Health News

Patients With Inherited Muscle Disease Benefit From Rare Disease Research

Date: Oct-07-2012
An older medication originally approved to treat heart problems eases the symptoms of a very rare muscle disease that often leaves its sufferers stiff and in a good deal of pain, physicians and researchers report in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The findings are good news not only for the relatively small number of people around the world estimated to have nondystrophic myotonia, but also for many other patients who have one of the thousands of diseases that are very rare, according to neurologists at the University of Rochester Medical Center who took part in the study...

Proposed Mental Disorder Diagnosis May Have Faults

Date: Oct-07-2012
A much anticipated addition to the revised Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders fifth edition (DSM-5) is questionable according to research findings. The newly revised DSM-5, the first alterations since it was last revised in 1994, includes attenuated psychosis syndrome (APS), a new diagnosis that would identify those impaired by preliminary psychotic symptoms that do not meet the threshold for an existing diagnosis as having a psychotic disorder...

Neurons Made From Adult Cells In The Brain

Date: Oct-06-2012
Finding ways to make new brain cells are important steps in the search for treatments for brain-wasting diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.  Now a German-led team has discovered how to make new human neurons from another type of adult cell found in the brain. The researchers write about their work in the 5 October online issue of Cell Stem Cell...

Stem Cell Transplant Survivors May Be At Increased Risk Of Developing Heart Disease

Date: Oct-06-2012
New research appearing online in Blood, the Journal of the American Society of Hematology (ASH), suggests that long-term survivors of hematopoietic cell transplants (HCT) are at an increased risk of developing heart disease risk factors such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and high cholesterol when compared to the general population. These risk factors, combined with exposure to pre-HCT therapy, contribute to a noticeably increased risk of heart disease over time...

Discovery New Blood-Based Proteins For Malignant Mesothelioma May Lead To Better, Less Invasive Diagnostic Tests

Date: Oct-06-2012
Researchers have discovered a panel of 13 blood proteins that may be effective biomarkers to detect malignant mesothelioma, according to a study published in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Rachel Ostroff from the company SomaLogic, which developed the new test, and colleagues at other institutions. Malignant mesothelioma is a rare, aggressive form of lung cancer that can develop after prolonged exposure to asbestos. Because early diagnosis is difficult, most patients face a poor prognosis and have few options for treatment...

Dozens Of New De Novo Genetic Mutations Identified In Schizophrenia

Date: Oct-06-2012
Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) researchers have identified dozens of new spontaneous genetic mutations that play a significant role in the development of schizophrenia, adding to the growing list of genetic variants that can contribute to the disease. The study, the largest and most comprehensive of its kind, was published in the online edition of the journal Nature Genetics. Although schizophrenia typically onsets during adolescence and early adulthood, many of the mutations were found to affect genes with higher expression during early-to-mid fetal development...

In Mouse Model Of Rett Syndrome, Drug Reverses Abnormal Brain Function

Date: Oct-06-2012
A promising study out today in the prestigious Journal of Neurosciences showed that in a mouse model of Rett syndrome, researchers were able to reverse abnormalities in brain activity and improve neurological function by treating the animals with an FDA-approved anesthesia drug, ketamine. Rett syndrome is among the most severe autism-related disorders, affecting about one in 10,000 female births per year, with no effective treatments available...

Moral Decision-Making In Video Games And The Real World

Date: Oct-06-2012
Making moral judgments is increasingly a central element of the plots of popular video games. Do players of online video games perceive the content and characters as real and thus make moral judgments to avoid feeling guilty? Or does immoral behavior such as violence and theft make the game any more or less enjoyable? The article "Mirrored Morality: An Exploration of Moral Choice in Video Games" published in Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers examines these types of questions...

Transplant, Lymphoma Patients At Greater Risk Of Melanoma

Date: Oct-06-2012
Melanoma is on the rise nationally, and transplant recipients and lymphoma patients are far likelier than the average person to get that form of skin cancer and to die from it, a Mayo Clinic review has found. That is because their immune systems tend to be significantly depressed, making early detection of melanoma even more important, says co-author Jerry Brewer, M.D., a Mayo dermatologist. The findings are published in the October issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings. Melanoma strikes roughly 1 in 50 people in the general population, Dr. Brewer says. The odds of getting melanoma are up to 2...

Measuring Eyelid Sensitivity May Reflect The Causes Of Dry Eyes

Date: Oct-06-2012
A simple test of eyelid sensitivity may help vision professionals in evaluating one of the most common eye-related symptoms: dry eyes. A new study linking increased eyelid sensitivity to decreased function of the eyelid margins is presented in the article - "Lid Margins: Sensitivity, Staining, Meibomian Gland Dysfunction, and Symptoms", appearing in the October issue of Optometry and Vision Science, official journal of the American Academy of Optometry. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health...