Health News

Breath analysis reliably indicates presence, level of infection, UCI study finds

Date: Aug-02-2013
Breath analysis may prove to be an accurate, noninvasive way to quickly determine the severity of bacterial and other infections, according to a UC Irvine study appearing online in the open-access journal PLOS ONE. Employing a chemical analysis method developed for air pollution testing, UC Irvine microbiologists and chemists were able to correlate inflammation levels in laboratory mice to the amount of naturally produced carbon monoxide and other gases in breath samples...

UCLA and Chinese scientists analyze genetic makeup of human and mouse embryos in amazing detail

Date: Aug-02-2013
UCLA scientists, in collaboration with teams in China, have used the powerful technology of single-cell RNA sequencing to track the genetic development of a human and a mouse embryo at an unprecedented level of accuracy. The technique could lead to earlier and more accurate diagnoses of genetic diseases, even when the embryo consists of only eight cells. The study was led by Guoping Fan, professor of human genetics and molecular biology and member of both the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research...

A full-time laborist model can decrease the rate of cesarean delivery, new research from the high risk pregnancy center reveals

Date: Aug-02-2013
Brian Iriye, MD, and his colleagues at the High Risk Pregnancy Center, in conjunction with Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center, issued results today of the first study on the effects on patient experience and outcome when hospitals adopt laborist programs. Their research is published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. "This first published study is important for women's health, as it shows that having dedicated full-time laborists - hospital based obstetricians dedicated only to labor care - is associated with a large reduction in cesarean delivery rates," said Dr. Iriye...

Study offers promising new direction for organ regeneration and tissue repair

Date: Aug-02-2013
Because most human tissues do not regenerate spontaneously, advances in tissue repair and organ regeneration could benefit many patients with a wide variety of medical conditions. Now a research team led by investigators at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and Dana-Farber/Boston Children's Cancer and Blood Disorders Center has identified an entirely new approach to enhance normal tissue growth, a finding that could have widespread therapeutic applications. Their findings were published on-line in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)...

Physicists discover theoretical possibility of large, hollow magnetic cage molecules - potential for targeted non-invasive drug delivery

Date: Aug-02-2013
Virginia Commonwealth University researchers have discovered, in theory, the possibility of creating large, hollow magnetic cage molecules that could one day be used in medicine as a drug delivery system to non-invasively treat tumors, and in other emerging technologies. Approximately 25 years ago, scientists first made the discovery of C60 fullerene - better known as the Buckminster Fullerene - a molecule composed of 60 carbon molecules that formed a hollow cage...

ATS publishes clinical practice guideline on the classification, evaluation, and management of childhood interstitial lung disease in infancy

Date: Aug-02-2013
The American Thoracic Society has released new clinical practice guidelines on the classification, evaluation and management of childhood interstitial lung disease (chILD) in infants. Childhood ILD includes a diverse group of rare lung diseases found in infants, children and teens that involve the interstitial tissues of the lung, which surround the air sacs (alveoli) in the lung and airways (breathing tubes). It is not known how many children have these disorders. Some types of chILD are caused by other diseases, while the cause is unclear in others, and prognosis varies by disease type...

Personality and social psychology highlights from the 2013 APA Convention

Date: Aug-02-2013
From how secrets influence our emails to personality traits that increase the risk of obesity - a guide to some talks with new research in personality and social psychology at the APA Convention in Honolulu, July 31 - August 4, 2013 ... Linguistic Fingerprints of Secrets[1] Keeping a secret not only burdens someone with the guilt of withholding information but also changes the way the person interacts with others, according to new research. In two studies, researchers looked at linguistic changes in the emails of people harboring secrets...

New therapy improves life span in melanoma patients with brain metastases, SLU researchers find

Date: Aug-02-2013
In a retrospective study, Saint Louis University researchers have found that patients with melanoma brain metastases can be treated with large doses of interleukin-2 (HD IL-2), a therapy that triggers the body's own immune system to destroy the cancer cells. The study that was recently published in Chemotherapy Research and Practice, reviews cases of eight patients who underwent this therapy at Saint Louis University. John Richart, M.D...

Virginia Tech researcher uses micro-fabricated blood vessels to study tumor growth and anti-angiogenic cancer therapy

Date: Aug-02-2013
Researchers have established a 3-D microfluidic system to study a biological process known as endothelial sprouting. This process represents an early step in new blood vessel growth called angiogenesis. Breakthroughs in an integrated understanding of angiogenesis will benefit researchers in broad biomedical fields, including cancer, vascular science, and tissue engineering. The reason for this interest in the cancer field is that tumors must access the host blood supply to obtain nutrients essential for growth...

Experts say the approval of Truvada for HIV prevention raises new ethical issues that must be addressed

Date: Aug-02-2013
The Food and Drug Administration's approval last year of the drug Truvada for prevention of HIV infection was a milestone in the fight against HIV/AIDS, but experts are cautioning that it is only the beginning of new ethical concerns for health care professionals, policy makers, researchers and those taking Truvada to prevent HIV infection...