Health News

Children Who Are More Apt To Experience Pain Or Distress Benefit From Listening To Music

Date: Jul-18-2013
Newly published findings by medical researchers at the University of Alberta provide more evidence that music decreases children's perceived sense of pain. Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry researcher Lisa Hartling led the research team that involved her colleagues from the Department of Pediatrics, as well as fellow researchers from the University of Manitoba and the United States. Their findings were published in the peer-reviewed journal JAMA Pediatrics...

Do sad songs make us feel better or worse?

Date: Jul-18-2013
Sir Elton John once sang that "Sad songs say so much." But do they make us sad? Researchers at Tokyo University of the Arts and the RIKEN Brain Science Institute in Japan set out to answer this question in a recent study published online. They posed the question, "why do we listen to sad music if it evokes sadness?" The results show that, contrary to popular belief, listening to sad music actually makes us "feel more romantic, more blithe, and less tragic emotions...

Study Visualizes MRNA Transport In Test Tube

Date: Jul-18-2013
Much of biomedical science - both mystifying and awe-inspiring to the lay public - depends on an unwavering focus on things that can't be easily seen, like the inner-workings of cells, in order to determine how and why disease develops. New research authored by Thomas Sladewski, a University of Vermont graduate student working in the laboratory of Kathleen Trybus, Ph.D...

Antiepileptic Drug Use While Pregnant Impacts Early Child Development

Date: Jul-18-2013
Children whose mothers took antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) while pregnant are at increased risk of early development issues, according to a new study published in Epilepsia, a journal published by Wiley on behalf of the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE). Results of the study suggest that children exposed to AEDs in the womb were at risk for difficulties with motor development, language skills, social skills, and autistic traits compared to children whose mothers did not take anti-seizure medications...

Clear evidence that long-term obesity can lead to heart disease

Date: Jul-18-2013
Researchers have tracked thousands of people in the three decades since the mid-1980s to see what effect getting obese might have on their heart risks. They say this is one of the few studies that can give proof of the consequences of long-term obesity. Follow-up of the 3,275 adults - who were not obese at the start of the research in 1985-1986 - found that those who became obese were more likely to have coronary artery calcification (hardening of the arteries supplying the heart), a problem that can lead to a heart attack...

Transforming Free Oxygen Radicals Into Water And Oxygen

Date: Jul-18-2013
Researchers at the University of Basel have successfully developed artificial organelles that are able to support the reduction of toxic oxygen compounds. This opens up new ways in the development of novel drugs that can influence pathological states directly inside the cell. The results have been published in the Journal Nano Letters. Free oxygen radicals are produced either as metabolic byproduct, or through environmental influences such as UV-rays and smog...

Breakthrough radioactive injection extends lives of prostate cancer patients

Date: Jul-18-2013
Researchers have developed a new treatment for advanced prostate cancer that has spread to the bones, which delivers a "high-energy" burst of radiation to cancer cells, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The phase III trial, conducted by researchers at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust and scientists from The Institute of Cancer Research in the UK, studied 921 men suffering from prostate cancer. Prostate cancer is a cancer of the prostate gland found in the male reproductive system. It is more common in men aged over 45...

Missing Brain Enzyme Leads To Abnormal Levels Of Fear In Mice: Findings Have Implications For Autism

Date: Jul-18-2013
A little bit of learned fear is a good thing, keeping us from making risky, stupid decisions or falling over and over again into the same trap. But new research from neuroscientists and molecular biologists at USC shows that a missing brain protein may be the culprit in cases of severe over-worry, where the fear perseveres even when there's nothing of which to be afraid...

One In Six Hospitals Offers Private Services To Boost Income, Finds BMJ Investigation, UK

Date: Jul-17-2013
One in six hospitals in England have introduced new private treatment options this year, as cost pressures tighten restrictions on some NHS services, reveals a BMJ investigation today. This includes a growing number of hospitals offering patients the choice of "self funding" for treatments and services that are subject to restrictions or to long waiting times on the NHS, such as IVF, cataract surgery and hernia repair. In these cases, treatments are offered at cheaper rates than in the private sector...

What is breast pain? What is mastalgia?

Date: Jul-17-2013
Breast pain, also known as mastalgia, mammalgia and mastodynia, is common and may include a dull ache, heaviness, tightness, a burning sensation in the breast tissue, or breast tenderness. If the pain is linked to the menstrual cycle it is known as cyclical mastalgia (cyclical breast pain). According to the Breast Cancer Foundation, breast pain includes any pain, tenderness or discomfort in the breast or underarm region, and can occur for a number of different reasons. In most cases, the Foundation adds, breast pain is not a sign of breast cancer...