Health News

Digest this: Cure for cancer may live in our intestines

Date: Aug-04-2013
Treating a cancerous tumor is like watering a houseplant with a fire hose - too much water kills the plant, just as too much chemotherapy and radiation kills the patient before it kills the tumor. However, if the gastrointestinal tract remains healthy and functioning, the chances of survival increase exponentially, said Jian-Guo Geng, associate professor at the University of Michigan School of Dentistry. Recently, Geng's lab discovered a biological mechanism that preserves the gastrointestinal tracts in mice who were delivered lethal doses of chemotherapy...

Teen fights destroy IQ

Date: Aug-04-2013
Two physical fights can destroy a teenagers IQ to the equivalent of losing a whole year of school, researchers from Florida State University reported in the Journal of Adolescent Health. For girls, a similar loss of IQ is possible after just one fight. The researchers say the findings of their study are significant, because falls in IQ are linked to lower academic and professional performance, behavioral problems, mental disorders, and decreased lifespans. Joseph A...

Stress after birth linked to comfort food preferences in adulthood

Date: Aug-04-2013
Researchers have found that rats exposed to heightened levels of stress during their first few days of life are more likely to be prone to anxiety and stress in later life, and prefer to consume sugary and high-fat foods. The study was presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior (SSIB). Adult rats that experienced stressful neonatal environments are more likely to feel stressed and seek "comfort" foods throughout adulthood...

What is gluten-free? FDA's new rule

Date: Aug-04-2013
A new regulation defining the term "gluten-free" has been published by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration). The FDA explained that the regulation is aimed at helping in the voluntary labeling of food products. The FDA has been talking about redefining glucose-free labeling for several years. In 2011, the Agency reopened the proposed gluten-free labeling rule, which had been originally published in 2007. Three million Americans are thought to have celiac disease...

Being bullied throughout childhood and teens may lead to more arrests, convictions, prison time

Date: Aug-04-2013
People who were repeatedly bullied throughout childhood and adolescence were significantly more likely to go to prison than individuals who did not suffer repeated bullying, according to a new analysis presented at the American Psychological Association's 121st Annual Convention. Almost 14 percent of those who reported being bullied repeatedly from childhood through their teens ended up in prison as adults, compared to 6 percent of non-victims, 9 percent of childhood-only victims, and 7 percent of teen-only victims, the study found...

Common genetic ancestors lived during roughly same time period, Stanford scientists find

Date: Aug-04-2013
Mitochondrial Eve and Y-chromosomal Adam - two individuals who passed down a portion of their genomes to the vast expanse of humanity - are known as our most recent common ancestors, or MRCAs. But many aspects of their existence, including when they lived, are shrouded in mystery. Now, a study led by the Stanford University School of Medicine indicates the two roughly overlapped during evolutionary time: from between 120,000 to 156,000 years ago for the man, and between 99,000 and 148,000 years ago for the woman...

Cleveland Clinic study finds lowest risk treatment for severe carotid and coronary disease

Date: Aug-04-2013
Of the three most common treatment approaches for patients with severe carotid and coronary artery disease, patients who underwent stenting of the carotid artery followed by open heart surgery had the best outcomes, according to a retrospective study from Cleveland Clinic published online in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. The study compared carotid stenting followed by open heart surgery to both staged and combined carotid endarterectomy and open heart surgery...

One in Three U.S. Youths Report Being Victims of Dating Violence

Date: Aug-04-2013
About one in three American youths age 14-20 say they've been of victims of dating violence and almost one in three acknowledge they've committed violence toward a date, according to new research presented at the American Psychological Association's 121st Annual Convention. "Adolescent dating violence is common among young people. It also overlaps between victimization and perpetration and appears across different forms of dating abuse," according to Michele Ybarra, MPH, PhD. She is with the Center for Innovative Public Health Research, based in San Clemente, Calif...

Rituximab therapy effective for ANCA-associated vasculitis

Date: Aug-04-2013
In an article published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Immune Tolerance Network (ITN) researchers demonstrated that a single course of rituximab therapy (anti-CD20; Rituxan, Genentech, Inc.) is as effective as the current standard of care regimen of drugs for remission induction and maintenance in patients with ANCA-associated Vasculitis (AAV). AAV is an autoimmune disease marked by the presence of antibodies that attack neutrophils and cause inflammation of the blood vessels, leading to organ damage and sometimes death...

Internet-based training could help in the fight against antibiotic resistance

Date: Aug-04-2013
Antibiotic prescribing rates for acute respiratory tract infections could be significantly lowered using internet-based training for clinicians, new research has shown. In a study, led by the University of Southampton and published in The Lancet on Wednesday 31 July, an internet-based training programme has shown to reduce antibiotics prescribing rates by as much as 62 per cent...