Health News

Reaction To Stress Today Predicts Health Tomorrow

Date: Nov-07-2012
Conflicting with popular belief, stressors are not the cause of health issues, rather, it is people's reactions to these stressors that measure whether the future will hold negative health consequences, suggests a new study that appears in the Annals of Behavioral Medicine. The research showed that a reaction to a stressful situation now, can predict your health problems for 10 years down the road, regardless of your present health and stressors...

New Drug Can Dramatically Improve Cholesterol Levels

Date: Nov-07-2012
Patients who are currently taking statins for bad cholesterol, also known as low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL), can benefit from a medication called AMG 145 which may help reduce levels by 66% in as little as 3 months, according to new findings which were presented at the 2012 American Heart Association Scientific Sessions and published in the Lancet. The researchers, from Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital, have revealed that although some patients are unable to lower their bad cholesterol solely by use of statins, AMG 145 can effectively help...

Blood Marker Reveals Type 2 Diabetes Risk Years In Advance

Date: Nov-07-2012
A new Swedish-led study has identified a blood marker that may show who is at risk of developing type 2 diabetes many years before the disease is typically diagnosed. Team leader Anders Rosengren, a researcher at the Lund University Diabetes Centre (LUDC), and colleagues, write about their findings in the 7 November issue of Cell Metabolism...

Addiction History In Smokers' DNA May Show Cancer Risk

Date: Nov-07-2012
Smokers leave a chemical "footprint" of their addiction history on the surface of their DNA, and this may serve as a measure of their risk for developing cancer, say researchers from the UK and Italy who presented their findings at a conference in Liverpool, UK, this week. While the underlying genetic code of DNA remains unaltered, a history of smoking leaves a footprint on the surface of DNA, something that is referred to as an "epigenetic modification". Epigenetic modifications don't change the underlying genomic code as such, but they influence how it is interpreted...

Baldness, Signs Of Aging Linked To Heart Risks

Date: Nov-07-2012
Telltale visible signs of aging, such as baldness and fatty deposits on the eyelids, are linked to an increased risk for heart attack and heart disease, according to new research presented at a scientific meeting in the US this week...

New Test Device Allows More Real-Life Modeling Of Contact Lens Wear

Date: Nov-07-2012
Modern contact lens materials are prone to drying when exposed to air, which contributes to the buildup of deposits on contact lenses, according to a study - "The Impact of Intermittent Air Exposure on Lipid Deposition", * appearing in the November issue of Optometry and Vision Science, official journal of the American Academy of Optometry. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health...

Researchers Identify Unexpected Bottleneck In The Spread Of Herpes Simplex Virus

Date: Nov-07-2012
New research suggests that just one or two individual herpes virus particles attack a skin cell in the first stage of an outbreak, resulting in a bottleneck in which the infection may be vulnerable to medical treatment...

Update On Pharmaceutical Health Services Research: Frances O. Kelsey, Pioneer In Drug Safety And Regulation, Honoured

Date: Nov-07-2012
Pharmaceutical health services research goes beyond studying the effects of individual drugs, to looking at the complex and interrelated effects of medications on the health of patients and the population. The special November issue of Medical Care highlights important new papers in key areas of pharmaceutical health services research. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health...

Community-Based Diabetes Programs Key To Lowered Costs And Improved Care

Date: Nov-07-2012
New findings from a 15-year series of studies led by care providers at Scripps Whittier Diabetes Institute reveal that culturally tailored community-created programs are effective at reducing health-related costs and delivering higher quality care. Results from "Community-Created Programs: Can They Be the Basis of Innovative Transformations in Our Health Care Practice?" were published in the fall issue of Clinical Diabetes, and also posted on its website...

Important Pathway Mapped In The First Line Of Immune Defence; Could Have Implications For The Treatment Of Stroke And Cancer Patients

Date: Nov-07-2012
Researchers from Aarhus University, Denmark, have now discovered an important mechanism behind one of our most fundamental lines of immune function. The discovery has been published in the esteemed scientific journal, The Journal of Immunology, where it has been highlighted as a top story. In collaboration with colleagues from USA and Turkey, they have discovered exactly which enzymes collaborate in the first line of the immune defence...