Health News

Link Between Signaling Pathway And Fetal Alcohol Risk

Date: Feb-23-2013
Fetal alcohol syndrome is the leading preventable cause of developmental disorders in developed countries. And fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD), a range of alcohol-related birth defects that includes fetal alcohol syndrome, is thought to affect as many as 1 in 100 children born in the United States...

Drawing A Pension Improves Perceptions Of Health

Date: Feb-23-2013
After retirement, pensions provide consistent income to aging individuals. Although the details of pension eligibility and implementation vary by country, receiving pensions can represent a new life stage for individuals. Now, a University of Missouri researcher has studied how older men and women view their health before and after receiving fixed incomes. South African men and women in the study viewed their health more positively when they began receiving their pensions, but the heightened sense of well-being faded over time. "We looked at individuals' perceptions of their own health...

Schizophrenia Genes Increase Chance Of IQ Loss, Study Shows

Date: Feb-23-2013
People who are at greater genetic risk of schizophrenia are more likely to see a fall in IQ as they age, even if they do not develop the condition. Scientists at the University of Edinburgh say the findings could lead to new research into how different genes for schizophrenia affect brain function over time. They also show that genes associated with schizophrenia influence people in other important ways besides causing the illness itself. The researchers used the latest genetic analysis techniques to reach their conclusion on how thinking skills change with age...

To Improve Treatments For AMD And The Rare Kidney Disease AHUS, Tissue-Specific Therapies Need To Be Developed

Date: Feb-23-2013
Both AMD, which affects around 50 million people worldwide, and aHUS, a rare kidney disease that affects children, are associated with incorrectly controlled immune systems. A protein called complement factor H (CFH) is responsible for regulating part of our immune system called the complement cascade. Genetic alterations in CFH have been shown to increase a person's risk of developing either AMD or aHUS, but rarely both. Why this is the case has never been explained until now...

Parents Should Not Share Stories Of Drug Use With Kids

Date: Feb-23-2013
Most people have dabbled in alcohol and maybe even smoked some pot during their teen years, perhaps even something harder. Sharing these stories with your children could save them from making the same mistakes, right? Wrong, according to new research published in the journal Human Communication Research. A group of researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign questioned 561 middle school students about conversations they had with their parents regarding drinking, smoking, and marijuana...

GCP Could Lengthen Life Expectancy Of Prostate Cancer Patients

Date: Feb-23-2013
The life expectancy of some prostate cancer patients could be lengthened with a natural, non-toxic substance called genistein-combined polysaccharide (GCP). The finding came from a new study on prostate cancer cells and mice conducted by researchers from University of California, Davis, and was published in Endocrine-Related Cancer. The men who have the highest probability to benefit from GCP are those with metastatic prostate cancer - cancer that has spread to other parts of the body - and have already used drug therapy to lower their testosterone levels...

High Fat Diets Maybe Linked To ADHD And Learning Problems

Date: Feb-23-2013
Diets that are high in fat are possibly linked to childhood brain-based conditions, such as memory-dependent learning disabilities and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), researchers from the University of Illinois College of Medicine reported in Psychoneuroendocrinology. Senior author, Gregory Freund, said: "We found that a high-fat diet rapidly affected dopamine metabolism in the brains of juvenile mice, triggering anxious behaviors and learning deficiencies. Interestingly, when methylphenidate (Ritalin) was administered, the learning and memory problems went away...

Over Two Thirds Of Sunbed Users Concerned They Are Aging Their Skin

Date: Feb-22-2013
Results of a survey by the charity Cancer Research UK show that more than two thirds (68%) of people who use sunbeds are concerned that the practice is aging their skin. The research, which polled 2,500 UK adults in January, was released to coincide with the charity's R UV UGLY sunbed awareness campaign. The results also reveal that over two-fifths (43%) of UK's sunbed users are using anti-aging products compared with only one-fifth (20%) of non-users...

Scaling Up HIV Treatments Worth The Price, South Africa

Date: Feb-22-2013
According to two studies published in this week's Science journal, ramping up HIV antiretroviral treatments in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal has been worth the extra expense. According to the findings of the HTPN 052 (HIV Prevention Trials Network 052) trial, people who are HIV positive have a 96% lower chance of transmitting the virus to their partners if they are receiving ART (antiretroviral) medications. Jacob Bor, from Harvard University, Massachusetts, USA, and team followed up on this trial...

Stress Early In Life Can Affect Heart Function Early

Date: Feb-22-2013
Life stress early on such as that experienced by babies who are sick, appears to have an early impact on heart function, affecting the heart's ability to refill with oxygen-rich blood and relax. A group of researchers from Georgia Regents University conducted a study using rat pups, separating them from their mothers for a couple hours everyday. Then, an extra stress was added to raise blood pressure.  The researchers saw a noteworthy fall in basic heart function...