Health News

Anxious zebrafish help researchers understand how alcohol affects fear

Date: Aug-02-2013
The latest in a series of experiments testing the ability of robots to influence live animals shows that bio-inspired robots can not only elicit fear in zebrafish, but that this reaction can be modulated by alcohol. These findings may pave the way for new methodologies for understanding anxiety and other emotions, as well as substances that alter them...

Longer life-expectancy found in male Holocaust survivors

Date: Aug-02-2013
Compared with those who did not have to endure it, men who survived the Holocaust have a longer life expectancy, according to researchers from the University of Haifa in Israel and Leiden University in the Netherlands. The study, recently published in PLOS ONE, is the first of its kind to analyze the entire Jewish Polish population that fled to Israel before and after World War II. Researchers from both universities worked together to study data from the National Insurance Institute of Israel on 55,220 Polish immigrants...

Bigger the lung, better the transplant success

Date: Aug-02-2013
Scientists have discovered the transplantation of bigger lungs is associated with higher survival rates in transplant patients, according to a study published in The Annals of Thoracic Surgery. The research - from Johns Hopkins Medicine alongside other medical centers in the US - could improve the options available to people waiting for transplant operations. It reveals that although there has been concern in the past about matching the size of donor lungs to the size of the recipient, oversized donor lungs may be best...

Fetal "programming" of sweet taste's elicited pleasure

Date: Aug-02-2013
Research to be presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior (SSIB), the foremost society for research into all aspects of eating and drinking behavior, suggests that feeding behavior and preferences may be shaped very early during development, even during fetal life. Newborns of different species react to the sweet taste demonstrating facial expressions of pleasure, such as licking (tongue protusions) and thumb sucking. These "hedonic" responses are related to brain activity in regions that respond to pleasure and reward...

Scientists emphasize urgent need for improved disease surveillance and control in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Date: Aug-01-2013
Following the most deadly conflict since World War II, and nearly two decades of population displacement, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) now may represent one of the world's highest burdens of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). A lack of surveillance activities and epidemiologic data is a key factor in delaying progress in disease control and elimination programs, scientists report in an editorial publishing Thursday, August 1 in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases...

High pain sensitivity and low pain tolerance appear to be associated with symptoms of dry eye disease

Date: Aug-01-2013
High pain sensitivity and low pain tolerance appear to be associated with symptoms of dry eye disease (DED), adding to previous associations of the severity of tear insufficiency, cell damage, and psychological factors, according to a study by Jelle Vehof, Ph.D., of University Medical Center Groningen, the Netherlands, and colleagues.  A total of 1,635 female twin volunteers, ages 20 to 83 years from the TwinsUK adult registry, participated in the population-based cross-sectional study, and 438 (27 percent) were categorized as having DED...

Study suggests average of 3 years of apparent age saved after facial plastic surgery, no consistent improvement in attractiveness

Date: Aug-01-2013
A study suggests that after aesthetic facial plastic surgery the average number of apparent"years saved" (true age minus guessed age) was 3.1 years but there was only an insignificant increase in attractiveness scores, according to a report published by JAMA Facial Plastic Surgery, a JAMA Network publication.  Patients seek out aesthetic facial surgery to look younger and more attractive but there is minimal literature about the effect of the surgery on perceived age and attractiveness, according to the study background.  A. Joshua Zimm, M.D...

New target for the fight against cancer and diseases as a result of excessive blood vessel formation

Date: Aug-01-2013
New blood vessel formation (angiogenesis) stimulates the growth of cancer and other diseases. Anti-angiogenic inhibitors slow down cancer growth by disrupting the blood supply to the tumor. To date, the success of these treatments is limited by resistance, poor efficiency and harmful side effects. In the leading scientific journal Cell, Peter Carmeliet (VIB-KU Leuven) and his team reported that sugar metabolism (a process that we call glycolysis) also plays an essential role in the formation of new blood vessels...

Boning up: McMaster researchers find home of best stem cells for bone marrow transplants

Date: Aug-01-2013
McMaster University researchers have revealed the location of human blood stem cells that may improve bone marrow transplants. The best stem cells are at the ends of the bone.  It is hoped this discovery will lead to lowering the amount of bone marrow needed for a donation while increasing regeneration and lessening rejection in the recipient patients, says principal investigator Mick Bhatia, professor and scientific director of the McMaster Stem Cell and Cancer Research Institute...

Breastfeeding on the increase in the US

Date: Aug-01-2013
The number of mothers in the US choosing to breastfeed their babies is on the rise, according to recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The CDC data reveals that within a 10-year period between 2000 and 2010, babies who were first breastfed rose 6%, from 71% in 2000 to 77% in 2010. The percentage of babies breastfed at 6 months increased 14%, from 35% in 2000 to 49% in 2010, while the percentage of babies breastfed at 12 months increased 11% during the same period, from 16% in 2000 to 27% in 2010...