Health News

Inflammatory Bowel Disease Research Studies Need To 'Get Real'

Date: Aug-24-2012
Major randomized controlled trials of new therapies for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are conducted on patients who are not typical of those who physicians see in day-to-day practice, according to a new study in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, the official clinical practice journal of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA). The two major, often debilitating, illnesses that are recognized as IBD are ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease...

Feeling Full Sooner: Self-Control, Willpower Improved By Paying More Attention To Quantity Eaten

Date: Aug-24-2012
New research from the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management suggests learning how to stop enjoying unhealthy food sooner may play a pivotal role in combating America's obesity problem. The research, published in the Journal of Consumer Research, explores how satiation, defined as the drop in liking during repeated consumption, can be a positive mechanism when it lowers the desire for unhealthy foods...

Soda, Junk Food Consumption Affected By Income, 'Screen Time'

Date: Aug-24-2012
Preschoolers from low-income neighbourhoods and kids who spend more than two hours a day in front of a TV or video-game console have at least one thing in common: a thirst for sugary soda and juice, according to research from the University of Alberta. Researchers from the faculties of Physical Education and Recreation, School of Public Health and Medicine & Dentistry surveyed parents to assess the dietary habits of 1,800 preschoolers in the Edmonton region as part of a larger study on diet, physical activity and obesity. Researchers found that 54...

Cognitive Training During Adolescence May Improve Schizophrenia Symptoms

Date: Aug-24-2012
Animals that literally have holes in their brains can go on to behave as normal adults if they've had the benefit of a little cognitive training in adolescence. That's according to new work in Neuron, a Cell Press publication, featuring an animal model of schizophrenia, where rats with particular neonatal brain injuries develop schizophrenia-like symptoms. "The brain can be loaded with all sorts of problems," said André Fenton of New York University. "What this work shows is that experience can overcome those disabilities." Fenton's team made the discovery completely by accident...

Possible Cause Of Immune Deficiency Cases In Asia Uncovered By NIH Researchers

Date: Aug-24-2012
A clinical study led by National Institutes of Health investigators has identified an antibody that compromises the immune systems of HIV-negative people, making them susceptible to infections with opportunistic microbes such as nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM). In this study conducted at hospitals in Thailand and Taiwan, the researchers found that the majority of study participants with opportunistic infections made an antibody against interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma), a cell-signaling molecule thought to play a major role in clearing harmful infections...

Ethical Dilemmas Contribute To 'Critical Weaknesses' In FDA Postmarket Oversight, Experts Say

Date: Aug-24-2012
Ethical challenges are central to persistent "critical weaknesses" in the national system for ensuring drug safety, according to a commentary by former Institute of Medicine (IOM) committee members published in the New England Journal of Medicine. With a caution against "reactive policymaking," committee co-chairs Ruth Faden, Ph.D., M.P.H., and Steven Goodman, M.D., M.H.S., Ph.D., with fellow committee member Michelle Mello, J.D., Ph.D., revisit the controversy over the antidiabetic drug Avandia that led to the formation of their IOM committee on monitoring drug safety after approval...

Turning Enzymes On And Off Could Be Key To Burning Fat Faster

Date: Aug-24-2012
Enzymes involved in breaking down fat can now be manipulated to work three times harder by turning on a molecular switch recently observed by chemists at the University of Copenhagen. Being able to control this chemical on/off button could have massive implications for curing diseases related to obesity including diabetes, cardio vascular disease, stroke and even skin problems like acne. But the implications may be wider...

Stem Cell Survival In Muscular Dystrophy Therapy Boosted By Low Oxygen

Date: Aug-24-2012
Controlling the amount of oxygen that stem cells are exposed to can significantly increase the effectiveness of a procedure meant to combat an often fatal form of muscular dystrophy, according to Purdue University research. A genetic mutation in patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy causes the constant breakdown of muscles and gradual depletion of stem cells that are responsible for repairing the damage and progressive muscle wasting...

Scientists Manipulate The Set2 Pathway To Show How Genes Are Faithfully Copied

Date: Aug-24-2012
The first step in gene expression is the exact copying of a segment of DNA by the enzyme known as RNA polymerase II, or pol II, into a mirror image RNA. Scientists recognize that pol II does not transcribe RNA via a smooth glide down the DNA highway but instead encounters an obstacle course of DNA tightly wound around barrier proteins called histones. Those proteins must be shoved aside for pol II to trundle through. Previous work from the lab of Jerry Workman, Ph.D...

Anorexic Patients Misjudge Their Own Body Size

Date: Aug-24-2012
Patients with anorexia have trouble accurately judging their own body size, but not others', according to research published Aug. 22 in the open access journal PLOS ONE. In the study, led by Dewi Guardia of the University Hospital of Lille in France, 25 patients with anorexia and 25 controls were shown a door-like aperture and asked to judge whether or not it was wide enough for them to pass through, or for another person present in the room to pass through...