Health News
Date: Aug-06-2012
Millions of women suffer from unexplained vulvar pain so severe it can make intercourse, exercise and even sitting unbearable. New research now shows that women with this painful vaginal condition known as vulvodynia are two to three times more likely to also have one or more other chronic pain conditions, including irritable bowel syndrome, fibromyalgia (musculoskeletal pain) and interstitial cystitis (bladder pain)...
Date: Aug-06-2012
Overweight and obese individuals can achieve a decade's worth of important health benefits by losing just 20 pounds, even if they regain the weight later that decade, according to research presented at the American Psychological Association's 120th Annual Convention. With a focus on psychology's role in overcoming the national obesity epidemic, the session also examined research that indicates foods high in sugar and fat could have addictive properties...
Date: Aug-06-2012
Results from a study conducted at Georgia State University suggest that a "fight" between bacteria normally living in the intestines and the immune system, kicked off by another type of bacteria, may be linked to two types of chronic disease. The study suggests that the "fight" continues after the instigator bacteria have been cleared by the body, according to Andrew Gewirtz, professor of biology at the GSU Center for Inflammation, Immunity and Infection. That fight can result in metabolic syndrome, an important factor in obesity, or inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)...
Date: Aug-06-2012
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified a potential target for treating diabetes and obesity. Studying mice, they found that when the target protein was disabled, the animals became more sensitive to insulin and were less likely to get fat even when they ate a high-fat diet that caused their littermates to become obese. The findings are published online in the journal Cell Metabolism. The researchers studied how the body manufactures fat from dietary sources such as carbohydrates...
Date: Aug-06-2012
Whitehead Institute researchers have found that increased expression of a specific set of genes is strongly associated with metastasis and death in patients with breast, colon, and lung cancers. Not only could this finding help scientists identify a gene profile predictive of patient outcomes and response to treatment, it could also guide the development of therapeutics to target multiple cancer types...
Date: Aug-06-2012
Planarian flatworms have come under intense study for their renowned ability to regenerate any missing body part, even as adults. But now they may take on a starring role as a model system for studying eye development and eye diseases in vertebrates, including humans. This expansion of the planarian job description comes courtesy of Whitehead Institute researchers, who published in Cell Reports an exhaustive catalog of genes active in the planarian eye...
Date: Aug-06-2012
When ordering seafood, the options are many and so are some of the things you might consider in what you order. Is your fish healthy? Is it safe? Is it harvested responsibly? While there are many services and rankings offered to help you decide - there's even an iPhone app - a group of researchers have found a simple rule of thumb applies. "If the fish is sustainable, then it is likely to be healthy to eat too," said Leah Gerber, an associate professor and senior sustainability scientist at Arizona State University...
Date: Aug-06-2012
Researchers in India have developed an improved expert system for the diagnosis of thyroid disease. They describe details of their approach to screening medical data in a forthcoming issue of the International Journal of Computational Science and Engineering. Thyroid disease in which either too much thyroid hormone is produced (hyperthyroidism) or too little is made (hypothyroidism) are common health problems across the globe...
Date: Aug-06-2012
A genetic screening approach to studying bone disease has found nine new genes associated with bone health and suggests a new way to discover genes that may be implicated in human skeletal diseases. A collaborative study of the mineral content, strength and flexibility of bones has found clues to the cause of bone disorders such as osteoporosis, osteogenesis imperfecta, and high bone density syndromes...
Date: Aug-05-2012
Scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute have identified a protein that impairs the development and maintenance of lymphoma (cancer of the lymph nodes), but is repressed during the initial stages of the disease, allowing for rapid tumor growth...