Health News

Asking Your Children What Their Superheroes Would Eat Primes Them To Make Healthier Fast Food Choices

Date: Jul-22-2012
Popeye inspired a generation of growing Baby Boomers to eat its spinach. Today, role models such as Batman can prompt children to develop their own healthy eating habits, a recent Cornell University study finds. "Fast food patronage is a frequent reality for many children and their parents. Simply instructing a parent to order healthier food for a child is neither empowering for a child nor easy for a parent," said Brian Wansink, Cornell professor of marketing, director of the Cornell Food and Brand Lab and study co-author...

One Quarter Of Admissions To Scottish Intensive Care Units Were Alcohol Related

Date: Jul-22-2012
A quarter of patients admitted to Scottish intensive care units have alcohol problems and the majority of those have chronic alcohol disease, with particular problems among men and younger people. Those are key findings of a survey of all 24 Scottish intensive care units, carried out by the Scottish Intensive Care Audit Group and published online early by Anaesthesia, ahead of inclusion in an issue...

Patients With Spinal Cord Injury And Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis May Benefit From Cell Transplantation

Date: Jul-22-2012
Two studies published in a recent issue of Cell Medicine [2(2)] report on the therapeutic efficacy of stem cell transplantation in animal models of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and spinal cord injury (SCI). Cell Medicine is freely available on-line...

In Pediatric Kidney Transplant, Blood Condition Found To Be Highly Predictive Of Graft Failure

Date: Jul-22-2012
For children receiving kidney transplants, a potentially correctable blood condition present in about one in four recipients is associated with a moderately increased risk of the graft's later failure, suggesting that clinicians should weigh whether transplant is advisable when the condition is present, according to UC Davis research presented at the 24th International Congress of the Transplantation Society in Berlin. Children with chronic kidney disease often have the condition, called low serum albumin, as a result of inflammation or malnutrition, among other causes...

Hundreds Of Random Mutations In Leukemia Linked To Aging, Not Cancer

Date: Jul-22-2012
Hundreds of mutations exist in leukemia cells at the time of diagnosis, but nearly all occur randomly as a part of normal aging and are not related to cancer, new research shows. Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found that even in healthy people, stem cells in the blood routinely accumulate new mutations over the course of a person's lifetime. And their research shows that in many cases only two or three additional genetic changes are required to transform a normal blood cell already dotted with mutations into acute myeloid leukemia (AML)...

Drugmaker Begins Phase I Clinical Trial To Test Microtubule Stabilizing-Drug In Mild Alzheimer's Cases

Date: Jul-22-2012
While clinical trial results are being released regarding drugs intended to decrease amyloid production - thought to contribute to decline in Alzheimer's disease - clinical trials of drugs targeting other disease proteins, such as tau, are in their initial phases...

Blocking IL-6 Improved Response To Breast Cancer Drug Herceptin

Date: Jul-22-2012
Breast cancer treatments such as Herceptin that target a marker called HER2 have dramatically improved outcomes for women with this type of cancer. But nearly half of these cancers are resistant to Herceptin from the start and almost all of them will eventually become resistant. Now, researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center have discovered one reason why the cancer cells become resistant: They turn on a completely different pathway, one that is involved in inflammation, fueling the cancer independently of HER2...

Researchers Determine Entire Genetic Sequence Of Individual Human Sperm

Date: Jul-22-2012
The entire genomes of 91 human sperm from one man have been sequenced by Stanford University researchers. The results provide a fascinating glimpse into naturally occurring genetic variation in one individual, and are the first to report the whole-genome sequence of a human gamete - the only cells that become a child and through which parents pass on physical traits. "This represents the culmination of nearly a decade of work in my lab," said Stephen Quake, PhD, the Lee Otterson Professor in the School of Engineering and professor of bioengineering and of applied physics...

City Street Pollution Reduced By Up To 8 Times More Than Previously Believed By Green Plants

Date: Jul-22-2012
Trees, bushes and other greenery growing in the concrete-and-glass canyons of cities can reduce levels of two of the most worrisome air pollutants by eight times more than previously believed, a new study has found. A report on the research appears in the ACS journal Environmental Science & Technology. Thomas Pugh and colleagues explain that concentrations of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and microscopic particulate matter (PM) - both of which can be harmful to human health - exceed safe levels on the streets of many cities...

The Presence Of Oxidants Early In Life May Help Determine Life Span

Date: Jul-22-2012
Why do we age, and what makes some of us live longer than others? For decades, researchers have been trying to answer these questions by elucidating the molecular causes of aging. One of the most popular theories is that the accumulation of oxygen radicals over time might be the underlying culprit in aging. Oxygen radicals are chemically reactive molecules that can damage cellular components such as lipids, proteins and nucleic acids, resulting in "oxidative stress...