Health News

Pregnancy Aided By Fertility Drugs Leads To Healthy But Slightly Shorter Offspring

Date: Jun-26-2012
Among children born full term, those conceived with the help of fertility drugs are slightly shorter than naturally conceived children but overall are physically healthy, a new study finds. Results of the study were presented at The Endocrine Society's 94th Annual Meeting in Houston. "Reassuringly, these children remained well within the normal height range for both their sex and age," said researcher Tim Savage, MD, a pediatrician and research fellow at The Liggins Institute, University of Auckland, in Auckland, New Zealand...

Should We Have The Right To Choose When And How We Die? Are We Ready To Perform Therapeutic Homicide?

Date: Jun-26-2012
A new report from the province of Quebec that recommends medical assistance to die will reignite the debate over euthanasia in Canada, states an editorial published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). The Dying with Dignity commission of the Quebec National Assembly recently issued its report after two years of public and expert consultation and research. Advocates of this approach argue that medically assisted death is a patient's right. It should therefore be considered as an end-of-life care option rather than a criminal act...

Agricultural Fungicide Linked To Insulin Resistance

Date: Jun-26-2012
A fungicide used on farm crops can induce insulin resistance, a new tissue-culture study finds, providing another piece of evidence linking environmental pollutants to diabetes. The results were presented at The Endocrine Society's 94th Annual Meeting in Houston. "For the first time, we've ascribed a molecular mechanism by which an environmental pollutant can induce insulin resistance, lending credence to the hypothesis that some synthetic chemicals might be contributors to the diabetes epidemic," said investigator Robert Sargis, M.D., Ph.D...

Association Between Timing Of Menopause Symptoms And Risk Markers For Heart Disease, Stroke

Date: Jun-26-2012
The hot flashes and night sweats that most women experience early in menopause are not linked to increased levels of cardiovascular disease risk markers unless the symptoms persist or start many years after menopause begins. These new study results were presented at The Endocrine Society's 94th Annual Meeting in Houston...

Previously Undetected Abnormalities In Parents Of Affected Children Revealed By Genomewide Analysis

Date: Jun-26-2012
The use of genome-wide array analysis[1] in parents whose children are suspected of having a genetic disease shows that the parents frequently also have previously undetected genetic abnormalities, a researcher from The Netherlands told the annual conference of the European Society of Human Genetics today (Sunday). Being aware of this is important to parents because it means that their risk of having another affected child is significantly increased. Dr...

Gut Microbes Battle A Common Set Of Viruses Shared By Global Populations

Date: Jun-26-2012
The human gut is home to a teeming ecosystem of microbes that is intimately involved in both human health and disease. But while the gut microbiota is interacting with our body, they are also under constant attack from viruses. In a study published online in Genome Research, researchers have analyzed a bacterial immune system, revealing a common set of viruses associated with gut microbiota in global populations. Viruses that prey on bacteria, called phages, pose a constant threat to the health of bacterial communities...

Biodegradable Artery Graft Developed To Enhance Bypass Surgeries

Date: Jun-26-2012
With the University of Pittsburgh's development of a cell-free, biodegradable artery graft comes a potentially transformative change in coronary artery bypass surgeries: Within 90 days after surgery, the patient will have a regenerated artery with no trace of synthetic graft materials left in the body. Research published online in Nature Medicine highlights work led by principal investigator Yadong Wang, a professor in Pitt's Swanson School of Engineering and School of Medicine's Department of Surgery, who designed grafts that fully harness the body's regenerative capacity...

Cheaper, Faster Diagnosis In Heterogeneous Disease Via Exome Sequencing

Date: Jun-26-2012
The first report of the diagnostic use of the technique of exome sequencing, where short sequences of DNA are analysed, shows that it can give good results at low cost, a researcher from The Netherlands told the annual conference of the European Society of Human Genetics. The scientists were able to perform a genetic diagnosis in around 20% of 100 cases of patients with intellectual disability (ID) and 50% of the 25 cases of blindness studied. Not only is the exome test cheaper, but results are available more quickly than with Sanger sequencing[1], they say. Dr...

Medtronic Stent Graft Chosen By U.S. FDA For Innovative Program

Date: Jun-26-2012
Regulatory Agency Selects Investigational Medical Device for Endovascular Treatment of Thoracic Aortic Aneurysms Involving Branch Vessel for Early Feasibility Pilot Program The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently selected a stent graft being developed by Medtronic, Inc. (NYSE: MDT) for an early feasibility pilot program that allows for "early clinical evaluation to provide proof of principle and initial clinical safety data...

Flower Power May Be Answer To Itchy Problem

Date: Jun-26-2012
Sunflowers may hold the solution to a problem which gets under the skin of millions of Australians every year. Skin conditions such as eczema, dermatitis, rosacea and the lesser-known Netherton Syndrome pose an itchy problem for many sufferers world-wide, but a group of researchers from Queensland University of Technology (QUT) are looking at ways to soothe the problem - with tiny proteins called peptides, found in sunflowers...