Health News

Researchers Reveal That The Quantity Of Iodine In Bread Is Insufficient For Pregnant Women

Date: Jun-21-2013
Research from the University of Adelaide shows that iodized salt used in bread is not enough to provide healthy levels of iodine for pregnant women and their unborn children. The study - led by researchers from the University's Robinson Institute - has prompted calls for pregnant women to keep taking iodine supplements. Iodine deficiency is recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) as the most common preventable cause of brain damage in the world...

Growth Of Head And Neck Cancer Promoted By The Nanog Protein

Date: Jun-21-2013
A new study led by researchers at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center - Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC-James) has identified a biochemical pathway in cancer stem cells that is essential for promoting head and neck cancer.  The study shows that a protein called Nanog, which is normally active in embryonic stem cells, promotes the growth of cancer stem cells in head and neck cancer. The findings provide information essential for designing novel targeted drugs that might improve the treatment of head and neck cancer...

Should We Be Financially Responsible For Our Health?

Date: Jun-21-2013
Free and equal access to medical treatment has been a staple of the Danish welfare state, but more and more Danes express the view that people treated for lifestyle diseases like smoker's lungs or obesity should pay for their own treatment - as these patients are thought to be responsible for their own medical conditions. The logic behind this view is, however, dubious, says PhD Martin Marchman Andersen from the University of Copenhagen...

Domestic Violence Affects 1 In 3 Women, WHO Reports

Date: Jun-20-2013
One in 3 women worldwide is a victim of physical or sexual violence, resulting in a global health epidemic, according to a new World Health Organization (WHO) report. Most of these females are attacked or abused by their boyfriends or husbands. "This is an everyday reality for many, many women," Charlotte Watts, author of the report and a health policy expert at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said to Reuters...

Silver Boosts Effect Of Antibiotics

Date: Jun-20-2013
New research shows that low doses of silver can massively boost the effect of antibiotics on bacteria, making them up to 1,000 times more sensitive to the drugs. The researchers hope their discovery will give new life to old antibiotics, including those to which microbes have become resistant. Jim Collins, of the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, and colleagues, report their findings in a paper published online in Science Translational Medicine on 19 June...

Drug Compound Attacks Parkinson's Disease On Two Fronts

Date: Jun-20-2013
A "dual inhibitor" - two compounds in a single molecule - was found to attack a pair of proteins linked to the development of Parkinson's disease, researchers from the Scripps Research Institute, Florida, reported in the journal ACS Chemical Biology. Study leader, Professor Phil LoGrasso explained that the two proteins (enzymes) tend to amply each others' effect. "What we were looking for is a high-affinity, high-selectivity treatment that is additive or synergistic in its effect - a one-two punch." The scientists believe that is exactly what they have found - a one-two punch...

One In Four Adults In The US Is A Family Caregiver

Date: Jun-20-2013
One in four American adults is caring for an elderly or sick family member as more people develop chronic diseases and the population as a whole becomes older, new research finds. The study was conducted by the Pew Research Center and the California HealthCare Foundation, and found that the number of caregivers rose between 2010 and 2013. Researchers surveyed 3,014 adults around the US, finding the majority of caregivers ranged in age between 30 and 64 years...

Medication Misuse Costs $200 Billion In Avoidable Expenditure

Date: Jun-20-2013
The American healthcare system overspends by $200 billion, 8% of its healthcare budget, because medications are not being used responsibly by doctors and patients every year, says a new report issued by the IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics. Irresponsible medication usage causes millions of avoidable outpatient treatments, emergency room visits, drug prescriptions and hospital admissions. According to the Wall Street Journal, the cost of building the One World Trade Center, the skyscraper under construction at Ground Zero in New York, is approximately $4 billion...

Cancer-Proof "Goo" From Naked Mole Rats May Lead To New Treatments

Date: Jun-20-2013
Despite its long lifespan, the naked mole rat has never been known to get cancer. Now scientists in the US have discovered this is thanks to a simple chemical in the "goo" of the rodent's skin, which they suggest could lead to new anti-cancer treatments in humans. The team, led by Andrei Seluanov and Vera Gorbunova from the University of Rochester, New York, report their findings in the 19 June online issue of Nature...

Study Details Age Disparities In HIV Continuum Of Care

Date: Jun-20-2013
Age disparities exist in the continuum of care for patients with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) with people younger than 45 years less likely to be aware of their infection or to have a suppressed viral load, according to a report published Online First by JAMA Internal Medicine, a JAMA Network publication. Early diagnosis, prompt and sustained care, and antiretroviral therapy (ART) are associated with reduced morbidity, mortality and further transmission of the virus. However, of the more than 1...