Health News

What made Typhoid Mary's infectious microbes tick?

Date: Aug-16-2013
Stanford University School of Medicine scientists have shown how salmonella - a bacterial menace responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths each year from typhoid fever and food poisoning - manages to hide out in immune cells, altering their metabolism to its own benefit, much as someone might remodel a newly rented home to suit his own comfort. Salmonella's ability to position itself inside infected people's cells for the long haul can turn them into chronic, asymptomatic carriers who, unknown to themselves or others, spread the infectious organism far and wide...

Could Facebook be making you miserable?

Date: Aug-16-2013
For many of us, checking our Facebook activity has become a daily routine. Over 133 million people in the US alone are estimated to be subscribed to the social media site. But although it has become a large part of our lives, researchers have discovered that it actually makes us miserable. A study, published in the journal PLOS ONE, analyzed 82 young Facebook users who used the site frequently - 53 females and 29 males...

Big breakfast diet could 'boost fertility for PCOS women'

Date: Aug-16-2013
Researchers from the University of Tel Aviv say that women with polycystic ovarian syndrome who control insulin levels - by increasing calories at breakfast and decreasing them at dinner - can improve their fertility. The research was led by Prof. Daniela Jakubowicz, who notes that most women with PCOS are typically "insulin resistant," meaning that their bodies produce too much insulin, which eventually goes to the ovaries and prompts the production of testosterone, decreasing fertility...

Treating post-stroke depression with Xingnao Jieyu capsules or fluoxetine

Date: Aug-16-2013
The occurrence of post-stroke depression results from the effects of biological, psychological, and social factors, likely involving neurotransmitters, neuroendocrine effects, nerve anatomy, neurotrophic factors, neural regeneration, inflammatory reactions, and social psyche factors. Synaptotagmin promotes neurotransmitter release, regulates the transfer of synaptic vesicle to synaptic active zones, and is a key factor in information transfer among neurons. The Xingnao Jieyu capsule has been shown to effectively relieve neurologic impairments and lessen depression...

Intestinal failure-associated liver disease reversed in 6 months by fish oil

Date: Aug-16-2013
Children who suffer from intestinal failure, most often caused by a shortened or dysfunctional bowel, are unable to consume food orally. Instead, a nutritional cocktail of sugar, protein and fat made from soybean oil is injected through a small tube in their vein. For these children, the intravenous nutrition serves as a bridge to bowel adaptation, a process by which the intestine recovers and improves its capacity to absorb nutrition...

Rescue workers who participated in relief for the Wenchuan earthquake suffer PTSD

Date: Aug-16-2013
Previous studies have suggested that the incidence of post-traumatic stress disorder in earthquake rescue workers is relatively high. Risk factors for this disorder include demographic characteristics, earthquake-related high-risk factors, risk factors in the rescue process, personality, social support and coping style. A recent study published in the Neural Regeneration Research (Vol. 8, No. 20, 2013) examined the current status of a unit of 1 040 rescue workers who participated in earthquake relief for the Wenchuan earthquake that occurred on May 12th, 2008...

Beer industry's self-regulation ineffective at preventing advertising code violations

Date: Aug-15-2013
In an evaluation of beer advertising code regulations aimed to encourage responsible advertising practices, new research from the American Journal of Public Health finds that content violations still occur and the current U.S. Beer Institute's self-regulation process may be ineffective. Researchers reviewed all alcohol advertisements that aired during the men's and women's NCAA basketball tournament games from 1999 to 2008. Current alcohol advertising is self-regulated by the alcohol industry in which the U.S. Beer Institute develops, updates and enforces the regulation codes...

Contracting sexually transmitted infections in adolescence may increase risk of HIV infection

Date: Aug-15-2013
According to a new study from the American Journal of Public Health, individuals who contract sexually transmitted infections during their teen years have a greater HIV risk into young adulthood. Furthermore, the greater the number of STIs contracted during their teen years, the greater the risk of subsequent HIV. Researchers analyzed a large sample of Philadelphia high school students born between 1985 and 1993 who participated in the Philadelphia High School STD Screening Program...

Obesity's impact on mortality risk increases with age

Date: Aug-15-2013
Researchers reviewed data from the National Health Interview Survey linked to the National Death Index to understand the association between obesity and early adult mortality. The sample included survey respondents between the ages of 40 and 84.9. The study uniquely accounted for not only the age of the respondent, but also the period in which they were observed and the birth cohort that they were a member of. Results indicated that obesity accounts for more U.S. deaths in recent birth cohorts than for earlier ones...

Few survivors of head and neck cancer utilizing mental health services despite depression

Date: Aug-15-2013
Mental health services appear to be underutilized despite depression among survivors of head and neck cancer, according to a study published Online First by JAMA Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery.  The long-term physical effects of radiation therapy (RT) for head and neck cancer have been well described but few studies have examined psychosocial functioning, including depression, among patients, according to the study background.  Allen M. Chen, M.D...