Health News

Research shows smoking harms your chances of recovering from fractures

Date: Mar-13-2014
New research carried out at the University of Lincoln, UK, has revealed that bone healing cells in non-smokers are of a superior quality, more active and quicker at dividing than those of smokers, which contributes to a faster healing process.Bone healing cells in non-smokers are of a better quality, more active and quicker at dividing than those of smokers, according to new research.

The business of fear: Can our favorite products provide emotional support?

Date: Mar-13-2014
Worried that you could be in a car accident? Insurance company X can protect you and your family. Afraid you will lose your children to drunk driving? MADD can help you educate them to avoid drinking and driving. According to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research, when a person-to-person support system is not available in a fearful situation, brands can act as a replacement source of emotional attachment."We look at how fear can impact evaluations of a new brand," write authors Lea Dunn and JoAndrea Hoegg (both University of British Columbia).

New IMI project to incorporate real life data into drug development

Date: Mar-13-2014
The Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) has launched a new project called GETREAL that will investigate new ways of integrating data from real life settings, such as clinics, into drug development. This will assist healthcare decision makers when deciding how best to grant patients access to a new treatment and help pharmaceutical companies to take better decisions during drug development.Once a new drug has been developed, it must be reviewed by both the marketing authorisation and health technology assessment (HTA) bodies.

Heart risks of glucose-lowering drugs being overlooked in clinical trials

Date: Mar-13-2014
Why is heart failure not more rigorously assessed in clinical trials of antidiabetes drugs? In a Personal View, published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology journal, Professor John McMurray of The University of Glasgow and colleagues review evidence that hospitalization for heart failure is one of the most common and prognostically important complications of diabetes. Moreover, increasing evidence shows that some glucose-lowering drugs increase the risk of heart failure.

30,000 people with mental health problems in the UK lose social care as funding cut by £90million

Date: Mar-13-2014
Research released by the London School of Economics (LSE) has revealed that since 2005 30,000 people with mental health problems have lost their social care support, following a £90 million shortfall in funding due to cuts to local authority budgets. Adjusting for socio-demographic change[1], this would be equivalent to 63,000 fewer people with mental health problems receiving social care since 2005 and local authorities needing to spend £260million to meet their needs.

UC Davis researchers one step closer to ovarian cancer marker

Date: Mar-13-2014
The hunt is on to find biomarkers that detect cancer, but it's a challenging process. Early successes often are followed by heartbreaking failures. But now, researchers at UC Davis have verified that glycans (sugars attached to proteins) can be used to detect ovarian cancer. The study was published online in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention. "This is one of many papers we've done to see if glycans can distinguish between women who have ovarian cancer and those who don't," said senior author Gary Leiserowitz, chief of the Division of Gynecologic Oncology.

Scientists unlock key to designing potential heart attack drug without the side effects

Date: Mar-13-2014
Melbourne scientists are a step closer to creating a new drug to stop a heart attack in its tracks and reduce the damage caused, without any side effects.The Monash University research, published in the journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA (PNAS), offers new hope to thousands of people who experience heart attacks and heart failure - one of the major causes of death worldwide.

Experts urge Chancellor to "crack down on cheap drink" in next week's budget

Date: Mar-13-2014
Experts are today urging the Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne to "stand by the government's commitment to crack down on cheap drink" by retaining the alcohol duty escalator in next week's budget.Writing on bmj.com, Katherine Brown, Director at the Institute of Alcohol Studies, says the UK chancellor should resist industry lobbying to scrap the annual rise in alcohol duty because "society simply can't afford for such cheap drink to get cheaper."The duty escalator has been in place since 2008 to ensure that the price of alcohol rises at 2% above inflation.

Education boosts brain function long after school

Date: Mar-13-2014
European populations are growing older on average, a trend that could pose serious challenges to health care, budgets, and economic growth. As a greater proportion of a country's population grows into old age, average cognition levels and national productivity tend to decline, and the incidence of dementia increases.

Counterintuitive findings offer new insights into Parkinson disease pathology

Date: Mar-13-2014
The course of Parkinson disease (PD) can vary from gradual deterioration to precipitous decline in motor or cognitive function. Therefore identifying predictors of progression can benefit understanding of PD disease progression and impact management. Data from 304 PD patients followed for up to 8 years indicate that patients with higher cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) alpha-synuclein levels experienced faster cognitive decline in the following months, although no associations were found between alpha-synuclein levels and motor changes. The results are published in The American Journal of Pathology.