Health News

Molecular 'Superglue' Based On Flesh-Eating Bacteria

Date: Apr-15-2013
In a classic case of turning an enemy into a friend, scientists have engineered a protein from flesh-eating bacteria to act as a molecular "superglue" that promises to become a disease fighter. And their latest results, which make the technology more versatile, were the topic of a report at the 245th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society. "We've turned the tables and put one kind of flesh-eating bacterium to good use," said Mark Howarth, Ph.D., who led the research...

Computational Simulations Can Help Understand And Treat Cardiac Rhythm Disorders

Date: Apr-15-2013
Computational models of the human heart can be very useful in studying not just the basic mechanisms of heart function, but also to analyze the heart in a diseased state, and come up with methods for diagnosis and therapy. Dr. Natalia Trayanova's Computational Cardiology Lab at the Johns Hopkins University is doing just that - her group uses mathematical models to look at cardiac function and dysfunction, examining the mechanisms behind disorders such as cardiac arrhythmias and pump dysfunction...

Safer Human Testing Of Drugs With New Cutting-Edge Cell Research

Date: Apr-15-2013
In almost 90 per cent of cases, novel drugs tested on humans by pharmaceutical companies do not work as intended and must be scrapped. Often the drugs do not work, while at worst, test subjects die. New research from the University of Southern Denmark now shows that this number can be reduced. The secret is to test the drug on cells grown as 3D structures. In 1993, five out of 15 liver patients who participated in a medical trial following the American Federal Drug Administration's (FDA's) instructions died...

Brain Uses Subconscious Mental Categories To Sort Through Everyday Experiences

Date: Apr-15-2013
Your brain knows it's time to cook when the stove is on, and the food and pots are out. When you rush away to calm a crying child, though, cooking is over and it's time to be a parent. Your brain processes and responds to these occurrences as distinct, unrelated events. But it remains unclear exactly how the brain breaks such experiences into "events," or the related groups that help us mentally organize the day's many situations...

Patients With Advanced Fibrosis And Cardiovascular Issues At Greater Risk For Mortality

Date: Apr-15-2013
New research reveals that advanced fibrosis is a significant predictor of mortality in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), largely brought about by cardiovascular causes. NAFLD alone was not associated with increased mortality according to findings published in the April issue of Hepatology, a journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases. With super-sized portions, sugary soft drinks and physical inactivity, obesity is on the rise and showing no sign of slowing. Studies report that the prevalence of obesity has doubled in the U.S...

Study Reports That Using A Best-Practice Approach To Prevent DVT Could Lead To Big Cost Reductions In Hospitals Nationwide

Date: Apr-15-2013
A major challenge facing today's health care community is to find ways to lower costs without compromising clinical quality. Taking that challenge to task, researchers at Medstar Health and Georgetown University School of Medicine, Washington DC, report success in using a concept called "value-based analysis," which simultaneously measures quality and cost and addresses inefficiencies in care...

Rx Target Found For HPV, Hep C And Related Cancers

Date: Apr-15-2013
New discoveries by a team of scientists at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans for the first time reveal the inner workings of a master regulator that controls functions as diverse as the ability of nerve cells to "rewire" themselves in response to external stimuli and the mechanism by which certain viruses hijack normal cellular processes to facilitate their replication that can ultimately lead to cancer. The research was published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry...

Deadly Skin Cancer Treated With Naturally-Occurring Substance In Laboratory

Date: Apr-15-2013
For the first time, scientists have demonstrated the mechanism of action of gossypin, a naturally-occurring substance found in fruits and vegetables, as a treatment for melanoma, which causes the majority of deaths from skin cancer. "We identified gossypin as a novel agent with dual inhibitory activity towards two common mutations that are the ideal targets for melanoma treatment," said Texas Biomed's Hareesh Nair, Ph.D...

Alteration To The Caregiving Culture Benefits Children Of AIDS Patients

Date: Apr-15-2013
A simple in-home training program for caregivers can give children of AIDS patients a better shot at prosperity by improving their early-childhood development, according to a study led by a Michigan State University researcher. Michael Boivin, MSU associate professor in the departments of Psychiatry, and of Neurology and Ophthalmology, conducted the research in Uganda, where about one million children have lost at least one parent to AIDS - an unlucky club that adds another member every 14 seconds...

Neuroscientists Propose How The Visual System Automatically Adapts To New Environments

Date: Apr-15-2013
The irony of getting away to a remote place is you usually have to fight traffic to get there. After hours of dodging dangerous drivers, you finally arrive at that quiet mountain retreat, stare at the gentle waters of a pristine lake, and congratulate your tired self on having "turned off your brain." "Actually, you've just given your brain a whole new challenge," says Thomas D. Albright, director of the Vision Center Laboratory at of the Salk Institute and an expert on how the visual system works...