Health News

Study Offers Insights Into Hot And Cold Senses

Date: Apr-11-2013
A study from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine offers new insights into how the nervous system processes hot and cold temperatures. The research led by neuroscientist Mark J. Zylka, PhD, associate professor of cell biology and physiology, found an interaction between the neural circuits that detect hot and cold stimuli: cold perception is enhanced when nerve circuitry for heat is inactivated...

Kidney Function Of Adolescents May Be Negatively Impacted By Smoking

Date: Apr-11-2013
Exposure to tobacco smoke could negatively impact adolescent kidney function; this is according to a new study led by a team of researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Johns Hopkins Children's Center. They examined the association between exposure to active smoking and kidney function among U.S. adolescents and found the effects of tobacco smoke on kidney function begin in childhood. The results are featured in the April 2013 issue of Pediatrics...

Study Finds Bird Virus Promising For Prostate Cancer Treatment

Date: Apr-11-2013
A study at the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine has identified a chicken-killing virus as a promising treatment for prostate cancer in humans. Researchers have discovered that a genetically engineered Newcastle disease virus, which harms chickens but not humans, kills prostate cancer cells of all kinds, including hormone-resistant cancer cells. The work of Dr. Elankumaran Subbiah, associate professor of virology in the Department of Biomedical Sciences and Pathobiology, along with Dr...

A New Way To Treat Heart Disease?

Date: Apr-11-2013
Hardening of the arteries, or atherosclerosis, is the primary cause of heart disease. It is caused by calcium accumulation in the blood vessels, which leads to arteries becoming narrow and stiff, obstructing blood flow and leading to heart complications. Although many risk factors for atherosclerosis have been identified, the cause is not known and there is currently no way to reverse it once it sets in. In a new study published 9th April in the open access journal PLOS Biology, researchers have characterized the cells responsible for driving this calcium build-up in vessel walls...

FDA Step Closer To Approving Breast Cancer Drug "Palbociclib"

Date: Apr-11-2013
The pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has just announced that their drug "Palbociclib", a selective inhibitor of cyclin dependent kinases (CDK) 4 and 6, has just received Breakthrough Therapy designation by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for breast cancer treatment.  Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women worldwide. According to JAMA there has been a small increase in the incidence of advanced stage breast cancer among women 25 to 39 years old...

People Buy More Soda When Offered Packs Of Smaller Sizes

Date: Apr-11-2013
People buy more soda when they are offered packs of smaller drinks instead of single servings of different sized drinks. The finding came from a new study published in the journal PLOS ONE and was conducted by a team of experts, led by Brent M. Wilson, from the University of California, San Diego. People who regularly consume sugary drinks are genetically more vulnerable to becoming obese or overweight, a study showed in 2012. Obesity is a serious problem in the U.S...

Psoriasis Increases Risk Of High Blood Pressure

Date: Apr-11-2013
The World Health Organization recently began raising awareness for the risks that come with high blood pressure, and with this they recommended that healthcare professionals routinely scan for the health condition in people with psoriasis, an action praised by the International Federation of Psoriasis Associations (IFPA). Psoriasis is a critical, inflammatory, noncommunicable disease that affects over 125 million people internationally...

Endometriosis Treatments Lower Ovarian Cancer Risk

Date: Apr-11-2013
A novel study shows women who undergo surgical treatment for endometriosis have a lower risk of developing ovarian cancer. According to results published in Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica, a journal of the Nordic Federation of Societies of Obstetrics and Gynecology, hormonal treatments for endometriosis did not lower ovarian cancer risk. Endometriosis is a common, and often painful, gynecological disease where tissue normally found inside the uterus, grows elsewhere in the body...

Half Of All Patient Complaints In Australia Are About 3% Of Doctors

Date: Apr-11-2013
"Frequent fliers" concern for health services everywhere, but issue still veiled in secrecy Half of all formal patient complaints made in Australia to health ombudsmen concern just 3% of the country's doctors, with 1% accounting for a quarter of all complaints, finds research published online in BMJ Quality & Safety. Doctors complained about more than three times are highly likely to be the subject of a further complaint - and often within a couple of years - the findings show...

Plant Proteins Control Chronic Disease In Toxoplasma Infections

Date: Apr-11-2013
A new discovery about the malaria-related parasite Toxoplasma gondii -- which can threaten babies, AIDS patients, the elderly and others with weakened immune function -- may help solve the mystery of how this single-celled parasite establishes life-long infections in people. The study, led by a University of South Florida research team, places the blame squarely on a family of proteins, known as AP2 factors, which evolved from the regulators of flowering in plants...