Health News

In Neurocritical Care Patients, Intermediate Glucose Control May Be Better Than Tight

Date: Oct-23-2012
A new study in BioMed Central's open access journal Critical Care suggests that intensive glycemic control does not reduce mortality in neurocritical care patients and could, in fact, lead to more neurological damage. Complicating the picture, poor glucose control also leads to worse recovery and should be avoided. This study suggests that a strategy to maintain intermediate glucose levels would contribute to better outcomes in these patients. Hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia are common in critically ill patients and are strongly associated with worse outcomes...

Ground-Breaking Knowledge Released About Calcium Pumps In Cells

Date: Oct-23-2012
When animals and plants are exposed to influences such as bacterial attack, odour and cold, calcium ions flow into the cells. The calcium provides the cells with a signal about what is going on outside, but as high concentrations of calcium are toxic to the cells, it must be quickly pumped out again. Researchers from the Danish National Research Foundation's PUMPkin Centre at both the University of Copenhagen and Aarhus University have now shown that calcium pumps in the cell's outer membrane adjust the pump speed very accurately to the calcium concentration...

Brain's Immune Cells Activated By Natural Process Could Point Way To Repairing Damaged Brain Tissue

Date: Oct-23-2012
The brain's key "breeder" cells, it turns out, do more than that. They secrete substances that boost the numbers and strength of critical brain-based immune cells believed to play a vital role in brain health. This finding adds a new dimension to our understanding of how resident stem cells and stem cell transplants may improve brain function. Many researchers believe that these cells may be able to regenerate damaged brain tissue by integrating into circuits that have been eroded by neurodegenerative disease or destroyed by injury...

The Dangers Of Secondhand Smoke, Especially In Cars, Bars

Date: Oct-23-2012
Heavy concentrations of secondhand smoke, such as those found in smoke-filled bars and cars, can lead to airway restriction for bystanders within minutes of exposure. The study, presented at CHEST 2012, the annual meeting of the American College of Chest Physicians, showed that after 20 minutes of exposure to highly concentrated secondhand smoke, participants experienced near immediate physiologic changes, including airway resistance and impedance. "Bars and cars are places where high concentrations of fine particles usually occur because of smoking...

How The Brain Perceives Direction And Location

Date: Oct-23-2012
The Who asked "who are you?" but Dartmouth neurobiologist Jeffrey Taube asks "where are you?" and "where are you going?" Taube is not asking philosophical or theological questions. Rather, he is investigating nerve cells in the brain that function in establishing one's location and direction. Taube, a professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, is using microelectrodes to record the activity of cells in a rat's brain that make possible spatial navigation - how the rat gets from one place to another - from "here" to "there...

Antibiotic Delivery Could Be Revolutionized By Cholera Discovery

Date: Oct-23-2012
Three Simon Fraser University scientists are among six researchers who've made a discovery that could help revolutionize antibiotic treatment of deadly bacteria. Lisa Craig, Christopher Ford and Subramaniapillai Kolappan, SFU researchers in molecular biology and biochemistry, have explained how Vibrio cholerae became a deadly pathogen thousands of years ago. V. cholerae causes the diarrheal disease cholera, which is endemic in many developing countries and can emerge in regions devastated by war and natural disasters...

Tackling Prediabetes In Youth With Daily Whole-Body Vibration

Date: Oct-23-2012
Daily sessions of whole-body vibration may combat prediabetes in adolescents, dramatically reducing inflammation, average blood glucose levels and symptoms such as frequent urination, researchers report. In mice that mimic over-eating adolescents headed toward diabetes, 20 minutes of daily vibration for eight weeks restored a healthy balance of key pro- and anti-inflammatory mediators and was better than prescription drugs at reducing levels of hemoglobin A1c, the most accurate indicator of average blood glucose levels, said Dr. Jack C...

Combining Bone Density With Bone Size And Body Size Removes Race From The Equation When Measuring Women's Risk Of Osteoporosis And Fractures

Date: Oct-23-2012
For women of mixed racial or ethnic backgrounds, a new method for measuring bone health may improve the odds of correctly diagnosing their risk of osteoporosis and bone fractures, according to a UCLA-led study. Currently, assessing osteoporosis and the risk of fractures from small accidents like falls requires a bone density scan...

Researchers Test Proposed Criteria For Diagnosing 'Hypersexual Disorder'

Date: Oct-23-2012
The idea that an individual might suffer from a sexual addiction is great fodder for radio talk shows, comedians and late night TV. But a sex addiction is no laughing matter. Relationships are destroyed, jobs are lost, lives ruined. Yet psychiatrists have been reluctant to accept the idea of out-of-control sexual behavior as a mental health disorder because of the lack of scientific evidence. Now a UCLA-led team of experts has tested a proposed set of criteria to define "hypersexual disorder," also known as sexual addiction, as a new mental health condition...

European Researchers Create First Micro-Structure Atlas Of The Human Brain

Date: Oct-23-2012
A European team of scientists have built the first atlas of white-matter microstructure in the human brain. The project's final results have the potential to change the face of neuroscience and medicine over the coming decade. The work relied on groundbreaking MRI technology and was funded by the EU's future and emerging technologies program with a grant of 2.4 million Euros. The participants of the project, called CONNECT, were drawn from leading research centers in countries across Europe including Israel, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Denmark, Switzerland and Italy...