. BFRs are chemicals added or applied to materials to slow or prevent the start or growth of fire. "We're beginning to have a better understanding of flame retardants and their effect on human health...

Psychedelics not found to cause addiction or compulsive use

Date: Aug-21-2013
The use of LSD, magic mushrooms, or peyote does not increase a person's risk of developing mental health problems, according to an analysis of information from more than 130,000 randomly chosen people, including 22,000 people who had used psychedelics at least once. Researcher Teri Krebs and clinical psychologist Pal-Orjan Johansen, from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology's (NTNU) Department of Neuroscience, used data from a US national health survey to see what association there was, if any, between psychedelic drug use and mental health problems...

Adults still suffer the effects of childhoold bullying

Date: Aug-21-2013
A new study shows that serious illness, struggling to hold down a regular job, and poor social relationships are just some of the adverse outcomes in adulthood faced by those exposed to bullying in childhood. It has long been acknowledged that bullying at a young age presents a problem for schools, parents and public policy makers alike. Although children spend more time with their peers than their parents, there is relatively little published research on understanding the impact of these interactions on their lives beyond school...

The study of deadly human prion diseases improved by new models

Date: Aug-21-2013
By directly manipulating a portion of the prion protein-coding gene, Whitehead Institute researchers have created mouse models of two neurodegenerative diseases that are fatal in humans. The highly accurate reproduction of disease pathology seen with these models should advance the study of these unusual but deadly diseases...

Access to kidney transplants hampered by unemployment; Full-time workers more likely to get transplants

Date: Aug-21-2013
People in end-stage kidney failure in need of a kidney transplant are much less likely to be placed on a waiting list for a new kidney or to actually receive a new kidney once on the list if they are unemployed or work part time, according to new collaborative research from the University of New Hampshire. "There is a strong negative association between a patient's unemployment and the likelihood of being placed on a waiting list for a kidney transplant, and once on the waiting list, the likelihood of receiving a transplant," says Robert Woodward, the Forrest D...

Two forms of iron must be targeted to control cystic fibrosis lung infection

Date: Aug-21-2013
The bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa needs iron to establish and maintain a biofilm in the lungs of cystic fibrosis patients, and therapies have been proposed to deprive the bacteria of this necessary element. However, these techniques may not work, according to a new study published in mBio®, the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology, because they only target one of the two types of iron that are available in the lung...