Health News

Brain Connections Differ In Kids With Autism

Date: Feb-27-2013
Kids with autism have a structural difference in brain connections compared to those without the disorder. The finding, published in BMC Medicine, came from scientists from Boston Children's Hospital who used EEGs to track the electrical cross-talk of the brain. Previous research showed that the brains of adults with autism are "wired" differently from people without the disorder, and this abnormal pattern of connectivity may be the reason for the social impairments experienced by those with autism...

Brits Underestimate Their Own Drinking

Date: Feb-27-2013
The amount of alcohol that is drunk by consumers in England is much higher than originally reported, according to a new paper in the European Journal of Public Health. Over three quarters of the English population drink in excess of the recommended daily alcohol limit. The study was done by a group of investigators in the UCL Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, and is the first of its kind to explore the possible public health outcomes associated with the under-reporting of alcohol intake...

The 2nd Global Clinical Trials Outsourcing Summit, 20 - 22 May 2013, Seoul, South Korea

Date: Feb-27-2013
Understanding how to Best Run Clinical Trials in BRIC Countries BRIC countries are significantly different from each other in terms of capacity, regulatory status, operational skills, site expertise etc. Hence it is important for researchers to look at Brazil, Russia, India and China independently rather than as one homogenous group. In recent years, there have been tremendous developments in terms of regulatory timelines, development of clinical and paramedical staff involved in clinical trials, ethical issues related to patients, compensation etc in each these countries...

Gut Bacteria Help Regulate Blood Pressure

Date: Feb-27-2013
In a new study, US scientists suggest gut bacteria form part of a complex system that maintains the body's blood pressure.  They have discovered a specialized odor-sensing receptor normally present in the nose can also be found in blood vessels throughout the body. In the gut, the receptor reacts to small molecules generated by bacteria by raising blood pressure. The study may aid understanding of how antibiotics, probiotics, and changes in diet affect blood pressure...

Four Doses Protect Against Cat Allergy Symptoms For Two Years

Date: Feb-27-2013
Two years after starting to receive four doses of a cat allergy treatment, patients continue to show fewer signs of itching eyes and nose, watery eyes and sneezing, say McMaster researchers. The second phase of a clinical trial of a therapy to treat cat allergies demonstrates just four doses of the treatment, showed significant improvements in patients' symptoms two years after the start of the therapy. Mark Larché, professor of medicine at the Michael G...

Preventing Chronic Pain With Stress Management

Date: Feb-27-2013
For chronic pain sufferers, such as people who develop back pain after a car accident, avoiding the harmful effects of stress may be key to managing their condition. This is particularly important for people with a smaller-than-average hippocampus, as these individuals seem to be particularly vulnerable to stress. These are the findings of a study by Dr...

UPMC First To Enroll Patients In Inaugural U.S. Trial Inserting Coils In Emphysema-Diseased Lungs

Date: Feb-27-2013
UPMC is the first center in North America to enroll patients into a Food and Drug Administration-approved clinical trial that will test whether the insertion of small coils can collapse diseased lung areas and improve both lung function and exercise tolerance among patients with advanced emphysema. UPMC pulmonologists on Feb. 21 performed the procedure on a 65-year-old Hampton woman in a newly launched study that aims to recruit 315 patients across 30 U.S. and European centers...

Childhood Blood Lead Levels Rise And Fall With Exposure To Airborne Dust In Urban Areas

Date: Feb-27-2013
A new nine-year study of more than 367,000 children in Detroit supports the idea that a mysterious seasonal fluctuation in blood lead levels - observed in urban areas throughout the United States and elsewhere in the northern hemisphere - results from resuspended dust contaminated with lead. The scientists, who report in the journal Environmental Science &Technology (ES&T), say the results have implications for government efforts to control childhood exposure to lead, which can have serious health consequences...

Stivarga® (regorafenib) Tablets Approved By U.S. FDA For Treatment Of Patients With Locally Advanced, Unresectable Or Metastatic GIST

Date: Feb-27-2013
Bayer HealthCare and Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ONXX) have announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Bayer's Stivarga® (regorafenib) tablets to treat patients with locally advanced, unresectable or metastatic gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) who have been previously treated with imatinib mesylate and sunitinib malate...

Lower Income Patients Often Do Not Have Access To Electronic Health Communications

Date: Feb-27-2013
Lower-income patients want to communicate electronically with their doctors, but the revolution in health care technology often is not accessible to them, due to inadequate health information services within the health care clinics they frequent, according to a survey by UC San Francisco researchers. Increasing numbers of health care systems are offering online services to patients in order to manage care outside of office visits, and this often includes the ability for patients to communicate electronically with health care providers...