Health News

Placebo Or Nocebo

Date: Jul-16-2012
Negative suggestion can induce symptoms of illness. Nocebo effects are the adverse events that occur during sham treatment and/or as a result of negative expectations. While the positive counterpart - the placebo effect - has been intensively studied in recent years, the scientific literature contains few studies on nocebo phenomena...

Tobacco May Lower Immune System Response In Liver Transplant Recipients

Date: Jul-16-2012
Transplant recipients who smoke or have smoked increase their risk of viral hepatitis reinfection following liver transplantation according to new research available in Liver Transplantation, a journal published by Wiley on behalf of American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases. Findings suggest that tobacco in cigarettes may adversely affect immune system response in patients transplanted for viral hepatitis...

Basic Function Can Be Regained By Undergoing Multiple ACL Surgeries, But Not Full Activity

Date: Jul-16-2012
Patients who undergo repeated anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstructions, or repeat revision surgery, are unlikely to return to prior activity levels despite showing basic functional improvement according to research presented at the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine's (AOSSM) Annual Meeting. "We focused on 15 patients entering at least their third ACL surgery on the same knee, a rarity in the orthopedic community" noted lead author Diane Dahm, MD, orthopaedic surgeon from the Mayo Clinic...

What Is Nexium (Esomeprazole Magnesium)?

Date: Jul-16-2012
Nexium, generic name esomeprazole, is a proton-pump inhibitor used for the treatment of GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease), duodenal ulcer disease, and erosive esophagitis. Proton-pump inhibitors are a group of drugs. Their main action is the reduction of stomach acid (gastric acid) production. Experts say proton pump inhibitors are the most powerful and effective inhibitors of stomach acid secretions on the market today...

Important Breakthrough May Lead To Control Of Inflammation And Immune Responses

Date: Jul-16-2012
Researchers at the IRCM, led by geneticist Dr. Jacques Drouin, recently defined the interaction between two essential proteins that control inflammation. This important breakthrough is published in the print edition of the scientific journal Molecular Cell. IRCM scientists study glucocorticoids, a class of steroid hormones that suppress the immune system and reduce inflammation. They are used in medicine to treat diseases such as allergies, asthma, and autoimmune diseases...

Rehabilitation Following Rotator Cuff Surgery Requires Change

Date: Jul-16-2012
A new Hospital for Special Surgery study suggests that the current rehabilitation used for patients undergoing tendon-bone repairs such as rotator cuff repair may be partially to blame for the high rates of failed healing after surgery. Experiments in a rat model of this injury suggest that immobilizing the limb for four to six weeks after surgery, rather than quickly starting physical therapy, improves healing...

New Marker Could Improve Multiple Sclerosis Diagnosis

Date: Jul-16-2012
Diagnosing multiple sclerosis (MS) is a challenge even for experienced neurologists. This autoimmune disease has many symptoms and rarely presents a uniform clinical picture. New scientific findings on the immune response involved in MS could now help improve the diagnosis of this illness. Scientists analyzing the blood of MS patients have discovered antibodies that attack a specific potassium channel in the cell membrane. Potassium channels play an important role in transmitting impulses to muscle and nerve cells and it is exactly these processes that are inhibited in MS patients...

Dad May Coach The Team, But Don't Expect Him To Clean

Date: Jul-16-2012
Pressure to be more involved in their children's lives has many middle class men turning to sports as a way to nurture their kids. This softening of gender roles might be seen on the field, but researchers found it doesn't change traditional behavior at home - where household chores and other parenting responsibilities are still seen as mom's job. "Women may be unhappy about this inequality, but at the same time they value the fact that their partners are involved with the kids - even if it is mostly manifested on the soccer field," says Dr...

Study Of Media Violence And Children Could Have Implications For School Bullying

Date: Jul-16-2012
The April suicide of 14-year-old Kenneth Weishuhn Jr. -- a South O'Brien High School (Paulina, Iowa) student who was reportedly teased and bullied by classmates -- had Iowa lawmakers questioning the effectiveness of the state's five-year-old anti-bullying law. School officials can't always identify the bullies until it's too late. But a new study led by Douglas Gentile, an Iowa State University associate professor of psychology, may provide schools with a new tool to help them profile students who are more likely to commit aggressive acts against other students...

Teaching Hockey Players To Bodycheck And Avoid Injury

Date: Jul-16-2012
A new study from the University of Alberta is challenging the notion that teaching the next generation of Sidney Crosbys how to take a bodycheck at an earlier age will help them avoid injury over the long term. Researchers with the Alberta Centre for Injury Control and Research in the School of Public Health studied hockey-related injuries using data from several emergency departments in the Edmonton region...