Health News

Cognitive impairment forecast from plaques detected in brain scans

Date: Mar-12-2014
Brain imaging using radioactive dye can detect early evidence of Alzheimer's disease that may predict future cognitive decline among adults with mild or no cognitive impairment, according to a 36-month follow-up study led by Duke Medicine.The national, multicenter study confirms earlier findings suggesting that identifying silent beta-amyloid plaque build-up in the brain could help guide care and treatment decisions for patients at risk for Alzheimer's. The findings appeared online in Molecular Psychiatry, a Nature Publishing Group journal.

Mathematical model of a key breaking point involved in traumatic brain injury

Date: Mar-12-2014
Even the mildest form of a traumatic brain injury, better known as a concussion, can deal permanent, irreparable damage. Now, an interdisciplinary team of researchers at the University of Pennsylvania is using mathematical modeling to better understand the mechanisms at play in this kind of injury, with an eye toward protecting the brain from its long-term consequences.Their recent findings, published in the Biophysical Journal, shed new light on the mechanical properties of a critical brain protein and its role in the elasticity of axons, the long, tendril-like part of brain cells.

Researchers discover two new genetic regions for bipolar disorder

Date: Mar-12-2014
Bipolar disorder is characterized by dramatic changes in mood, energy and activity levels that impact a person's ability to carry out everyday tasks. The exact cause of the condition is unknown. But now, researchers are one step closer to finding out with the discovery of two new genetic regions that are connected to the disease.The international research team, led by investigators from Germany and Switzerland, recently published their findings in the journal Nature Communications.

Hippocampal neuronal apoptosis due to cerebral infarction prevented by pretreatment with SSTF

Date: Mar-12-2014
Focal cerebral ischemia-reperfusion may lead to neuronal loss in the hippocampus, which is regarded as one of the basic pathological mechanisms underlying cognitive impairment. The neuronal apoptosis plays an important role in cerebral infarction, determining the number of loss of neurons and infarct volume. Growing evidence has suggested that Chinese herbs can inhibit hippocampal apoptosis caused by ischemia-reperfusion. Prof.

Increased risk of cancer later in life for young skin cancer survivors

Date: Mar-12-2014
Young people who have been diagnosed with non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC) related to sun exposure, under the age of 25, face a higher risk of developing melanoma and other cancers later in life, a UK study has shown.Australian author on the paper, Professor Rodney Sinclair, Professor of Medicine at the University of Melbourne and Director of Dermatology at Epworth HealthCare said that the risk decreased significantly with increasing age, but it remains higher compared with individuals who have never had NMSC.

Nutrition & probiotics are key factors for digestive health

Date: Mar-12-2014
A healthy and balanced diet, as well as probiotics, have been known to be helpful in preserving gastrointestinal health for quite a long time. But it is only recently that the underlying mechanisms have become somewhat clearer. A rapidly increasing body of knowledge promises to further clarify the effects of our daily food on the gut microbiota and to indicate more targeted applications of probiotics in the near future. This was one of the topics presented at the Gut Microbiota for Health World Summit in Miami, FL, USA.

Antibiotics versus the gut microbiota

Date: Mar-12-2014
Antibiotics are valuable, potentially life-saving tools that have significantly reduced human morbidity and mortality. Unfortunately, antibiotics may also have unintended consequences from their off-target effects that may increase the risk of many long-term conditions. Recent epidemiologic studies have detected a possible link between antibiotic use in childhood and weight gain1 - with disruption to the normal gut microbiota considered the most likely cause.

Convenient, less expensive, but possibly riskier new prostate cancer treatment: SBRT

Date: Mar-12-2014
A faster and less expensive form of radiotherapy for treating prostate cancer may come at a price, according to a new study by Yale School of Medicine researchers - a higher rate of urinary complications.The standard external beam radiation therapy for prostate cancer is called intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT). Stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) is a newer treatment that delivers a greater dose of radiation per treatment than IMRT. As a result, patients receiving SBRT can complete an entire course of treatment in one to two weeks, compared to seven to nine weeks for IMRT.

IBS and bloating: When the gut microbiota gets out of balance

Date: Mar-12-2014
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) belongs to the most widespread diseases in Western countries, causing up to sixty per cent of the workload of gastrointestinal physicians. One of the most frequent symptoms of IBS is bloating, which reduces quality of life considerably as patients perceive it as particularly bothersome. For quite a long time, IBS was believed to be a primarily psychological condition."Contrary to this view, recent findings suggest that IBS is linked to clearly detectable gut microbiota alterations.

Glycoprofiling provides new sugar-test to reduce false-positive cancer diagnoses

Date: Mar-12-2014
The world's most widespread test for ovarian cancer reports false-positives in 94 of 100 diagnosed cases. Now, chemists at the University of Copenhagen working with clinical researchers at University College London have developed a method able to halve the number of false-positives. When fully developed, the new test will spare a significant number of women from unnecessary worry and further testing. Furthermore, global health care providers stand to save substantial sums - just by including a test on a certain sugar molecule in tandem with the currently prevailing diagnostic test.