Health News

Lower Rate Of Cardiovascular Risk Factors In Those Who Lift Weights

Date: Oct-25-2012
People who lift weights are less likely to have metabolic syndrome - a cluster of risk factors linked to heart disease and diabetes, reports a study in the October issue of The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, official research journal of the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA). The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health. "Lifting weights may play a role in reducing the prevalence and risk of metabolic syndrome among U.S. adults," according to the study by Peter M. Magyari, PhD, HFS, CSCS, and James R...

Nanofibrillar Cellulose Film To Ease Performing Medical Tests

Date: Oct-25-2012
Researchers at Aalto University have succeeded in developing a durable and affordable nanofibrillar cellulose film platform to support medical testing. New environmentally friendly, reliable nanofibrillar cellulose (NFC) platforms are more diverse than plastic films. New film can be made, for instance, hydrophobic, hydrophilic and the electric charge can be changed. This will enhance the possibility of conducting thousands of different medical tests at home or in physicians' receptions instead of waiting for results from laboratories...

Scholar Says Medical Recommendations Should Go Beyond Race

Date: Oct-25-2012
Medical organizations that make race-based recommendations are misleading some patients about health risks while reinforcing harmful notions about race, argues a Michigan State University professor in a new paper published in the journal Preventive Medicine. While some racial groups are on average more prone to certain diseases than the general population, they contain "islands" of lower risk that medical professionals should acknowledge, said Sean Valles, assistant professor in MSU's Lyman Briggs College and the Department of Philosophy...

Jet Lag, Shift Work And Shifting Gears In The Circadian Clock Of The Heart

Date: Oct-25-2012
A new study conducted by a team of scientists led by Giles Duffield, assistant professor of biological sciences and a member of the Eck Institute for Global Health at the University of Notre Dame focuses on the circadian clock of the heart, and used cultured heart tissue. The results of the new study have implications for cardiovascular health, including daily changes in responses to stress and the effect of long-term rotational shift work...

Telomere Length In Blood Cells Could Lead To Test For Pancreatic Cancer

Date: Oct-25-2012
A new study shows that a blood marker is linked to pancreatic cancer, according to a study published by scientists at the University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center and Mayo Clinic. First author Dr. Halcyon Skinner, assistant professor of population health sciences at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, says the study is the first time pancreatic cancer risk has been linked to differences in telomeres' length in blood cells...

New Report Highlights Possible Downside To Cost Cutting For Medical Imaging Scans

Date: Oct-25-2012
A new report by the Harvey L. Neiman Health Policy Institute shows that the length of the average hospital stay in the United States has increased at the same time as use of medical imaging scans has declined. It is unclear if the trends are related, but potentially important, as hospital admissions are among the largest, and fastest growing, health care costs. More research is needed to assess the potential negative impact of government and private insurer imaging reductions on overall medical costs and patient safety...

Preventive Guidelines For Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infection Not Followed In Many Intensive Care Units

Date: Oct-25-2012
Hospital size matters when it comes to intensive care units (ICUs) adopting even the most routine prevention policies for catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI), according to a new study from researchers at Columbia University School of Nursing, published this month in the American Journal of Infection Control. The study found that large hospitals -- those with more than 500 beds -- had a 1.5 higher average rate of CAUTI than hospitals with 500 beds or less...

Diabetes Drug Could Be Effective In Treating Addiction

Date: Oct-25-2012
Vanderbilt researchers have reported that a drug currently used to treat type 2 diabetes could be just as effective in treating addiction to drugs, including cocaine. The findings, published online as a Letter To The Editor in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, could have far-reaching implications for patients worldwide who suffer from addiction. "What we have demonstrated is that a brain mechanism already known to be therapeutic for the treatment of diabetes also appears to be implicated in at least certain types of drug addiction," said Gregg Stanwood, Ph.D...

Can Obesity Hit A Point Of No Return? Researchers Say Yes

Date: Oct-25-2012
Why does weight always find its way back onto our bodies? The longer a person is overweight, the higher the risk of the obesity becoming "irreversible", according to researchers from the University of Michigan and the National Council of Science and Technology (COINCET) in Argentina. The new study, published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation and conducted on mice, revealed that the longer the animals were overweight, the less likely they were to shed the excess weight...

New Jersey's Decal For Young Drivers Reduced Crashes

Date: Oct-25-2012
A new study shows that New Jersey's law requiring novice drivers to display a red decal on their license plates has prevented more than 1,600 crashes and helped police officers enforce regulations unique to new drivers. The first-in-the-nation decal provision went into effect in May 2010 as part of N.J.'s Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) law. Nearly every state has a GDL law on the books, but "Kyleigh's Law," named for a teen driver killed in a 2006 N.J. crash, is the first one that requires drivers under age 21 to display their probationary status so that they are more visible to police...