Health News

Living Near Foreclosed Homes Associated With Overweight, Obesity

Date: Jul-18-2013
New research from the American Journal of Public Health reveals that proximity to foreclosed homes has a connection to higher body mass index. Harvard School of Public Health researchers analyzed housing and medical data of 2,078 study participants in Massachusetts from 1987 to 2008. This information was assessed against collected address data on foreclosure deeds, participants' proximity to foreclosure activity and participants' body mass index levels...

Socioeconomic Disparity Persists In Use Of Eye Care Services Among U.S. Adults With Age-Related Eye Diseases

Date: Jul-18-2013
Significant differences in the use of eye care services by socioeconomic position (SEP) persist among U.S. adults with eye diseases, according to a report published by JAMA Ophthalmology, a JAMA Network publication. Advances in the past few decades have made vision loss due to age-related eye diseases, particularly macular degeneration, cataract, diabetic retinopathy, and glaucoma preventable, treatable and in the case of cataracts, even reversible. To benefit from these interventions, however, individuals must have access to eye care, Xinzhi Zhang, M.D., Ph.D...

Informing Diners Of Recommended Calorie Intake Does Not Enhance Use Of Menu Labeling

Date: Jul-18-2013
As many states introduce regulations requiring restaurants to post calorie information on menus, a new study from the American Journal of Public Health finds that also informing consumers of recommended calorie intake does not help consumers use menu labels more effectively. Researchers analyzed the purchase behaviors of 1,121 adult lunchtime consumers at two McDonald's restaurants in New York, N.Y. The study investigated the potential interaction between pre-existing menu labeling and the addition of recommended calorie intake information...

Could compounds from the ocean kill anthrax and MRSA?

Date: Jul-18-2013
He may not be Jacques Cousteau, but William Fenical from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego is exploring the ocean in a whole new way. According to a paper published in Angewandte Chemie, his team recently unearthed a new chemical compound from the sea that may become an effective treatment against the potentially deadly bacteria anthrax and MRSA. The compound comes from a microorganism known as Streptomyces, which the team first collected off the coast of Santa Barbara, CA, in 2012...

"Healthy" smokers may still show early signs of lung cancer

Date: Jul-18-2013
Smokers who have been given a clean bill of health from their doctors after normal examination results may still have early signs of lung cancer, according to a study published in the journal Stem Cells. Researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, compared a group of 21 healthy smokers with 31 smokers who had no detectable form of lung disease after X-rays and standard chest examinations. The researchers sent a bronchoscope and a fine brush into the lungs of both groups to collect cells from the airway linings...

The benefit of chewing your food more

Date: Jul-18-2013
Chewing your food more can help you to retain energy levels, according to a study presented at the 2013 Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) Annual Meeting and Food Expo in Chicago. In the study, carried out by a research team at Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, participants were required to chew almonds, while the amount of fecal fat and energy lost was measured. The participants chewed the almonds either 10 times, 25 times or 40 times...

New smart knife for tumor operations "sniffs" out cancer

Date: Jul-18-2013
When surgeons remove tumor tissue they try to leave a "margin" of healthy tissue to ensure all the cancer is removed. Sometimes this means the patient has to remain under general anaesthetic for another 30 minutes or so while tissue samples are sent for analysis to check if the margin is clear. Even then, it is still possible that some cancerous tissue remains, and the patient has to undergo further surgery to remove it...

Lab work raises potential for gene therapy breakthrough in Down syndrome

Date: Jul-18-2013
A first step toward chromosome treatment for Down sydrome, also known as trisomy 21, was revealed this week when a Nature study published online Wednesday described how a US team used a naturally occurring genetic technique to silence the extra chromosome responsible for the genetic disorder. Down syndrome occurs when instead of having 23 pairs of chromosomes, including a pair of sex chromosomes, the affected individual has three copies of chromosome 21...

Differences In Brain Circuitry Make It More Difficult For Impulsive Persons To Control Their Craving For Cigarettes

Date: Jul-18-2013
Impulsiveness plays an important role in addiction to drugs. For example, impulsiveness is strongly associated with smoking, in particular with an early onset of smoking and frequent relapses of smokers who try to quit. Furthermore, impulsiveness is known to promote drug craving, a key feature of addiction and one of the best predictors of relapse...

New Species Of Tritrichomonas Parasite Discovered As Disease Agent In Domestic Cats

Date: Jul-18-2013
University of Florida researchers have identified a new species of Tritrichomonas in domestic cats, distinguishing the parasite that causes the disease in felines from the agent long thought to affect both cats and cattle.  Although the disease is just beginning to be understood and tested for in cats, it costs cattle producers millions of dollars each year in lost revenue, researchers say. "Up to now, there has only been one species, Tritrichomonas foetus, described in the reproductive tract of cattle and the intestine of cats," said Heather Walden, Ph.D...