Health News

Phage Therapy To Treat Acne?

Date: Sep-26-2012
Scientists have isolated and studied the genomes of 11 viruses, known as phage, that can infect and kill the acne-causing bacterium Propionibacterium acnes, potentially paving the way for topical therapies that use viruses or viral products to treat this vexing skin condition. Their results are reported in mBio®, the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology. "There are two fairly obvious potential directions that could exploit this kind of research," says Graham Hatfull of the University of Pittsburgh, an author of the study...

The Effectiveness Of Low-Cost Intervention To Improve Sun Protection: 3-Year, 676-Child Clinical Trial

Date: Sep-26-2012
A blistering sunburn during childhood or adolescence more than doubles the adult risk of skin cancer. The accumulation of long-term sun exposure may be equally dangerous. A study from the Colorado School of Public Health and the University of Colorado Cancer Center recently published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine shows one way to reduce this exposure: a double-blind randomized clinical trial of mailed sun protection packets led to higher frequency of sun protective behaviors including the use of long clothing, hats, shade, sunscreen, and midday sun avoidance...

Non-Invasive Optical Technique Detects Cancer By Looking Under The Skin

Date: Sep-26-2012
The trained eye of a dermatologist can identify many types of skin lesions, but human sight only goes so far. Now an international team of researchers has developed an advanced optics system to noninvasively map out the network of tiny blood vessels beneath the outer layer of patients' skin, potentially revealing telltale signs of disease. Such high resolution 3-D images could one day help doctors better diagnose, monitor, and treat skin cancer and other skin conditions. The research was published in the Optical Society's (OSA) open-access journal Biomedical Optics Express...

Family History Of Personality Disorders And Heritability Of Avoidant And Dependent Traits

Date: Sep-26-2012
A new twin study from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health shows that the heritability of avoidant and dependent personality disorder traits might be higher than previously reported. Avoidant and dependent personality disorders are characterized by anxious or fearful traits. As the names imply, people with avoidant personality disorder are often anxious in the company of others and therefore prefer to be alone, while people with dependent personality disorder feel more secure in the company of others and tend to need other people for decision making and excessive support...

Defibrillator Patients Need Education, Psychological Support

Date: Sep-26-2012
Improved patient education and ongoing psychological support will help people cope with the psychological distress of having an implanted defibrillator, according to a scientific statement from the American Heart Association.  The statement, published in the American Heart Association journal Circulation, is a comprehensive review of the psychosocial and quality of life for people who receive an implantable cardioverter defibrillator External link (ICD) to restore normal heart rhythm and prevent sudden cardiac death...

Magnetic Factor Aids Therapeutic Impact Of Cell Transplantation

Date: Sep-26-2012
Two studies in the current issue of Cell Transplantation (21:6), now freely available on-line,* demonstrate how the use of magnetic particles are a factor that can positively impact on the targeted delivery of transplanted stem cells and to also provide better cell retention...

Risk For Esophageal, Stomach Cancers Increased In Patients With AIDS

Date: Sep-26-2012
People with AIDS are at increased risk for developing esophageal and stomach carcinoma as well as non-Hodgkin lymphomas (NHLs), according to a new study in Gastroenterology, the official journal of the American Gastroenterological Association. "People diagnosed with AIDS are living longer due to improved therapies. However, they remain at increased risk of developing a number of different cancers," said E. Christina Persson, PhD, of the National Cancer Institute and lead author of this study...

BPA Damages Chromosomes, Disrupts Egg Development

Date: Sep-26-2012
A Washington State University researcher has found new evidence that the plastic additive BPA can disrupt women's reproductive systems, causing chromosome damage, miscarriages and birth defects. Writing in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, WSU geneticist Patricia Hunt and colleagues at WSU and the University of California, Davis, report seeing reproductive abnormalities in rhesus monkeys with BPA levels similar to those of humans...

Alzheimer's-Like Memory Loss Reversed In Animal Models

Date: Sep-26-2012
A team of neuroscientists and chemists from the U.S. and China have published research suggesting that a class of currently used anti-cancer drugs as well as several previously untested synthetic compounds show effectiveness in reversing memory loss in two animal models of Alzheimer's' disease. CSHL Professor Yi Zhong, Ph.D., who led the research conducted in fruit flies and mice, says he and his colleagues were surprised with their results, which, he stressed, used two independent experimental approaches "the results of which clearly converged...

Distinguishing Between Negative Emotions - Feeling Guilty Versus Feeling Angry

Date: Sep-26-2012
When you rear-end the car in front of you at a stoplight, you may feel a mix of different emotions such as anger, anxiety, and guilt. The person whose car you rear-ended may feel angered and frustrated by your carelessness, but it's unlikely that he'll feel much guilt. The ability to identify and distinguish between negative emotions helps us address the problem that led to those emotions in the first place. But while some people can tell the difference between feeling angry and guilty, others may not be able to separate the two. Distinguishing between anger and frustration is even harder...