Health News

Political Motivations May Have Evolutionary Links To Physical Strength

Date: May-17-2013
Men's upper-body strength predicts their political opinions on economic redistribution, according to new research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. The principal investigators of the research - psychological scientists Michael Bang Petersen of Aarhus University and Daniel Sznycer of University of California, Santa Barbara - believe that the link may reflect psychological traits that evolved in response to our early ancestral environments and continue to influence behavior today...

Evidence Of Host Adaptation Of Avian-Origin Influenza A Virus

Date: May-17-2013
A novel avian-origin reassortant influenza A (H7N9) virus emerged in China in February 2013, and is associated with severe lower respiratory tract diseases. To date, more than 100 human cases of infection, including at least 20 deaths, have been reported in China. Three early cases of infection were described in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China. The general clinical features of the three patients were similar to the previously reported cases in China. Two of the three patients had a history of direct contact with live poultry markets...

Allergies To New Hips And Knees Surface Only After Surgery Is Done... Until Now

Date: May-17-2013
Imagine what Paula Spurlock must have been going through. Shortly after having a hip replaced in 2011, the trouble started. "I had horrible itching, really bad migraines and intense pain throughout my body," she said. "I couldn't take it. Every single thing in me itched." After many months and several trips to specialists, Spurlock was told it could be anything from food allergies to her medication. But no matter what she changed, the symptoms persisted and Spurlock resigned herself to a life of misery. "I just kind of thought that's what life was going to be like," she said...

Marijuana Users Have 16 Percent Lower Fasting Insulin Levels Compared To Non-Users

Date: May-17-2013
Regular marijuana use is associated with favorable indices related to diabetic control, say investigators. They found that current marijuana users had significantly lower fasting insulin and were less likely to be insulin resistant, even after excluding patients with a diagnosis of diabetes mellitus. Their findings are reported in the current issue of The American Journal of Medicine. Marijuana (Cannabis sativa) has been used for centuries to relieve pain, improve mood, and increase appetite...

Before Heart Attacks Young Women Often Less Healthy Than Young Men

Date: May-17-2013
Young women tend to be less healthy and have a poorer quality of life than similar-aged men before suffering a heart attack, according to research presented at the American Heart Association's Quality of Care and Outcomes Research Scientific Sessions 2013. "Compared with young men, women under 55 years are less likely to have heart attacks. But, when they do occur, women are more likely to have medical problems, poorer physical and mental functioning, more chest pain and a poorer quality of life in the month leading up to their heart attack," said Rachel Dreyer, Ph.D...

Hospital Stays, Costs, Reduced By Antibiotic Stewardship Program Using Mass Spec System

Date: May-17-2013
A co-author of a groundbreaking study documenting reductions in patient length of stay and overall costs from implementation of an antibiotic stewardship program using Bruker's MALDI Biotyper will share her observations at a Bruker symposium to be held during the upcoming American Society for Microbiology (ASM) General Meeting. The study, which is currently available in an online edition1, showed that the average length of stay was reduced by two days for participants in the antibiotic stewardship intervention group and overall costs were reduced by almost $20,000 per patient...

Comorbidities Taken Into Account Before Prostate Biopsy

Date: May-17-2013
UC Irvine Health urologists and health policy experts report in a new study that two written assessments that identify existing comorbidities - the patient-reported Total Illness Burden Index for Prostate Cancer (TIBI-Cap) and the physician-reported Charlson Comorbidity Index - can successfully target prostate patients who would not benefit from biopsy to discover possible cancer. The authors say that by taking comorbidities into consideration, it may not be necessary for men to have prostate biopsy...

Could Marijuana Lower Diabetes Risk?

Date: May-16-2013
Regular marijuana use is linked to advantageous indices related to diabetic control, according to a new study in The American Journal of Medicine. The research found that current marijuana users had considerably lower fasting insulin and had a lower probability of being insulin resistant, even after excluding patients with diabetes mellitus. For centuries, people have been using marijuana to improve mood, increase appetite, and alleviate pain. However, a study from earlier this year demonstrated that a pill form of marijuana provides greater pain relief than when a person smokes it...

Link Between Epilepsy And Autism Found

Date: May-16-2013
Adults with epilepsy are more likely to have a greater number of characteristics of autism and Asperger syndrome, according to new research by the University of Bath, England. The finding was discovered by Dr. SallyAnn Wakeford, a PhD student from the University's Department of Psychology, and revealed a previously unknown link between epileptic seizures and the signs of autism in adults...

Evolution Summit Held On October 21-23, 2013

Date: May-16-2013
The paradigm for drug development continues to shift in unexpected ways. Patent practices are being challenged, pharmaceutical companies are changing shape and most importantly, patients and payers across the globe are calling for enhanced value in medicinal products. Leaders in drug development must revamp outdated R&D strategies to maximise clinical resources and effectively deliver quality therapies at affordable prices...