Health News

In China over 90 percent of dementia cases go undetected

Date: Jul-28-2013
An international team of researchers has found that over 90 percent of dementia cases in China go undetected, with a high level of undiagnosed dementia in rural areas. The team of public health experts led by Dr Ruoling Chen at King's College London argues that more mental health education targeting high-risk populations is now needed to improve diagnosis rates, and increase support for sufferers and their families. Dementia affects 10 million in China and up to 50 million worldwide, of which around 35 million sufferers are undiagnosed...

Shocking bullying culture at Care Quality Commission, UK

Date: Jul-28-2013
A worrying culture of bullying exists at the Care Quality Commission (CQC), the UK health regulator, according to a new report. 92% of the 236 employees at the CQC who were interviewed reported having been subjected to bullying behaviours - they added that bullying and harassment in the workplace was "a problem". The CQC is the official overseer for inspections of dentists, GP practices, care homes, and hospitals. According to People Opportunities Limited, the consultancy that carried out the report, the problem of bullying exist right across the organisation and at all levels...

How Botox works could reveal diabetes secrets

Date: Jul-28-2013
Understanding the proteins that are targeted by the cosmetic drug Botox (onabotulinumtoxinA) could lead to breakthroughs against type 2 diabetes, according to researchers at Heriot-Watt University in Scotland. The researchers are using new microscopic techniques on Soluble NSF Attachment Protein Receptor (SNARE) proteins with an aim of discovering how insulin is regulated and how this can change in the development of type 2 diabetes. Botox targets SNARE proteins, preventing them from helping the muscles contract. But the proteins also exist in the beta-cells of the pancreas...

People likely to safeguard common goods when they trust in leaders, have a sense of belonging

Date: Jul-28-2013
Every day, people donate to charities, volunteer to clean up city parks, or scale back their driving to curb air pollution. But some take these public goods for granted and ride free on the efforts of others. They watch public television but never make a donation to fund it. Or they run their lawn sprinklers during a drought while their neighbors follow government pleas to limit water consumption...

Study Clarifies Surgical Options for Kidney Cancer

Date: Jul-28-2013
Surgery is often the first step in treating kidney cancer, and new data from the University of Rochester Medical Center, which contradicts earlier research, questions whether removal of only the tumor (partial nephrectomy) is better than removing the entire kidney (radical nephrectomy). The decided trend for the past decade has been toward a partial resection in the case of smaller cancers...

The taller the woman, the higher her cancer risk

Date: Jul-28-2013
The ability to reach items on high shelves and easily see through a crowd may no longer have the same appeal for some women. A study recently published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention finds a link between postmenopausal women's height and cancers. According to the study, the taller a woman's stature is, the higher the risk of cancer at a number of different sites, including breast, colon, endometrium, kidney, ovary, rectum and thyroid. Additionally, taller women have a greater risk of developing multiple myeloma and melanoma...

Ventilation in OR may be affected by patient warming systems, with possible impact on infection risk

Date: Jul-28-2013
Forced-air systems used to keep patients warm during surgery may affect the performance of operating room (OR) ventilation systems - potentially increasing exposure to airborne contaminants, reports a study in the August issue of Anesthesia & Analgesia, official journal of the International Anesthesia Research Society (IARS). By comparison, conductive warming systems don't disrupt ventilation airflows over the surgical site, according to the report by Dr Kumar G. Belani of University of Minnesota and colleagues...

Improving drug acceptance and compliance in pediatric populations

Date: Jul-28-2013
Despite major advances in the pharmaceutical treatment of disease, many children reject medicines due to an aversion to bitter taste. As such, bitterness presents a key obstacle to the acceptance and effectiveness of beneficial drugs by children worldwide. A new review, published online ahead of print in Clinical Therapeutics, addresses this critical problem by highlighting recent advances in the scientific understanding of bitter taste, with special attention to the sensory world of children...

The Holy Grail in label-free cancer marker detection: Single molecules

Date: Jul-28-2013
Just months after setting a record for detecting the smallest single virus in solution, researchers at the Polytechnic Institute of New York University (NYU-Poly) have announced a new breakthrough: They used a nano-enhanced version of their patented microcavity biosensor to detect a single cancer marker protein, which is one-sixth the size of the smallest virus, and even smaller molecules below the mass of all known markers. This achievement shatters the previous record, setting a new benchmark for the most sensitive limit of detection, and may significantly advance early disease diagnostics...

Drinking coffee linked to lower suicide risk in adults

Date: Jul-27-2013
Drinking coffee is linked to lower suicide rates, suggests a study published in The World Journal of Biological Psychiatry. Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) reviewed data from three large US studies. This consisted of 43,599 men involved in the Health Professionals Follow-up study (HPFS), 73,820 women in the Nurses' Health Study (NHS) and 91,005 women in the NHS II...