Health News

Insight into the cause of chronic pain

Date: Mar-14-2014
New insights into how the human brain responds to chronic pain could eventually lead to improved treatments for patients, according to University of Adelaide researchers.Neuroplasticity is the term used to describe the brain's ability to change structurally and functionally with experience and use."Neuroplasticity underlies our learning and memory, making it vital during early childhood development and important for continuous learning throughout life," says Dr Ann-Maree Vallence, a Postdoctoral Fellow in the University of Adelaide's Robinson Institute.

Improving healing in Achilles tendon injuries by embedding stem cells inside sutures

Date: Mar-14-2014
Researchers have found that sutures embedded with stem cells led to quicker and stronger healing of Achilles tendon tears than traditional sutures, according to a new study published in the March 2014 issue of Foot & Ankle International (published by SAGE).Achilles tendon injuries are common for professional, collegiate and recreational athletes. These injuries are often treated surgically to reattach or repair the tendon if it has been torn. Patients have to keep their legs immobilized for a while after surgery before beginning their rehabilitation.

Mindfulness-based meditation 'benefits teen cancer patients'

Date: Mar-14-2014
Past research has hailed meditation for its effects against pain, anxiety and depression. Now, new research from the University of Montreal in Canada suggests that mindfulness-based meditation may improve mood and sleep quality for teenage cancer patients.The findings were presented at the American Psychosomatic Meeting in San Francisco, CA.

Scientists identify IRX3 as a potential 'fat gene'

Date: Mar-14-2014
Mutations within the gene FTO have been implicated as the strongest genetic determinant of obesity risk in humans, but the mechanism behind this link remained unknown. Now, an international team of scientists has discovered that the obesity-associated elements within FTO interact with IRX3, a distant gene on the genome that appears to be the functional obesity gene. The FTO gene itself appears to have only a peripheral effect on obesity. The study appears online in Nature.

Study shows mothers' sleep and stress difficulties after child's acute lymphoblastic leukemia treatment

Date: Mar-14-2014
"It's a whole new cancer world" and "I don't remember what it's like to have sleep" were the most common themes of mothers interviewed by University of Colorado Cancer Center researchers during the maintenance period after a child's treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Results of this qualitative study are published in a recent issue of the Journal of Pediatric Nursing.

Study reveals the Achilles heel of malaria and aims a molecular arrow to destroy it

Date: Mar-14-2014
The malaria parasite is particularly pernicious since it is built to develop resistance to treatments. The lack of new therapeutic approaches also contributes to the persistence of this global scourge. A study led by Didier Picard, professor at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland, describes a new class of molecules targeting the two problems at the same time.

The leading cause of failed prosthetic knee joints is infection

Date: Mar-14-2014
The number of total knee replacement (TKR) procedures continues to climb, as does the number of revision total knee replacement (RTKR) surgeries. In the study, "The Epidemiology of Revision Total Knee Arthroplasty in the United States," presented at the 2014 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS), researchers used the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) to evaluate the cause of knee failure for 301,718 revision RTKR surgeries performed between 2005 and 2010.

Home care visits not found to provide benefit to the elderly

Date: Mar-14-2014
In what's thought to be the biggest review of academic literature into whether home care visits provide benefits for the elderly, researchers conclude there is 'no consistent evidence' to show they lead to the elderly living longer or having more independent lives than those without any visits. Researchers from University College London (UCL) and the University of Oxford analysed 64 randomised controlled trials (RCTs), mainly in the United States, Canada and the UK.

How the brain recognizes familiar music

Date: Mar-14-2014
Research from McGill University reveals that the brain's motor network helps people remember and recognize music that they have performed in the past better than music they have only heard. A recent study by Prof. Caroline Palmer of the Department of Psychology sheds new light on how humans perceive and produce sounds, and may pave the way for investigations into whether motor learning could improve or protect memory or cognitive impairment in aging populations. The research is published in the journal Cerebral Cortex.

Survival after ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm significantly lower in England than USA

Date: Mar-14-2014
The care given to patients after ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm (rAAA) in the US outstrips that in English NHS hospitals, according to a major new study published as part of a special issue of The Lancet ahead of the American College of Cardiology's 63rd Annual Scientific Session. It shows that the chance of surviving a hospital stay for a rAAA is significantly higher in the USA than in England.