Health News

CDC Recommendations During Meningitis Outbreak Debated By Scientists

Date: Feb-08-2013
A pair of commentaries to appear in an upcoming issue of the journal Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy highlight a debate within the public health community surrounding Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommendations for treatment of exposed individuals during last year's fungal meningitis outbreak. Manuscripts of the commentaries were published ahead of prin on the journal's webpage...

Electrical Stimulation Combined With Zoloft Very Effective At Treating Depression

Date: Feb-08-2013
Researchers from the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil have compared and assessed the difference between electrical current therapy and treatment with sertraline hydrochloride (one of the most prescribed antidepressants in the U.S.) for those suffering from major depressive disorder.  Depression is a mental disorder that affects a person's ability to function normally. It causes fluctuations in mood and forces the individual into a feeling of severe sadness that can persist for long periods - typically, this interferes with their ability to function normally, and to work...

Mapping The Landscape Of Kinases Could Aid In New World Of Personalized Cancer Treatment

Date: Feb-08-2013
When it comes to gene sequencing and personalized medicine for cancer, spotting an aberrant kinase is a home run. The proteins are relatively easy to target with drugs and plenty of kinase inhibitors already exist. Now in a new study, University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers assess the complete landscape of a cancer's "kinome" expression and determine which kinases are acting up in a particular tumor. They go on to show that those particular kinases can be targeted with drugs - potentially combining multiple drugs to target multiple kinases...

Older Motorcyclists More Likely To Be Severely Injured In Crashes

Date: Feb-08-2013
Older motorcyclists aged 60 and older are three times more likely to be severely injured in a crash than younger bikers. The finding came from a new US study and was published in the journal Injury Prevention. The results are concerning, explained the researchers, considering there is a rising number of older adults owning a motorcycle, and their increasing likelihood to be involved in an accident. A previous report indicated that older bikers are more likely to be injured or die because of a motorcycle accident than younger bikers...

Bronchiectasis Increases Mortality Risk In Moderate-To-Severe COPD

Date: Feb-08-2013
Bronchiectasis is independently associated with an increased mortality risk in patients with moderate-to-severe COPD, according to a new study from researchers in Spain. Bronchiectasis, a permanent and progressive dilation of the lung's airways, is common in COPD patients and is associated with longer and more intense exacerbations, more frequent bacterial colonization of the bronchial mucosa, and a greater degree of functional impairment...

Biostatisticians Identify Genes Linked To Heart Disease

Date: Feb-08-2013
Recently, large studies have identified some of the genetic basis for important common diseases such as heart disease and diabetes, but most of the genetic contribution to them remains undiscovered. Now researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst led by biostatistician Andrea Foulkes have applied sophisticated statistical tools to existing large databases to reveal substantial new information about genes that cause such conditions as high cholesterol linked to heart disease. Foulkes says, "This new approach to data analysis provides opportunities for developing new treatments...

School-Based Physical Activity And Nutrition Programs Effective Against Childhood Obesity

Date: Feb-08-2013
Community-based efforts to change the environment are proving to be an effective way of encouraging more physical activity and nutrition among school-age children, according to findings announced from Kaiser Permanente. Researchers examined a series of Kaiser Permanente community-based obesity prevention interventions in adults and children and found that the more effective obesity prevention interventions were those that were "high dose" - reaching large populations with greater strength - and those that focused specifically on changing child behaviors within the school environment...

Attention Deficits Picked Up In Babies Who Later Develop Autism

Date: Feb-08-2013
Researchers at Yale School of Medicine are able to detect deficits in social attention in infants as young as six months of age who later develop Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Published in the current issue of /iBiological Psychiatry, the results showed that these infants paid less attention to people and their activities than typically developing babies...

Study Findings Suggest Physical And Pharmacological Solutions For Human Stroke Victims

Date: Feb-08-2013
Johns Hopkins researchers have found that mice can recover from physically debilitating strokes that damage the primary motor cortex, the region of the brain that controls most movement in the body, if the rodents are quickly subjected to physical conditioning that rapidly "rewires" a different part of the brain to take over lost function. Their research, featuring precise, intense and early treatment, and tantalizing clues to the role of a specific brain area in stroke recovery, is described online in the journal Stroke...

Restaurants Make More Money Serving Low-Calorie Meals

Date: Feb-08-2013
More and more restaurants across the country are serving low-calorie meals in an effort to cut spending and make more of a profit. A recent study carried out at the Hudson Institute found that restaurant businesses do significantly better financially if they cut the number of calories per meal and contribute towards preventing obesity. Obesity is becoming a serious public health problem in the U.S, in fact, recently researchers from Weill-Cornell Medical College estimated that close to 39% of all Americans who are classed as overweight, may in fact be obese...