Health News

Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Prevented By Dietary Medium Chain Triglycerides

Date: Apr-26-2013
Scientists at the Arkansas Children's Nutrition Center, a U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service Human Nutrition Research Center at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, led by Dr. Martin Ronis have determined that dietary substitution of saturated fats enriched in medium chain triglycerides (MCT) for polyunsaturated fat prevents the development of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). NAFLD occurs in patients with obesity and type II diabetes and is being seen at younger ages in association with the obesity epidemic...

New Genetic Links To Juvenile Arthritis Revealed

Date: Apr-26-2013
Researchers report in Nature Genetics that they have increased the number of confirmed genes linked to juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) from three to 17 - a finding that will clarify how JIA fits into the spectrum of autoimmune disorders and help identify potential treatment targets. The published study involves an international research team that analyzed 2,816 JIA cases recruited from more than 40 pediatric rheumatology clinics...

Link Between Air Pollution And Hardening Of The Arteries, Heart Disease, Stroke

Date: Apr-26-2013
Long-term exposure to air pollution may be linked to heart attacks and strokes by speeding up atherosclerosis, or "hardening of the arteries," according to a University of Michigan public health researcher and colleagues from across the U.S. Sara Adar, the John Searle Assistant Professor of Epidemiology at the U-M School of Public Health, and Joel Kaufman, professor of environmental and occupational health sciences and medicine at the University of Washington, led the study that found that higher concentrations of fine particulate air pollution (PM2...

Using Genetic Variants To Personalize Prostate Cancer Screenings

Date: Apr-26-2013
With the help of genetics, prostate specific antigen (PSA) screenings may become more accurate and reduce the number of unnecessary prostate biopsies, according to a new study from Northwestern Medicine®. Personalized PSA testing using genetic variants could account for an 18 percent reduction in the number of men who likely would have undergone unnecessary biopsies, according to the study. It will be published in the May 2013 issue of The Journal of Urology...

Are ERs Becoming De Facto Psych Wards?

Date: Apr-26-2013
Long waits for insurance authorization allowing psychiatric patients to be admitted to the hospital from the emergency department waste thousands of hours of physician time, given that most requests for authorization are ultimately granted. A research letter to be published in the May issue of Annals of Emergency Medicine argues that pre-authorization process is akin to health care "rationing by hassle factor" ("Insurance Prior Authorization Approval Does Not Substantially Lengthen the Emergency Department Length of Stay for Patients with Psychiatric Conditions")...

Targeted Screening For Hepatitis C Found To Be Cost-Effective

Date: Apr-26-2013
Researchers at the University of Cincinnati have found that targeted screening for populations with a higher estimated prevalence for hepatitis C may be cost-effective. These findings, published in the online edition of the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, indicate that targeted screening for chronic hepatitis C virus infection is cost-effective when the prevalence of hepatitis C in a population exceeds 0.84 percent (84/10,000)...

Premature Hardening Of The Zona Pellucida Can Be A Cause Of Infertility

Date: Apr-26-2013
Scientists in Mainz and Aachen have discovered a new mechanism that controls egg cell fertility and that might have future therapeutic potential. It was revealed by Professor Dr. Walter Stocker of the Institute of Zoology at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) that the blood protein fetuin-B plays an important and previously unknown role in the fertilization of oocytes. Fetuin-B, first identified in the year 2000, is formed in the liver and secreted into the blood stream. During a joint research project with researchers at RWTH Aachen University headed by Professor Dr...

Gut Bacteria Byproduct Predicts Heart Attack And Stroke

Date: Apr-26-2013
A microbial byproduct of intestinal bacteria contributes to heart disease and serves as an accurate screening tool for predicting future risks of heart attack, stroke and death in persons not otherwise identified by traditional risk factors and blood tests, according to Cleveland Clinic research published in The New England Journal of Medicine. The research team was led by Stanley Hazen, M.D., Ph.D...

A Step Closer To Understanding Why Antibiotics Are Ineffective Against Certain Types Of Bacteria

Date: Apr-26-2013
Antibiotic resistance is a global problem. The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that for tuberculosis alone multi-drug resistance accounts for more than 150,000 deaths each year. WHO warns of "a doomsday scenario of a world without antibiotics," in which antibiotic resistance will turn common infections into incurable killers and make routine surgeries a high-risk gamble. Certain types of bacteria are a scourge of the hospital environment because they are extremely resistant to antibiotics and consequently difficult, if not impossible, to treat...

Using Nasal Lining To Breach Blood/Brain Barrier, Treatment Options Widened For Neurodegenerative And Central Nervous System Disease

Date: Apr-26-2013
Neurodegenerative and central nervous system (CNS) diseases represent a major public health issue affecting at least 20 million children and adults in the United States alone. Multiple drugs exist to treat and potentially cure these debilitating diseases, but 98 percent of all potential pharmaceutical agents are prevented from reaching the CNS directly due to the blood-brain barrier...