Health News

Decline In Niger's Child Mortality

Date: Sep-22-2012
A study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Niger Countdown Case Study Working Group found that child mortality in Niger - one of the world's poorest countries - declined nearly 50 percent over the last decade. According to the authors, the advances in survival made in Niger far outpaced other nations in the West Africa region. The study appears in a special issue of The Lancet examining the United Nations Millennium Challenge Goals for 2015. For the study, researchers analyzed changes in child mortality and child health in Niger from 1998 to 2009...

Researchers Study How Sleep Is Related To Social Functioning

Date: Sep-22-2012
Clemson University Alumni Distinguished Professor of psychology June Pilcher returned recently from Austria, where she worked with University of Vienna researchers to study ways college students' sleep habits affect how they function socially. Pilcher received a Fulbright-Freud Award to work with the Social, Cognitive, Affective and Neuroscience Unit (SCAN) at the University of Vienna. She also worked with the Sigmund Freud Museum, giving a series of talks and lectures...

Efficacy Of Drugs Boosted By Using Nanoparticles To Target 'Powerhouse Of Cells' - Positive Results Shown For Cancer, Alzheimer's And Obesity Drugs

Date: Sep-22-2012
Nanoparticles have shown great promise in the targeted delivery of drugs to cells, but researchers at the University of Georgia have refined the drug delivery process further by using nanoparticles to deliver drugs to a specific organelle within cells. By targeting mitochondria, often called "the powerhouse of cells," the researchers increased the effectiveness of mitochondria-acting therapeutics used to treat cancer, Alzheimer's disease and obesity in studies conducted with cultured cells...

Precancerous Polyp Detection Rates Increased By Split-Dose Preparation For Colonoscopy

Date: Sep-22-2012
A new study from researchers at the Mayo Clinic Arizona showed that system-wide implementation of a split-dose preparation as the primary choice for colonoscopy significantly improved both polyp detection rates and adenoma (precancerous polyp) detection rates, overall quality of the preparation, and colonoscopy completion rates. The study appears in the September issue of GIE: Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, the monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal of the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE)...

Possible Key Identified To Slow Progression Towards AIDS

Date: Sep-22-2012
One of the big mysteries of AIDS is why some HIV-positive people take more than a decade to progress to full-blown AIDS, if they progress at all. Although the average time between HIV infection and AIDS in the absence of antiretroviral treatment is about 10 years, some individuals succumb within two years, while so-called slow progressors can stay healthy for 20 years or longer...

Endoscopy Simulators For Training And Skill Assessment

Date: Sep-22-2012
The American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy's (ASGE) Preservation and Incorporation of Valuable Endoscopic Innovations (PIVI) initiative addresses the use of endoscopy simulators for training and assessing skills in an article appearing in the September issue of GIE: Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, ASGE's monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal. This PIVI is one in a series of statements defining the diagnostic or therapeutic threshold that must be met for a technique or device to become considered appropriate for incorporation into clinical practice...

Mother's Diet Before Pregnancy Can Change Gene Function In Offspring

Date: Sep-21-2012
It has long been known that nutrition during pregnancy affects the well-being of her child, but a new study suggests that what a woman eats before she becomes pregnant might also play a significant role. Published in The FASEB Journal, a study conducted with mice, has found that diet prior to pregnancy chemically alters the mother's DNA and passes these changes along to their offspring. These DNA modifications known as "epigenetic" changes considerably affect the metabolism of necessary fatty acids within the pups...

Eight Cancers Targeted With $3 Billion Investment By MD Anderson Cancer Center

Date: Sep-21-2012
The "Moon Shots Program" has been launched as part of an aggressive drive to convert the scientific discoveries related to eight major cancers into clinical advances that reduce mortality, the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center announced. According to the American Cancer Society, by 2015 there will be an estimated 11.3 million cancer survivors in the USA. However, cancer is still a major killer and continues to be an enigmatic disease, MD Anderson Cancer Center researchers wrote in a communiqué yesterday...

Too Much Tuna May Cause Mercury Poisoning In Children

Date: Sep-21-2012
Children should be consuming considerably less canned tuna, otherwise their risk of serious mercury poisoning could become a public health issue in years to come, the Mercury Policy Project explained in a report issued today. The authors added that albacore tuna should never be given to children. Children should not consume light tuna more than once per month if they weigh less than 55 pounds. Even kids weighing over 55 pounds should not eat tuna more than twice a month, the report stated...

Half Of PTSD Cases In Soldiers Remain Undiagnosed

Date: Sep-21-2012
One in every two cases of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in soldiers remains undiagnosed. This is the conclusion reached by a working group led by Hans-Ulrich Wittchen et al. They report their study in the current issue of Deutsches Arzteblatt International (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2012; 109(35): 559), which is a special issue focusing on the prevalence of psychological stress in German army soldiers...