Health News

Gladstone Scientists Develop Technique To Decipher The Dormant AIDS Virus Concealed In Cells

Date: Sep-14-2012
Scientists at the Gladstone Institutes have gotten us one step closer to understanding and overcoming one of the least-understood mechanisms of HIV infection - by devising a method to precisely track the life cycle of individual cells infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. In a paper published online recently in Lab on a Chip, the laboratory of Gladstone Investigator Leor Weinberger, PhD, announced the development of a device that can pinpoint and track HIV inside CD4 T cells - the type of white blood cell that the AIDS virus targets...

Breast Cancer Screening Benefits Outweigh Harms, Europe

Date: Sep-13-2012
A comprehensive review of breast cancer screening of millions of women in Europe concludes that in terms of lives saved, the benefits outweigh the harms of over-diagnosis. The findings of the review, led by researchers at Queen Mary, University of London, are published in a special 13 September supplement to the The Journal of Medical Screening. They show that for every 1,000 women aged 50 to 68 or 69 tested every two years, breast screening saves between seven and nine lives, and leads to four cases of over-diagnosis...

Exercise Can Reduce The Urge To Eat

Date: Sep-13-2012
Most people believe that they can "work up an appetite" with vigorous exercise, however, that theory may not be entirely true - at least immediately after a workout. The study, conducted at BYU (Brigham Youth University) by Professors James LeCheminant and Michael Larson, found that an exerciser's motivation for food is actually decreased after a 45 minute moderate-to-vigorous workout...

Vitamin C Keeps Dementia Away

Date: Sep-13-2012
The serum-concentration of the antioxidants beta-carotene and vitamin C are much lower in mild dementia patients then those who do not show signs of Alzheimer's Disease (AD), suggesting that these antioxidants may protect against dementia. This evidence contradicts a previous study, which stated that vitamin C does not reduce the risk of dementia or Alzheimer's. Epidemiologist Professor Gabriele Nagel and Neurologist Professor Christine von Arnim, from the University of Ulm, have said that it might be possible to influence the manner in which Alzheimer's develops...

Deafness Cure Step Closer With Stem Cells

Date: Sep-13-2012
A cure for a common form of deafness known as auditory neuropathy is a step closer, after researchers from the University of Sheffield in the UK used human embryonic stem cells to repair a similar type of hearing loss in gerbils. Project leader and stem-cell biologist Marcelo Rivolta and colleagues report their work in the 12 September online issue of Nature. Many of the 275 million people worldwide with moderate-to-profound hearing loss have it because of a faulty link between the inner ear and the brain...

Maternity Program Results In Fewer Cesarean Sections, Shorter Hospital Stays For Mothers

Date: Sep-13-2012
A program delivering collaborative maternity care resulted in fewer cesarean deliveries, shorter average hospital stays and higher breast-feeding rates for mothers, according to a study in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). The South Community Birth Program was established in Vancouver, British Columbia, to deliver comprehensive care from a collaboration of family doctors, midwives, public health nurses and doulas to an ethnically diverse, low-income population...

Flu Vaccination Rates Vary Widely By Ethnicity In Canada

Date: Sep-13-2012
Influenza vaccination rates vary widely in Canada by ethnicity, with black and white Canadians being the least likely to be vaccinated, found a new study in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). Research on vaccination rates among ethnic minorities in Canada is scarce, despite many studies in the United States showing clear disparities in vaccination rates among minorities and whites. However, the findings are not the same in Canada given existing differences in vaccine delivery and populations...

Most Prescription Drugs Available In Canada Are Manufactured Overseas -- Are They Safe?

Date: Sep-13-2012
Most pharmaceutical drugs in Canada are manufactured overseas in countries such as India, China and others, yet how can we be confident the drug supply is safe, writes a drug policy researcher in an opinion piece in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). Alarmed by alerts about potentially harmful products such as nonprescription erectile dysfunction drugs with names like Uprizing 2.0 and Ying Da Wang - most from overseas - Alan Cassels began to think about pharmaceutical drugs sold in Canada...

Penn Team Finds Key Molecules Involved In Forming Long-Term Memories

Date: Sep-13-2012
How does one's experience of an event get translated into a memory that can be accessed months, even years later? A team led by University of Pennsylvania scientists has come closer to answering that question, identifying key molecules that help convert short-term memories into long-term ones. These proteins may offer a target for drugs that can enhance memory, alleviating some of the cognitive symptoms that characterize conditions including schizophrenia, depression and Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases...

Genetic Make-Up Of Children Explains How They Fight Malaria Infection

Date: Sep-13-2012
Researchers from Sainte-Justine University Hospital Center and University of Montreal have identified several novel genes that make some children more efficient than others in the way their immune system responds to malaria infection. This world-first in integrative efforts to track down genes predisposing to specific immune responses to malaria and ultimately to identify the most suitable targets for vaccines or treatments was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by lead author Dr. Youssef Idaghdour and senior author Pr...