Health News

Motor outcomes of patients with a complete middle cerebral artery territory infarct

Date: Aug-12-2013
The middle cerebral artery territory comprises the corticospinal tract, which is responsible for fine motor activity of the hands, and the corticoreticulospinal tract, which is involved in postural control and locomotor function, and therefore, motor weakness is one of the most disabling sequelae of a middle cerebral artery infarct. However, little is known about motor outcomes in patients with a complete middle cerebral artery territory infarct. Prof...

L-3-n-butylphthalide protects against cognitive dysfunction in vascular dementia

Date: Aug-12-2013
3-N-butylphthalide, a green botanical medicine, is a successfully synthesized and stable chemical drug used for the treatment of ischemic stroke that has independent intellectual property rights in China. The first L-isomer, originally extracted from celery seed, was artificially synthesized from racemic acid, also known as butylphthalide. L-3-n-butylphthalide has been shown to reduce β-amylase-induced neuronal apoptosis and improve cognitive function in Alzheimer's disease animal models...

Rapid HIV test approved by FDA

Date: Aug-12-2013
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a pioneering rapid HIV test that can simultaneously detect HIV-1 p24 antigen as well as antibodies to both HIV Type 1 and Type 2. As well as providing faster diagnosis of HIV infection, the new test is also relatively simple to administer in remote 'outreach' settings. These two advantages have huge implications for combating AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa and other underdeveloped areas of the world. The Alere Determine HIV-1/2 Ag/Ab Combo test is manufactured by Alere's Israel-based Orgenics subsidiary...

Depression less likely when there is a strong grandparent-adult grandchild relationship

Date: Aug-12-2013
A new study shows that grandparents and grandchildren have real, measurable effects on each other's psychological well-being long into grandchildren's adulthood. "We found that an emotionally close grandparent-adult grandchild relationship was associated with fewer symptoms of depression for both generations," said Sara M. Moorman, an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology and the Institute on Aging at Boston College, who will present the study at the 108th Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association...

Disproportionate attention from parents leads to better-performing elementary students

Date: Aug-12-2013
An Indiana University study found that higher-performing elementary school students received a disproportionate number of resources from their parents, compared to their lower-performing peers. Lower-performing students received resources geared toward improving their academic performance, said study author Natasha Yurk, a doctoral student in the Department of Sociology at IU Bloomington's College of Arts and Sciences. Higher-performing students received greater and more diverse resources, such as shared meals or enrollment in extracurricular activities...

Treating brain clots with robot-controlled steerable needles

Date: Aug-12-2013
Surgery to relieve the damaging pressure caused by hemorrhaging in the brain is a perfect job for a robot. That is the basic premise of a new image-guided surgical system under development at Vanderbilt University. It employs steerable needles about the size of those used for biopsies to penetrate the brain with minimal damage and suction away the blood clot that has formed. The system is described in an article accepted for publication in the journal IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering...

Literature-based social intervention used by parents to help children struggling with social issues

Date: Aug-12-2013
A new study out of the University of Cincinnati not only finds that parents feel responsible for taking action when their children struggle with social issues, but also that parents are influenced by their own childhood memories when it comes to dealing with their kids problems. Jennifer Davis Bowman, a recent graduate of the special education doctoral program at the University of Cincinnati, will present her research at the 108th Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association...

Should expensive clinical testing continue when there is early, obvious benefit of a targeted cancer drug?

Date: Aug-12-2013
Generally, FDA-approved clinical trials progress through three phases: the first shows safety, the second starts to explore effects and the third seeks to prove a drug's superiority over existing treatments. But when a drug's benefit is obvious in the first or second phase, is the third, costly phase needed? The question is posed in a recent edition of the journal Nature Reviews: Clinical Oncology by Robert C. Doebele, MD, PhD, investigator at the University of Colorado Cancer Center and assistant professor of medical oncology at the CU School of Medicine...

Evangelicals and Structured Ambivalence towards Gays and Lesbians

Date: Aug-12-2013
Tolerance toward gays and lesbians is growing within the evangelical community - long a stronghold against homosexuality - with many expressing ambivalent views about the issue, according to a Baylor University study. The emerging voice of the so-called "Messy Middle" - evangelicals who oppose homosexuality on moral grounds but support equal rights such as civil unions for gays - has strong implications for the gay marriage debate, say Baylor researchers, who will present their paper at the 108th Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association...

Human epigenomic map extended

Date: Aug-12-2013
Ten years ago, scientists announced the end of the Human Genome Project, the international attempt to learn which combination of four nucleotides - adenine, thymine, cytosine, and guanine - is unique to homo sapien DNA. This biological alphabet helped researchers identify the approximately 25,000 genes coded in the human genome, but as time went on, questions arose about how all of these genes are controlled...