Health News

When Transitioning From Pediatric To Adult Care, Patients With Type1 Diabetes Should Be Given Additional Support And Guidance

Date: Mar-27-2013
Type 1 diabetes is a condition in which the body does not produce insulin and cannot convert sugar, starches and other food into energy. Generally diagnosed during childhood or adolescence, the disease requires lifelong access to medical care and intensive daily self-management. As children with Type 1 diabetes grow into young adults, they must leave their pediatric health care providers for adult providers. But the timing of this process and its impact on the young people's health had not been fully explored...

How We React To Customer Abuse Depends On Culture

Date: Mar-27-2013
A new UBC study reveals that North American service workers are more likely to sabotage rude customers, while Chinese react by disengaging from customer service altogether. "Our research shows that culture plays a significant role in how frontline workers deal with customer abuse," says UBC Sauder School of Business Professor Daniel Skarlicki, a co-author of the study. "In North America, employees tend to retaliate against offensive customers - doing things like giving bad directions or serving cold food...

Babies' Brain Functioning Affected By Parental Conflict, Arguments

Date: Mar-27-2013
Being exposed to arguments between parents is associated with the way babies' brains process emotional tone of voice, according to a new study to be published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. The study, conducted by graduate student Alice Graham with her advisors Phil Fisher and Jennifer Pfeifer of the University of Oregon, found that infants respond to angry tone of voice, even when they're asleep. Babies' brains are highly plastic, allowing them to develop in response to the environments and encounters they experience...

Widespread Presence Of Flame Retardant In Indoor Environment, Biomarker Present In Urine Samples

Date: Mar-27-2013
A flame retardant removed from children's pajamas 30 years ago but now used in polyurethane foam is prevalent in office environments, especially in older buildings, where urine testing of workers turned up widespread evidence of its biomarker, a new study led by Boston University School of Public Health researchers has found...

Many Patients With Kidney Insufficiency Undergo Complete Kidney Removal When Kidney-Sparing Surgery May Be Indicated

Date: Mar-27-2013
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have released study results that show national treatment trends in the surgical management of patients with kidney disease. The study found that partial and complete kidney removal (total nephrectomy) and energy-based techniques to destroy tumors are all on the rise. Surprisingly, the patients most in need of kidney-sparing surgery are still more likely to undergo total nephrectomy. The findings recently published online in BJU International...

Control Of Blood And Iron Disorders Affecting Patients Worldwide Centers On Regulating Iron And Blood Cell Production

Date: Mar-27-2013
Two studies led by investigators at Weill Cornell Medical College shed light on the molecular biology of three blood disorders, leading to novel strategies to treat these diseases. The two new studies -- one published online by Nature Medicine and the other in the online edition of the Journal of Clinical Investigation -- propose two new treatments for beta-thalassemia, a blood disorder which affects thousands of people globally every year...

Cigarettes That May Reduce Smokers' Exposure To Toxicants

Date: Mar-27-2013
We have shown in our first clinical study of our novel prototype cigarettes that it is possible to reduce smokers' exposure to certain smoke toxicants. The only way to be certain of avoiding the risks of smoking is not to smoke. And reducing the health risks of smoking has been the overriding aim of tobacco research for many years. It is known that the risk of developing smoking-related disease is greater in people who smoke more cigarettes per day and for longer periods...

Mathematical Probability Model Used To Predict How Lung Cancer Spreads

Date: Mar-27-2013
The same sort of mathematical model used to predict which websites people are most apt to visit is now showing promise in helping map how lung cancer spreads in the human body, according to a new study published in the journal Cancer Research. A team of researchers used an algorithm similar to the Google PageRank and to the Viterbi Algorithm for digital communication to analyze the spread patterns of lung cancer...

Same-Sex Parents Likely To Be Judged More Harshly Than Heterosexual Parents

Date: Mar-27-2013
Is there a double standard for gay parents? A new study published this month by a Binghamton University research team suggests that gay parents are being judged more harshly than straight parents. Members of Binghamton University's Interdisciplinary Research Group for the Study of Sexuality and Gender conducted a study of people's reactions to the parenting behaviors of gay and straight parents. Their results showed a clear pattern of negative reactions from study participants towards a gay couple engaging in exactly the same negative parenting behaviors as a straight couple...

Natural Lubricant May Effectively Treat, Prevent Osteoarthritis

Date: Mar-27-2013
Think new discoveries are the bee's knees? This one is even better - this research out of Rhode Island Hospital is the mice's knees. Researchers have found that adding lubricin, a protein that our bodies naturally produce, to the fluid in our joints may reduce the risk of or even prevent osteoarthritis (OA). The findings, in a paper by Gregory D. Jay, M.D., Ph.D., of the department of emergency medicine, is published online in advance of print in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences...