Health News

Schwann Cells Implicated In Peripheral Nerve Damage

Date: Mar-10-2013
Anyone whose hand or foot has "fallen asleep" has an idea of the numbness and tingling often experienced by people with peripheral nerve damage. The condition also can cause a range of other symptoms, including unrelenting pain, stinging, burning, itching and sensitivity to touch. Although peripheral neuropathies afflict some 20 million Americans, their underlying causes are not completely understood. Much research has focused on the breakdown of cellular energy factories in nerve cells as a contributing factor. Now, new research at Washington University School of Medicine in St...

Bathing Abdomen In Chemotherapy Gives Ovarian Cancer Patients Better Chance Of Survival

Date: Mar-09-2013
More Women Should Receive Intraperitoneal Treatment, Suggests 10-Year Follow-up Patients with advanced ovarian cancer who undergo intensive treatment with chemotherapy that bathes the abdomen are significantly more likely to live longer than those who receive standard intravenous (IV) chemotherapy, according to a study that analyzed long-term follow-up from two landmark Gynecologic Oncology Group (GOG) trials comprising 876 patients. Results of the study are being presented at the Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO) Annual Meeting on Women's Cancer in Los Angeles, March 9-12...

Most Work-Related Amputations Missing From Federal Figures

Date: Mar-09-2013
A new report from Michigan State University and the Michigan Department of Community Health raises significant concerns about the federal government's system for tracking work-related injuries. Published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, the study found the number of amputations following jobsite accidents in Michigan was nearly two-and-a-half times higher than the official estimate from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics...

Up To Half Of Gestational Diabetes Patients Will Go On To Develop Type 2 Diabetes

Date: Mar-09-2013
Women who were diagnosed with gestational diabetes during pregnancy face a significantly higher risk of developing Type 2 diabetes in the future, according to a recent study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM).. The prospective cohort study tracked 843 women who were diagnosed with gestational diabetes between 1996 and 2003 at Cheil General Hospital in Seoul, South Korea. About 12.5 percent of the women developed Type 2 diabetes within two months of delivering their babies...

Assisted Suicide Supported By Majority Of Albertans

Date: Mar-09-2013
An overwhelming majority of Albertans believe dying adults should have the right to request to end their life, according to new research from the University of Alberta. U of A researcher Donna Wilson led the team that studied the views of 1,203 Albertans on assisted suicide, currently illegal in Canada. A majority - 77.4 per cent - felt dying adults should have the right to end their life early. "Increasingly, there are countries or states where they are allowing assisted suicide or euthanasia...

New Framework For Brain Communications Offers Insight Into Brain Disease

Date: Mar-09-2013
The transistors and wires that power our electronic devices need to be mounted on a base material known as a "motherboard." Our human brain is not so different - neurons, the cells that transmit electrical and chemical signals, are connected to one another through synapses, similar to transistors and wires, and they need a base material too. But the cells serving that function in the brain may have other functions as well...

Industrial Chemicals Found In Food Samples

Date: Mar-09-2013
Researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) have discovered phthalates, industrial chemicals, in common foods purchased in the United States. Phthalates can be found in a variety of products and food packaging material, child-care articles and medical devices. "Although it's not completely understood how phthalates get into our food, packaging may be a contributor to the levels of the toxin in food," said lead investigator Arnold Schecter, M.D., M.P.H...

First Dystonia Gene Found In African-Americans

Date: Mar-09-2013
A pair of studies tells the tale of how a neuroscientist at Mayo Clinic in Florida helped to discover the first African-American family to have inherited the rare movement disorder dystonia, which causes repetitive muscle contractions and twisting, resulting in abnormal posture. The research may improve diagnosis of this neurological condition in a population not known to suffer from it. In the first study, published in 2011 in the journal Parkinsonism and Related Disorders, Mayo Clinic's Zbigniew Wszolek, M.D., and a team of neuroscientists from other institutions in the U.S...

Report Breaks New Ground In Our Understanding Of Health Centers' Role In Family Planning

Date: Mar-09-2013
A report by the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services (SPHHS) and the RCHN Community Health Foundation offers the first-ever in-depth examination of health centers' role in access to family planning. The report finds that virtually all health centers furnish family planning services to some extent but for both financial and non-financial reasons, only 1 in 5 is able to offer access to the full range of contraceptive services...

Despite Olympic Fever, British Women Remain Indifferent About Sport

Date: Mar-09-2013
A new survey reveals that more than half of British women did not play competitive sport or spend any time on intensive workouts such as running or cycling, in a given week. Seven months on from the 2012 Olympics, British women are still less likely than their European counterparts to devote any time to competitive sport, with Britain trailing behind Germany, Denmark, Sweden and France, according to a new multi-national survey on sport and exercise habits...