Health News

Extra Sleep Improves Children's Behavior

Date: Oct-15-2012
Giving children an extra 27 extra minutes night time sleep on the nights before school days makes a significant difference in their behavior at school. They are more emotionally stable, less restless, and less impulsive, researchers from McGill University, Montreal, Canada, reported in the journal Pediatrics. Parents, teachers, health authorities and doctors have been concerned about children's sleep for decades. In another study, Australian researchers showed that children lost an average of .073 minutes per year of sleep from 1897 to 2009...

New Insight Into Celiac Disease Trigger

Date: Oct-15-2012
A new study has revealed a connection between gluten and T-cells of the immune system, shining light on what causes celiac disease, a condition that affects around 1 in 133 people. Spelling: UK, Ireland and Australasia: Coeliac disease. USA: Celiac disease Led by researchers from Monash Unversiy and the University of Leiden, the study was published today in Immunity. A chronic inflammatory disorder that has been more commonly diagnosed in recent years, celiac disease attacks the digestive process of the small intestine...

HPV Vaccine Not Linked To Higher Sexual Activity Among Girls

Date: Oct-15-2012
Girls who receive the HPV vaccine, Gardasil, do not become more sexually active, researchers from Kaiser Permanente reported in the journal Pediatrics. The authors added that the HPV vaccine is not associated with a higher incidence of STIs (sexually transmitted infections), contraceptive counseling, or pregnancy. The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) has recommended that females aged 11 years be administered three doses of the vaccine to protect them from the human papillomavirus (HPV)...

The Ten Noises We Hate The Most

Date: Oct-15-2012
A knife scraping against a glass bottle is the most unpleasant sound for most human beings, researchers from the Newcastle University and Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging at UCL, both in England, reported in the Journal of Neuroscience. When activity between the auditory and emotional parts of the brain increases, it may cause a sensation of revulsion or disgust at a sound, as typically occurs to most of us when we hear somebody scrape chalk or their nails on a blackboard...

High Chocolate Intake And Nobel Prize Winnings Linked

Date: Oct-15-2012
It seems that countries with the highest regular chocolate intake per person have a proportionally greater number of Nobel Prize, winners, researchers from Kings College London and the Wellcome Trust have revealed in a new book. The NEJM (New England Journal of Medicine) has an article on this book. It really does seem that more *Nobel laureates emanate from countries with the highest per capita chocolate consumption. Proportionally, Switzerland has one of the highest number of Nobel Prize winners, if you calculate from a percentage of the total population...

Prolonged Sitting Raises Risk Of Type 2 Diabetes, Heart Disease, Death

Date: Oct-15-2012
Sitting around for long periods raises the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, heart disease and premature death, even for people who have the amount of daily physical activity recommended by health professionals.  These were the conclusions of a large piece of research covering nearly 800,000 participants published in Diabetologia this week...

Smoking And Cataracts

Date: Oct-15-2012
Cigarette smoking is a well-known risk factor for a wide-range of diseases. Now, scientists have evidence that smoking may also increase the risk of age-related cataract, the leading cause of blindness and vision loss in the world. Reported in Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science (Smoking and Risk of Age-related Cataract: A Meta-analysis), the new findings are the result of a meta-analysis conducted by a team of researchers from China...

Children Inspired By Natural Playgrounds Tend To Be More Physically Active

Date: Oct-15-2012
Children who play on playgrounds that incorporate natural elements like logs and flowers tend to be more active than those who play on traditional playgrounds with metal and brightly colored equipment, according to a recent UT study. They also appear to use their imagination more, according to the report...

Subway/Rail Commuters At Greatest Risk For Terrorism

Date: Oct-15-2012
Despite homeland security improvements since September 11, 2001, subway and rail commuters face higher risks of falling victim to terrorists and mass violence than frequent flyers or those engaged in virtually any other activity. And while successful criminal and terrorist acts against aviation have fallen sharply, those against subways and commuter trains have surged...

Urinary Tract Infection And Antibiotic Resistance

Date: Oct-15-2012
As a result of concerns about antibiotic resistance, doctors in the United States are increasingly prescribing newer, more costly and more powerful antibiotics to treat urinary tract infections, one of the most common illnesses in women. New research at Oregon State University suggests that the more powerful medications are used more frequently than necessary, and they recommend that doctors and patients discuss the issues involved with antibiotic therapy - and only use the stronger drugs if really neeeded...