Health News

New Research Explains How Proper Sleep Is Important For Healthy Weight

Date: May-08-2012
If you're counting calories to lose weight, that may be only part of the weight loss equation says a new research report published online in The FASEB Journal. In the report, French scientists show that impairments to a gene known to be responsible for our internal body clocks, called "Rev-Erb alpha," leads to excessive weight gain and related health problems. This provides new insights into the importance of proper alignment between the body's internal timing and natural environmental light cycles to prevent or limit excessive weight gain and the problems this weight gain causes. According to...

New Rearing System May Aid Sterile Insect Technique Against Mosquitoes

Date: May-08-2012
The requirement for efficient mosquito mass-rearing technology has been one of the major obstacles preventing the large scale application of the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) against mosquitoes. However, according to a new article in the next issue of the Journal of Medical Entomology, scientists at the Untited Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have developed a larval rearing unit based on the use of a stainless steel rack that is expected to be able to successfully rear 140,000 - 175,000 adult mosquitoes per rack. In "A New...

In Prostate Cancer, Genetic Abnormalities In Benign Or Malignant Tissues Predict Relapse

Date: May-08-2012
While active monitoring of serum prostate specific antigen (PSA) levels in men over 50 has greatly improved early detection of prostate cancer, prediction of clinical outcomes after diagnosis remains a major challenge. Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have found that a genetic abnormality known as copy number variation (CNV) in prostate cancer tumors, as well as in the benign prostate tissues adjacent to the tumor and in the blood of patients with prostate cancer, can predict whether a patient will experience a relapse, and the nature of the relapse - aggressive...

News From The Annals Of Internal Medicine: May 8, 2012, Online

Date: May-08-2012
1. Evidence Review: Screening Women for Intimate Partner Violence May Have Benefits, Few Harms Intimate partner violence, or IPV, includes a range of abusive behaviors perpetrated by someone who is in an intimate relationship with the victim. Abusive behaviors may include physical violence, sexual violence, rape, and psychological aggression - all of which have immediate health effects on the victim. While victims and perpetrators can be male or female, women are disproportionately victimized (up to 5.3 million women are affected each year in the U.S.). In 2004, the United States Preventive...

Against The Odds: Overcoming A Learning Disability Will Make A Physician-In-Training A Better Doctor

Date: May-08-2012
Overcoming A Learning Disability Will Make A Physician-In-Training A Better Doctor Main Category: Medical Students / Training Also Included In: Psychology / Psychiatry Article Date: 08 May 2012 - 3:00 PDT  email to a friend   printer friendly   opinions    rate article  Current ratings for: 'Against The Odds: Overcoming A Learning Disability Will Make A Physician-In-Training A Better Doctor' Patient / Public: 5 (1 votes) Healthcare Prof: 3.67 (3 votes) Overcoming a learning disability to become a physician will actually help in being compassionate toward patients, writes a...

Younger And At-Risk Men Benefit From PSA Screening To Detect Prostate Cancer

Date: May-08-2012
Screening younger men and men at risk of prostate cancer can be beneficial in reducing metastatic cancer and deaths and should not be abandoned, states an article published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). The United States Preventive Services Task Force, which last issued prostate screening guidelines in 2008, recently issued a draft recommendation against prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening for men of all ages. However, the American Cancer Society and the American Urological Association both recommend that men be given a choice about whether they should be screened. The...

Wet Age-Related Macular Degeneration Responds Equally To Avastin And Lucentis

Date: May-08-2012
The one year results from a study into whether two drug treatments (Lucentis and Avastin), are equally effective in treating neovascular or wet age-related macular degeneration (wet AMD), have been reported at an international research meeting in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.* The findings will also appear online in the leading journal Ophthalmology. Wet AMD is a common cause of loss of vision in older people. In the UK, around 70 per cent of people will experience severe loss of sight within two years of being diagnosed. For four years, a team of scientists and eye specialists from 23 hospitals...

Why Some Soldiers Avoid PTSD Care: US Army Examines Strategies To Keep Them In Treatment

Date: May-08-2012
U.S. Army researcher Maj. Gary H. Wynn, M.D., shared new analysis on why some Soldiers suffering from combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) never seek care or drop out of treatment early. Presented at the American Psychiatric Association's annual meeting, his presentation, "Epidemiology of Combat-Related PTSD in U.S. Service Members: Lessons Learned," also described the approaches the Army is using to address this issue and improve overall patient outcomes. Currently, fewer than half of the Soldiers who report symptoms of combat-related PTSD receive the care they need. And of...

Defective Carnitine Metabolism May Play Role In Autism

Date: May-08-2012
The deletion of part of a gene that plays a role in the synthesis of carnitine - an amino acid derivative that helps the body use fat for energy - may play a role in milder forms of autism, said a group of researchers led by those at Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children's Hospital. "This is a novel inborn error of metabolism," said Dr. Arthur Beaudet, chair of molecular and human genetics at BCM and a physician at Texas Children's Hospital, and the senior author of the report that appears online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.* "How it is associated with the...

Muscle Wasting Caused By Aging And Heart Failure Can Be Slowed By Exercise

Date: May-08-2012
Exercise can counteract muscle breakdown, increase strength and reduce inflammation caused by aging and heart failure, according to new research in Circulation, an American Heart Association journal. The benefits for heart failure patients are similar to those for anyone who exercises: there's less muscle-wasting, and their bodies become conditioned to handle more exercise. Age of the patients didn't matter, either, researchers found. "Many physicians - and insurance companies - still believe that cardiac rehabilitation does not really help in old age. This study clearly falsifies this...