UAE
Bahrain
Jordan
Kuwait
Oman
Qatar
Saudi ArabiaHealth News
Bollywood Glamorizes Smoking, Reignites Smoking In Movies Debate
Date: Jun-14-2013A University of Adelaide expert says that while the war against smoking in Hollywood movies has been largely won, Asian cinema represents the next major battleground for anti-smoking and anti-cancer groups. Dr Peter Pugsley, Senior Lecturer in Media at the University of Adelaide, says that as smoking rates have been rising in Asia, so too has the depiction of smoking in Asian cinema. Dr Pugsley is the author of a new book on contemporary Asian cinema being published this month...
Predicting Obesity During Infancy
Date: Jun-14-2013Infants as young as two months old already exhibit growth patterns that can predict the child's weight by age 5, according to researchers at Case Western Reserve University's Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing and Tennessee State University. "Almost from birth, we quickly saw this growth pattern emerge in our curves and growth charts for weight over height," said Susan Ludington, the study's lead investigator and the Carl W. and Margaret David Walter Professor of Pediatric Nursing at Case Western Reserve...
Potential Zoonotic Disease-Transmission Sources Identified Based On Social Networks Tools
Date: Jun-14-2013Spanish and US scientists have successfully identified animal species that can transmit more diseases to humans by using mathematical tools similar to those applied to the study of social networks like Facebook or Twitter. Their research - recently published in the prestigious journal PNAS - describes how parasite-primate interactions transmit diseases like malaria, yellow fever or AIDS to humans. Their findings could make an important contribution to predicting the animal species most likely to cause future pandemics...
Gene Discovered That's Responsible For Multiple Intestinal Atresia In Newborns
Date: Jun-14-2013Physicians and researchers from Sherbrooke, Montreal and Quebec City have conducted a study that has led to the discovery of a gene that causes multiple intestinal atresia (MIA), a rare and life-threatening hereditary disorder that affects newborns. In addition to exploring novel therapeutic treatments for children with the disease, the discovery of the gene TTC7A will make it possible to develop a prenatal diagnostic test and a screening test for parents who are carriers. The Centre hospitalier universitaire de Sherbrooke (CHUS) should offer the tests...
The First Caffeine-'Addicted' Bacteria: American Chemical Society Podcast
Date: Jun-14-2013The latest episode in the American Chemical Society's (ACS') award-winning Global Challenges/Chemistry Solutions podcast series describes bacteria that are "addicted" to caffeine in a way that promises practical uses ranging from decontamination of wastewater to bioproduction of medications for asthma. Based on a report by Jeffrey Barrick, Ph.D., and colleagues in the journal ACS Synthetic Biology, the new podcast is available without charge at iTunes and here. Some people may joke about living on caffeine, but scientists now have genetically engineered E...
For Accurate Reporting Of Vaccine Safety Risks, Background Mortality Rates Are Essential
Date: Jun-14-2013In a study using the Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD), investigators analyzed four years of data and determined that background mortality rates (rates of death irrespective of cause) are crucial in interpreting the numbers of deaths following vaccination. The VSD mortality rate following immunization is lower than the general US population mortality rate, and the causes of death are similar. These background rates can be used in communications to the public about vaccine safety risks, reports the American Journal of Preventive Medicine...
Newly Discovered Channel In The Heart Could Illuminate Unsolved Cases Of Arrhythmia
Date: Jun-14-2013The heart's regular rhythm is crucial to the delivery of oxygenated blood and nutrients to all the organs of the body. It is regulated by a bundle of cells called "the pacemaker," which use electrical signals to set the pace of the heart. Dysfunction in this mechanism can lead to an irregular heartbeat, known as arrhythmia, and often necessitates the implantation of an artificial pacemaker...
Many Mothers In Under-Developed Countries Don't Understand Why Their Newborns Are Hospitalized
Date: Jun-14-2013Mothers in low-income countries may not understand why their babies are hospitalized after delivery, putting sick newborns at higher risk of health problems and death after being released from the hospital, a new study shows. Forty percent of participating mothers in Ghana with sick infants had no understanding of why their child was in the hospital and another 28 percent had only partial understanding, according to the University of Michigan Health System study that appears in Paediatrics and International Child Health Journal...
Experts Propose Restoring Invisible And Abandoned Trials 'To Correct The Scientific Record'
Date: Jun-13-2013Group calls for authors and participating journals to join the effort Analysis: Restoring invisible and abandoned trials: a call for people to publish the findings Editorial: Restoring the integrity of the clinical trial evidence base Experts are today calling for all unpublished and misreported trials to be published or formally corrected within the next year to ensure doctors and patients rely on complete and accurate information to make decisions about treatments...
Male Preference For Younger Female Mates Identified As Likely Cause Of Menopause
Date: Jun-13-2013A study published in this week's PLOS Computational Biology reports that menopause is an unintended outcome of natural selection caused by the preference of males for younger female mates. While conventional thinking has held that menopause prevents older women from continuing to reproduce, the researchers, from McMaster's University, concluded that it is the lack of reproduction that has given rise to menopause. The researchers found that, over time, competition among men of all ages for younger mates has left older females with much less chance of reproducing...
Stay Connected
