Health News

Myopia, Short-sightedness Rates Very High In East Asia

Date: May-05-2012
Around 80% to 90% of school-leavers in major East Asian countries like China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and South Korea suffer from myopia or short-sightedness. This represents an enormous burden of disease that will lead to further problems in the future, as 10 to 20% of those affected suffer from 'high' myopia that can ultimately lead to loss of vision, impaired vision, as well as blindness. Professor Ian Morgan, from the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Vision Science, and the Australian National University in Canberra, and team report in the second paper in The...

Black Pepper's Secrets As A Fat Fighter Revealed

Date: May-05-2012
A new study provides a long-sought explanation for the beneficial fat-fighting effects of black pepper. The research, published in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, pinpoints piperine - the pungent-tasting substance that gives black pepper its characteristic taste, concluding that piperine also can block the formation of new fat cells. Soo-Jong Um, Ji-Cheon Jeong and colleagues describe previous studies indicating that piperine reduces fat levels in the bloodstream and has other beneficial health effects. Black pepper and the black pepper plant, they note, have been used for...

Joggers Live Much Longer

Date: May-05-2012
Results from the Copenhagen City Heart study reveals that regular jogging considerably increases life expectancy of men by 6.2 years and women by 5.6 years. In order to gain the optimum benefits for longevity the researchers recommend jogging at a slow or average pace for between one to two and half hours per week. The study, which reviewed evidence on whether jogging is healthy or hazardous, was presented at the EuroPRevent2012 meeting, held May 3 to May 5, 2012, in Dublin Ireland. Peter Schnohr, chief cardiologist of the Copenhagen City Heart Study, explained: "The results of our research...

Researchers Use Online Crowd-Sourcing To Diagnose Malaria

Date: May-05-2012
Online Crowd-Sourcing To Diagnose Malaria Main Category: Tropical Diseases Also Included In: IT / Internet / E-mail Article Date: 05 May 2012 - 0:00 PDT  email to a friend   printer friendly   opinions    rate article  Current ratings for: 'Researchers Use Online Crowd-Sourcing To Diagnose Malaria' Patient / Public: Healthcare Prof: Online crowd-sourcing - in which a task is presented to the public, who respond, for free, with various solutions and suggestions - has been used to evaluate potential consumer products, develop software algorithms and solve vexing...

Physician Interpretation Time Dramatically Reduced By Automated Breast Ultrasound

Date: May-05-2012
Automated breast ultrasound takes an average three minutes of physician time, allowing for quick and more complete breast cancer screening of asymptomatic women with dense breast tissue, a new study shows.

Mammography misses more than one-third of cancers in women with dense breasts, said Rachel Brem, MD, lead author of the study. "Ultrasound can and does detect additional, clinically significant, invasive, node negative breast cancers, that are not seen on mammography, but a hand-held ultrasound screening exam requires 20-30 minutes of physician time. Having a technique that takes just three minutes is a "game-changer" in appropriately screening these women, said Dr. Brem.

A Small Cut With A Big Impact

Date: May-05-2012
Diseases and injuries trigger warning signals in our cells. As a result, genes are expressed and proteins produced, modified or degraded to adapt to the external danger and to protect the organism. In order to be able to produce a particular protein, the corresponding DNA segment, the gene, needs to be expressed and translated. The DNA is localized in the cell nucleus, and exists as a long string that is coiled and bound by proteins. ARTD1 is one such protein, and therefore has the potential to regulate the expression level of genes through its interaction with DNA. If cells detect warning...

Why The Immune System Fails To Kill Breast Tumors In Mice

Date: May-05-2012
A pioneering approach to imaging breast cancer in mice has revealed new clues about why the human immune system often fails to attack tumors and keep cancer in check. This observation, by scientists at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), may help to reveal new approaches to cancer immunotherapy. Published in the journal Cancer Cell, the work shows that the body's natural defenses trip over themselves on their way to attacking a tumor. The activated immune cells, alerted to the threat of the tumor, should make their way to the site of the cancer and then attack and shrink the...

Brain Damage And Shortened Lifespan Caused By Glycogen Accumulation In Neurons Of Flies And Mice

Date: May-05-2012
Collaborative research by groups headed by scientists Joan J. Guinovart and Marco Milan at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) has revealed conclusive evidence about the harmful effects of the accumulation of glucose chains (glycogen) in fly and mouse neurons. These two animal models will allow scientists to address the genes involved in this harmful process and to find pharmacological solutions that allow disintegration of the accumulations or limitation of glycogen production. Advances in this direction would make a significant contribution to investigation into Lafora...

Cancer-Causing Food Additives A Major Concern For Consumers

Date: May-05-2012
As with many concerned consumers, a team of University of Oklahoma researchers wondered if the green color sometimes seen in bacon is, in fact, harmful to human health. Recently, these OU scientists took an important first step in answering this question by determining the structure of the green pigment responsible for this 'nitrite burn.' The research team led by George Richter-Addo and Jun Yi, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry in the OU College of Arts and Sciences, discovered that the green pigment seen in nitrite-cured bacon and other meats is due to an unusual chemical reaction of...

International Project To Write A Landmark Sequel To 'The Book Of Life'

Date: May-05-2012
Scientists are announcing the roadmap, policies and procedures for an ambitious international project that aims to compile a landmark sequel to "The Book of Life." The follow-up to the Human Genome Project, which decoded all of the genes that make up humans, involves identifying and profiling all of the proteins produced by the thousands of genes bundled together in all of the human chromosomes. Called the Chromosome-Centric Human Proteome Project (C-HPP), it is the topic of an article in ACS' Journal of Proteome Research. William Hancock, Young-Ki Paik and colleagues explain that C-HPP's goal...