Health News

Longer Duration Of Obesity Associated With Subclinical Coronary Heart Disease

Date: Jul-17-2013
In a study of adults recruited and followed up over the past 3 decades in the United States, longer duration of overall and abdominal obesity beginning in young adulthood was associated with higher rates of coronary artery calcification, a subclinical predictor of coronary heart disease, according to a study in the July 17 issue of JAMA.  "Subclinical atherosclerosis, identified by the presence of coronary artery calcification (CAC), progresses over time, and predicts the development of coronary heart disease events," according to background information in the article...

Paeonol For Neurodegenerative Diseases

Date: Jul-17-2013
Microglial cells play an important role in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease. Chronic activation of microglial cells endangers neuronal survival through the release of various proinflammatory and neurotoxic factors, including tumor necrosis factor-alpha, interleukin-1beta, interleukin-6, nitric oxide and reactive oxygen species. According to a study reported in the Neural Regeneration Research (Vol. 8, No...

Neurological Function Recovery After Traumatic Brain Injury Affected By JNK3 Expression

Date: Jul-17-2013
Increasing evidence has revealed that the activation of the JNK pathway participates in apoptosis of nerve cells and neurological function recovery after traumatic brain injury. However, which genes in the JNK family are activated and their role in traumatic brain injury remain unclear. Dr. Jiang Long and colleagues from the First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, China found that JNK3 expression was downregulated at early stages of brain injury, which may be associated with apoptosis of nerve cells...

Use Of Androgen Deprivation Therapy For Treatment Of Prostate Cancer Associ­ated With Increased Risk Of Acute Kidney Injury

Date: Jul-17-2013
In a study that included more than 10,000 men with nonmetastatic prostate cancer, use of androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) was associated with a significantly increased risk of acute kidney injury, with variations observed with certain types of ADTs, according to a study in the July 17 issue of JAMA.  "Androgen deprivation therapy is the mainstay treatment for patients with advanced prostate cancer...

Researchers Distinguish Bacterial From Viral Infections In Children With Fever

Date: Jul-17-2013
In children with fever but no other symptoms of illness, it is difficult to know whether a child has a viral infection that will resolve on its own or a potentially serious bacterial infection that requires antibiotics. Now, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis report that they can distinguish between viral and bacterial infections in children with fever by profiling the activity of genes in a blood sample...

Cold Acclimation Can Increase Adult Brown Fat Levels

Date: Jul-17-2013
Brown adipose tissue or brown fat is abundant in newborns, providing them with body heat, and naturally decreases with age. Recent studies have shown that adults with detectable levels of brown fat have lowered rates of obesity and higher resting metabolic rates. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Anouk van der Lans and colleagues at Maastrricht University and Takeshi Yoneshiro and colleagues at Hokkaido University investigate therapies for increasing brown fat activity in adults...

Neural Origins Of Hot Flashes Identified In Menopausal Women

Date: Jul-17-2013
A new study from neuroscientists at the Wayne State University School of Medicine provides the first novel insights into the neural origins of hot flashes in menopausal women in years. The study may inform and eventually lead to new treatments for those who experience the sudden but temporary episodes of body warmth, flushing and sweating. The paper, "Temporal Sequencing of Brain Activations During Naturally Occurring Thermoregulatory Events," by Robert Freedman, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry and behavioral neurosciences, founder of the Behavioral Medicine Laboratory and a member at the C...

Increased Risk Of Complications After Spine Surgery For Medicaid Patients

Date: Jul-17-2013
Among patients undergoing spinal surgery, Medicaid beneficiaries are at higher risk of experiencing any type of complication, compared to privately insured patients, reports a study in the journal Spine. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health. "Medicaid insurance status is a risk factor for perioperative complications," according to the research by Dr Jacques Henri Hacquebord of University of Washington, Seattle, and colleagues. They believe their study draws attention to the "often unacknowledged" problem of under-insurance...

Cranberries For Urinary Tract Infections - New Evidence

Date: Jul-17-2013
Researchers have found a new use for cranberries in combating bacterial infections, including preventing bacterial colonization in urinary catheters. Two studies published in the Canadian Journal of Microbiology and Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces revealed that cranberry powder can inhibit the bacterium Proteus mirabilis, a bug commonly found in complicated urinary tract infections (UTIs)...

The Adaptive Nature Of The Immune System Revealed By Surprise Finding

Date: Jul-17-2013
Studies of patients with immunodeficiencies involving single gene mutations can reveal a great deal about our immune systems, especially when actual symptoms do not accord with clinical expectations. Australian scientists acknowledge such a gap between expectation and reality in a new study, which examines people with 'Autosomal Dominant Hyper IgE Syndrome'. Hyper IgE Syndrome arises from a mutation in the STAT3 gene. This makes patients slightly more susceptible than normal to blood cancers known as 'lymphomas', and exposes them to recurrent skin infections and pneumonia...