Health News

TB Outbreaks Could Be 'Solved' By DNA Tracking

Date: Sep-05-2012
Reconstructing the spread of killer diseases such as tuberculosis (TB) from person to person using DNA sequencing quickly identifies the origin and movement of pathogens. This approach is directly informing public health strategies to control infectious disease outbreaks, says a scientist speaking at the Society for General Microbiology's Autumn Conference at the University of Warwick. A team from the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control in Vancouver, Canada used whole-genome sequencing to analyse the bacterial DNA in samples from 36 of 41 infected individuals in a TB outbreak...

Breakthrough Should Speed Up Development Of Diagnostic Tests And Treatments Based On Proteins Specific To Certain Diseases

Date: Sep-05-2012
Combining two well-established analytic techniques and adding a twist identifies proteins from blood with as much accuracy and sensitivity as the antibody-based tests used clinically, researchers report this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Early Edition online. The technique should be able to speed up development of diagnostic tests and treatments based on proteins specific to certain diseases...

Mathematics Or Memory? Stanford Study Charts Collision Course In Brain

Date: Sep-05-2012
You already know it's hard to balance your checkbook while simultaneously reflecting on your past. Now, investigators at the Stanford University School of Medicine - having done the equivalent of wire-tapping a hard-to-reach region of the brain - can tell us how this impasse arises. The researchers showed that groups of nerve cells in a structure called the posterior medial cortex, or PMC, are strongly activated during a recall task such as trying to remember whether you had coffee yesterday, but just as strongly suppressed when you're engaged in solving a math problem...

Reciprocity An Important Component Of Prosocial Behavior

Date: Sep-05-2012
While exchanging favors with others, humans tend to think in terms of tit-for-tat, an assumption easily extended to other animals. As a result, reciprocity is often viewed as a cognitive feat requiring memory, perhaps even calculation. But what if the process is simpler, not only in other animals but in humans as well? Researchers at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, have determined monkeys may gain the advantages of reciprocal exchange of favors without necessarily keeping precise track of past favors...

Even In Normal Range, High Blood Sugar Linked To Brain Shrinkage

Date: Sep-05-2012
People whose blood sugar is on the high end of the normal range may be at greater risk of brain shrinkage that occurs with aging and diseases such as dementia, according to new research published in the September 4, 2012, print issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology...

Claims Data Lacks Accuracy And Consistency Needed To Inform Nonpayment Or Hospital Comparisons

Date: Sep-05-2012
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) limits payment for key "preventable" complicating conditions acquired during hospital stay. The claims data is used to deny payment, and the data is reported publicly so that hospitals can be compared by complication rate. Catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) was the first condition targeted for such nonpayment...

Obesity And Metabolic Syndrome Associated With Impaired Brain Function In Adolescents

Date: Sep-05-2012
A new study by researchers at NYU School of Medicine reveals for the first time that metabolic syndrome (MetS) is associated with cognitive and brain impairments in adolescents and calls for pediatricians to take this into account when considering the early treatment of childhood obesity. The study, funded by the National Institutes of Health under award number DK083537, and in part by award number 1ULIRR029892, from the National Center for Research Resources, appears online September 3 in Pediatrics. As childhood obesity has increased in the U.S...

Improved Diagnosis Of Lung Disease: New Global Benchmarks

Date: Sep-05-2012
New research has established the first global benchmarks for assessing lung function across the entire life span. The lung growth charts will help healthcare professionals better understand lung disease progression and help raise awareness of lung disease, which is the world's leading cause of death.[1] The research was presented on Monday (3 September 2012) at the European Respiratory Society's Annual Congress in Vienna...

Study Sheds Light On Lung Cancers That Are Undetected By Radiograph

Date: Sep-05-2012
New research has revealed why some lung cancers are undetected by radiograph and helped to identify the type of people who may be at risk of this form of the disease. The findings was presented on Monday (3 September 2012) at the European Respiratory Society's Annual Congress in Vienna. There has been no significant reduction in lung cancer mortality rates in recent years. Chest radiographs can be used to screen for lung cancer...

Stroke Prevention In Patients With Non-Valvular Atrial Fibrillation Using Oral Anticoagulants Including Once Daily Xarelto®

Date: Sep-05-2012
Once-daily oral rivaroxaban recommended by European Society of Cardiology (ESC) as a first line therapy option with a comparable efficacy and safety profile to warfarin for the prevention of stroke and systemic embolism in eligible patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation (AF)1Bayer HealthCare welcomes the inclusion of its once daily oral anticoagulant tablet Xarelto® (rivaroxaban) in guidelines from the European Society of Cardiology (ESC)...