Health News
Date: Jul-29-2013
While ovary removal during hysterectomy protects against future risk of ovarian cancer, the decision to conserve the ovaries and the hormones they produce may have advantages for preventing heart disease, hip fracture, sexual dysfunction, and cognitive decline. Other than a woman's cancer risk, the most important factor that should determine ovarian conservation vs. removal is her age - whether she is older or younger than 50 - according to a Review article published in Journal of Women's Health, a peer-reviewed publication from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers...
Date: Jul-29-2013
A new report by researchers at the University of Toronto shows that almost four million Canadians are struggling to put the food they need on the table because of food insecurity. The report, which examined the state of food insecurity in Canada, states that 3.9 million Canadians struggled to afford enough food in 2011, an increase of close to half a million compared with 2008. Of those that went hungry in 2011, 1.1 million were children. Food insecurity is the inadequate or insecure access to nutritious, healthy food because of financial constraints...
Date: Jul-29-2013
Bipolar disorder evolves differently in patients who also binge eat, a study by Mayo Clinic, the Lindner Center of HOPE and the University of Minnesota found. Binge eating and obesity often are present among bipolar patients, but the mood disorder appears to take a different path in those who binge eat than it does in obese bipolar patients who do not, the researchers discovered. The findings are published online in the Journal of Affective Disorders...
Date: Jul-29-2013
Malignant mesothelioma is a rare asbestos-associated malignancy with limited therapeutic options. Despite advances in the treatment, the median survival remains 12 months from the time of diagnosis. Increased understanding of the molecular basis for the diverse signaling pathways involved in cancer progression should promote the discovery of novel biomarkers for early diagnosis and potentially lead to more effective therapeutic tools for the disease...
Date: Jul-29-2013
For decades, doctors have understood that microbes in the human gut can influence how certain drugs work in the body - by either activating or inactivating specific compounds - but questions have remained about exactly how the process works. Harvard scientists are now beginning to provide those answers...
Date: Jul-29-2013
Researchers studying a type of cell found in the trillions in our brain have made an important discovery as to how it responds to brain injury and disease such as stroke. A University of Bristol team has identified proteins which trigger the processes that underlie how astrocyte cells respond to neurological trauma. The star-shaped astrocytes, which outnumber neurons in humans, are a type of glial cell that comprise one of two main categories of cell found in the brain along with neurons...
Date: Jul-29-2013
Silk has walked straight off the runway and into the lab. According to a new study published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, silk implants placed in the brain of laboratory animals and designed to release a specific chemical, adenosine, may help stop the progression of epilepsy. The research was supported by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) and the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), which are part of the National Institutes of Health...
Date: Jul-29-2013
Scientists at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre have discovered a function of the tumor suppressor gene PTEN that helps explain why certain promising therapies fail in many cancer patients, a finding that could aid in delivering tailored, personalized cancer medicine based on an individual's genetics. The research, published online in Science, "increases understanding of the molecular mechanisms of action of PTEN, which is known to be defective in as many as half of all advanced cancers" says principal investigator Vuk Stambolic, Senior Scientist at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre...
Date: Jul-29-2013
Both the frequency and duration of patient-doctor contact during dialysis care vary appreciably across countries, and facilities with more frequent and longer contact had fewer patient deaths and hospitalizations, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN). The findings indicate that the physician's role in the multidisciplinary team of healthcare professionals in dialysis facilities is important for improving the health of dialysis patients...
Date: Jul-29-2013
Epilepsy is characterized by recurrent seizures that present in many different ways. In some cases epileptic patients exhibit a progressive increase in both frequency and severity of seizures. Epigenetic changes such as DNA methylation have recently been implied as an underlying cause of several neurologic disorders, including epilepsy. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Detlev Boison and colleagues at Legacy Research show an increase of DNA methylation in the hippocampi of epileptic animals...