Health News

Restless Legs Syndrome Linked To Earlier Death Risk In Men

Date: Jun-13-2013
A new study from the US finds that men with restless legs syndrome (RLS) may have a 39% increased risk of dying earlier compared to men without the condition, which is characterized by an irresistible urge to move the legs when lying down, accompanied by creeping, pulling and burning sensations that usually feel worse at night. Xiang Gao of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, and colleagues, write about their findings in the 12 June online issue of Neurology...

Infants Express Non-Verbal Sympathy For Others In Distress

Date: Jun-13-2013
Infants as young as ten months express sympathy for others in distress in non-verbal ways, according to research published June 12 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Yasuhiro Kanakogi and colleagues from Kyoto University and Toyohashi University of Technology, Japan. Infants at this age are known to assign goals and intentions to geometric figures; hence the researchers used a series of animated sequences to test infants' responses to aggression...

Low Diastolic Blood Pressure May Be Associated With Brain Atrophy

Date: Jun-13-2013
Low baseline diastolic blood pressure (DBP) appears to be associated with brain atrophy in patients with arterial disease, whenever declining levels of blood pressure (BP) over time among patients who had a higher baseline BP were associated with less progression of atrophy, according to a report published Online First by JAMA Neurology, a JAMA Network publication. "Studies have shown that both high and low blood pressure (BP) may play a role in the etiology of brain atrophy...

Early Intervention Needed To Reduce Lifelong Effects Of Childhood Neglect And Emotional Abuse

Date: Jun-13-2013
Preschool children who have been neglected or emotionally abused exhibit a range of emotional and behavioral difficulties and adverse mother-child interactions that indicate these children require prompt evaluation and interventions, according to a systematic review by Aideen Mary Naughton, M.B., B.Ch., B.A.O., D.C.H., F.R.C.P.C.H., of Public Health Wales, Pontypool, England, and colleagues...

Genetics-Based Risk Assessment Brings Personalized Preventive Care To Dentistry

Date: Jun-13-2013
Interleukin Genetics, Inc. (OTCQB: ILIU) have announced the online publication of the research study "Patient Stratification for Preventive Dental Care" in Journal of Dental Research. The study provides new insights into the prevention of periodontitis (gum disease) and the opportunity for significant advancement in the delivery of personalized, preventive dental care. Periodontitis affects 47 percent of the adult population...

Hearing Loss Associated With Hospitalization, Poorer Self-Reported Health

Date: Jun-13-2013
"Hearing loss (HL) is a chronic condition that affects nearly 2 of every 3 adults aged 70 years or older in the United States. Hearing loss has broader implications for older adults, being independently associated with poorer cognitive and physical functioning. The association of HL with other health economic outcomes, such as health care use, is unstudied," writes Dane J. Genther, M.D., of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, and colleagues, in a Research Letter...

Certain Inflammatory Biomarkers Associated With Increased Risk Of COPD Exacerbations

Date: Jun-13-2013
Simultaneously elevated levels of the biomarkers C-reactive protein, fibrinogen and leukocyte count in individuals with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) were associated with increased risk of having exacerbations, even in those with milder COPD and in those without previous exacerbations, according to a study in the June 12 issue of JAMA. "Exacerbations of respiratory symptoms in COPD are of major importance because of their profound and long-lasting adverse effects on patients...

Intervention Results In Improved Adherence To Prescribing Guidelines For Bacterial Respiratory Tract Infections Of Children

Date: Jun-13-2013
An intervention consisting of clinician education coupled with personalized audit and feedback about antibiotic prescribing improved adherence to prescribing guidelines for common pediatric bacterial acute respiratory tract infections, although the intervention did not affect antibiotic prescribing for viral infections, according to a study in the June 12 issue of JAMA. "Antibiotics are the most common prescription drugs given to children...

TEDDY Study Yielding New Approach To Finding High-Risk Genes For Type 1 Diabetes

Date: Jun-13-2013
Massive samples emanating from a decade-old, international initiative to determine how genetics and environment cause type 1 diabetes are giving scientists a unique perspective on which molecular and environmental factors really contribute to the disease. The TEDDY study, following nearly 9,000 at-risk children from birth to age 15, is enabling scientists to parse which genetic mutations correlate with progression or lack of progression to type 1 diabetes, said Dr...

Long-Term Efficacy And Safety Profile Of The Anti-TNF Golimumab Confirmed

Date: Jun-13-2013
MSD have announced that five-year data from pivotal Phase 3 clinical studies demonstrate that once-monthly, subcutaneous (SC) injections of Simponi® (golimumab) provided sustained improvements in the signs and symptoms of patients with both active ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and moderate to severe, active rheumatoid arthritis (RA) over five years.1, 2 The new findings from long-term extensions of the GO-FORWARD and GO-RAISE clinical studies were presented at the 2013 European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) Annual Congress...