Health News

Women With Major Depression Benefit From Creatine

Date: Aug-08-2012
Women battling stubborn major depression may have a surprising new ally in their fight - the muscle-building dietary supplement creatine. In a new proof-of-concept study, researchers from three South Korean universities and the University of Utah report that women with major depressive disorder (MDD) who augmented their daily antidepressant with 5 grams of creatine responded twice as fast and experienced remission of the illness at twice the rate of women who took the antidepressant alone...

Children With Crohn's Disease May Benefit From Adalimumab

Date: Aug-08-2012
Adalimumab (an anti-tumor necrosis factor [TNF] antibody) is effective in maintaining remission in certain pediatric patients with Crohn's disease, according to a new study in Gastroenterology, the official journal of the American Gastroenterological Association. Steroids are commonly used in Crohn's disease, but can stunt growth and delay puberty. Incidence of this disease, which causes intestinal inflammation, is on the rise in children. This study is the largest double-blind study of an anti-TNF agent in children with Crohn's disease...

Novel Inflammatory Protein Function Described

Date: Aug-08-2012
A UNC-led team of scientists describes the function of a previously uncharacterized protein that dramatically influences inflammation. A majority of the NLR family of proteins function as activators of inflammation. However, scientists at UNC report that a newly identified NLR protein, NLRC3, was able to inhibit a major inflammatory pathway that is controlled by a protein called NF-Kappa B. NF-Kappa B activation has been long associated with inflammation and cancer promotion. Their article appears in the online publication of the journal Nature Immunology...

More Grateful Teens Less Likely To Be Depressed, Delinquent

Date: Aug-08-2012
Grateful teens are more likely than their less grateful peers to be happy, less likely to abuse drugs and alcohol and less likely to have behavior problems at school, according to research presented at the American Psychological Association's 120th Annual Convention. "Gratitude played an important role in many areas of positive mental health of the teens in our study," said lead author Giacomo Bono, PhD, psychology professor at California State University...

Cardiac Arrests Reduced By Implantable Defibrillators

Date: Aug-08-2012
Implantable cardioverter defibrillators account for one-third of the decrease in cardiac arrests caused by ventricular fibrillation in North-Holland, according to research in Circulation, an American Heart Association journal. VF is an abnormal heart rhythm that makes the heart quiver so it can't pump blood. ICDs are small electronic devices implanted in the chest that detect potentially fatal abnormal heart rhythms and try to stop them with electric shocks...

Overcrowding In The ER A Problem For Minorities In California

Date: Aug-08-2012
Hospitals in areas with large minority populations are more likely to be overcrowded and to divert ambulances, delaying timely emergency care, according to a multi-institutional study focused on California. The researchers examined ambulance diversion in more than 200 hospitals around the state to assess whether overcrowding in emergency rooms disproportionately affects racial and ethnic minorities. They found that minorities are more at risk of being impacted by ER crowding and by diversion than non-minorities. The study will be published in the August issue of Health Affairs...

Disclosure Not Necessary For Off-Label Drug Use; Patients May Not Know They're Taking Them

Date: Aug-08-2012
Many people have probably heard of off-label drug use, but they may not know when that applies to prescriptions they are taking, a Mayo Clinic analysis found. Off-label drug use occurs when a physician prescribes medication to treat a condition before that use has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. In a newly published article in Mayo Clinic Proceedings, researchers pose and answer 10 questions about off-label drug use...

Protective Effects From Carbon Monoxide Provided By Anti-Angina Drug In Animal Model

Date: Aug-08-2012
An international research team, led from the University of Leeds, has found that a common anti-angina drug could help protect the heart against carbon monoxide poisoning. Animal studies have shown that the anti-angina drug ranolazine can significantly reduce the number of deaths from arrhythmias - irregular or abnormally paced heartbeats - that have been triggered by carbon monoxide. The findings could have important implications for the development of a protective treatment for adults and children who have been exposed to toxic levels of the gas...

Interactions Between Gene Mutations And The Development Of Cancer

Date: Aug-08-2012
Despite a huge amount of research effort, the molecular mechanisms that underlie the transition from a "normal" cell to a cancerous cell are only poorly understood. After the discovery of the first cancer-causing genes or oncogenes and the finding that they are mutated forms of normal cellular genes, it was widely believed that a single mutation was enough to cause cancer. Subsequent research, however, has revealed that most cancers only develop as a result of several mutations. A bewildering variety of combinations of mutations have been shown to have the potential to give rise to cancer...

What Is Anatomy?

Date: Aug-07-2012
Anatomy is the identification and description of the structures of living things. Anatomy is a branch of biology and medicine which can be divided into three broad areas: human anatomy, zootomy (animal anatomy), and phytotomy (plant anatomy). The word anatomy comes from the Greek ana- meaning "up", and tome- meaning "a cutting". Anatomy, especially in the past, has depended heavily on dissection. In Greek and Latin the words "anatomy" and "dissection" have virtually the same meanings...