Health News

Antidepressant Contribution To Arrhythmia Risk Clarified By Electronic Health Record Analysis

Date: Jan-31-2013
A 2011 warning from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration about the popular antidepressant citalopram (Celexa) left many patients and physicians with more questions than answers. Now an analysis of the medical records of more than 38,000 patients by Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigators clarifies the contribution of citalopram and other antidepressants to lengthening of the QT interval, an aspect of the heart's electrical activity that - when prolonged - may increase the risk of dangerous arrhythmias...

Campylobacter Uses 'Sat Nav' To Find Food

Date: Jan-31-2013
A rumbling tummy is our body's way of telling us "it's time for lunch." Likewise, bacteria need to know when it's time to eat. Researchers at the Institute of Food Research on the Norwich Research Park have uncovered how the food-borne bacterial pathogen Campylobacter jejuni can change its swimming behaviour to find a location with more food. Campylobacter is the most common cause of bacterial food-borne illness in the UK, with more than 371,000 cases annually...

During The Second Trimester, Hyperemesis Gravidarum Is More Likely To Cause Placental Complications

Date: Jan-31-2013
Pregnancies complicated by hyperemesis gravidarum in the second trimester of pregnancy are at a much higher risk of associated placental dysfunction disorders such as placental abruption and small for gestational age babies (SGA), finds a new study published in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. Hyperemesis gravidarum occurs in 0.5-3% of pregnancies and is generally defined as severe illness or vomiting before 22 weeks gestation, usually requiring hospitalisation for intravenous fluid...

Botox Injections In The Stomach Do Not Promote Weight Loss

Date: Jan-31-2013
Despite conflicting data in support of the practice, some overweight Americans looking for an easy fix have turned to gastric botox injections to help them lose weight. This month in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, the official clinical practice journal of the American Gastroenterological Association, researchers from the Mayo Clinic publish a definitive study finding that Botox doesn't promote weight loss. Injecting botulinum toxin A (BTA), or Botox, into the stomach had been believed to delay emptying of the stomach, increase feelings of fullness and reduce body weight...

New Mutant Mouse Model Useful In The Treatment Of Neuromuscular Diseases

Date: Jan-31-2013
At three to six months of life, this genetic alteration in mice - similar to that which occurrs in humans - causes a rapid degeneration in the lower limbs, leading to death from cardiac arrest. For the first time in the world, researchers at the Center for Biomedical Research of the University of Granada have created mice with a genetic mutation inducing a deficiency in the coenzyme Q10, a rare mitochondrial disease prevailingly affecting children...

New Protein Discovered That Protects Against Viral Infections Such As Influenza

Date: Jan-31-2013
Reseachers from the University of Melbourne and The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute (WEHI) have discovered a new protein that protects against viral infections such as influenza. As influenza spreads through the northern hemisphere winter, Dr Linda Wakim and her colleagues in the Laboratory of Professor Jose Villadangos from the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, believe they have a new clue to why some people fight infections better than others...

Sports Concussion-Risk Studies At Virginia Tech Expanded To Include Hockey And Baseball

Date: Jan-31-2013
The Virginia Tech - Wake Forest University School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences is expanding its ground-breaking research of testing football helmets to reduce the number of concussions to now include hockey, baseball, softball, and lacrosse. The five-year plan will see the Virginia Tech research center, headed by Stefan Duma, rate helmets worn by hockey, baseball, softball, and lacrosse athletes in their ability to lessen the likelihood of a concussion resulting from a violent head impact...

Women With BRCA Gene More Likely To Experience Early Menopause

Date: Jan-31-2013
Women with harmful mutations in the BRCA gene, which put them at higher risk of developing breast and ovarian cancer, tend to undergo menopause significantly sooner than other women, allowing them an even briefer reproductive window and possibly a higher risk of infertility, according to a study led by researchers at UC San Francisco. Moreover, the study showed that carriers of the mutation who are heavy smokers enter menopause at an even earlier age than non-smoking women with the mutation...

'Coming' Out May No Longer Be A Matter Of Popular Debate But Rather A Matter Of Public Health

Date: Jan-31-2013
Lesbians, gays and bisexuals (LGBs) who are out to others have lower stress hormone levels and fewer symptoms of anxiety, depression, and burnout, according to researchers at the Centre for Studies on Human Stress (CSHS) at Louis H. Lafontaine Hospital, affiliated with the University of Montreal. Cortisol is a stress hormone in our body. When chronically strained, cortisol contributes to the 'wear and tear' exerted on multiple biological systems. Taken together, this strain is called "allostatic load"...

Consumption Of Colorful Fruit And Vegetables May Prevent Or Delay ALS

Date: Jan-31-2013
New research suggests that increased consumption of foods containing colorful carotenoids, particularly beta-carotene and lutein, may prevent or delay the onset of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The study, published by Wiley in Annals of Neurology, a journal of the American Neurological Association and Child Neurology Society, found that diets high in lycopene, beta-cryptoxanthin, and vitamin C did not reduce ALS risk. Carotenoids give fruits and vegetables their bright orange, red, or yellow colors, and are a source of dietary vitamin A...