Health News

Research Team Explores H1N1 Outbreak

Date: Feb-21-2013
Just the mention of H1N1 can conjure up images of long lines of people waiting to be vaccinated, news reports of the severity of the pandemic and the count of the number of people who perished from the 2009-10 outbreak. However, some positives are coming forward. Researchers at the University of Louisville have found variations within H1N1 patients who were hospitalized and identified those that most impacted patients. Their findings were published on the PLOS ONE website...

Coronary Heart Disease And History Of Stroke A Fatal Combination

Date: Feb-21-2013
The cardiology service team at the Hopital Bichat and the Mixed INSERM Unit 698 (AP-HP, Universite Paris Diderot), in collaboration with international teams of researchers, studied a cohort of patients suffering from coronary disease. The study showed that those patients with a history of stroke or transient ischæmic attack (TIA) are not only at higher risk of cardio-vascular episodes but also of haemorrhagic events, stressing the therapeutic challenge involved in treating such patients. The research is published online in Circulation...

Potential Personalized Treatment Offered By Identification Of Fungi In The Lungs Of Asthma Patients

Date: Feb-21-2013
Hundreds of tiny fungal particles found in the lungs of asthma sufferers could offer new clues in the development of new treatments, according to a team of Cardiff University scientists. In the first large study of its type, published in the journal, BMC Infectious Diseases, a team of researchers from Cardiff University's School of Medicine have uncovered large numbers of fungi present in healthy lungs. "Historically, the lungs were thought to be sterile," according to Dr Hugo van Woerden from Cardiff University's Institute of Primary Care and Public Health, who led the research...

Victims Of Bullying At Increased Risk Of Anxiety Disorders And Depression Later On

Date: Feb-21-2013
Children who are bullied are at an increased risk of developing anxiety disorders and depression when they become adults, according to a new study published in JAMA Psychiatry.  The study identified that bullying is not simply a 'harmless rite of passage', as it can also cause serious adverse health outcomes in the victims and perpetrators, in the form of depression, physical health problems and behavior and emotional problems, psychotic symptoms, and loss of motivation. The researchers, led by William E. Copeland, Ph.D...

Codeine After Tonsillectomy Dangerous, FDA Warns

Date: Feb-21-2013
Medicines that contain codeine should not be used for pain relief in kids after a tonsillectomy or adenoidectomy (surgery removing the tonsils or adenoids), because there is a chance of serious side effects or possible death, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). A new boxed warning addressing the risk of codeine for post-surgery pain management in children will be added to medicines that contain codeine. A boxed warning is the FDA's highest warning level...

Diet Drinks Do Not Increase Appetite

Date: Feb-21-2013
Diet drinks do not increase people's appetite or cause them to eat a lot of sugary or fatty foods any more than water does, according to a new study. The research came from a team of experts led by Carmen Piernas, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Gillings School of Global Public Health, and was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. These findings contradict prior research which has indicated that drinks containing artificial sweeteners can disrupt hormones associated with hunger, resulting in the consumption of more food...

Myth That UK Supply Of Innovative New Pharma Drugs Is Drying Up

Date: Feb-21-2013
In fact, patterns over past 40 years suggest reverse may be true The widely held belief that the UK supply of innovative new medicines has conspicuously dwindled in recent decades, is not borne out by the evidence, reveals research published in the online journal BMJ Open. In fact, the reverse may be true, the figures suggest. The prevailing view is that pharmaceutical industry innovation has been in decline, with fewer new drugs launched in recent decades than before - despite more cash being pumped into research and development - prompting a good deal of hand-wringing, say the authors...

Identifying The Negative Emotions When Babies Cry

Date: Feb-21-2013
Spanish researchers have studied adults' accuracy in the recognition of the emotion causing babies to cry. Eye movement and the dynamic of the cry play a key role in recognition. It is not easy to know why a newborn cries, especially amongst first-time parents. Although the main reasons are hunger, pain, anger and fear, adults cannot easily recognise which emotion is the cause of the tears...

Reading Impairments In Schizophrenia Revealed By Eye Movements

Date: Feb-21-2013
A study of eye movements in schizophrenia patients provides new evidence of impaired reading fluency in individuals with the mental illness. The findings, by researchers at McGill University in Montreal, could open avenues to earlier detection and intervention for people with the illness. While schizophrenia patients are known to have abnormalities in language and in eye movements, until recently reading ability was believed to be unaffected. That is because most previous studies examined reading in schizophrenia using single-word reading tests, the McGill researchers conclude...

In Brain Inflammation, P38beta MAPK Not Critical

Date: Feb-21-2013
A study by a leading Alzheimer's researcher at the University of Kentucky provides new evidence that will help researchers home in on the molecular mechanisms involved in inflammation of the central nervous system (CNS) and aid drug-development strategies for treating inflammatory neurological diseases. The research was led by Linda Van Eldik, director of UK's Sanders-Brown Center on Aging, and included co-authors Bin Xing and Adam Bachstetter from the Van Eldik lab...