Health News

Treatment Of Panx1-Related Diseases Could Involve Food Dye

Date: May-01-2013
The food dye Brilliant Blue FCF (BB FCF) could be a useful tool in the development of treatments for a variety of conditions involving the membrane channel protein Pannexin 1(Panx1), according to a study in The Journal of General Physiology. Panx1, which is involved in signaling events leading to inflammation and cell death, has been implicated in such diverse diseases as Crohn's, AIDS, melanoma, epilepsy, spinal cord injury, and stroke, among others. Thus, there is a demand for the development of pharmacological tools to inhibit Panx1...

Access To Dermatologists Limited For Medicaid-Insured Children

Date: May-01-2013
A recent Saint Louis University study revealed that Medicaid-insured children with eczema, an inflammatory skin condition that affects 20 percent children in the United States, do not have easy access to dermatologists. "This is a complex problem and a major health disparity in our country," said Elaine Siegfried, M.D., professor of pediatrics at SLU and the principal investigator of the study. "Thirty percent of all children seen in primary care offices have a skin problem. It's an everyday issue...

The Real Life Costs Of Postcode Inequality For Cancer Diagnosis In The UK

Date: May-01-2013
Study finds hundreds of lives could be prolonged if women in poorer areas were diagnosed with breast cancer at same stage as those in affluent areas Hundreds of women with breast cancer living in England's most deprived areas would have better survival rates if they were diagnosed at the same stage as those who lived in affluent areas. A new study led by the University of Leicester, working with colleagues from Public Health England and the University of Cambridge, investigated how much of a difference late-stage diagnosis had on women from deprived areas...

Technology, Policy Changes Recommended To Better Protect Older Children And Adolescents In Crashes

Date: May-01-2013
A research report released today from The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) provides specific recommendations for optimizing the rear seat of passenger vehicles to better protect its most common occupants - children and adolescents. By bringing technologies already protecting front seat passengers to the rear seat and modifying the geometry of the rear seat to better fit this age group, the US could achieve important reductions in serious injury and death...

Neuroscientists Use Statistical Model To Further Understand The Importance Of Neuronal Diversity

Date: May-01-2013
This past weekend teams from the National Football League used statistics like height, weight and speed to draft the best college players, and in a few weeks, armchair enthusiasts will use similar measures to select players for their own fantasy football teams. Neuroscientists at Carnegie Mellon University are taking a similar approach to compile "dream teams" of neurons using a statistics-based method that can evaluate the fitness of individual neurons...

Important New Mechanism Identified In Growing New Arteries, Bypassing Blocked Ones

Date: May-01-2013
Scientific collaborators from Yale School of Medicine and University College London (UCL) have uncovered the molecular pathway by which new arteries may form after heart attacks, strokes and other acute illnesses bypassing arteries that are blocked. Their study appears in the journal Developmental Cell. Arteries form in utero and during development, but can also form in adults when organs become deprived of oxygen - for example, after a heart attack. The organs release a molecular signal called VEGF...

Female Adults Lack Stem Cells For Making New Eggs

Date: May-01-2013
Mammalian females ovulate periodically over their reproductive lifetimes, placing significant demands on their ovaries for egg production. Whether mammals generate new eggs in adulthood using stem cells has been a source of scientific controversy. If true, these "germ-line stem cells" might allow novel treatments for infertility and other diseases. However, new research from Carnegie's Lei Lei and Allan Spradling demonstrates that adult mice do not use stem cells to produce new eggs. Their work is published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences the week of April 29...

All Adults, Adolescents, And Pregnant Women Should Be Screened For HIV

Date: May-01-2013
New recommendations from the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) urge physicians to screen all adults and adolescents aged 15 - 65 for HIV. In addition, all pregnant women should receive screening, even those who are in labor but have not yet been screened. Rapid screening tests and conventional tests are considered equally accurate for screening...

Just One Gene Is Necessary For Mice To Avoid Predators: Discovery May Improve Understanding Of How Neural Circuits Contribute To Behavior

Date: May-01-2013
When a mouse smells a cat, it instinctively avoids the feline or risks becoming dinner. How? A Northwestern University study involving olfactory receptors, which underlie the sense of smell, provides evidence that a single gene is necessary for the behavior. A research team led by neurobiologist Thomas Bozza has shown that removing one olfactory receptor from mice can have a profound effect on their behavior. The gene, called TAAR4, encodes a receptor that responds to a chemical that is enriched in the urine of carnivores...

Heart Attack Response: Door-To-Balloon Times Can Be Lowered Using Process Improvement Strategies

Date: May-01-2013
While all heart attacks have the potential to be deadly, one type is referred to as the "widow maker" because of its high risk of death. A ST segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) is a severe type of heart attack that occurs when a blockage in a coronary artery causes heart muscle to die; without prompt treatment risk of fatality increases dramatically. Coronary angioplasty, or percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), is the most common emergency treatment for STEMI...