Health News

Scientists Dramatically Reduce Plaque-Forming Substances In Mice With Alzheimer's Disease

Date: Sep-07-2012
Scientists have found that eliminating an enzyme from mice with symptoms of Alzheimer's disease leads to a 90 percent reduction in the compounds responsible for formation of the plaques linked to Alzheimer's disease. That is the most dramatic reduction in this compound reported to date in published research. The compounds are amyloid beta, or A-beta peptides; peptides are proteins, but are shorter in length. When A-beta peptides accumulate in excessive amounts in the brain, they can form plaques, which are a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease...

Researchers Unlock Disease Information Hidden In Genome's Control Circuitry

Date: Sep-07-2012
Researchers at the University of Washington have determined that the majority of genetic changes associated with more than 400 common diseases and clinical traits affect the genome's regulatory circuitry. These are the regions of DNA that contain instructions dictating when and where genes are switched on or off. Most of these changes affect circuits that are active during early human development, when body tissues are most vulnerable. By creating extensive blueprints of the control circuitry, the research also exposed previously hidden connections between different diseases...

America's Health System Wasted $750 Billion In One Year

Date: Sep-07-2012
America's health care system is inefficient, suffers from data overload, is complex and very costly, a report from the Institute of Medicine (IoM) revealed today. The authors added that too many negative factors are undermining health care quality and affecting the USA's global competitiveness and economic stability. Despite all this, there are knowhow and tools in place to correct the deep faults within the country's health system so that costs may be reduced and the quality of care improved...

Bosulif Approved By The FDA For Treatment Of Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia

Date: Sep-07-2012
The US Food and Drug Administration approved Bosulif as treatment for a rare disease, found in older adults, which attacks the blood and bone marrow and is known as chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML).  Approximately 5,430 people will be diagnosed with CML in 2012. The majority of people with CML have the Philadelphia chromosome, a genetic mutation where the bone marrow produces an enzyme called tyrosine kinase. This enzyme sparks excess creation of unhealthy and irregular white blood cells named granulocytes, which fight infection...

Brain Scans Help Predict Treatment For Social Anxiety Disorder

Date: Sep-07-2012
Brain scans of patients with social anxiety disorder can help determine if cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) could be an effective treatment option, suggests researchers from MIT, Boston University (BU), and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in the Archives of General Psychiatry. Either CBT or medications are normally used to treat social anxiety, but scientists have not been able to identify which of these treatments will suit a particular individual best...

BUSM/VA Researchers Examine New PTSD Diagnosis Criteria

Date: Sep-07-2012
Results of a study led by researchers at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and the Veterans Affairs (VA) Boston Healthcare System indicate that the proposed changes to the diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) will not substantially affect the number of people who meet criteria for the disorder. Mark W. Miller, PhD, associate professor at BUSM and a clinical research psychologist at the National Center for PTSD at VA Boston Healthcare System served as lead author of the study, which is published online in Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice and Policy...

Broader Approach Provides New Insight Into Diabetes Genes

Date: Sep-07-2012
Using a new method, diabetes researchers at Lund University, Sweden, have been able to reveal more of the genetic complexity behind type 2 diabetes. The new research findings have been achieved as a result of access to human insulin-producing cells from deceased donors and by not only studying one gene variant, but many genes and how they influence the level of the gene in pancreatic islets and their effect on insulin secretion and glucose control of the donor. "With this approach, we can explain 25 per cent of variations in blood sugar levels...

New Infrared Spectroscopy Technique

Date: Sep-07-2012
Researchers from the Chair for Biophysics have developed a new method for the detailed study of the interaction between pharmaceuticals and their target proteins. The pharmaceutical industry has already taken notice of the new infrared spectroscopy technique; the method is supposed to be implemented to investigate pharmacological agent-protein interactions in the EU project K4DD, which is supported by various major European pharmaceutical companies. "We now have a tool in our hands with which we can research the dynamics of pharmacologically interesting proteins in atomic detail," Prof. Dr...

Soup Could Reduce Asthma Risk In Kids

Date: Sep-06-2012
A new study will be conducted by researchers at the University of Aberdeen to reveal whether soups enhanced with food that contains vitamin E may help reduce the chance of childhood asthma. Baxter Food Group in Scotland is working closely in collaboration with the experts to develop 3 soups containing ingredients with high levels of vitamin E. The intention of the authors is to increase the amount of vitamin E pregnant women are consuming. The national average is currently 8mg per day, and the experts say 15mg per day would be more beneficial...

Heart Attacks In Men Associated With Childhood Sexual Abuse

Date: Sep-06-2012
Men who experienced sexual abuse in childhood have a 3 times higher chance of suffering from a heart attack than men who were not sexually abused as kids, revealed a team of experts at the University of Toronto in Child Abuse & Neglect. Interestingly, there was no connection between women being sexually abused as children and heart attacks. Scientists used data from the Center for Disease Control's 2010 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey of 5095 men and 7768 women aged 18 and over in order to identify gender-specific differences...