Health News

Modern Communication Technologies Can Adversely Affect Soldiers And Families

Date: Mar-20-2013
As recently as the Vietnam and Korean wars, soldiers' families commonly had to wait months to receive word from family members on the front lines. Now, cell phones and the internet allow deployed soldiers and their families to communicate instantly. However, along with the benefits of keeping in touch, using new communication technologies can have negative consequences for both soldiers and their families, according to a study by University of Missouri researcher Brian Houston...

Link Between Difficulty In Recognizing Faces In Autism And Performance In A Group Of Neurons

Date: Mar-20-2013
Neuroscientists at Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC) have discovered a brain anomaly that explains why some people diagnosed with autism cannot easily recognize faces - a deficit linked to the impairments in social interactions considered to be the hallmark of the disorder. They also say that the novel neuroimaging analysis technique they developed to arrive at this finding is likely to help link behavioral deficits to differences at the neural level in a range of neurological disorders...

Likelihood Of Cesarean Delivery In Massachusetts Linked To Choice Of Hospitals

Date: Mar-20-2013
There is wide variation in the rate of cesarean sections performed at different hospitals across the U.S. and one explanation has been that hospitals with higher c-section rates serve greater numbers of women at high risk for the procedure...

Evidence Of Inbreeding Revealed By Skulls Of Early Humans

Date: Mar-20-2013
Buried for 100,000 years at Xujiayao in the Nihewan Basin of northern China, the recovered skull pieces of an early human exhibit a now-rare congenital deformation that indicates inbreeding might well have been common among our ancestors, new research from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Washington University in St. Louis suggests...

How Police Can Use Less Force When Dealing With Mental Health Related Calls

Date: Mar-20-2013
Researchers with the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry designed a one-day training program for the Edmonton Police Service that resulted in officers being more likely to quickly identify mental health issues during a call, and less likely to use physical force or a weapon in those situations. The training resulted in long-term behaviour change in the officers and saved the police force money because mental health-related calls were dealt with more efficiently...

In Patients With Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma Scientists Investigate Potential Markers For A Response To Sunitinib

Date: Mar-20-2013
Markers such as CA9, CD31, CD34 and VEGFR1/2 in the primary tumours might serve as predictors of a good response to a sunitinib treatment in patients with metastatic clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC), according to a new study presented at the 28th Annual EAU Congress currently on-going in Milan. "The inactivation of the von Hippel-Lindau gene (VHL) is a common event in ccRCC and finally leads to the induction of HIF1α target genes such as CA9 and VEGF," write the authors...

Astrocyte Signaling Sheds Light On Stroke Research

Date: Mar-20-2013
New research published in The Journal of Neuroscience suggests that modifying signals sent by astrocytes, our star-shaped brain cells, may help to limit the spread of damage after an ischemic brain stroke. The study in mice, by neuroscientists at Tufts University School of Medicine, determined that astrocytes play a critical role in the spread of damage following stroke. The National Heart Foundation reports that ischemic strokes account for 87% of strokes in the United States...

Chronic Pain Sufferers Benefit From Online Chatrooms

Date: Mar-20-2013
The more than 100 million Americans living with chronic pain and daily suffering often have limited outlets to talk about their conditions with others who can understand and offer comfort. Online chatrooms may provide a beneficial forum where chronic pain sufferers can openly and safely communicate, as discussed in an article in Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free online on the Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking website...

Depression, Impairments More Than Twice As Likely In Pneumonia Patients

Date: Mar-20-2013
The long-term consequences of pneumonia can be more detrimental to a person's health than having a heart attack, according to joint research from the University of Michigan Health System and University of Washington School of Medicine. Older adults who are hospitalized for pneumonia have a significantly higher risk of new problems that affect their ability to care for themselves, and the effects are comparable to those who survive a heart attack or stroke, according to the new findings in the American Journal of Medicine...

Caffeine "Can Significantly Protect Against Crash Risk" For Long Distance Heavy Vehicle Drivers

Date: Mar-20-2013
Drinking coffee to stay awake linked with 63% lower crash risk Long distance commercial drivers who consume caffeinated substances such as coffee or energy drinks, to stay awake while driving, are significantly less likely to crash than those who do not, even though they drive longer distances and sleep less, finds a study published today on bmj.com. Long distance drivers routinely experience monotonous and extended driving periods in a sedentary position, which has been associated with wake time drowsiness, increasing the likelihood of crashing...