Health News

NIH/Pitt Team Says Recipe For Large Numbers Of Stem Cells Requires Only One Ingredient

Date: Apr-19-2013
Stem cells and tissue-specific cells can be grown in abundance from mature mammalian cells simply by blocking a certain membrane protein, according to scientists at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Their experiments, reported in Scientific Reports, also show that the process doesn't require other kinds of cells or agents to artificially support cell growth and doesn't activate cancer genes...

Lower Levels Of HIV Found In Breast Milk Of Infected Moms Who Breastfed Exclusively

Date: Apr-19-2013
HIV-infected women in sub-Saharan Africa who fed their babies exclusively with breast milk for more than the first four months of life had the lowest risk of transmitting the virus to their babies through breast milk, according to researchers at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health. Women who stopped breast feeding earlier than four months had the highest concentrations of HIV in their breast milk, and those who continued to breastfeed, but not exclusively, had concentration levels in-between the two practices...

Heart Failure Prevention A Future Possibility Following Discovery Of Gene That Regenerates Heart Tissue

Date: Apr-19-2013
Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have identified a specific gene that regulates the heart's ability to regenerate after injuries. "We found that the activity of the Meis1 gene increases significantly in heart cells soon after birth, right around the time heart muscle cells stop dividing. Based on this observation we asked a simple question: If the Meis1 gene is deleted from the heart, will heart cells continue to divide through adulthood? The answer is 'yes'," said Dr...

Link Between Chronically Elevated Cortisol Levels And Cardiovascular Disease Revealed By Hair Analysis

Date: Apr-19-2013
Hair strands contain valuable information about senior citizens' stress levels that can be used to determine an individual's cardiovascular disease risk, according to a recent study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM). Unlike a blood test that captures a snapshot of stress hormone levels at a single point in time, a scalp hair analysis can be used to view trends in levels of the stress hormone cortisol over the course of several months...

Tylenol Can Ease Anxiety Over Fear Of Dying

Date: Apr-19-2013
An over-the-counter pain reliever can also be used to deal with existential worry - anxiety that comes from thinking about death - according to new research from the University of British Columbia. The finding was published in the journal Psychological Science, and revealed that acetaminophen or Tylenol, which is generally used to relieve minor aches or fever, can also decrease emotional pain felt when thinking about death or the uncertainty of life...

Light Drinking In Pregnancy Doesn't Cause Developmental Problems

Date: Apr-19-2013
Light drinking during pregnancy isn't related to any adverse behavioral or cognitive effects during childhood, according to new research published in the International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. In order to assess the impact that light drinking during pregnancy has on children, the researchers used data from the Millennium Cohort Study, a major study of infants conducted in the UK. Specifically, they wanted to see what the effect of light drinking during pregnancy might be on kids when they reached the age of 7...

Programmable Plasticity Inspired By Nature Has Implications For Medical Implants And More

Date: Apr-19-2013
Plant components that bend, roll or twist in response to external stimuli such as temperature or moisture are fairly commonplace in nature and often play a role in the dispersal of seeds. Pine cones, for instance, close their scales when wet and open them again once they have dried out. Andre Studart, a professor of complex materials at ETH Zurich's Department of Materials, and his group have now applied the knowledge of how these movements come about to produce synthetically a composite material with comparable properties...

Genital Wart Rate In Young Women Plummets Thanks To HPV Vaccine, Claim Researchers

Date: Apr-19-2013
Significant benefit also seen in men The proportion of young women diagnosed with genital warts in Australia has seen a significant decline thanks to the HPV vaccine, suggests a paper published today on bmj.com. In 2007, Australia became one of the first countries to implement a nationally funded quadrivalent human papillomarivus (HPV) vaccination programme for girls and young women, which offers free vaccinations to girls aged 12-13 years in schools. From 2007 - 2009 there were a further two catch-up programmes: for 13-18 year olds and 18-26 year olds...

Potential Survival Predictor For Some Metastatic Melanoma Patients: CT And Serum LDH

Date: Apr-19-2013
Combining CT imaging findings with baseline serum lactate dehydrogenase levels is showing promise as a way to predict survival in patients with metastatic melanoma being treated with anti-angiogenic therapy. With the hope of predicting patient survival, researchers at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson and at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center in Columbus analyzed CT images and clinical data from 46 patients with metastatic melanoma that were treated with anti-angiogenic therapy...

Lyme Disease Rates Are Rising In Northern U.S.

Date: Apr-19-2013
The number of Lyme disease cases in northern U.S. states is rising, while southern states are experiencing a significant decrease in cases, according to a new study. The research was conducted by a team at the University of Toronto who used data on Lyme disease rates between 1992 and 2007 taken from the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and was published in the journal CMAJ Open. The incidence of this tick-borne disease has risen by about 80% in the U.S., according to the experts, however, rates differ between states...