Health News
Date: Sep-25-2012
Obesity in black children more severely impacts blood pressure than in white children who are equally overweight, according to a new study presented at the American Heart Association's High Blood Pressure Research 2012 Scientific Sessions. Researchers examined the effect of age and body weight on blood pressure in children at an obesity clinic. While age and body weight were similar among black and white patients, black children had significantly higher blood pressure compared to their white counterparts...
Date: Sep-25-2012
A mosquito sample collected three decades ago in Israel's Negev Desert has yielded an unexpected discovery: a previously unknown virus that's closely related to some of the world's most dangerous mosquito-borne pathogens but, curiously, incapable of infecting non-insect hosts. Researchers believe this attribute could make the Eilat virus a uniquely useful tool for studying other alphaviruses, a genus of largely mosquito-borne pathogens that includes the viruses responsible for chikungunya, Venezuelan equine encephalitis, western equine encephalitis and eastern equine encephalitis...
Date: Sep-25-2012
A simple three-question paper-and-pencil survey, given to women in the doctor's office in less than two minutes, can effectively identify those who are experiencing symptoms that may indicate ovarian cancer, according to a study by researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. The study represents the first evaluation of an ovarian cancer symptom-screening tool in a primary care setting among normal-risk women as part of their routine medical-history assessment. The results are published online in the Open Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology...
Date: Sep-25-2012
Just as women are advised to get plenty of folic acid around the time of conception and throughout early pregnancy, new research suggests another very similar nutrient may one day deserve a spot on the obstetrician's list of recommendations. Consuming greater amounts of choline - a nutrient found in eggs and meat = during pregnancy may lower an infant's vulnerability to stress-related illnesses, such as mental health disturbances, and chronic conditions, like hypertension, later in life...
Date: Sep-25-2012
Shengyuan Yang, Florida Institute of Technology assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, with graduate student Sang Joo Lee, has published a paper on the first-ever imaging of cells growing on spherical surfaces. The paper is published in the online journal, Review of Scientific Instruments, and will appear in September in the print version. The potential biomedical applications of the researchers' technique include new strategies and devices for the early detection and isolation of cancer cells, facilitating new methods of treating cancer tissues...
Date: Sep-25-2012
University of Mississippi Medical Center researchers are exploring how children's thinking styles, in particular the tendency to interpret situations as threatening, are influenced by their parents as well as their own temperaments. Dr. Andres G. Viana, a child clinical psychologist and assistant professor of psychiatry at UMMC, is studying how this negative interpretation style in children can contribute to development of anxiety disorders...
Date: Sep-25-2012
Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers in men and early treatment is usually very successful. However, like other cancers, obesity increases the risk of aggressive prostate disease. New research, published in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Medicine, finds that the fat surrounding the prostate of overweight or obese men with prostate cancer provides a favorable environment to promote cancer growth. Fat is a generally underrated organ...
Date: Sep-25-2012
Cartilage degeneration is one of the most common conditions found in the joints of patients with osteoarthritis (OA), a disease which is reported to affect 13.9% of adults in the US aged 25 and older, and 33.6% (12.4 million) of those aged 65 and above. The social burden of OA is likely to increase at a greater pace in the future, due to the prevalence of obesity and an unprecedented increase in the elderly population, making cartilage degeneration a huge healthcare problem...
Date: Sep-25-2012
The European Medicines Agency's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) has recommended the authorisation of the first medicine specifically for the symptomatic treatment of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) in the European Union (EU). The Agency is recommending that Constella (linaclotide) be authorised for adults with moderate to severe IBS with constipation (IBS-C), a common subtype of the disease. Linaclotide is a new, synthetic 14-amino-acid peptide, which works by increasing the secretion of fluid in the intestine and accelerating the movement of material through the gut...
Date: Sep-25-2012
Researchers at the University of Southampton together with colleagues at King's College London have embarked on a unique study that will shed new light on the risk of heart disease and diabetes in later life. A healthy diet for pregnant women is important for the health of the baby. Having a poor diet in pregnancy, such as one that is too high in fat, may cause problems in the offspring's later life. However, the exact mechanisms controlling the effect of diet during pregnancy on the long-term health of children are not well understood...