Health News

Thesis Offers Insight Into Preventing Homophobic Bullying In Schools

Date: Jan-25-2013
How are non-heterosexual people affected by discrimination endured in the school environment due to their affective-sexual orientation? This question was the starting point in the PhD thesis produced by the researcher Aitor Martxueta...

Identification Via Fingerprints Or Knobbly Knees?

Date: Jan-25-2013
Forget digital fingerprints, iris recognition and voice identification, the next big thing in biometrics could be your knobbly knees. Just as a fingerprints and other body parts are unique to us as individuals and so can be used to prove who we are, so too are our kneecaps. Computer scientist Lior Shamir of Lawrence Technological University in Southfield, Michigan, has now demonstrated how a knee scan could be used to single us out...

Age And Sex Of A Corpse Identified By New Imaging Technique

Date: Jan-25-2013
Researchers at the University of Granada, Spain, have designed a new computing system that determines the age and sex of a corpse with a reliability of 95%. This system is based on free software called Image and a free DICOM displayer called K-Pacs. This state-of-the-art system is very different from the traditional macroscopy systems used to evaluate the osteoarticular features of a corpse, and it is much faster and user-friendly...

Huge Increase seen In Type 1 Diabetes In Urban Children under 5 years

Date: Jan-25-2013
Over the past two decades, the incidence of type 1 diabetes in very young children under age 5 has increased by 70 percent in the city of Philadelphia, according to research from a University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing researcher who currently maintains the only US registry of diabetes in children that has collected data continuously since 1985.  In a far-reaching study published online in Diabetes Care, researchers led by nursing professor Terri H...

Progress On Efforts To Map Human Proteins Updated In First Special Edition

Date: Jan-25-2013
Almost 10 years after completion of the Human Genome Project in 2003, scientists are making progress toward the next major goal in applying the genetic information in that "Book of Life" in medicine, leaders of an international research effort are reporting. A package of the latest updates on the goals, organization and achievements of the Chromosome-Centric Human Proteome Project (C-HPP) appear in a special issue of ACS' Journal of Proteome Research. Young-Ki Paik, William S...

New Technology For Delivering RNA, Proteins And Nanoparticles By Putting The Squeeze On Cells

Date: Jan-25-2013
Living cells are surrounded by a membrane that tightly regulates what gets in and out of the cell. This barrier is necessary for cells to control their internal environment, but it makes it more difficult for scientists to deliver large molecules such as nanoparticles for imaging, or proteins that can reprogram them into pluripotent stem cells. Researchers from MIT have now found a safe and efficient way to get large molecules through the cell membrane, by squeezing the cells through a narrow constriction that opens up tiny, temporary holes in the membrane...

Rotavirus Vaccine Given To Children May Indirectly Protect Adults Too

Date: Jan-25-2013
Pediatric rotavirus vaccination also indirectly protects unvaccinated adults from the highly contagious cause of severe diarrhea and vomiting, suggests a new study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases and available online. The findings suggest pediatric immunization against the virus may be more cost effective than previously thought, given rotavirus-related health care costs among adults. Before the vaccine, rotavirus caused an estimated 24 million outpatient visits, 2.4 million hospitalizations, and 453,000 deaths in infants and young children worldwide each year...

Neuroscientists Mimic Sleep Deprivation, Reveal Target For New Depression Therapy

Date: Jan-25-2013
Neuroscience researchers from Tufts University have found that our star-shaped brain cells, called astrocytes, may be responsible for the rapid improvement in mood in depressed patients after acute sleep deprivation. This in vivo study, published in the current issue of Translational Psychiatry, identified how astrocytes regulate a neurotransmitter involved in sleep. The researchers report that the findings may help lead to the development of effective and fast-acting drugs to treat depression, particularly in psychiatric emergencies...

Stem Cell Therapies May Improve Following Finding That Retrovirus In The Human Genome Is Active In Pluripotent Stem Cells

Date: Jan-25-2013
A retrovirus called HERV-H, which inserted itself into the human genome millions of years ago, may play an important role in pluripotent stem cells, according to a new study published in the journal Retrovirology by scientists at UMass Medical School. Pluripotent stem cells are capable of generating all tissue types, including blood cells, brain cells and heart cells...

Name Change Recommended And Further Research To Advance Understanding And Treatment Of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome

Date: Jan-25-2013
An independent panel convened by the National Institutes of Health has concluded that the name of a common hormone disorder in women, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), causes confusion and is a barrier to research progress and effective patient care. The current name focuses on a criterion - ovarian cysts - which is neither necessary nor sufficient to diagnose the syndrome. In a report the panel recommended assigning a new name that more accurately reflects the disorder. "The name PCOS is a distraction that impedes progress...