Health News

International Study Reveals 'Backbone' Of Mental Illness Stigma

Date: Apr-15-2013
An international study found that despite widespread acceptance that mental illness is a disease that can be effectively treated, a common "backbone" of prejudice exists that unfairly paints people with conditions such as depression and schizophrenia as undesirable for close personal relationships and positions of authority. This backbone, say the Indiana University sociologists who led the study, spanned the 16 diverse countries examined...

Can Boxing Training Improve Parkinson's Symptoms?

Date: Apr-15-2013
After former Marion County Prosecutor, Scott C. Newman was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease at the age of 41, he began an intensive, high-energy one-on-one boxing training program which he claims dramatically improved his agility, daily functioning and overall physical health. In 2006, thanks to private donations, Newman founded Rock Steady Boxing, the only boxing program in the USA aimed at people with Parkinson's disease. He started off with a small gym and boxing ring...

Psychological Interventions That Effectively Ameliorate The Symptoms Of PTSD Exist But Are Not Widely Used

Date: Apr-14-2013
Post-traumatic stress disorder affects nearly 8 million adults in any given year, federal statistics show. Fortunately, clinical research has identified certain psychological interventions that effectively ameliorate the symptoms of PTSD but most people struggling with PTSD don't receive those treatments, according to a new report published in Psychological Science in the Public Interest...

Early Signs Of Harmful Drug Reactions Uncovered By Mining Of Clinical Notes

Date: Apr-14-2013
Mining the records of routine interactions between patients and their care providers can detect drug side effects a couple of years before an official alert from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, a Stanford University School of Medicine study has found. The study, led by Nigam Shah, MBBS, PhD, assistant professor of medicine, was published online in Nature Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics...

H7N9 Bird Flu Infection Total Reaches 51, First Cases In Beijing and Henan Province, China

Date: Apr-14-2013
On Saturday and today, eight new human cases of H7N9 avian flu infection have been reported in China, including one in the capital Beijing, bringing the total so far this year to 51 - eleven of them have died. The eight new cases include one in Shanghai, one in Beijing, two in Jiangsu Province, two in Zhejiang Province, and two in Henan Province, according to the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Young girl infected in Beijing The Chinese CDC says that a 7-year-old girl from Shunyi, northeast Beijing, was confirmed with H7N9 bird flu virus infection...

Gene Mutation Discovered That Causes Children To Be Born Without A Spleen

Date: Apr-14-2013
The spleen is rarely noticed, until it is missing. In children born without this organ, that doesn't happen until they become sick with life-threatening bacterial infections. An international team of researchers led by scientists from Rockefeller's St. Giles Laboratory of Human Genetics and Infectious Diseases has now identified the defective gene responsible for this rare disorder. The findings, reported in Science Express, may lead to new diagnostic tests and raises new questions about the role of this gene in the body's protein-making machinery...

Alcohol Impairment May A Be Greater Risk For Older People

Date: Apr-14-2013
An acute dose of alcohol may cause greater impairment in coordination, learning and memory in the elderly than in young people, according to a study by Baylor University. Researchers said the findings have profound significance for older people -- a population that is aging worldwide at an unprecedented rate and that includes Baby Boomers as they become senior citizens. "Health implications such as falls, accidents and poor medicine-taking are pretty easy to conclude," said Douglas B. Matthews, Ph.D...

Technique Shows Promise In Guiding Formation Of Complex Tissues

Date: Apr-14-2013
Stem cells can be coaxed to grow into new bone or new cartilage better and faster when given the right molecular cues and room inside a water-loving gel, researchers at Case Western Reserve University show. By creating a three-dimensional checkerboard - one with alternating highly connected and less connected spaces within the hydrogel - the team found adjusting the size of the micropattern could affect stem cell behaviors, such as proliferation and differentiation...

New Way Discovered To Clear Cholesterol From The Blood

Date: Apr-14-2013
Researchers at the University of Michigan have identified a new potential therapeutic target for lowering cholesterol that could be an alternative or complementary therapy to statins. Scientists in the lab of David Ginsburg at the Life Sciences Institute inhibited the action of a gene responsible for transporting a protein that interferes with the ability of the liver to remove cholesterol from the blood in mice...

Certain Types Of Papilloma Virus Might Actually Prevent Cervical Cancer: New Study

Date: Apr-14-2013
There are over 100 different types of human papilloma virus (HPV). Cervical cancer is known to be caused by infection with approximately 14 so-called "high-risk" types of this virus. Researchers from Manchester looked at the different types of HPV found in cervical smears and invasive cervical cancers from HIV positive and HIV negative women in Kenya. They found high numbers of a specific type of HPV (type 53) in normal cervical smears from HIV positive women, but this was rarely found in HIV negative women...