Health News

Liptruzet Approved By FDA To Cut Cholesterol, Despite Criticism By Cardiologists

Date: May-05-2013
Liptruzet, a cholesterol-lowering drug that combines Merck's Zetia (ezetimibe) with atorvastatin (generic version of Pfizer's Lipitor) has been approved by the US FDA (Food and Drug Administration). According to Merck and Co, Liptruzet tablets are for the treatment of high LDL (low-density lipoprotein) cholesterol in patients with primary or mixed hyperlipidemia alongside a special diet when diet alone is not enough. Hyperlipidemia is an excessively high concentration of fats (lipids) in the blood...

Emotional Expressions Like Wide-Eyed Fear May Help Us - And Others - To Locate Threats

Date: May-05-2013
Wide-eyed expressions that typically signal fear may enlarge our visual field and mutually enhance others' ability to locate threats, according to new research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. The research, conducted by psychology graduate student Daniel Lee of the University of Toronto with advisor Adam Anderson, suggests that wide-eyed expressions of fear are functional in ways that directly benefit both the person who makes the expression and the person who observes it...

Early Intervention Program For Children With Autism Found To Be Cost Effective Through School Years

Date: May-05-2013
The Early Start Denver Model (ESDM), a comprehensive behavioral early intervention program that is appropriate for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) as young as 12 months, has been found to reduce the need for ASD therapies and special education services through the school years following their early intervention. These findings were presented by David S. Mandell, Sc.D...

Cure For Gray Hair And Vitiligo Found

Date: May-05-2013
A modified pseudocatalase, a new compound that reverses oxidative stress may provide a cure for loss of skin or hair color, i.e. gray hair or vitiligo, researchers from the United Kingdom and Germany reported in The FASEB Journal. The need to use hair dyes to cover up a classic sign of aging - gray hair - may soon be a thing of the past. Scientists from the Institute for Pigmentary Disorders in association with E.M...

How The Brain's Auditory Center Transmits Information For Decisions, Actions

Date: May-05-2013
When a pedestrian hears the screech of a car's brakes, she has to decide whether, and if so, how, to move in response. Is the action taking place blocks away, or 20 feet to the left? One of the truly primal mechanisms that we depend on every day of our lives - acting on the basis of information gathered by our sense of hearing - is yielding its secrets to modern neuroscience. A team of researchers from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) today publishes experimental results in the journal Nature which they describe as surprising...

Survival From Cardiac Arrest Increases In The Presence Of Anesthesiologists

Date: May-05-2013
A University of Michigan study from the "Online First" edition of Anesthesiology found cardiac arrest was associated with improved survival when it occurred in the operating room (O.R.) or post-anesthesia care unit (PACU) compared to other hospital locations. The findings offer evidence that the presence of anesthesia providers in these locations may improve outcomes for certain patients. Cardiac arrest is a very uncommon complication during the perioperative period, which includes the time during and immediately after surgery and anesthesia...

Dissimilar Proteins Evolved Similar 7-Part Shape: Findings Offer Insight Into A Molecule Involved In Cancer And Birth Defects

Date: May-05-2013
Solving the structure of a critical human molecule involved in cancer, scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have found what they call a good example of structural conservation - dissimilar genes that keep very similar shapes. Described in the journal Nature, the work brings attention to what scientists have thought of as a family of molecules called the G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). Many GPCRs are important targets for drug design. However, the new work suggests that GPCRs may, in fact, be a subset of a larger group...

Fluoride Reduces The Ability Of Decay-Causing Bacteria To Stick

Date: May-05-2013
In an advance toward solving a 50-year-old mystery, scientists are reporting new evidence on how the fluoride in drinking water, toothpastes, mouth rinses and other oral-care products prevents tooth decay. Their report appears in the ACS journal Langumir. Karin Jacobs and colleagues explain that despite a half-century of scientific research, controversy still exists over exactly how fluoride compounds reduce the risk of tooth decay. That research established long ago that fluoride helps to harden the enamel coating that protects teeth from the acid produced by decay-causing bacteria...

Cancer Patients Moving To England To Access Treatments

Date: May-04-2013
Clinicians considering the same and have concerns for the future of cancer care in Scotland New research from a survey of oncologists and haematologists in Scotland* has revealed that over a third (39%) are aware of cancer patients who have relocated to England to receive treatment.1 Nearly all (96%) of those surveyed consider access to cancer therapies to be better in England than Scotland, 1 with half (50%) highlighting that restricted access has lowered Scotland's standard of care compared to the rest of Europe...

Study Suggests Ob/Gyns In Training Are Taught Very Little About Menopause

Date: May-04-2013
A small survey of U.S. obstetrics and gynecology residents finds that fewer than one in five receives formal training in menopause medicine, and that seven in 10 would like to receive it. The Johns Hopkins-led study, described in the online version of the journal Menopause, discovered that some American ob/gyn residency programs fail to offer trainees any formal curriculum or clinical experience focused primarily on women's pre- and post-menopausal health...