Health News

Repair Of Multiple Sclerosis Brain Damage May Be Possible

Date: Nov-01-2012
In what they describe to the press as a "life-changer" for millions of people with the disease, researchers in the US report this week a study where they discovered blocking an enzyme in the brain may help repair the damage associated with multiple sclerosis (MS), and other brain diseases. The findings are due to be published online this week in the Annals of Neurology. Myelin Damage In MS, the protective sheath or myelin around nerve fibers is damaged or destroyed, disrupting the ability of nerve cells to communicate with each other...

Sandy's Aftermath Leaves Seniors Particularly Vulnerable

Date: Nov-01-2012
Older adults left in the wake of Hurricane Sandy will likely suffer disproportionately in the days ahead, based on data from other recent natural disasters. For example, three quarters of those who perished in Hurricane Katrina were over the age of 60, according to the spring 2006 edition of Public Policy & Aging Report from The Gerontological Society of America (GSA)...

Biomarker Of Tamoxifen Resistance In Breast Cancer Identified

Date: Nov-01-2012
New research led by the University of Manchester in the UK has found a biomarker or molecular "flag" in women with breast cancer who do not respond, or who have become resistant, to treatment with the hormone drug tamoxifen. The researchers say their discovery will help doctors predict which breast cancer patients are likely to respond best to complementary (adjuvant) hormone therapy with tamoxifen...

Tumor Growth May Be Slowed Or Halted By Common Food Preservative

Date: Nov-01-2012
Nisin, a common food preservative, may slow or stop squamous cell head and neck cancers, a University of Michigan study found. What makes this particularly good news is that the Food and Drug Administration and the World Health Organization approved nisin as safe for human consumption decades ago, says Yvonne Kapila, the study's principal investigator and professor at the University of Michigan School of Dentistry...

Error Reporting Helps Foster Culture Of Safety

Date: Nov-01-2012
Documenting adverse events improves perceptions of safety and may decrease incidents in multi-site clinical practices, according to a new study from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. The results of the year-long study, which focused on the Radiation Oncology department's workflow, show a strong correlation between the implementation of a Conditions Reporting System and increasingly positive responses to staff surveys focusing on the culture of safety within the department...

Genes Related To Host-Microbe Interactions Are Tied To Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Date: Nov-01-2012
Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) - inflammatory diseases of the gastrointestinal tract - have puzzled the scientific community for decades. Ten years ago, researchers recognized that both genes and the environment contributed to these diseases but knew little about precisely how and why illness occurred. To begin to narrow in on the key pathways involved, they would need thousands of patients' samples, millions of data points, and the commitment of physicians and scientists at dozens of institutions...

Anxiety About Math Activates Pain Networks In Brain

Date: Nov-01-2012
Fear of math can activate regions of the brain linked with the experience of physical pain and visceral threat detection, according to research published Oct 31 by Ian Lyons and colleagues at the University of Chicago in the open access journal PLOS ONE. The researchers found that in individuals who experience high levels of anxiety when facing math tasks, the anticipation of math increases activity in regions of the brain associated with the physical sensation of pain. The higher an individual's math anxiety, the more such neural activity was increased...

5 Year Olds Make Strategic Decisions About When To Behave Generously

Date: Nov-01-2012
Children as young as five are generous when others are aware of their actions, but antisocial when sharing with a recipient who can't see them, according to research published Oct. 31 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Kristin Lyn Leimgruber and colleagues from Yale University. Adults are more likely to behave in ways that enhance their reputation when they are being watched or their actions are likely to be made public than when they are anonymous, but this study examines the origins of such behavior in young children for the first time...

Fighting Melanoma's Resistance To Chemotherapy

Date: Nov-01-2012
Blocking the action of a particular protein in our skin could improve the treatment of skin cancers, according to a study published in Oncogene by Philippe Roux, a researcher at the University of Montreal's Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer (IRIC). "Our findings reveal part of the mechanisms responsible for the resistance of melanoma to anti-cancer treatments, and suggest that a particular protein in our bodies called RSK may be targeted in combination therapies to overcome drug resistance," Roux explained...

Researchers Reveal Built-In Neural Constraint On Our Ability To Be Both Empathetic And Analytic At The Same Time

Date: Nov-01-2012
New research shows a simple reason why even the most intelligent, complex brains can be taken by a swindler's story - one that upon a second look offers clues it was false. When the brain fires up the network of neurons that allows us to empathize, it suppresses the network used for analysis, a pivotal study led by a Case Western Reserve University researcher shows. How could a CEO be so blind to the public relations fiasco his cost-cutting decision has made? When the analytic network is engaged, our ability to appreciate the human cost of our action is repressed...