Health News

New Tests To Gage A Young Child's Motor Skills

Date: Feb-25-2013
Motor development in children under five years of age can now be tested reliably: Together with colleagues from Lausanne, researchers from the University Children's Hospital Zurich and the University of Zurich have determined normative data for different exercises such as hopping or running. This enables parents and experts to gage the motor skills of young children for the first time objectively and thus identify abnormalities at an early stage. My child still can't stand on one leg or walk down the stairs in alternating steps while all the other children already can...

Avocado Consumption May Be Associated With Better Diet Quality

Date: Feb-25-2013
New analysis of data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) , a program of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), indicates that consuming avocados may be associated with better diet quality and nutrient intake level, lower intake of added sugars, lower body weight, BMI and waist circumferences, higher "good cholesterol" levels and lower metabolic syndrome risk. These results were published in the January 2013 issue of Nutrition Journal. Specifically, the survey data (NHANES 2001-2008, 17,567 U.S...

New Method For Next-Generation Live-Attenuated Viral Vaccines Against Chikungunya Virus Shows Promise

Date: Feb-25-2013
Researchers have successfully applied a novel method of vaccine creation for Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) using a technique called large scale random codon re-encoding. Using this approach, a group from the UMR_D 190, Emerging viruses Department in Marseille, France in collaboration with the University of Sydney, Australia, demonstrated that the engineered viruses exhibit a stable phenotype with a significantly decreased viral fitness (i.e., replication capacity), making it a new vaccine candidate for this emerging viral disease...

Use Of Catheters In Dialysis Linked With High Risk Of Infections, Heart Problems, And Death

Date: Feb-25-2013
Review examines safety of different dialysis procedures to access the blood Highlights   Dialysis patients using catheters to access the blood have the highest risks for death, infections, and cardiovascular events compared with patients using other types of vascular access.   Higher quality studies are needed to determine the true safety of different types of vascular access used for hemodialysis.   Worldwide, more than 1.5 million people are treated with hemodialysis...

Trauma-Induced Epilepsy May Be Prevented By Cooling The Brain Following Injury

Date: Feb-25-2013
In the weeks, months and years after a severe head injury, patients often experience epileptic seizures that are difficult to control. A new study in rats suggests that gently cooling the brain after injury may prevent these seizures. "Traumatic head injury is the leading cause of acquired epilepsy in young adults, and in many cases the seizures can't be controlled with medication," says senior author Matthew Smyth, MD, associate professor of neurological surgery and of pediatrics at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis...

Prostate Cancer Treated With High Dose Radioactive Pellets

Date: Feb-25-2013
A new form of radiotherapy to treat prostate cancer is being used by doctors in Southampton, UK. Implanting radioactive pellets in prostate cancer patients which specifically target and eradicate the cancerous cells at the tumor site has proved to be very effective treatment. There are close to 36,000 new cases of prostate cancer every year in the UK - accounting for nearly a quarter of all newly diagnosed cancer cases...

Reprogramming Alpha Cells To Fight Diabetes

Date: Feb-25-2013
Rather than trying to reactivate the insulin-producing beta cells, researchers say that reprogramming the alpha cells into beta cells may be a better route to take in order to treat type 2 diabetes. The scientists, from the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, explained in the Journal of Clinical Investigation that they managed to treat human and mouse cells with compounds that altered the chromatin (cell nuclear material) in alpha cells so that they induced the expression of beta cell genes...

Omontys, Anemia Drug For Kidney Dialysis Patients, Recalled

Date: Feb-25-2013
Omontys (peginesatide) Injection, a drug used for anemia treatment in kidney dialysis patients, has been recalled because of "serious, life-threatening or fatal hypersensitivity reactions", including anaphylaxis. The voluntary recall has been announced by Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. and Affymax Inc. The two companies have recalled all Omontys lots which are sold in 20mg and 10mg vials. Doctors have been told not to administer the medication to patients...

Could An Antibiotic From Human Sweat Fight Hospital Superbugs And TB?

Date: Feb-25-2013
An antibiotic created from human sweat might fight off hospital superbugs and deadly strains of tuberculosis, scientists reported in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The researchers, from Scotland, Germany, France and Spain explained that a protein found on human skin - Dermcidin - is activated in sweat (slightly acidic and salty environments) and kills harmful microbes by perforating their cell membranes. Dermcidin is a natural protein, part of our natural defences, that is present on our skin when we sweat...

Screening Could Avert 12,000 Lung Cancer Deaths Each Year In The United States

Date: Feb-25-2013
Screening for lung cancer with low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) in all screening-eligible current and former smokers has the potential to avert approximately 12,000 lung cancer deaths each year in the United States. That is the conclusion of a new analysis published early online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society. By providing a national estimate of potentially avertable lung cancer deaths, the study will help policy makers better understand the possible benefits of LDCT lung cancer screening...