Health News

Parents 'increase infant's obesity risk through feeding and activity practices'

Date: Mar-17-2014
In 2012, more than one third of children and adolescents were overweight or obese. Now, new research suggests parents may need to shoulder some of the blame. A study found that many parents adopt infant feeding and activity practices that may increase a child's risk of obesity later in life.The research team, led by Dr. Eliana M. Perrin of the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, recently published their findings in the journal Pediatrics.

Insulin-treated diabetes increases mortality four-fold in cancer patients

Date: Mar-17-2014
People who have diabetes at the time they are diagnosed with cancer are more likely to die early than those without diabetes, concludes research published in Diabetologia (the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes). The research is by Kristina Ranc, University of Copenhagen and Steno Diabetes Center, Gentofte, Denmark, and colleagues. The researchers conclude that patients with both diabetes and cancer constitute a particularly vulnerable group, and efforts are needed to reduce cancer-related mortality among these patients.

Biologists get a new view of tumors' evolution

Date: Mar-17-2014
Cancer cells undergo extensive genetic alterations as they grow and spread through the body. Some of these mutations, known as "drivers," help spur cells to grow out of control, while others ("passengers") are merely along for the ride.MIT cancer biologists at the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research and geneticists from the Broad Institute have now performed the most comprehensive analysis to date of these changes in mice programmed to develop cancer.

Microorganism shows promise in inhibiting thrush, and other dangerous systemic fungal infections

Date: Mar-17-2014
Scientists at Case Western Reserve School of Medicine and University Hospitals (UH) Case Medical Center have discovered how the beneficial fungal yeast, Pichia, holds at bay a harmful fungal yeast, Candida. The hope for this finding is that components in Pichia could one day become therapeutic agents to stave off not only thrush, but also other life-threatening systemic fungal infections. Research findings about the effect of oral Pichia on Candida appear in PLOS Pathogens."Our aim was to try to understand what microorganisms live in our mouths.

Over 75% of people with the flu do not have symptoms

Date: Mar-17-2014
During flu season, sufferers may marvel at those individuals who just never seem to get sick. But a new study suggests they may actually be ill without knowing it, as three quarters of people with seasonal and pandemic flu do not exhibit symptoms.The researchers, led by Dr. Andrew Hayward of University College London in the UK, published the results of their study in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine.They say about 1 in 5 people from the general population were infected in recent outbreaks of seasonal flu as well as the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic.

Happiness is viral, thanks to social media

Date: Mar-16-2014
New research from the University of California in San Diego, and published in the journal PLOS One, suggests that happy status updates encourage happy updates from other users.Previous studies have shown that emotion spreads among people in direct, person-to-person contact. This "emotional contagion" has been documented among friends, acquaintances, and even among strangers. But how successfully this contagion is mediated through online relationships is less well known.

How the flu bug bit Google

Date: Mar-16-2014
Numbers and data can be critical tools in bringing complex issues into crisp focus. The understanding of diseases, for example, benefits from algorithms that help monitor their spread. But without context, a number may just be a number, or worse, misleading."The Parable of Google Flu: Traps in Big Data Analysis" is published in the journal Science, funded, in part, by a grant from the National Science Foundation.

Targeting molecular interaction of Marburg virus and host protein may arrest this lethal virus

Date: Mar-16-2014
A protein that normally protects cells from environmental stresses has been shown to interact with Marburg virus VP24, allowing the deadly Marburg virus to live longer and replicate better, according to a cell culture study led by scientists at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. The investigators say that deciphering the molecular details of how Marburg virus and the host protein interact may help in developing inhibitors of the virus. Results from the study are published online March 13 in the peer-reviewed journal Cell Reports.

Mood, sleep and quality of life improved by mindfulness-based meditation in teenagers with cancer

Date: Mar-16-2014
Mindfulness-based meditation could lessen some symptoms associated with cancer in teens, according to the results of a clinical trial intervention led by researchers at the University of Montreal and its affiliated CHU Sainte-Justine children's hospital. Mindfulness-based meditation focuses on the present moment and the connection between the mind and body.

Cryoablation and nanoparticle-encapsulated anticancer drug combined to destroy cancer stem-like cells

Date: Mar-16-2014
Combining nanodrug-based chemotherapy and cryoablation provides an effective strategy to eliminate cancer stem-like cells (CSCs) the root of cancer resistance and metastasis, which will help to improve the safety and efficacy of treating malignancies that are refractory to conventional therapies.Cryoablation (also called cryosurgery or cryotherapy) is an energy-based, minimally invasive surgical technique that has been investigated to treat a variety of diseases including cancer, which is done by freezing the diseased tissue to subzero temperature to induce irreversible damage.