Health News

Researchers Eliminate Schizophrenia Symptoms In An Animal Model

Date: May-24-2013
Overexpression of a gene associated with schizophrenia causes classic symptoms of the disorder that are reversed when gene expression returns to normal, scientists report. They genetically engineered mice so they could turn up levels of neuregulin-1 to mimic high levels found in some patients then return levels to normal, said Dr. Lin Mei, Director of the Institute of Molecular Medicine and Genetics at the Medical College of Georgia at Georgia Regents University...

Campaign Encourages Smokers To "Talk With Your Doctor" For Help Quitting

Date: May-24-2013
Advice and help from doctors can more than double odds smoker will quit successfully Because a doctor's advice and assistance more than doubles the odds that a smoker will quit successfully, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is partnering with five national physician groups on the new "Talk With Your Doctor" campaign to encourage smokers to ask a doctor for help. The campaign also encourages clinicians to ask patients if they smoke and offer assistance in helping them to quit...

Radioactive Nanoparticles Developed That Target Cancer Cells

Date: May-24-2013
Cancers of all types become most deadly when they metastasize and spread tumors throughout the body. Once cancer has reached this stage, it becomes very difficult for doctors to locate and treat the numerous tumors that can develop. Now, researchers at the University of Missouri have found a way to create radioactive nanoparticles that target lymphoma tumor cells wherever they may be in the body...

Human Well-Being Linked To Nature's Benefits

Date: May-24-2013
What people take from nature - water, food, timber, inspiration, relaxation - are so abundant, it seems self-evident. Until you try to quantitatively understand how and to what extent they contribute to humans. In today's world, where competition for and degradation of natural resources increases globally, it becomes ever more crucial to quantify the value of ecosystem services - the precise term that defines nature's benefits, and even more important to link how different types of ecosystem services affect various components of human well-being...

New Pneumococcal Vaccine Appears To Be As Safe As Previously Used Vaccine

Date: May-24-2013
The new 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) appears to be as safe as the previous version used prior to 2010, the 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7), according to a Kaiser Permanente study published in Vaccine. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved PCV13 for use beginning in 2010 after a series of trials. These trials found that PCV13, which protects against a broader range of pneumococcal types than the previously used PCV7, did not increase the risk for any serious adverse events related to the vaccine...

Bioresorbable Drug-Eluting Scaffolds Emerging As The Dominant Device Of The Future For Percutaneous Coronary Interventions

Date: May-24-2013
The DESolve bioresorbable coronary scaffold system achieves good efficacy and safety with low rates of late lumen loss and major coronary adverse events at six months, show first results from the pivotal DESolve Nx trial reported at EuroPCR 2013. DESolve (Elixir Medical Corporation) is the first bioresorbable PLLA-based polymer scaffold that releases novolimus, a major metabolite of sirolimus. "The degradation time is about one year," explained the lead study author Alexandre Abizaid, Director of Interventional Cardiology at Institute Dante Pazzanese de Cardiologia, São Paulo, Brazil...

Spirometry Reveals Over-Diagnosis Of COPD Among Uninsured Patients

Date: May-24-2013
More than 40 percent of patients being treated for COPD at a federally funded clinic did not have the disease, researchers found after evaluating the patients with spirometry, the diagnostic "gold standard" for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. "While there have been many studies of the under-diagnosis of COPD, there has not been a U.S.-based study that has quantified the problem of over-diagnosis," said Christian Ghattas, MD., MSc, a second-year medical resident at Saint Elizabeth Health Center in Youngstown, Ohio, who presented the research at ATS 2013...

Obstructive Sleep Apnea Associated With Abdominal Fat Accumulation In Men

Date: May-24-2013
A new study from researchers in Japan indicates that obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is independently associated with visceral (abdominal) fat accumulation only in men, perhaps explaining gender differences in the impact of OSA on cardiovascular disease and mortality. "Visceral fat accumulation, which is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, is also associated with OSA, and gender differences in mortality related to sleep apnea have been reported in some studies. Accordingly, we examined if the relationship between OSA and visceral fat accumulation differed by gender," said Drs...

Treatment For Cocaine Addiction In Animal Model

Date: May-24-2013
Researchers at Johns Hopkins have unraveled the molecular foundations of cocaine's effects on the brain, and identified a compound that blocks cravings for the drug in cocaine-addicted mice. The compound, already proven safe for humans, is undergoing further animal testing in preparation for possible clinical trials in cocaine addicts, the researchers say. "It was remarkably serendipitous that when we learned which brain pathway cocaine acts on, we already knew of a compound, CGP3466B, that blocks that specific pathway," says Solomon Snyder, M.D...

Food Addiction Could Help Explain The Global Obesity Epidemic

Date: May-24-2013
Research presented at the 2013 Canadian Neuroscience Meeting shows that high-fructose corn syrup can cause behavioural reactions in rats similar to those produced by drugs of abuse such as cocaine. These results, presented by addiction expert Francesco Leri, Associate Professor of Neuroscience and Applied Cognitive Science at the University of Guelph, suggest food addiction could explain, at least partly, the current global obesity epidemic...