Health News

Genetic Mutation Causing Mental Retardation Very Similar To Angelman Syndrome Found In Amish Community

Date: Mar-15-2013
Researchers from the research group in growth factors and cell differentiation at IDIBELL and the University of Barcelona (UB) have participated in an international study that has identified the genetic cause of developmental delay observed in Amish individuals in the USA. The research results have been published in the Journal of Medical Genetics. Amish community Amish is a religious community known for a simple and traditional style of life and for its reluctance to adopt modern amenities and technologies...

Genital Warts In Young Girls Reduced By Early HPV Vaccination

Date: Mar-15-2013
The incidence of genital warts, or condylomata, declined by 93 per cent in girls given the HPV vaccine before the age of 14, according to a Swedish national registry study. The study was carried out by researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, and published in Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Using a selection of population-based registries, the researchers at Karolinska Institutet studied 124,000 girls and women in Sweden between 10 and 44 years old who had received the HPV vaccine against condyloma and cervical cancer at some time between 2006 and 2010...

Improving HIV Treatment, Predicting How Patients Will Respond To Drugs

Date: Mar-15-2013
Results of a study published online in the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy yesterday (Thursday), demonstrate that computer models can predict how HIV patients whose drug therapy is failing will respond to a new treatment. Crucially for patients in poorer countries, the models do not require the results of expensive drug resistance tests to make their predictions...

Night Shifts May Be Linked To Increased Ovarian Cancer Risk

Date: Mar-15-2013
Some evidence that risk may be lower for "owls" than "larks" Working night shifts might increase the risk of developing ovarian cancer, indicates research published in Occupational and Environmental Medicine. The risk may be lower for night types ("owls") than for morning types ("larks"), the findings suggest (see accompanying commentary). The authors base their findings on 1101 women with the most common type (epithelial) of advanced ovarian cancer; 389 with borderline disease; and a comparison group of 1832 women without ovarian cancer...

First Full Tapeworm Genomes Reveal That Existing Drugs Could Be Effective In Treating The Parasite

Date: Mar-15-2013
For the first time, researchers have mapped the genomes of tapeworms to reveal potential drug targets on which existing drugs could act. The genomes provide a new resource that offers faster ways to develop urgently needed and effective treatments for these debilitating diseases. Tapeworms cause two of the World Health Organization's 17 neglected tropical diseases; echinococcosis and cysticercosis. The team sequenced the genomes of four species of tapeworm to explore the genetics and underlying biology of this unusual parasite...

How The Tobacco Industry May Have Evaded FDA Ban On 'Light' Cigarette Descriptors

Date: Mar-15-2013
New research from Harvard School of Public Health (HPSH) shows that one year after the federal government passed a law banning word descriptors such as "light," "mild," and "low" on cigarette packages, smokers can still easily identify their brands because of color-coding that tobacco companies added to "light" packs after the ban. These findings suggest that the companies have, in effect, been able to evade the ban on misleading wording - thus still conveying the false and deceptive message that lights are safer than "regular" cigarettes...

FDA Investigates Safety Of Type 2 Diabetes Drugs Januvia And Byetta

Date: Mar-15-2013
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is investigating whether or not the Type 2 Diabetes drugs Januvia (from Merck) and Byetta (from Bristol-Myers Squibb) are associated with an increased risk of developing pancreatic cancer. Close to 25 million people in the United States have diabetes, costing the country an estimated $245 billion a year. There's been a huge rise in the number of treatment options over the last few years. Many patients have to take more than one drug to stabilize their blood sugar levels and insulin...

Balancing Act: Direct And Indirect Costs Of Managing Musculoskeletal Disorders

Date: Mar-15-2013
The value of medical treatment can be far greater than the cost of the treatment finds a study in BioMed Central's open access journal Cost Effectiveness and Resource Allocation. Improved physical function leads to measurable gains in employment, improved household income, and fewer days missed from work. This improvement in employment is matched by a reduction in the necessity of disability benefits...

Alcohol, Fibromyalgia, And Quality Of Life

Date: Mar-15-2013
Low and moderate drinkers of alcohol reported lower severity of symptoms of fibromyalgia than teetotallers, finds a study in BioMed Central's open access journal Arthritis Research & Therapy. Too much alcohol reversed this effect. The chronic pain of fibromyalgia is thought to affect one in 20 people worldwide but there is no known cause or cure. It often goes hand in hand with fatigue and sleep problems, headaches, depression and irritable bowel and bladder problems. Treatment is based around pain management and lifestyle changes...

Physician Gender Not Found To Affect Patient Care Costs Or Mortality

Date: Mar-15-2013
Female doctors' patients do not use health-care services more or die less frequently than patients treated by male doctors, a prospective, observational study by researchers at UC Davis Health System has found. The study, published in the March-April issue of The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine, is the first large, nationwide evaluation of the association between provider gender and patients' use of health-care services and mortality...