Health News

Link confirmed between missing DNA and birth defects

Date: Mar-14-2014
In 2010, scientists in Italy reported that a woman and her daughter showed a puzzling array of disabilities, including epilepsy and cleft palate. The mother had previously lost a 15-day-old son to respiratory failure, and the research team noted that the mother and daughter were missing a large chunk of DNA on their X chromosome. But the researchers were unable to definitively show that the problems were tied to that genetic deletion.

In postmenopausal women at risk for dementia, estradiol preserves key brain regions

Date: Mar-14-2014
When initiated soon after menopause, hormone therapy with estradiol prevented degeneration in key brain regions of women who were at heightened dementia risk, according to a new study led by Stanford University School of Medicine researchers.The investigators also found that another type of hormone therapy, marketed under the brand name Premarin, was far less protective. Premarin is a mixture of 30-plus substances derived from the urine of pregnant mares. Estradiol - the dominant sex-steroid hormone in woman - accounts for about 17 percent of Premarin's total content.

Hypertension going untreated in U.S. Hispanic community

Date: Mar-14-2014
There is a significant deficit in recognition and control of hypertension in the Hispanic population of the United States, according to a new study published in American Journal of Hypertension (AJH). The study, "Prevalence of hypertension, awareness, treatment and control in the Hispanic Community," led by Dr. Paul D. Sorlie of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), sampled 16,400 individuals, making it one of the largest and most rigorous health studies of the Hispanic community. Hispanics are currently the largest minority group within the US population.

The exact gut bacteria involved in Crohn's disease identified

Date: Mar-14-2014
While the causes of Crohn's disease are not well understood, recent research indicates an important role for an abnormal immune response to the microbes that live in the gut. In the largest study of its kind, researchers have now identified specific bacteria that are abnormally increased or decreased when Crohn's disease develops. The findings, which appear in the Cell Press journal Cell Host & Microbe, suggest which microbial metabolites could be targeted to treat patients with this chronic and currently incurable inflammatory bowel disease.

Tumor-preventing protein complex uncovered

Date: Mar-14-2014
A team of researchers from Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School have discovered a protein complex that disrupts the process known as dedifferentiation (1), known to promote tumor development.Dedifferentiation (reversion) is a process that leads progenitor (2) or mature cells to become 'ectopic neural stem cells' which causes tumors. By detecting this protein complex, Duke-NUS researchers have shed light on a process that inhibits tumor development and gives hope for the discovery of therapies and treatments that target tumor prevention through this pathway.

Novel combination of 2 agents eradicates solid tumors in preclinical studies

Date: Mar-14-2014
Researchers in the Cedars-Sinai Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute eradicated solid tumors in laboratory mice using a novel combination of two targeted agents. These two synergistic therapies stimulate an immune response, ultimately allowing solid tumors to act as their own cancer-fighting vaccine.The study's findings, published in the journal Cancer Research, are the first to use these combined agents as an immune stimulator and may have the potential to kill cancerous cells in solid tumors, including some of the most aggressive cancers that form in the lung and pancreas.

Oxytocin could provide new treatment for anorexia

Date: Mar-14-2014
Oxytocin, also known as the 'love hormone', could provide a new treatment for anorexia nervosa, according to new research by a team of British and Korean scientists.The study found that oxytocin alters anorexic patients' tendencies to fixate on images of high calorie foods, and larger body shape. The findings follow an earlier study by the same group showing that oxytocin changed patients' responses to angry and disgusted faces.

Skin abscesses caused by MRSA: new treatment guidelines issued

Date: Mar-14-2014
It has been more than 10 years since the clinical battle began with community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), and doctors are still grappling with how to diagnose, treat and prevent this virulent form of staph infection, which is immune to many antibiotics.As MRSA cases have increased dramatically over the decade, so have the number of skin abscesses - generally pus-filled boils or pimples with discharge - that characterize these infections. Now, researchers from UCLA have issued updated guidelines outlining the best ways to treat and manage these abscesses.

If work stability is maintained, economic degrowth compatible with wellbeing

Date: Mar-14-2014
Policies aimed at effectively mitigating climate change through a reduction in economic growth and consumption of fossil fuels would have a monetary impact on the economy, but also an impact on the wellbeing and happiness of individuals. Researchers at the Institute for Environmental Science and Technology at the UAB have taken advantage of the current economic crisis to analyse the impact this situation would have.

Oral thrush a common complication of HIV 'because of fungi'

Date: Mar-14-2014
A new study investigates the role of bacteria and fungi in the human mouth. Researchers from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH, published their findings in the journal PLOS Pathogens.Experts know that organisms that live in our mouths are capable of contributing to both health and disease. It is also known that these organisms are more likely to cause oral diseases, such as oral candidiasis (oral thrush), in people with compromised immune systems - such as those who have cancer or who are infected with HIV.