Health News

How Many Calories Should I Eat?

Date: May-20-2012
The number of calories people should eat each day depends on several factors, including their age, size, height, sex, lifestyle, and overall general health. A physically active 6ft 2in male, aged 22 years, requires considerably more calories than a 5ft 2ins sedentary woman in her 70s. Recommended daily calorie intakes also vary across the world. According to the National Health Service (NHS), UK, the average male adult needs approximately 2,500 calories per day to keep his weight constant, while the average adult female needs 2,000. US authorities recommend 2,700 calories per day for men and...

Rare DNA Variations May Be Responsible For Differences In Susceptibily To Heart, Lung And Other Disorders

Date: May-20-2012
One-letter switches in the DNA code occur much more frequently in human genomes than anticipated, but are often only found in one or a few individuals. The abundance of rare variations across the human genome is consistent with the population explosion of the past few thousand years, medical geneticists and evolutionary biologists report in the advanced online edition of Science. "This is a dramatic example of how recent human history has profoundly shaped patterns of genetic variation," said Joshua Akey, University of Washington associate professor of genome sciences and a senior author of...

Personal Genetic Test Results Have Not Driven Overuse Of Expensive Medical Care

Date: May-20-2012
People have more and more chances to participate in genetic testing that can indicate their range of risk for developing a disease. Receiving these results does not appreciably drive up - or diminish - test recipients' demand for potentially costly follow-up health services, according to a new study in the early online issue of Genetics in Medicine. The study was done by researchers with the Multiplex Initiative, a multi-center collaborative initiative involving investigators from the National Institutes of Health's Intramural Research Program, Group Health Cooperative in Seattle, and the...

Improving Understanding Of Psychiatric Disorders With The Help Of Zebrafish

Date: May-20-2012
Scientists at Queen Mary, University of London have shown that zebrafish could be used to study the underlying causes of psychiatric disorders. The study, published online in the journal Behavioural Brain Research, found zebrafish can modify their behaviour in response to varying situations. Dr Caroline Brennan, from Queen Mary's School of Biological and Chemical Sciences who led the study, said: "Zebrafish are becoming one of the most useful animal models for studying the developmental genetic mechanisms underlying many psychiatric disorders; they breed prolifically and we have many new and...

Serious But Rare Genetic Immune Disorder Studied By Scientists

Date: May-20-2012
Defects in the gene that encodes the XIAP protein result in a serious immune malfunction. Scientists used biochemical analyses to map the protein's ability to activate vital components of the immune system. Their results have recently been published in Molecular Cell, a journal of international scientific repute. Researchers at The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Protein Research at the University of Copenhagen have mapped how the XIAP protein activates a vital component of the immune defence system, specifically the component that fights bacterial infections in the gastro-intestinal...

Anti-HIV Product For Both Vagina And Rectum Using Reduced Glycerin Formulation Of Tenofovir Vaginal Gel

Date: May-20-2012
A change in the formulation of tenofovir gel, an anti-HIV gel developed for vaginal use, may make it safer to use in the rectum, suggests a study published online this week in the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. In laboratory tests of rectal tissue, researchers from the Microbicide Trials Network (MTN) found that the reformulated gel was less harmful to the lining of the rectum than the original vaginal formulation, and just as effective in protecting cells against HIV. "The lining of the rectum is much more fragile than the vaginal epithelium, so we can't be certain a product like...

Sleep Quality Impaired In Children With Epilepsy And Their Parents

Date: May-20-2012
Researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital for Children in Boston have determined that pediatric epilepsy significantly impacts sleep patterns for the child and parents. According to the study available in Epilepsia, a journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE), sharing a room or co-sleeping with their child with epilepsy decreases the sleep quality and prevents restful sleep for parents. Over 1% of children in the U.S. are diagnosed with epilepsy - a chronic, neurological disease characterized by recurring seizures. In families...

Discovery Alters Prevailing View Of Splicing Regulation And Has Implications For Splicing Mutations Associated With Disease

Date: May-20-2012
There are always exceptions to a rule, even one that has prevailed for more than three decades, as demonstrated by a Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) study on RNA splicing, a cellular editing process. The rule-flaunting exception uncovered by the study concerns the way in which a newly produced RNA molecule is cut and pasted at precise locations called splice sites before being translated into protein. "The discovery of this exception could impact current ideas on how missteps in splicing triggered by mutations in the DNA sequence can lead to diseases such as cancer and various genetic...

Improved Tool In The Fight Against Tuberculosis

Date: May-20-2012
A tiny filter could have a big impact around the world in the fight against tuberculosis. Using the traditional microscope-based diagnosis method as a starting point, a University of Florida lung disease specialist and colleagues in Brazil have devised a way to detect more cases of the bacterial infection. "We're hopeful that this more sensitive method, which is both simple and inexpensive, will improve diagnosis in patients," said lead researcher Kevin Fennelly, M.D., M.P.H., an associate professor in the UF College of Medicine's department of medicine and Southeastern Tuberculosis Center,...

Monitoring Fetal Heart Using Bluetooth

Date: May-20-2012
Checking the heart of the unborn baby usually involves a stethoscope. However, an inexpensive and accurate Bluetooth fetal heart rate monitoring system has now been developed by researchers in India for long-term home care. Details are reported in a forthcoming issue of the International Journal of Computers in Healthcare. Vijay Chourasia of the LNM Institute of Information Technology in Jaipur and Anil Kumar Tiwari of the Indian Institute of Technology Rajasthan, in Jodhpur, explain how fetal phonocardiography is the modern equivalent of the stethoscope in ante-natal baby care. The team has...