Health News

Music And Language Acquisition Theory

Date: Sep-20-2012
Contrary to the prevailing theories that music and language are cognitively separate or that music is a byproduct of language, theorists at Rice University's Shepherd School of Music and the University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP) advocate that music underlies the ability to acquire language. "Spoken language is a special type of music," said Anthony Brandt, co-author of a theory paper published online this month in the journal Frontiers in Cognitive Auditory Neuroscience...

Prejudice And Depression

Date: Sep-20-2012
Although depression and prejudice traditionally fall into different areas of study and treatment, a new article suggests that many cases of depression may be caused by prejudice from the self or from another person. In an article published in the September 2012 issue of Perspectives on Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, William Cox of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and colleagues argue that prejudice and depression are fundamentally connected. Consider the following sentence: "I really hate _____. I hate the way _____ look...

Taser Safety Research Finds Youth Fare As Well As Adults

Date: Sep-20-2012
Adolescents who are tasered by law enforcement officers do not appear to be at higher risk for serious injury than adults, according to new a new study from Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center researchers. This latest research from Wake Forest Baptist is the first to specifically investigate Taser use on adolescents. Lead author Alison R. Gardner, M.D., an assistant professor of emergency medicine at Wake Forest Baptist, found no major differences in the injury rates or types of injuries to youth when compared to adults...

Therapies Aimed At Type 2 Diabetes And Kidney Disease May Be Developed From Compound Found In Purple Corn

Date: Sep-20-2012
Diabetic nephropathy is one of the most serious complications related to diabetes, often leading to end-stage kidney disease. Purple corn grown in Peru and Chile is a relative of blue corn, which is readily available in the U.S. The maize is rich in anthocyanins (also known as flavonoids), which are reported to have anti-diabetic properties...

Risk Of Diabetes Substantially Reduced By Bariatric Surgery

Date: Sep-20-2012
Bariatric surgery reduces the long-term risk of developing diabetes by over 80 % among people with obesity. The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) has published the results of a study conducted at Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden. A study conducted by Professor Lars Sjöström, Professor Lena Carlsson and their team at Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, has found that bariatric surgery is considerably more effective than traditional care and lifestyle changes in preventing diabetes among people with obesity...

The Roles Of The HRRM2 Subunit In Colorectal Cancer And UV-Induced DNA Damage Repair

Date: Sep-20-2012
Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide. In addition, the incidence and mortality rates of colorectal cancer are on the rise. Recently, metabolic genes have received increasing and specific attention due to their potential role in carcinogenesis. Previous studies have shown that alterations in ribonucleotide reductase (RR) levels may significantly influence the biological properties of cells, including tumor promotion and tumor progression, suggesting that RR may be implicated in tumorigenesis...

Research Highlights Differing Methods Of Reporting Central Line Infections In Hospitals

Date: Sep-20-2012
A new study has found that some kinds of infection data may not be comparable across hospitals, and may not be suitable for use as a performance measure. Published in the leading US policy journal Milbank Quarterly, the research found huge variability in how English hospitals collected, recorded and reported their rates of central line infections to a patient safety programme. The study was funded by the Health Foundation, a major UK charitable foundation aiming to improve quality of care. "Central line infections occur in tubes used in treating seriously ill patients...

Moderate Drinking May Increase Risk For Certain Cancers

Date: Sep-20-2012
The majority of observational studies have shown that alcohol intake, especially heavy drinking, increases a number of upper-aero-digestive tract (UADT) and other cancers, and even moderate drinking is associated with a slight increase in the risk of breast cancer. A meta analysis published in the Annals of Oncology compares the effects between light drinkers (an average reported intake of up to 1 typical drink/day) versus "non-drinkers" in terms of relative risks for a number of types of cancer...

Delirium Risks, Prevention, Treatment, Prognosis And Research: Study Provides Roadmap

Date: Sep-20-2012
Delirium, a common acute condition with significant short- and long-term effects on cognition and function, should be identified as an indicator of poor long-term prognosis, prompting immediate and effective management strategies, according to the authors of a new systematic evidence review. "Delirium is extremely common among older adults in intensive care units and is not uncommon in other hospital units and in nursing homes, but too often it's ignored or accepted as inevitable. Delirium significantly increases risk of developing dementia and triples likelihood of death...

Oral Bacteria Associated With Pancreatic Cancer Risk

Date: Sep-20-2012
Pancreatic cancer is highly lethal and difficult to detect early. In a new study, researchers report that people who had high levels of antibodies for an infectious oral bacterium turned out to have double the risk for developing the cancer. High antibody levels for harmless oral bacteria, meanwhile, predicted a reduced pancreatic cancer risk. A new study finds significant associations between antibodies for multiple oral bacteria and the risk of pancreatic cancer, adding support for the emerging idea that the ostensibly distant medical conditions are related...