Health News

Conscientious young adults enjoy better health as they age

Date: Mar-13-2014
When it comes to helping young adults avoid serious health problems later in life, assessing their personalities during routine medical exams could prove as useful as recording their family medical histories and smoking habits, according to new research published by the American Psychological Association."Health care reform provides a great opportunity for preventive care, with physicians seeing more young adults who may not previously have had insurance," said lead author Salomon Israel, PhD, of Duke University and Duke University Medical Center.

New mathematical formula better reflects the behavior of cancer cells migrating through 3D environments

Date: Mar-13-2014
Because of results seen in flat lab dishes, biologists have believed that cancers cells move through the body in a slow, aimless fashion, resembling an intoxicated person who cannot walk three steps in a straight line. This pattern, called a random walk, may hold true for cells traveling across two-dimensional lab containers, but Johns Hopkins researchers have discovered that for cells moving through three-dimensional spaces within the body, the "drunken" model doesn't hold true.

Brain cell regeneration may alleviate symptoms of Alzheimer's disease

Date: Mar-13-2014
Alzheimer's disease is the most widespread degenerative neurological disorder in the world. Over five million Americans live with it, and one in three senior citizens will die with the disease or a similar form of dementia. While memory loss is a common symptom of Alzheimer's, other behavioral manifestations - depression, loss of inhibition, delusions, agitation, anxiety, and aggression -can be even more challenging for victims and their families to live with.Now Prof. Daniel Offen and Dr.

Checkout grocery data used to track eating habits to promote healthier diets

Date: Mar-13-2014
Poor food choices, such as over-consumption of carbonated soft drinks, are an important factor driving the global obesity epidemic and have been linked directly to diabetes and heart disease. While public health agencies are working to help people to make healthier choices, monitoring the effectiveness of these efforts has been costly and difficult. But now, using the same digital data employed by marketers to promote food products, McGill University's David Buckeridge has developed a way for health agencies to track Montreal consumers' food choices, neighborhood by neighborhood.

Targeting tumor-causing protein with antibody

Date: Mar-13-2014
Cincinnati Cancer Center (CCC) and University of Cincinnati (UC) Cancer Institute researchers have found in a phase-1 study that patients with advanced melanoma and kidney cancer who were treated with a certain antibody that targets a tumor-enhancing protein was safe, which could lead to more treatment options for patients.The study is published in the journal PLOS ONE, a peer-reviewed, open access online publication.

Children learning math have a powerful tool in hand gestures

Date: Mar-13-2014
Children who use their hands to gesture during a math lesson gain a deep understanding of the problems they are taught, according to new research from University of Chicago's Department of Psychology.Previous research has found that gestures can help children learn. This study in particular was designed to answer whether abstract gesture can support generalization beyond a particular problem and whether abstract gesture is a more effective teaching tool than concrete action.

Making insulin-producing cells from gut cells

Date: Mar-13-2014
Destruction of insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas is at the heart of type 1 and type 2 diabetes. "We are looking for ways to make new beta cells for these patients to one day replace daily insulin injections," says Ben Stanger, MD, PhD, assistant professor of Medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Transplanting islet cells to restore normal blood sugar levels in patients with severe type 1 diabetes is one approach to treating the disease, and using stem cells to create beta cells is another area of investigation.

Framework for improved care offered by lessons learned managing geriatric patients

Date: Mar-13-2014
A large team of experts led by a Johns Hopkins geriatrician reports that efforts to improve the care of older adults and others with complex medical needs will fall short unless public policymakers focus not only on preventing hospital readmission rates, but also on better coordination of community-based "care transitions." Lessons learned from managing such transitions for older patients, they say, may offer a framework for overall improvement.

In new approach to tissue engineering scientists 'herd' cells

Date: Mar-13-2014
Sometimes it only takes a quick jolt of electricity to get a swarm of cells moving in the right direction.Researchers at UC Berkeley found that an electrical current can be used to orchestrate the flow of a group of cells, an achievement that could establish the basis for more controlled forms of tissue engineering and for potential applications such as "smart bandages" that use electrical stimulation to help heal wounds.

Youth who help others and volunteer are less likely to associate with deviant peers and engage in problem behaviors

Date: Mar-13-2014
Prosocial behaviors, or actions intended to help others, remain an important area of focus for researchers interested in factors that reduce violence and other behavioral problems in youth. However, little is known regarding the connection between prosocial and antisocial behaviors. A new study by a University of Missouri human development expert found that prosocial behaviors can prevent youth from associating with deviant peers, thereby making the youth less likely to exhibit antisocial or problem behaviors, such as aggression and delinquency.