Health News

Gestational diabetes may increase heart disease risks for pregnant women

Date: Mar-13-2014
Pregnant women who develop gestational diabetes may be more at risk of developing heart disease later in life, according to new research.Researchers at Kaiser Permanente Northern California in Oakland have published the results of their 20-year study in the Journal of the American Heart Association.Gestational diabetes only occurs during pregnancy. It happens when hormones activated during pregnancy weaken the effect of insulin, the hormone that normally allows cells to absorb glucose from the blood.

Study challenges traditional recommendation to wait 6 weeks after hip replacement before driving

Date: Mar-13-2014
After hip replacement surgery, many patients are anxious to resume driving, and a new study challenges the conventional wisdom that patients should wait six weeks before getting back behind the wheel. Dr. Geoffrey Westrich, director of research, Adult Reconstruction and Joint Replacement at Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City, found that patients in the study were able to return to driving four weeks after total hip replacement.

Bladder cancer patient with rare genetic mutations shows exceptional response to everolimus

Date: Mar-13-2014
A patient with advanced bladder cancer experienced a complete response for 14 months to the drug combination everolimus and pazopanib in a phase I trial, and genomic profiling of his tumor revealed two alterations that may have caused this exceptional response, according to a study published in Cancer Discovery, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.This information can help identify cancer patients who may respond to everolimus.

Potential heart attack drug with no 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 today 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.

Antibody affinity is decisive in type1 diabetes in adults

Date: Mar-13-2014
Patients with LADA - a form of autoimmune type 1 diabetes in adulthood - can be distinguished from patients with non-autoimmune type 2 diabetes by means of the antibody reaction affinity to the enzyme glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD). Scientists from the Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen have reported in the journal 'Diabetes Care' that high-affinity GAD antibodies are found in patients who produce only a little of their own insulin and who will require insulin therapy after only a relatively short time.LADA (latent autoimmune diabetes in adults) is a form of type 1 diabetes in adulthood.

Epigenetic mechanism found that could tackle obesity's effects

Date: Mar-13-2014
Epigenetics - studying how changes in gene expression are caused by external factors - is quickly becoming a revelatory area of health research. And now, researchers have found a new epigenetic mechanism that might play a role in orchestrating the harmful effects of becoming overweight, including diabetes.The team, led by Prof. Nilesh Samani of the University of Leicester in the UK, have published the results of their study in The Lancet, and they say theirs is one of the largest epigenome-wide studies on the association between adult body mass index (BMI) and DNA methylation.

Opioid overdose, repeat ED visits and respiratory failure

Date: Mar-13-2014
Patients brought to hospital emergency departments (EDs) more than once in a year for treatment of opioid drug overdoses are more likely to be hospitalized for overdose and to need respiratory support with a mechanical ventilator. A study conducted by Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigators also identified factors that increased the risk of subsequent overdoses requiring emergency department visits.

Understanding human engagement through empathy between chimpanzees

Date: Mar-13-2014
In their latest study about empathy, Yerkes National Primate Research Center researchers Matthew Campbell, PhD, and Frans de Waal, PhD, have shown chimpanzees exhibit flexibility in their empathy, just as humans do. These findings, which appear in the current issue of the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, may help explain the evolution of how and when humans engage with others and choose to offer flexibility, and how we can do so more.

After Tommy John surgery, MLB pitchers may not regain performance level

Date: Mar-13-2014
Major League Baseball players who undergo Tommy John surgery are less likely to regain the performance level they had before surgery, according to a Henry Ford Hospital study.The study is the first to show a link between the surgery and declining pitching performance at the professional level. It also involved the largest cohort of professional pitchers to date to examine the issue.

Congenital hyperinsulinism - Purified fish oils could help treat rare disease affecting newborn babies

Date: Mar-12-2014
A rare and potentially lethal disease of newborn babies whose bodies make too much insulin may be treatable with fish oils, according to researchers from The University of Manchester. The disease, called congenital hyperinsulinism, means that the infant's brain is starved of blood sugar which can lead to brain damage or long-term disability.