Health News

Genetic Basis Identified Of Cardiac, Craniofacial Birth Defects

Date: Oct-31-2012
A group of researchers in Israel, the United States and other nations have made important advances in the rapidly-expanding field of "regenerative medicine," outlining for the first time connections in genetic regulation that normally prevent birth defects in heart and facial muscles. Some of these problems are surprisingly common - about 1 percent of all people have a congenital heart defect. This basic research will provide a road map to ultimately allow scientists to grow the cell types needed to repair such defects, from stem cells that can be generated from a person's own body...

A Common Bond Revealed Between School Bullies And Their Targets: Alcohol Abuse

Date: Oct-31-2012
A new study out of the University of Cincinnati finds that both school bullies and their victims are likely to abuse alcohol after a bullying episode. Keith King, a University of Cincinnati professor of health promotion, along with Rebecca Vidourek, a UC assistant professor of health promotion, presented early findings of a new study at the 140th annual meeting of the American Public Health Association in San Francisco...

Mechanism Found For Destruction Of Key Allergy-Inducing Complexes

Date: Oct-31-2012
Researchers have learned how a man-made molecule destroys complexes that induce allergic responses - a discovery that could lead to the development of highly potent, rapidly acting interventions for a host of acute allergic reactions. The study, which was published online Nature, was led by scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine and the University of Bern, Switzerland. The new inhibitor disarms IgE antibodies, pivotal players in acute allergies, by detaching the antibody from its partner in crime, a molecule called FcR...

Omega-3 Intake Improves Memory In Young Adults

Date: Oct-31-2012
Healthy young adults can improve their working memory by increasing their Omega-3 fatty acids intake. The finding came from a study, the first of its kind, from a team at the University of Pittsburgh and was published in PLOS One. There have been several studies indicating that omega-3 essential fatty acids, found in foods such as grass-fed livestock and wild fish, are critical for the human body to function. One report indicated omega-3 fatty acids can lower a person's chance of developing colon cancer. Another study indicated that they can protect men against heart failure...

IVF Treatments Can Cause Sex Lives To Suffer

Date: Oct-31-2012
Women who are undergoing IVF (in-vitro fertilization) procedures often feel less sexually satisfied and their sexual relationships with partners may suffer due to the stress of the treatments and other factors, according to researchers from Indiana University. Until now, not much focus has been given to these couples as they try to make it through the emotionally and physically taxing process of in-vitro fertilization, even though sex is a major part of a couple's conceiving aim to conceive a baby...

Abundant Food Preservative May Slow Or Eliminate Tumor Growth

Date: Oct-31-2012
A common food preservative, known as Nisin, may decrease or eliminate the growth of squamous cell head or neck cancers, according to a new University of Michigan study. Years ago, the Food and Drug Administration, as well as the World Health Organization approved nisin as safe for human intake. This implies that testing nisin in a clinical setting to examine its cancer-battling properties could be a quick and easy process. Antibacterial agents, like nisin, change cell properties in bacteria, making it harmless...

ACR Supports Best Practices For Ultrasonography Use In Rheumatology

Date: Oct-31-2012
More rheumatologists are embracing musculoskeletal ultrasound (MSUS) to diagnose and manage rheumatic diseases. In response, the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) assembled a task force to investigate and determine best practices for use of MSUS in rheumatology practice. The resulting scenario-based recommendations, which aim to help clinicians understand when it is reasonable to integrate MSUS into their rheumatology practices, now appear online in Arthritis Care & Research...

New Anti-Thrombotic Treatments In Atrial Fibrillation Patients Can Reduce The Stroke Risk

Date: Oct-31-2012
Atrial fibrillation, whose prevalence continues to rise, was described last year as the "new epidemic" in cardiovascular disease, even though AF can be successfully controlled by the detection and management of risk factors, by rhythm control treatments, and by the use of antithrombotic therapies.(1) These therapies have been improved in the past few years by the introduction of new anticoagulant drugs, such that AF - like high blood pressure or smoking - may now be considered a "modifiable" risk factor for stroke, whose treatment can reduce the degree of risk...

Radiation-Related Mouth Pain In Head, Neck Cancer Eased By Antidepressant

Date: Oct-31-2012
An oral rinse of the antidepressant doxepin significantly eased pain associated with oral mucositis in patients receiving radiation therapy for cancers of the head and neck, a study led by Mayo Clinic found. The findings were presented at the American Society for Radiation Oncology annual meeting in Boston. "Oral mucositis or mouth sores is a painful and debilitating side effect of radiation therapy," says principal investigator Robert Miller, M.D., a radiation oncologist at Mayo Clinic. "Our findings represent a new standard of care for treating this condition...

Clues To Possible Drug Targets For Lou Gehrig's Disease Offered By Yeast Model

Date: Oct-31-2012
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also called Lou Gehrig's disease, is a devastatingly cruel neurodegenerative disorder that robs sufferers of the ability to move, speak and, finally, breathe. Now researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine and San Francisco's Gladstone Institutes have used baker's yeast - a tiny, one-celled organism - to identify a chink in the armor of the currently incurable disease that may eventually lead to new therapies for human patients...