Health News

Heritable Abnormality Affecting Semantic Cognition Found

Date: Jun-21-2012
This is the first suggestion of a heritable abnormality in otherwise healthy humans, and this has important implications for our understanding of the genetic basis of cognition. Dr Josie Briscoe of Bristol's School of Experimental Psychology and colleagues at the Institute of Child Health in London studied eight members of a single family (aged 8 years), who despite all having high levels of intelligence have since childhood, experienced profound difficulties in recalling sentences and prose, and language difficulties in listening comprehension and naming less common objects ...

PR Campaigns By Soda Companies Are Bad For Health

Date: Jun-21-2012
Health advocates need to organize strong public health campaigns to educate the public and policymakers about the dangers of both sugary beverages and the misleading industry corporate social responsibility campaigns that distract from their products' health risks, according to US experts writing in this week's PLoS Medicine...

For The Elderly In China, Tai Chi Found To Increases Brain Size, Benefit Cognition

Date: Jun-21-2012
Scientists from the University of South Florida and Fudan University in Shanghai found increases in brain volume and improvements on tests of memory and thinking in Chinese seniors who practiced Tai Chi three times a week, reports an article published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease. Findings were based on an 8-month randomized controlled trial comparing those who practiced Tai Chi to a group who received no intervention...

COPD: Respiratory Community Calls For Lung Testing To Be Offered As 'Standard'

Date: Jun-21-2012
As leading figures in respiratory health from across the globe gather in Birmingham for the COPD8 conference ahead of World Spirometry Day, the European COPD Coalition (ECC) is calling on policy makers across Europe to recognise that chronic diseases such as COPD, present as great a threat as the global financial crisis , and is urging collective action...

Night Work And Women's Health

Date: Jun-21-2012
Breast cancer is the number one cause of female mortality. It affects 100 out of 100,000 women per year in developed countries. Each year, more than 1.3 million new cases are diagnosed, 53,000 of these in France. The risk factors of breast cancer are varied. They include genetic mutations, late first pregnancy, low parity or hormone therapy, but other causes of breast cancer such as way of life, environmental or professional causes have not yet been completely identified...

Single Mothers May Suffer Reduced Stress By Playing, Engaging With Their Children

Date: Jun-21-2012
A group of three Kansas State University researchers is studying ways to help single mothers improve their relationship with their children. Among many of their findings, they have discovered that single mothers who engage with children in daily activities - such as reading stories or playing games - may experience lower levels of stress. The researchers - Blake Berryhill, Tulsa, Okla.; Kristy Soloski, Parma, Ohio; and Rebekah Adams, Ripon, Calif. - are all doctoral students in marriage and family therapy and work with the K-State Family Center...

Social Factors Predict Amount Of Sick Leave Taken By Cancer Survivors

Date: Jun-21-2012
Long-term cancer survivors take sick leave more often than their disease-free colleagues, suggesting that they struggle at work despite their ability to work five years after diagnosis. These findings by Steffen Torp, from Vestfold University College in Norway, and colleagues is published online in Springer's/i Journal of Cancer Survivorship. Most cancer survivors return to work. The ability to work following cancer treatment is important for maintaining self-respect, identity and living standard...

Screening Strategies For Osteoporosis In Young Adults Outlined In New Review

Date: Jun-21-2012
Much of the research defining osteoporosis and fracture risk has focused on older adults, i.e. postmenopausal women and men over the age of 50. While older adults areat highest risk of osteoporosis and related fractures, the disease can also affect younger adults between 20 and 50 years of age. However, the diagnosis and management of osteoporosis in young adults is complicated by special challenges, including a complex pathophysiology and the related fact that there is no clear definition of osteoporosis, or of intervention thresholds, in this age group...

A New Approach To Deciphering The Roles Of Genes Associated With Autism

Date: Jun-21-2012
Fish cannot display symptoms of autism, schizophrenia or other human brain disorders. However, a team of MIT biologists has shown that zebrafish can be a useful tool for studying the genes that contribute to such disorders. Led by developmental biologist Hazel Sive, the researchers set out to explore a group of about two dozen genes known to be either missing or duplicated in about 1 percent of autistic patients. Most of the genes' functions were unknown, but the MIT study revealed that nearly all of them produced brain abnormalities when deleted in zebrafish embryos...

Powerful New Tool In Fight Against Cancer - Moving 3D Computer Model Of Key Human Protein

Date: Jun-21-2012
A powerful new discovery tool is already at work screening millions of drugs in the search to reverse chemotherapy drug-resistance in cancer. A picture is worth 1,000 words when it comes to understanding how things work, but 3D moving pictures are even better. That's especially true for scientists trying to stop cancer by better understanding the proteins that make some chemotherapies unsuccessful. Researchers for decades have had to rely at best on static images of the key proteins related to recurring cancers. Now SMU biochemist John G...