Health News

Compound Killed Melanoma Cells And Stopped Them From Metastasizing In Mouse Model

Date: Jun-08-2013
Scientists are reporting development and successful lab tests on the first potential drug to pack a lethal one-two punch against melanoma skin cancer cells. Hit number one destroys cells in the main tumor, and the second hit blocks the spread of the cancer to other sites in the body, according to their report in the journal ACS Chemical Biology. Nathan Luedtke and colleagues explain that the spread of melanoma and other forms of cancer beyond the original location - a process called metastasis - makes cancer such a serious disease...

Flu Cases And Deaths Among Children Could Be Reduced By School-Located Vaccination

Date: Jun-08-2013
Offering flu vaccines at elementary schools could expand vaccination rates and reduce costs, according to a new study reported in the scientific journal Vaccine by researchers from UC Davis Health System; the Monroe County, New York, Department of Public Health; University of Rochester Medical Center; and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The best protection against flu for children at least 6 months of age is the seasonal vaccine, yet inoculation rates among children are low, according to the CDC...

Threatening Situations Increase 'Belief In Science'

Date: Jun-08-2013
A faith in the explanatory and revealing power of science increases in the face of stress or anxiety, a study by Oxford University psychologists suggests. The researchers argue that a 'belief in science' may help non-religious people deal with adversity by offering comfort and reassurance, as has been reported previously for religious belief. 'We found that being in a more stressful or anxiety-inducing situation increased participants' "belief in science",' says Dr Miguel Farias, who led the study in the Department of Experimental Psychology at Oxford University...

Specially Raised Mice Show Over-Produced Autism Gene Alters Synapses, Affects Learning And Behavior

Date: Jun-08-2013
A gene linked to autism spectrum disorders that was manipulated in two lines of transgenic mice produced mature adults with irreversible deficits affecting either learning or social interaction. The findings, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, have implications for potential gene therapies but they also suggest that there may be narrow windows of opportunity to be effective, says principal investigator Philip Washbourne, a professor of biology and member of the University of Oregon's Institute of Neuroscience...

Enhanced CFL Concussion Guidelines

Date: Jun-08-2013
Research from the University of Alberta shows CFL players are more likely to value medical tests after concussions compared to university-level players. But the professional athletes were more apt to incorrectly believe it's OK to return to the sport within 24 to 48 hours if they had no symptoms. The study looked at how CFL athletes fared against their university-level peers when it came to concussion knowledge, and whether a one-hour concussion education program improved the two groups' knowledge...

Study Shows Governmental Anti-Obesity Initiatives Are Not Working

Date: Jun-08-2013
Americans are gaining weight at an alarming rate, with obesity increasing from 12 percent of the nation's population in 1990 to 23 percent by 2005, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Despite an increase in state public health funding to combat these growing rates around the country, obesity continues to rise. A new University of Missouri study has found that as states spend more money on health care, obesity rates actually increase...

Treatment Clues For Schizophrenia Suggested By Neurochemical Traffic Signals

Date: Jun-08-2013
Researchers at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) have uncovered important clues about a biochemical pathway in the brain that may one day expand treatment options for schizophrenia. The study, published online in the journal Molecular Pharmacology, was led by faculty within the department of pharmacology and experimental therapeutics at BUSM. Patients with schizophrenia suffer from a life-long condition that can produce delusions, disordered thinking, and breaks with reality...

Attacking Permethrin-Resistant Anopheles Gambiae, The Principal Vector Of Malaria

Date: Jun-08-2013
Resurgence of malaria has been attributed, in part, to the development of resistance by Anopheles gambiae, a principal vector of the disease, to various insecticidal compounds such as Permethrin. Permethrin, a neurotoxicant, is widely used to impregnate mosquito nets. An alternative strategy to control mosquitoes is the use of Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. israelensis (Bti) because there is no observable resistance in the field to the bacterium. Bti kills mosquitoes by targeting cadherin molecules residing in the midgut epithelium of larvae of the insect...

Manhy Children With Autism Also Have ADHD

Date: Jun-08-2013
In a study of the co-occurrence of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in early school-age children (four to eight years old), researchers at the Kennedy Krieger Institute found that nearly one-third of children with ASD also have clinically significant ADHD symptoms. Published in Autism: The International Journal and Practice (Epub ahead of print), the study also found that children with both ASD and ADHD are significantly more impaired on measures of cognitive, social and adaptive functioning compared to children with ASD only...

Pain Reduction And Physiotherapy Patient Interaction Go Hand-In-Hand

Date: Jun-08-2013
How many times have you been to a physiotherapist where you've had more time in the waiting room than face-time with the physio? Well, according to University of Alberta physical therapy PhD grad Jorge Fuentes, how a physiotherapist interacts with a patient verbally, through eye contact, body language and listening skills is almost as important as the treatment itself. "The way we are applying treatment today is not the best approach," Fuentes says. "That might be the reason physical therapy interventions have such a modest effect for patients with chronic conditions...