Health News

Individualized stroke care offered by bedside optical monitoring of cerebral blood flow

Date: Mar-24-2014
Using a University of Pennsylvania-designed device to noninvasively and continuously monitor cerebral blood flow (CBF) in acute stroke patients, researchers from Penn Medicine and the Department of Physics & Astronomy in Penn Arts and Sciences are now learning how head of bed (HOB) positioning affects blood flow reaching the brain. Most patients admitted to the hospital with an acute stroke are kept flat for at least 24 hours in an effort to increase CBF in vulnerable brain regions surrounding the damaged tissue.

About 6 percent of colorectal cancers are missed by colonoscopy

Date: Mar-24-2014
About 6 percent of colorectal cancers are diagnosed within three to five years after the patient receives a clean colonoscopy report, according to a population-based study by researchers from Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) at the University of Utah.These cancers may have been overlooked at the time of colonoscopy or developed rapidly during the window between colonoscopies and are therefore referred to as "missed" colorectal cancers.

Stem cells created from a drop of blood

Date: Mar-24-2014
Scientists at A*STAR's Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB) have developed a method to generate human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) from a single drop of finger-pricked blood. The method also enables donors to collect their own blood samples, which they can then send to a laboratory for further processing. The easy access to blood samples using the new technique could potentially boost the recruitment of greater numbers and diversities of donors, and could lead to the establishment of large-scale hiPSC banks.

Position statement on menopause for medical students published by Elsevier's Maturitas

Date: Mar-24-2014
Elsevier, a world-leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and services, has announced the publication of a position statement by the European Menopause and Andropause Society (EMAS) in the journal Maturitas on the topic of the essential menopause curriculum for medical students.The menopause, or the cessation of the menstrual cycle, is the result of ovarian aging and is a natural event experienced by most women in their late 40s or early 50s. With increasing longevity the menopause can now be considered to be a midlife event.

Finding middle ground a suggestion for keeping teens safe online

Date: Mar-24-2014
Parents might take a lesson from Goldilocks and find a balanced approach to guide their teens in making moral, safe online decisions, according to Penn State researchers.In a study on parenting strategies and online adolescent safety, the researchers found evidence that suggests that parents should try to establish a middle ground between keeping their teens completely away from the internet and not monitoring their online activities at all."It's a Goldilocks problem," said Pamela Wisniewski, a postdoctoral scholar in information sciences and technology.

In elderly patients, hemicraniectomy after major stroke improves survival odds

Date: Mar-24-2014
Patients who are over the age of 60 and have suffered a major stroke due to blockage of the middle cerebral artery benefit from hemicraniectomy - removal of part of the skull located above the affected brain tissue. The procedure relieves increased pressure on the brain in the first 48 hours after the stroke. These patients' chances of survival increase two-fold if they undergo surgery. However, patients who have been operated on often survive with severe disabilities, while patients who do not undergo the surgery generally die quickly.

Mood-stabilizing drug could reduce risk of head and neck cancer

Date: Mar-24-2014
New research suggests that a commonly used mood-stabilizing drug - valproic acid - could help reduce the risk of developing head and neck cancer.The research team, led by Dr. Johann Christoph Brandes of the Atlanta Veterans Medical Center and Emory University in Atlanta, GA, recently published their findings in the journal Cancer.Valproic acid (VPA) is a medication used to treat epilepsy and manic-depressive illness, such as bipolar disorder.

IVF medication dosing change could increase chance of successful pregnancy in obese women

Date: Mar-24-2014
Obese women may need a different dose of medication than normal weight women in order to successfully have their eggs harvested for in vitro fertilization (IVF), according to a new study published in the Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM).IVF is a type of assisted reproductive technology used to help women become pregnant. More than 1 percent of all infants born in the United States each year are conceived using assisted reproductive technology, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

They know when you are faking it: computer recognizes mock pain

Date: Mar-24-2014
More and more, computers are showing their superiority over humans in a multitude of tasks. A new study reveals that a computer system is able to detect - with better accuracy than a human - whether our expressions of pain are genuine or phony.The researchers, from the University of California-San Diego (UCSD) and the University of Toronto in Canada, have published their findings in the journal Current Biology.They note that in social species like humans, faces have evolved to show valuable information in social contexts, and this includes expressions of emotions and pain.

Noise exposure hearing loss not detected by school hearing tests

Date: Mar-24-2014
School hearing tests cannot effectively detect adolescent high-frequency hearing loss, which is typically caused by loud noise exposure, according to researchers at Penn State College of Medicine.The Pennsylvania Department of Health mandates school-administered hearing screens for children in kindergarten to third, seventh and 11th grades. The school screenings primarily focus on low-frequency hearing loss. This is logical for young children, who are more likely to develop low-frequency hearing loss due to fluid in the ear after a bad cold or an ear infection.