Health News

Health Risk To Tourists From Contact With Captive Sea Turtles

Date: Feb-07-2013
Tourists coming into contact with sea turtles at holiday attractions face a risk of health problems, according to research published by JRSM Short Reports. Encountering free-living sea turtles in nature is quite safe, but contact with wild-caught and captive-housed sea turtles, typically through handling turtles in confined pools or through consuming turtle products, carries the risk of exposure to toxic contaminants and to zoonotic (animal to human) pathogens such as bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites...

Asthma-Related Cockroach Allergy In Children Likely Primed By Air Pollution

Date: Feb-07-2013
An allergic reaction to cockroaches is a major contributor to asthma in urban children, but new research suggests that the insects are just one part of a more complex story. Very early exposure to certain components of air pollution can increase the risk of developing a cockroach allergy by age 7 and children with a common mutation in a gene called GSTM may be especially vulnerable...

Alzheimer's Disease Mechanism In Zebrafish Improves Understanding Of The Etiology Of The Disease

Date: Feb-07-2013
Research has shown that mutations in the psen1 gene are common in the familial forms of Alzheimer's disease, and the Presenilin-1 protein that the gene encodes is known to be involved in the cleavage of the amyloid precursor protein. In Alzheimer's disease the amyloid precursor protein is not cleaved the normal way, and the protein accumulates in the brain damaging neuronal tracts and neurons. It is still unknown if the psen1 gene is involved in the etiology of Alzheimer's disease via another mechanism...

Drop In Overall Mortality Means Nearly 200,000 Cancer Deaths Avoided In African Americans Since 1990

Date: Feb-07-2013
The cancer death rate for men declined faster among African Americans than among whites in the latest time period, narrowing the racial disparity in overall cancer death rates, according to a new report from the American Cancer Society. But while gaps are closing for some cancers, such as lung and other smoking-related cancers and for prostate cancer, the racial disparity has widened for colorectal cancer and female breast cancer, cancers that are most affected by screening and treatment...

Study Finds Evidence Of Mammal That Can Smell In Stereo

Date: Feb-07-2013
Most mammals, including humans, see in stereo and hear in stereo. But whether they can also smell in stereo is the subject of a long-standing scientific controversy. Now, a new study shows definitively that the common mole (Scalopus aquaticus) - the same critter that disrupts the lawns and gardens of homeowners throughout the eastern United States, Canada and Mexico - relies on stereo sniffing to locate its prey. The paper that describes this research, "Stereo and Serial Sniffing Guide Navigation to an Odor Source in a Mammals," was published in the journal Nature Communications...

Stem Cell Discovery Could Lead To Obesity Treatment

Date: Feb-07-2013
Ottawa scientists have discovered a trigger that turns muscle stem cells into brown fat, a form of good fat that could play a critical role in the fight against obesity. The findings from Dr. Michael Rudnicki's lab, based at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, were published in the prestigious journal Cell Metabolism. "This discovery significantly advances our ability to harness this good fat in the battle against bad fat and all the associated health risks that come with being overweight and obese," says Dr...

Suppressing Spinal Reflexes Could Improve Walking After Incomplete Spinal Injuries

Date: Feb-07-2013
A training regimen to adjust the body's motor reflexes may help improve mobility for some people with incomplete spinal cord injuries, according to a study supported by the National Institutes of Health. During training, the participants were instructed to suppress a knee jerk-like reflex elicited by a small shock to the leg. Those who were able to calm hyperactive reflexes - a common effect of spinal cord injuries - saw improvements in their walking. The study was led by Aiko Thompson, Ph.D., and Jonathan Wolpaw, M.D...

Older Women Gain As Much Benefit From Mammograms Every 2 Years As Mammograms Every Year

Date: Feb-07-2013
Among older women, getting a mammogram every two years was just as beneficial as getting a mammogram annually, and led to significantly fewer false positive results, according to a study led by UC San Francisco. The national study of more than 140,000 women between the ages of 66 and 89 appears online in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. "Screening every other year, as opposed to every year, does not increase the probability of late-stage breast cancer in older women," said lead author Dejana Braithwaite, PhD, a UCSF assistant professor of epidemiology and biostatistics...

Male Obesity Can Impact Offspring's Cancer Risk

Date: Feb-07-2013
Maternal diet and weight can impact their child's health even before birth - but so can a father's, shows a study published in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Medicine. Hypomethylation of the gene coding for the Insulin-like growth factor 2, (IGF2),in newborns correlates to an increased risk of developing cancer later in life, and, for babies born to obese fathers, there is a decrease in the amount of DNA methylation of IGF2 in foetal cells isolated from cord blood...

Multiple Births Affected By Congenital Anomalies Have Doubled Since The 1980s

Date: Feb-07-2013
The number of congenital anomalies, or birth defects arising from multiple births has almost doubled since the 1980s, suggests a new study published in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. The study investigates how the change in the proportion of multiple births has affected the prevalence of congenital anomalies from multiple births, and the relative risk of congenital anomaly in multiple versus singleton births...