Health News

Zinc Deficiency Mechanism Linked To Aging, Multiple Diseases

Date: Oct-04-2012
A new study has outlined for the first time a biological mechanism by which zinc deficiency can develop with age, leading to a decline of the immune system and increased inflammation associated with many health problems, including cancer, heart disease, autoimmune disease and diabetes. The research was done by scientists in the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University and the OSU College of Public Health and Human Sciences...

Visual Function Improved In Blind Mice Using Stem Cells

Date: Oct-04-2012
An experimental treatment for blindness, developed from a patient's skin cells, improved the vision of blind mice in a study conducted by Columbia ophthalmologists and stem cell researchers. The findings suggest that induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells - which are derived from adult human skin cells but have embryonic properties - could soon be used to restore vision in people with macular degeneration and other diseases that affect the eye's retina...

Sea Urchins And Sea Cucumbers Could Hold The Key To Looking Young

Date: Oct-04-2012
Sea cucumbers and sea urchins are able to change the elasticity of collagen within their bodies, and could hold the key to maintaining a youthful appearance, according to scientists at Queen Mary, University of London. The researchers investigated the genes of marine creatures such as sea urchins and sea cucumbers, known as echinoderms. They found the genes for "messenger molecules" known as peptides, which are released by cells and tell other cells in their bodies what to do. The study was published online in the journals PLOS One and General and Comparative Endocrinology...

The Trend For Severe Obesity Is Upward

Date: Oct-04-2012
The proportion of Americans who are severely obese -- those people 100 pounds or more overweight -- continues to increase rapidly and much faster than those with moderate obesity, but the rate of growth has slowed, according to a new RAND Corporation study. The RAND study found that from 2000 to 2010, the proportion of Americans who were severely obese rose from 3.9 percent of the population to 6.6 percent -- an increase of about 70 percent. The findings mean that more than 15 million adult Americans are morbidly obese with a body mass index of 40 or more...

Trial Of Genetically Engineered Immune System To Fight Melanoma

Date: Oct-04-2012
Loyola University Medical Center has launched the first clinical trial in the Midwest of an experimental melanoma treatment that genetically engineers a patient's immune system to fight the deadly cancer. A batch of the immune system's killer T cells will be removed from the patient and genetically modified in a Loyola lab. Two genes will be inserted into the T cells so that they will recognize tumor cells as abnormal. Patients will undergo high-dose chemotherapy to kill most of their remaining T cells...

Clinical Trial Success Rate Of New Breast Cancer Drugs Increased By Biological Markers

Date: Oct-04-2012
Using biological markers - genetic characteristics that are associated with some breast cancer patients - can increase the success rate of clinical trials for breast cancer drugs by almost 50 per cent, says new research from the University of Toronto Mississauga. "It's been increasingly difficult for pharmaceutical companies to bring new drugs to market," says Jayson Parker, a faculty member in the Department of Biology and medical biotechnology analyst at the University of Toronto. "On average, about 80 per cent of drugs fail at some point in the clinical trial process...

Risk For Cardiovascular Disease, Kidney Disease And Diabetes May Be Increased By Low Birth Weight

Date: Oct-04-2012
Being underweight at birth may have consequences above and beyond the known short-term effects says a research report published in the October 2012 issue of The FASEB Journal. The report shows that rats with a low birth weight have an increased long-term risk for developing cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, and diabetes. What's more, older females are at higher risk of developing high blood pressure before and during pregnancy, which in turn, may restrict growth in the womb, putting offspring at risk for being born at a low birth weight...

Wanting To Be Skinny Could Be Due To Genes, Not Societal Factors

Date: Oct-04-2012
In a society where the pressure to be thin surrounds women - between television and airbrushing - some are more vulnerable to the pressure than others, and this may be due to genetics, according to a new study published in the International Journal of Eating Disorders. In this recent trial, experts keyed in on possible psychological effects of women giving into the societal view of being "skinny"...

Caffeinated Coffee Linked To Vision Loss

Date: Oct-04-2012
Coffee consumption can lead to a greater risk of developing exfloliation glaucoma, the primary cause of secondary glaucoma, all over the world. A new study. published in Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, suggests coffee drinkers may need to reconsider their coffee intake to decrease their probability of developing vision loss or blindness. Author of this study, the first of its kind done within a U.S. population, Jae Hee Kang, ScD, of Channing Division of Network Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Mass...

New Treatment And Hope For Ovarian Cancer Patients

Date: Oct-04-2012
Ovarian cancer can be treated by a newly discovered type of drug that reduces the number of doses the patients need to take, and is also effective for those whose cancer has become drug-resistant. The treatment was discovered by a team at USC and has been tested on mice tumors and on ovarian cancer cells. The finding was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). "We need a new generation of drugs," revealed Shili Xu, a USC graduate student and leading author. "We need to overcome the drug-resistance issue...