Health News

More Grandparents Fill Caregiver Role

Date: Sep-10-2012
Grandparents, an increasingly important source of child care in the United States, vary greatly in the kind of care they provide, depending on their age, resources, and the needs of their children, research at the University of Chicago shows. A new UChicago study, based on a National Institute on Aging survey, shows that 60 percent of grandparents provided some care for their grandchildren during a 10-year period, and 70 percent of those who did provided care for two years or more. The results mirror recent U.S. Census data showing the importance of grandparents in child care...

Adding Bavituximab To Second-Line Chemotherapy Doubles Response Rate In Late-Stage Lung Cancer Patients

Date: Sep-10-2012
Adding the monoclonal antibody bavituximab to docetaxel chemotherapy doubles overall response rate and improves progression-free survival and overall survival in late-stage non-squamous, non-small cell lung cancer (NS-NSCLC) patients who have already received one prior chemotherapy regimen, according to research presented at the 2012 Chicago Multidisciplinary Symposium in Thoracic Oncology...

Well-Known Protein Reveals New Tricks

Date: Sep-10-2012
A protein called "clathrin," which is found in every human cell and plays a critical role in transporting materials within them, also plays a key role in cell division, according to new research at the University of California, San Francisco. The discovery, featured on the cover of the Journal of Cell Biology in August, sheds light on the process of cell division and provides a new angle for understanding cancer. Without clathrin, cells divide erratically and unevenly-a phenomenon that is one of the hallmarks of the disease...

Even The Very Elderly And Frail Can Benefit From Exercise

Date: Sep-10-2012
A study carried out by Dr. Louis Bherer, PhD (Psychology), Laboratory Director and Researcher at the Institut universitaire de gériatrie de Montréal (IUGM), an institution affiliated with Université de Montréal, has shown that all seniors, even those considered frail, can enjoy the benefits of exercise in terms of their physical and cognitive faculties and quality of life and that these benefits appear after only three months. This discovery is excellent news, as increased life expectancy has also increased the number of frail seniors in our communities...

Even Small Weight Gains Raise Blood Pressure In College Students

Date: Sep-10-2012
As a college student, you may be happy simply not to have gained the "Freshman 15." But a University of Illinois study shows that as little as 1.5 pounds per year is enough to raise blood pressure in that age group, and the effect was worse for young women. "In our study, a small weight gain was enough to raise a college student's systolic blood pressure by 3 to 5 points. If young people continue to gain 1...

Almost 1 In 5 Young Children With Cancer Suffers From A Trauma Disorder

Date: Sep-10-2012
People who suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder relive their traumatic experiences in the form of flashbacks and nightmares - and in childhood, also in traumatic plays during which they re-enact the experience over and over again. They avoid stimuli that remind them of the trauma or suffer from vegetative hyperarousal such as insomnia, hypervigilance or concentration problems...

Novel Therapeutic Targets Identified For Small Cell Lung Cancer

Date: Sep-10-2012
Newly discovered molecular differences between small cell lung cancer and nonsmall cell lung cancer have revealed PARP1 and EZH2 as potential therapeutic targets for patients with small cell lung cancer, according to the results of a study published in Cancer Discovery, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. Currently, small cell lung cancer accounts for about 15 percent of lung cancer diagnoses in the United States...

Neuronal Inhibition Is Key For Memory Formation

Date: Sep-10-2012
Every activity in the brain involves the transfer of signals between neurons. Frequently, as many as one thousand signals rain down on a single neuron simultaneously. To ensure that precise signals are delivered, the brain possesses a sophisticated inhibitory system. Stefan Remy and colleagues at the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases and the University Bonn have illuminated how this system works. "The system acts like a filter, only letting the most important impulses pass," explains Remy...

Joint EACPR And AHA Statement Empowers Health Care Professional To Use Clinical Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing

Date: Sep-10-2012
The European Association for Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation (EACPR), a registered branch of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC), and the American Heart Association (AHA) have issued a joint scientific statement that sets out to produce easy-to-follow guidance on Clinical Cardiopulmonary Exercise (CPX) testing based on current scientific evidence...

Breast Cancer Screening Saves Lives, New Study Shows

Date: Sep-10-2012
The study, published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention is the largest of its kind in Australia and one of the largest in the world. It followed about 4,000 women in a study of the BreastScreen program in Western Australia. University of Melbourne Research Fellow Dr Carolyn Nickson and colleagues from the Melbourne School of Population Health said the findings reaffirmed the importance and efficacy of mammography. The study focused on women aged 50-69 years, who are in the target age range for screening...