Health News

Infection Warning System In Cells Contains Targets For Antiviral And Vaccine Strategies

Date: Aug-01-2012
Two new targets have been discovered for antiviral therapies and vaccines strategies that could enhance the body's defenses against such infectious diseases as West Nile and hepatitis C. The targets are within the infection warning system inside living cells. No vaccines exist for the viruses that cause West Nile or hepatitis C. New therapies are urgently needed to prevent and treat serious infections by these and related viruses...

Photoacoustics For Detecting Cancer May Have Limited Use

Date: Aug-01-2012
One person dies every hour from melanoma skin cancer in the United States, according to the American Cancer Society. A technique, known as photoacoustics, can find some forms of melanoma even if only a few cancerous cells exist, but a recent study by MU researchers found that the technique was limited in its ability to identify other types of cancer. Attaching markers, called enhancers, to cancer cells could improve the ability of photoacoustics to find other types of cancer and could save lives thanks to faster diagnosis, but the technique is in its early stages...

Link Identified Between Kidney Removal And Erectile Dysfunction

Date: Aug-01-2012
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have identified a link between patients who undergo total nephrectomy - complete kidney removal - and erectile dysfunction. Results from the multi-center study were recently published online in the British Journal of Urology International...

Research Focuses On Treatment For Perpetrator, Not Victim Of Domestic Violence

Date: Aug-01-2012
A new UH experiment takes an unconventional look at the treatment for domestic violence, otherwise known as intimate partner violence (IPV), by focusing on changing the perpetrators' psychological abuse during arguments rather than addressing his sexist beliefs. "There is a lot of research that studies the victim of intimate partner violence, but not the perpetrator," said Julia Babcock, department of psychology and co-director of the Center for Couples Therapy, a clinical research center at UH that offers therapy for couples...

Defects And Injuries To Head, Mouth May In Future With Treated By Stem Cell Therapy

Date: Aug-01-2012
In the first human study of its kind, researchers found that using stem cells to re-grow craniofacial tissues - mainly bone - proved quicker, more effective and less invasive than traditional bone regeneration treatments. Researchers from the University of Michigan School of Dentistry and the Michigan Center for Oral Health Research partnered with Ann Arbor-based Aastrom Biosciences Inc. in the clinical trial, which involved 24 patients who required jawbone reconstruction after tooth removal...

Structural Variations Discovered In The Brains Of Those Who Recall Their Lives Perfectly

Date: Aug-01-2012
UC Irvine scientists have discovered intriguing differences in the brains and mental processes of an extraordinary group of people who can effortlessly recall every moment of their lives since about age 10. The phenomenon of highly superior autobiographical memory - first documented in 2006 by UCI neurobiologist James McGaugh and colleagues in a woman identified as "AJ" - has been profiled on CBS's "60 Minutes" and in hundreds of other media outlets...

Stem Cell Therapy Only Works With Younger Hearts

Date: Jul-31-2012
A new study by researchers at Cornell University and the University of Bonn has found that even though stem cells can actually replace dead heart tissue after a heart attack very early in life, those same cells lose regenerative ability in adults. The researchers, using mice as their subjects, came to the conclusion that undifferentiated precursor cells grow new heart cells in a two-day-old mouse, but not in adult mice...

Yoga Can Help Re-Build Balance After A Stroke

Date: Jul-31-2012
A small pilot study that investigated yoga's potential benefits in chronic stroke survivors in those who suffered a stroke longer than 6 months earlier has revealed that group yoga can improve balance in stroke survivors who no longer receive rehabilitative care. The study was published in the American Heart Association's journal Stroke. Leading researcher Arlene Schmid, Ph.D., O.T.R...

New Drug May Help Lose Weight And Keep It Away

Date: Jul-31-2012
According to a study published in the journal Cell Metabolism, researchers have discovered that a new drug could assist in weight loss that stays away. The drug, which has so far, only been tested in mice, increases sensitivity to the hormone leptin, which is a natural appetite suppressant found in the body. The findings will affect the development of new treatments for combating obesity in humans...

Reducing The Risk Of Repeat Fractures From Osteoporosis

Date: Jul-31-2012
The American Society for Bone and Mineral Research's task force of international experts is calling on healthcare providers to routinely provide osteoporosis testing and to start therapy as needed for all adults above the age of 50 who have sustained their first osteoporosis-related fracture in an attempt to prevent subsequent fractures. The experts were commissioned to conduct an extensive review of possible solutions to prevent "secondary fractures," and determined that the most effective solution would be a system of patient care coordination called "fracture liaison services"...