Health News

Pain significantly reduced, quality of life improved by integrative medicine interventions

Date: Jul-24-2013
An integrative approach to treating chronic pain significantly reduces pain severity while improving mood and quality of life, according to a new study from the Bravewell Practice-Based Research Network (BraveNet) published last month in BioMed Central Complementary and Alternative Medicine journal. Researchers found a reduction in pain severity of more than 20 percent and a drop in pain interference of nearly 30 percent in patients after 24 weeks of integrative care. Significant improvements in mood, stress, quality of life, fatigue, sleep and well-being were also observed...

Stem cell survival after transplantation impacted by melatonin pre-treatment

Date: Jul-24-2013
When melatonin, a hormone secreted by the pineal gland, was used as a pre-treatment for mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) prior to their transplantation into the brains of laboratory animals to repair damage from stroke, researchers in China found that the stem cells survived longer after transplantation. Previous studies had shown that 80 percent of transplanted MSCs died within 72 hours of transplantation. By contrast, the melatonin pre-treatment "greatly increased" cell survival, said the researchers...

Majority of adults in favor of banning smoking when kids are in the car

Date: Jul-24-2013
A new poll shows 82 percent of adults support banning smoking in cars when children under 13 are riding in the vehicle. According to the latest University of Michigan Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health, support is strong for prohibiting drivers and passengers from smoking when kids are in the car. However, only seven states nationwide have laws banning the practice. Also in this month's poll, 87 percent of adults said they'd support a ban on smoking in businesses where children are allowed...

Suicide risk increased by teen eating disorders

Date: Jul-24-2013
Is binge eating a tell-tale sign of suicidal thoughts? According to a new study of African American girls, by Dr. Rashelle Musci and colleagues from the Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University in the US, those who experience depressive and anxious symptoms are often dissatisfied with their bodies and more likely to display binge eating behaviors. These behaviors put them at higher risk for turning their emotions inward, in other words, displaying internalizing symptoms such as suicide. The study is published online in Springer's journal, Prevention Science...

Physician-assisted death laws: Hospice workers struggle on front lines

Date: Jul-24-2013
Laws that allow physician-assisted death in the Pacific Northwest have provisions to protect the rights of patients, doctors and even the state, but don't consider the professionals most often on the front lines of this divisive issue - hospice workers who provide end-of-life care. The existing system, a new analysis concludes, has evolved into a multitude of different and contradictory perspectives among hospice organizations and workers, who historically have opposed physician-assisted death but now are the professionals taking care of most of the people who use it...

Hope for women with hormone resistant breast cancer

Date: Jul-24-2013
A new finding provides fresh hope for the millions worldwide with oestrogen receptor positive breast cancer. Australian scientists have shown that a specific change, which occurs when tumours become resistant to anti-oestrogen therapy, might make the cancers susceptible to treatment with chemotherapy drugs. Seventy percent of breast cancer patients have oestrogen receptor positive cancer, and most patients respond well to anti-oestrogen therapies, for a few years at least. Within 15 years, however, 50% will relapse and eventually die from the disease...

Researchers find evidence that genetic changes play a role in resistance to cholera

Date: Jul-24-2013
Researchers have long understood that genetics can play a role in how susceptible people are to contracting cholera, but a team of Harvard scientists is now uncovering evidence of genetic changes that might also help protect some people from contracting the deadly disease...

Discovery of new target for breast cancer drugs

Date: Jul-24-2013
Scientists have identified higher levels of a receptor protein found on the surface of human breast tumour cells that may serve as a new drug target for the treatment of breast cancer. The results, which are published in EMBO Molecular Medicine, show that elevated levels of the protein Ret, which is short for "Rearranged during transfection", are associated with a lower likelihood of survival for breast cancer patients in the years following surgery to remove tumours and cancerous tissue...

Study examines sustained inattentional blindness in expert observers

Date: Jul-24-2013
If you were working on something at your computer and a gorilla floated across your computer screen, would you notice it? You would like to think yes, however, research shows that people often miss such events when engaged in a difficult task. This is a phenomenon known as inattentional blindness (IB). In a new study from Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) in Boston, researchers have found that even expert searchers, operating in their domain of expertise, are vulnerable to inattentional blindness. This study is published in Psychological Science...

In Pacific Northwest nighttime heat waves quadruple

Date: Jul-24-2013
Nighttime heat waves are becoming more frequent in western Washington and Oregon. And if you don't sleep well in hot weather, this might be a good time to buy a fan, since records show that on average heat waves tend to strike around the last week of July. University of Washington research shows that the region west of the Cascades saw only three nighttime heat waves between 1901 and 1980, but that number quadrupled to 12 nighttime heat waves in the three decades after 1980, according to a paper published in the July issue of the Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology...