Health News

Newborns Delivered To Obese Mothers May Have Lower Levels Of Iron

Date: Jul-11-2012
A growing number of studies imply that children born to obese mothers face health problems stemming from the womb. New research from the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University and The Mother Infant Research Institute at Tufts Medical Center suggests that low iron status is among these health problems, according to an analysis of maternal hepcidin, a hormone that is key in keeping iron levels balanced...

Muscular Dystrophy Patients May Benefit From New Gene Transfer Strategy

Date: Jul-11-2012
The challenge of treating patients with genetic disorders in which a single mutated gene is simply too large to be replaced using traditional gene therapy techniques may soon be a thing of the past. A Nationwide Children's Hospital study describes a new gene therapy approach capable of delivering full-length versions of large genes and improving skeletal muscle function. The strategy may hold new hope for treating dysferlinopathies and other muscular dystrophies. A group of untreatable muscle disorders known as dysferlinopathies are caused by mutations in the dysferlin gene...

More Sleep To Keep Us Lighter

Date: Jul-11-2012
Research to be presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior (SSIB), the foremost society for research into all aspects of eating and drinking behavior, suggests that sleep behavior affects body weight control and that sleep loss has ramifications not only for how many calories we consume but also for how much energy we burn off...

Hedonic Effects Of Food Can Be Offset By Subtle Goal Reminders

Date: Jul-11-2012
Research to be presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior (SSIB), the foremost society for research into all aspects of eating and drinking behavior, introduces novel cost-effective strategies to facilitate healthy eating among weight-conscious consumers...

Stem Cell Transplant Recipients - Rabbit Antibodies Help Leukemia Patients

Date: Jul-11-2012
A recent study performed by researchers at the Virginia Commonwealth University found that the use of rabbit antibodies can improve the survival and relapse outcomes of leukemia and myelodysplasia patients receiving a stem cell transplant from an unrelated donor. During the study, led by Amir Toor, M.D...

Evidence For Emergency Obstetric Referral Interventions In Developing Countries Is Limited

Date: Jul-11-2012
In this week's PLoS Medicine, Julia Hussein from the University of Aberdeen in Scotland and colleagues assess the evidence for the effectiveness of interventions that aim to help pregnant women reach health facilities during an emergency in developing country settings. In a systematic review of the literature they found that the level of evidence for emergency obstetric referral interventions was poor and that limitations in the design of individual studies made determining the effect of referral interventions on outcomes difficult...

Assessing Heart Treatments By Injecting Tiny Magnetic Particles Into The Bloodstream

Date: Jul-11-2012
Tiny magnetic particles may help doctors track cells in the body to better determine if treatments work, according to research reported in Circulation: Cardiovascular Imaging, an American Heart Association journal. Researchers showed that injecting immune cells containing magnetic particles into the bloodstream was safe and did not interfere with cell function. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans can then track the cells moving through the body...

Depressive-Like Symptoms In Stressed Mice Treated With Adiponectin Hormone

Date: Jul-11-2012
A hormone with anti-diabetic properties also reduces depression-like symptoms in mice, researchers from the School of Medicine at the UT Health Science Center San Antonio report. All types of current antidepressants, including tricyclics and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, increase the risk for type 2 diabetes. "The finding offers a novel target for treating depression, and would be especially beneficial for those depressed individuals who have type 2 diabetes or who are at high risk for developing it," said the study's senior author, Xin-Yun Lu, Ph.D...

New Target Found Deep Within Cancer Cells

Date: Jul-11-2012
Investigators reporting in the July issue of the Cell Press journal Cancer Cell have found that blocking a fundamental process deep within cancer cells can selectively kill them and spare normal cells. For more than a century, clinicians have known that abnormalities of the nucleolus - a small, rounded mass within the cell nucleus - can be diagnostic for cancer. The nucleolus is where certain genes are read to form the components of ribosomes, the cellular machines that make proteins...

New Molecular Insights Lead To Improved Treatment For Brain Cancer

Date: Jul-11-2012
Nearly a third of adults with the most common type of brain cancer develop recurrent, invasive tumors after being treated with a drug called bevacizumab. The molecular underpinnings behind these detrimental effects have now been published by Cell Press in the July issue of Cancer Cell. The findings reveal a new treatment strategy that could reduce tumor invasiveness and improve survival in these drug-resistant patients...