Health News

Pathogens in cheese - researchers follow the traces of deadly bacteria

Date: Mar-24-2014
Listeria is a rod-shaped bacterium highly prevalent in the environment and generally not a threat to human health. One species however, Listeria monocytogenes, can cause listeriosis, a very dangerous disease. This pathogen can be present in raw milk and soft cheeses, smoked fish, raw meat and ready-to-eat products. In Austria, health care providers are required to report all cases of listeriosis, which can be fatal particularly for patients with weakened immune systems.

Engineers design 'living materials'

Date: Mar-24-2014
Inspired by natural materials such as bone - a matrix of minerals and other substances, including living cells - MIT engineers have coaxed bacterial cells to produce biofilms that can incorporate nonliving materials, such as gold nanoparticles and quantum dots.These "living materials" combine the advantages of live cells, which respond to their environment, produce complex biological molecules, and span multiple length scales, with the benefits of nonliving materials, which add functions such as conducting electricity or emitting light.

Sometimes less is more for hungry dogs

Date: Mar-24-2014
Hungry dogs would be expected to choose alternatives leading to more food rather than less food. But just as with humans and monkeys, they sometimes show a "less is more" effect. Thus conclude Kristina Pattison and Thomas Zentall of the University of Kentucky in the US, who tested the principle by feeding baby carrots and string cheese to ten dogs of various breeds. The findings are published in Springer's journal Animal Cognition.The research was conducted on dogs that would willingly eat cheese and baby carrots when offered, but showed a preference for the cheese.

Study published on the relationship between imaging and OVA1® in assessing risk of ovarian cancer

Date: Mar-24-2014
A new study of OVA1® clinical performance, titled "The Effect of Ovarian Imaging on the Clinical Interpretation of a Multivariate Index Assay," has been released as an online advance publication of The American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology.[i] The study examines the relationship between two commonly used imaging methods - ultrasound (US) and computed tomography (CT) - and the OVA1 test result, in assessing the risk of ovarian cancer among patients planning surgery for an ovarian mass.

Leukaemia caused by chromosome catastrophe

Date: Mar-24-2014
Researchers have found that people born with a rare abnormality of their chromosomes have a 2,700-fold increased risk of a rare childhood leukaemia. In this abnormality, two specific chromosomes are fused together but become prone to catastrophic shattering.Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, or ALL, is the most common childhood cancer. Scientists previously found that a small subset of ALL patients have repeated sections of chromosome 21 in the genomes of their leukaemia cells. This form of ALL - iAMP21 ALL - requires more intensive treatment than many other types of ALL.

Pitt-led study shows lifestyle interventions can prevent major depression in adults with mild symptoms

Date: Mar-24-2014
Discussions with a dietary coach to learn about healthy eating were as effective as meeting with a counselor for problem-solving or "talk" therapy in preventing major depression among older black and white adults with mild symptoms of the mood disorder, according to researchers at the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Maryland. Their findings were published online recently in Psychiatric Services.Depression is common and treatments often don't completely resolve the disability that attends the illness, said senior author Charles F. Reynolds III, M.D.

FDA approves first implantable hearing device for adults with a certain kind of hearing loss

Date: Mar-24-2014
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the first implantable device for people 18 and older with severe or profound sensorineural hearing loss of high-frequency sounds in both ears, but who can still hear low-frequency sounds with or without a hearing aid. The Nucleus Hybrid L24 Cochlear Implant System may help those with this specific kind of hearing loss who do not benefit from conventional hearing aids.Sensorineural hearing loss is the most common form of hearing loss and occurs when there is damage to the inner ear (cochlea).

New consensus reached to help tackle multidrug-resistant and extensively drug-resistant TB

Date: Mar-24-2014
New consensus statements have been developed to help tackle the growing threat of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) and extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB).Published online in the European Respiratory Journal¸ the statements mark the first time that physicians who treat patients with multidrug- and extensively drug-resistant TB have reached a consensus on important areas of patient management where scientific evidence is inconclusive.The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that currently 450,000 new cases with MDR-TB occur each year.

New discoveries place lack of energy at the basis of Parkinson's Disease

Date: Mar-24-2014
Neuroscientists Vanessa Moraïs and Bart De Strooper from VIB and KU Leuven have demonstrated how a defect in the gene Pink1 results in Parkinson's disease. By mapping this process at a molecular level, they have provided the ultimate proof that a deficient energy production process in cells can result in Parkinson's disease. These insights are so revolutionary that they have been published in the leading journal Science.Vanessa Moraïs (VIB/KU Leuven): "Having Parkinson's disease means that you can no longer tell your own body what to do.

Singing fruit flies aid researchers in the understanding of quick decisions

Date: Mar-24-2014
You wouldn't hear the mating song of the male fruit fly as you reached for the infested bananas in your kitchen. Yet, the neural activity behind the insect's amorous call could help scientists understand how you made the quick decision to pull your hand back from the tiny swarm.Male fruit flies base the pitch and tempo of their mating song on the movement and behavior of their desired female, Princeton University researchers have discovered. In the animal kingdom, lusty warblers such as birds typically have a mating song with a stereotyped pattern.