Health News

Integrated Information Systems For Smarter Health And Social Care Proposed By Social Scientists

Date: Feb-08-2013
A new ESF position paper calls for increasing use of ICT to deliver health and social care services. A new position paper, Developing a New Understanding of Enabling Health and Wellbeing in Europe, published by the European Science Foundation, highlights the need for change in health and social care across Europe. As social care and informal care are essential to improving health and preventing health problems, especially in an ageing population, there are still large gaps of knowledge in how best to organise this, and how best to combine it with health care...

How Popular Views Of Health Have Changed Over Time

Date: Feb-08-2013
Today health is a matter of living a risk-conscious lifestyle and being in control of one's body and life. Yet 100 years ago, health was not a private matter but rather a national duty. This is found in a new doctoral thesis in religious studies from the University of Gothenburg. By analysing health publications from 2009 and the years 1910-13, Wilhelm Kardemark was able to shed light on how popular views of health have changed over time. 'The changes in the views of health seem to be closely linked to changes in the views of human beings...

Component In Olive Oil Alleviates Intestinal Ischemia And Reperfusion

Date: Feb-08-2013
Here's another reason why you should include olive oil in your diet: A new research report published in the Journal of Leukocyte Biology suggests that at least one compound in olive oil significantly reduces intestinal ischemia (restricted blood supply) and the resulting reperfusion injury (tissue damage caused when blood supply returns). The compound, called "oleuropein aglycone," is the most prominent polyphenol found in olive oil and could become a novel therapeutic target aimed at treating intestinal ischemia and reperfusion injury in humans...

Depression In Both Stroke Patients And Spouse Caregivers Influenced By Self-Esteem And Optimism

Date: Feb-08-2013
Self-esteem, optimism and perceived control influence depression in stroke survivors and their spouse caregivers - who should be treated together, according to research presented at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference 2013. Researchers, who analyzed 112 depressed stroke survivors up to 8 weeks after hospital discharge and their spouses, found self-esteem and optimism influenced each partners' depression...

How Chromosomes Keep Their Loose Ends Loose Has Implications For Cancer And The Aging Process

Date: Feb-08-2013
We take it for granted that our chromosomes won't stick together, yet this kind of cellular disaster would happen constantly were it not for a protein called TRF2. Now, scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have discovered key details of how TRF2 performs this crucial chromosome-protecting function. The finding represents a significant advance in cell biology and also has implications for our understanding of cancer and the aging process...

Link Between Most Common Form Of Heart Valve Disease And Unusual Cholesterol

Date: Feb-08-2013
Researchers have discovered a gene associated with a form of cholesterol that increases the risk of developing aortic stenosis, the most common form of heart valve disease, by more than half. This international study, involving the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC), is the first of its kind to uncover a genetic link with aortic valve disease - a condition that affects more than 5 million people in North America...

Calcium-Binding Protein Mutations Found In Heart Rhythm Disorders

Date: Feb-08-2013
A team led by Vanderbilt University investigators has discovered two new genes - both coding for the signaling protein calmodulin - associated with severe early-onset disorders of heart rhythm. The findings, reported online in the journal Circulation, expand the list of culprits that can cause sudden cardiac death and may point to new therapeutic approaches. Nearly two decades of research have identified more than 25 genes in which mutations can increase risk for life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias, said Alfred George, Jr., M.D., chief of the Division of Genetic Medicine at Vanderbilt...

Researchers Discover Enzyme Behind Breast Cancer Mutations

Date: Feb-08-2013
Researchers at the University of Minnesota have uncovered a human enzyme responsible for causing DNA mutations found in the majority of breast cancers. The discovery of this enzyme - called APOBEC3B - may change the way breast cancer is diagnosed and treated. The findings from a team of researchers led by Reuben Harris, Ph.D., associate professor of biochemistry, molecular biology and biophysics and also a researcher at the Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota, are published in the latest edition of Nature...

Study Of Rare Disease, Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome: Looking Like A Woman But With Male Genitals

Date: Feb-08-2013
University of Granada researchers have designed a guideline for physicians and patients on the Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome (AIS), a rare disease that makes the subject develop reverse sex, which occurs when a subject looks like a woman but has male genes. AIS has low prevalence (it only affects one in 2000 people), and it is characterized by the inability of tissues to respond to the action of male hormones. This prevents individuals with XY sex hormones (i.e. 46,XY) to develop male genitalia...

New Study Sheds Light On Cellular Reprogramming

Date: Feb-08-2013
Mature cells can be reprogrammed to pluripotency and thus regain the ability to divide and differentiate into specialized cell types. Although these so-called induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells) represent a milestone in stem cell research, many of the biochemical processes that underlie reprogramming are still not understood. Scientists from the EMBL Hamburg and from the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine in Münster, Germany now shed new light on this process...