Health News

Study first to use 'structural' approach in hunt for amyloid-inhibiting agents to treat Alzheimer's disease

Date: Jul-29-2013
UCLA chemists and molecular biologists have for the first time used a "structure-based" approach to drug design to identify compounds with the potential to delay or treat Alzheimer's disease, and possibly Parkinson's, Lou Gehrig's disease and other degenerative disorders. All of these diseases are marked by harmful, elongated, rope-like structures known as amyloid fibrils, linked protein molecules that form in the brains of patients...

Novel mechanism discovered in spinal cord injury

Date: Jul-29-2013
More than 11,000 Americans suffer spinal cord injuries each year, and since over a quarter of those injuries are due to falls, the number is likely to rise as the population ages. The reason so many of those injuries are permanently disabling is that the human body lacks the capacity to regenerate nerve fibers. The best our bodies can do is route the surviving tissue around the injury site. "It's like a detour after an earthquake," says Kuo-Fen Lee, the Salk Institute's Helen McLoraine Chair in Molecular Neurobiology...

Study shows reduction in symptom burden in patients with varicose veins caused by saphenofemoral junction incompetence with PEM treatment

Date: Jul-29-2013
BTG, the specialist healthcare company, have announced the online publication of VANISH-2, a study in which patients with symptomatic and visible varicose veins caused by saphenofemoral junction (SFJ) incompetence were treated with polidocanol endovenous microfoam (PEM). VANISH-2, the first of two US pivotal Phase III trials of PEM, was published online in the journal Phlebology (PHL) on July 17, 2013. The first author, Dr. Kenneth Todd, MD, an American College of Phlebology Committee Member from the Southeast Vein and Laser Center, was a Principal Investigator for VANISH-2...

From gold, a new way to control blood clotting

Date: Jul-29-2013
Using gold nanoparticles, MIT researchers have devised a new way to turn blood clotting on and off. The particles, which are controlled by infrared laser light, could help doctors control blood clotting in patients undergoing surgery, or promote wound healing. Currently, the only way doctors can manage blood clotting is by administering blood thinners such as heparin. This reduces clotting, but there is no way to counteract the effects of heparin and other blood thinners. "It's like you have a light bulb, and you can turn it on with the switch just fine, but you can't turn it off...

System developed that uses a big data approach to personalized healthcare

Date: Jul-29-2013
University of Notre Dame researchers have developed a computer-aided method that uses electronic medical records to offer the promise of rapid advances toward personalized health care, disease management and wellness. Notre Dame computer science professor Nitesh V. Chawla and his doctoral student, Darcy A. Davis, developed the system called Collaborative Assessment and Recommendation Engine (CARE) for personalized disease risk predictions and wellbeing...

Researcher digs into the contested peanut-allergy epidemic

Date: Jul-29-2013
The path of the peanut from a snack staple to the object of bans at schools, day care centers and beyond offers important insights into how and why a rare, life-threatening food allergy can prompt far-reaching societal change, according to a Princeton University researcher. Before 1980, peanut allergies were rarely mentioned in medical literature or the media, said Miranda Waggoner, a postdoctoral researcher at the Office of Population Research in the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs...

Blocking a master switch controlling cells' response to low levels of oxygen could lead to new cancer drugs

Date: Jul-29-2013
Scientists have discovered a new molecule that prevents cancer cells from responding and surviving when starved of oxygen and which could be developed into new treatments for the disease, according to new research published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. Cancer Research UK scientists at the University of Southampton found that this molecule targets the master switch -- HIF-1 -- that cancer cells use to adapt to low oxygen levels, a common feature in the disease...

Variant of GCaMPs speeds up charting of the brain

Date: Jul-29-2013
Princeton University researchers have created "souped up" versions of the calcium-sensitive proteins that for the past decade or so have given scientists an unparalleled view and understanding of brain-cell communication. Reported recently in the journal Nature Communications, the enhanced proteins developed at Princeton respond more quickly to changes in neuron activity, and can be customized to react to different, faster rates of neuron activity. Together, these characteristics would give scientists a more precise and comprehensive view of neuron activity...

Medical devices lead to higher than expected numbers of pediatric pressure ulcers

Date: Jul-29-2013
A new study has uncovered a problem in pediatrics thought to be a major issue only in adult medicine: pressure ulcers. Researchers from Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center report a higher number than expected of pressure ulcers in children, and they cite an unexpected cause: medical devices...

Outdoor activities linked to improved mental health of veterans

Date: Jul-29-2013
Veterans participating in extended outdoor group recreation show signs of improved mental health, suggesting a link between the activities and long-term psychological well-being, according to results of a new University of Michigan study. Veterans were surveyed before and after a multi-day wilderness recreation experience, which involved camping and hiking in groups of between six and 12 participants. More than half of participants reported that they frequently experienced physical or mental health problems in everyday life...