Health News

New, High-Value Drug Targets Revealed By Discovery Of Essential Genes For Drug-Resistant Bacteria

Date: Sep-18-2012
Biomedical scientists collaborating on translational research at two Buffalo institutions are reporting the discovery of a novel, and heretofore unrecognized, set of genes essential for the growth of potentially lethal, drug-resistant bacteria. The study not only reveals multiple, new drug targets for this human infection, it also suggests that the typical methods of studying bacteria in rich laboratory media may not be the best way to identify much-needed antimicrobial drug targets. The paper* focuses on a Gram-negative bacteria called A. baumannii...

Evaluating Risk For Violence Among Patients With Mental Illness

Date: Sep-18-2012
Mental health professionals, who often are tasked with evaluating and managing the risk of violence by their patients, may benefit from a simple tool to more accurately make a risk assessment, according to a recent study conducted at the University of California, San Francisco. The research, led by psychiatrist Alan Teo, MD, when he was a UCSF medical resident, examined how accurate psychiatrists were at evaluating risk of violence by acutely ill patients admitted to psychiatric units...

Higher Education And Weight Gain Go Hand In Hand

Date: Sep-18-2012
The "freshman 15" is a proven reality, according to a new study published by the journal Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism.  Researchers concentrated on the impact of a full four years of higher education on BMI, weight, and body composition. The study targets the nature of the weight gain, as well as the differences between male and females by following students throughout their undergraduate years...

Earliest Fetal Learning Can Be Damaged By Maternal Drinking During Pregnancy

Date: Sep-18-2012
While it has become clear that drinking during pregnancy can damage the fetal central nervous system, these outcomes can also be influenced by factors such as timing, type, amount, and duration of alcohol exposure. Furthermore, most studies of fetal neurobehavioral effects have been conducted during the postnatal period. This study is the first of its kind, examining alcohol's effects on fetal brain function - information processing and stability of performance - at the time of exposure to alcohol...

Smokers With Lung Cancer Have Tenfold Genetic Damage

Date: Sep-17-2012
The tumors of smokers who develop lung cancer have ten times more genetic damage than those of never-smokers who develop the disease, according to a study published online in the journal Cell this week. Senior author Richard K. Wilson is director of The Genome Institute at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis in the US. He says in a media statement that none of his team was surprised that the genomes of smokers with lung cancer had more mutations than the genomes of never-smokers with the disease: "But it was surprising to see 10-fold more mutations...

American Kids Eat Too Much Salt

Date: Sep-17-2012
American children consume as much salt each day as adults do, researchers from the Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, reported in the journal Pediatrics. The authors added that high salt intake is linked to hypertension in children and adolescents. The team gathered data on sodium consumption and body weights of 6,235 Americans children and teenagers. They had set out to determine what effect salt intake and bodyweight might have on blood pressure...

Migraines Linked To Behavioral Problems In Kids

Date: Sep-17-2012
Children with migraines are much more inclined to suffer from behavioral issues, such as anxiety, depression, and social and attention issues than those who do not have headaches. The more recurrent the headaches, the more likely the chance of a behavioral disorder developing, according to the new study published in Cephalagia...

New Test Can Predict Preterm Delivery

Date: Sep-17-2012
A new test to predict if pregnant women with preterm contractions are going to give birth within one week has just been created, which offers new ways to delay delivery and have urgent care ready for the premature baby. The biggest concern in perinatal medicine today is delivery before 37 full weeks, or preterm delivery. Babies have a higher chance of serious complications if they are born early. It heightens the chance of the child being severely sick, both at birth and in the future...

Only Children Have Higher Risk Of Obesity

Date: Sep-17-2012
Children who do not have brothers and sisters have a 50% higher chance of being obese or overweight than children who have siblings. 12,700 children from 8 European countries, including Sweden, were analyzed by researchers from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden and other universities. The trial, published in Nutrition and Diabetes journal, was part of the Identification and prevention of Dietary- and lifestyle-induced health EFfects In Children and infantS, a European program designed to analyze how obesity, lifestyle and diet affect kids between the ages of 2 and 9...

DNA Blueprint Maps How A Heart Becomes A Heart

Date: Sep-17-2012
Using stem cell technology, next-generation DNA sequencing and computer tools, researchers at the Gladstone Institutes in California, and other academic centers, have mapped how a heart becomes a heart, revealing a genomic and epigenomic blueprint for the precise order and timing of hundreds of "genetic switches" from embryonic stem cell stage to fully functioning heart. The researchers write about their work in the 13 September online issue of Cell...