Health News

Treatment With Platelet-Rich Plasma Shows Potential For Knee Osteoarthritis

Date: Feb-15-2013
A study by researchers from Hospital for Special Surgery has shown that platelet-rich plasma (PRP) holds great promise for treating patients with knee osteoarthritis. The treatment improved pain and function, and in up to 73% of patients, appeared to delay the progression of osteoarthritis, which is a progressive disease. The study appears online, ahead of print, in the Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine. "This is a very positive study," said Brian Halpern, M.D., chief of the Primary Care Sports Medicine Service at Hospital for Special Surgery, New York City, and lead author of the study...

Testing For Huntington Disease Streamlined By Novel Test

Date: Feb-15-2013
High level of sensitivity and specificity reduces need for additional testing, reported in the Journal of Molecular Diagnostics A new test may help to streamline genetic testing for Huntington Disease (HD) by generating accurate results, avoiding unnecessary additional testing, and improving turnaround time. The test, which uses chimeric or triplet repeat primed PCR (TP PCR) methodology, yielded results that were 100% concordant with standard genotyping methods in an analysis of 246 samples...

Help Needed For Youths With Autism Spectrum Disorder Transitioning To Adult Health Care

Date: Feb-15-2013
Health care transition (HCT) services help young people with special health care needs such as asthma or diabetes move from pediatric to adult health care. However, youths with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have less access to these services, which are designed to prevent gaps in care and insurance coverage. A University of Missouri researcher recommends that the medical community develop HCT services for individuals with ASD as a way to ensure consistent and coordinated care and increase their independence and quality of life...

Understanding Cell Surface Proteins' Behaviour May Help Us Design Better, Less Toxic Drugs

Date: Feb-15-2013
A Simon Fraser University chemist is the lead author on a new paper that advances scientific understanding of the structure and function of glycoproteins, in particular the number and positioning of sugars on them. PLOS ONE, an international, peer-reviewed, open-access, online, scientific research journal, has just published the paper, N-glycoproteome of E14.Tg2a Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells.* Glycoproteins are membrane proteins and are often involved in human diseases...

Biochemistry Lab On A Chip

Date: Feb-15-2013
Miniaturized laboratory-on-chip systems promise rapid, sensitive, and multiplexed detection of biological samples for medical diagnostics, drug discovery, and high-throughput screening. Using micro-fabrication techniques and incorporating a unique design of transistor-based heating, researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign are further advancing the use of silicon transistor and electronics into chemistry and biology for point-of-care diagnostics...

Mothers Cope With Child's Cancer Diagnosis With The Help Of Problem-Solving Training

Date: Feb-15-2013
A multi-site clinical trial including the University of Colorado Cancer Center shows that the benefit of Bright IDEAS problem-solving skills training goes beyond teaching parents to navigate the complex medical, educational, and other systems that accompany a child's diagnosis of cancer - the training also leads to durable reduction in mothers' levels of anxiety and symptoms of posttraumatic stress, and improves overall coping with a child's illness. Results of the study were published online last week in the Journal of Clinical Oncology...

Smoking Bans Reduce Incidence Of Preterm Births

Date: Feb-15-2013
A recent study that evaluated the impact of the introduction of smoke-free legislation on preterm births identified yet another benefit of smoking bans. The findings, which were published in BMJ, confirm that smoking bans significantly reduce the risk of preterm delivery.  The health risks associated with smoking during pregnancy are already very well known - it can cause the unborn child to not develop properly, as well as shortening gestation...

Income Inequality Linked To Readmission Risk, Not Mortality

Date: Feb-15-2013
Income inequality is linked to a greater risk of readmission to hospital, but not mortality. The finding came from a large study of older patients in the U.S. and was published in British Medical Journal (BMJ). Over the three year research period, about 40,000 extra hospital admissions resulted from income inequality, according to the investigators...

Unconventional Sugar Treatment Used To Heal Wounds In Hospital Patients

Date: Feb-14-2013
Using sugar to heal injuries has now been revealed as "revolutionary" by a particular patient who is getting the treatment at a Birmingham Hospital in the UK. The novel practice, used by a senior lecturer at the University of Wolverhampton's School of Health, Moses Murandu who grew up in Zimbabwe, consists of using granulated sugar on hospital patients to heal wounds and decrease pain. The method was created by Murandu's father. When Murandu moved to the UK he noticed that sugar was not used for this practice in most other countries...

Morning-After Pill Use Increases In U.S.

Date: Feb-14-2013
Morning-after pill use has notably increased in the United States. About 1 in 9 younger women have taken the pill after sex. The finding came from the first government report to analyze emergency contraception since it received approval 15 years ago. The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) released the results on Thursday. Kimberly Daniels, from the National Center for Health Statistics, and team conducted a survey involving over 12,000 females aged between 15 and 44 years...