Health News

Intoxication Likely Increased When Alcohol Mixed With Diet Drinks Rather Than Regular Drinks

Date: Feb-07-2013
An individual's breath alcohol concentration (BrAC) following alcohol intake is influenced by several factors, including food. While it is known that food delays the stomach emptying, thus reducing BrAC, only recently has the role of nonalcoholic drink mixers used with alcohol been explored as a factor influencing BrAC. A new comparison of BrACs of alcohol consumed with an artificial sweetener versus alcohol consumed with a sugared beverage has found that mixing alcohol with a diet soft drink can result in a higher BrAC...

Suicide Following Acute Alcohol Intoxication A Greater Risk For American Indians

Date: Feb-07-2013
In 2009, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, suicide ranked as the 10th leading overall cause of death in the United States. Prior research has also shown that alcohol use disorders confer increased risk for suicide, and are second only to mood disorders as common among individuals who have committed suicide. A study of the prevalence and sociodemographic correlates of suicide involving acute alcohol intoxication among U.S. ethnic minorities has found that American Indians are at much greater risk than other groups...

Monitoring Lifestyle Behaviors And Health Via Wearable Cameras

Date: Feb-07-2013
Understanding the relationships between lifestyle behaviors and health outcomes can be enhanced by the use of wearable cameras, concludes a collection of studies in a special theme issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Three studies report on the latest preventive medicine research using Microsoft's wearable camera, the SenseCam. "Wearable cameras and their associated software analysis tools have developed to the point that they now appear well suited to measure sedentary behavior, active travel, and nutrition-related behaviors," says author Aiden R...

In Stroke And Other Neurological Disorders, Nitric Oxide Damages Neurons And Blocks The Brain's Ability To Repair Itself

Date: Feb-07-2013
Nitric oxide, a gaseous molecule produced in the brain, can damage neurons. When the brain produces too much nitric oxide, it contributes to the severity and progression of stroke and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's. Researchers at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute recently discovered that nitric oxide not only damages neurons, it also shuts down the brain's repair mechanisms. Their study was published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences the week of February 4...

Important New Insight Into The Neural Mechanisms Of Learning And Memory

Date: Feb-07-2013
Our ability to learn and form new memories is fully dependent on the brain's ability to be plastic - that is to change and adapt according to new experiences and environments. A new study from the Montreal Neurological Institute - The Neuro, McGill University, reveals that DCC, the receptor for a crucial protein in the nervous system known as netrin, plays a key role in regulating the plasticity of nerve cell connections in the brain. The absence of DCC leads to the type of memory loss experienced by Dr. Brenda Milner's famous subject HM...

More Than 65 Riders Of Water Tubes Treated In U.S. Emergency Departments Every Day During Summer

Date: Feb-07-2013
Water tubing, a recreational activity in which participants ride an inner tube which is pulled behind a boat by a tow rope, has grown in popularity in recent years. Unfortunately, the number of injuries related to this activity has also increased. According to a new study by researchers at the Center for Injury Research and Policy of The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital, the annual number of water tubing-related injuries increased 250 percent over the 19-year study period, rising from 2,068 injuries in 1991 to 7,216 injuries in 2009...

Drinkers Can Underestimate Alcohol Habits, UK

Date: Feb-07-2013
Some people could be underestimating their alcohol intake by as much as 40 per cent, according to new figures the Department of Health published today. The snapshot into the nation's drinking habits come as this year's Change4life TV ad campaign is launched to raise awareness of the health harms caused by regularly drinking over the guidelines. The recent Health Survey for England highlighted underestimations in both the amount and frequency that people drink, raising major concerns about the nation's knowledge of alcohol...

Air Pollution Tied To Low Birth Weight

Date: Feb-06-2013
A large study spanning four continents finds that babies carried by mothers exposed to air pollution caused by tiny particles in fumes from traffic, heating systems, and coal-fired power stations, are more likely to be of low birth weight. A report on the work, led jointly by Tracey J...

Ramipril Improves Walking For People With PAD

Date: Feb-06-2013
Pain-free walking as well as length of walk both improved greatly in patients with claudication following treatment with the ACE blocker ramipril. The new study, published in JAMA, revealed pain-free walking rose by 60 percent on average and maximum walking time doubled following six months of treatment with the ACE inhibitor. Close to every secondary result also improved with ramipril versus placebo, such as functional areas of health-related quality of life and the ankle-brachial index (ABI) - an impairment scale for peripheral arterial disease (PAD)...

Is Increase In Hospice And ICU Usage What Elderly Patients Want?

Date: Feb-06-2013
There has been an increase in hospice usage and ICU utilization over the last ten years among elderly patients, researchers from Brown University reported in JAMA. The authors added that with more late health care transitions, repeat hospitalizations, does such aggressive care really represent what patients and their loved ones really want? Probably not. More seniors are dying with hospice care than ten years ago, the authors explained. However, a growing number of them are doing so for a very short time immediately after being in an ICU (intensive care unit)...