Health News

Glucosamine fails to prevent deterioration of knee cartilage, decrease pain

Date: Mar-11-2014
A short-term study found that oral glucosamine supplementation is not associated with a lessening of knee cartilage deterioration among individuals with chronic knee pain. Findings published in Arthritis & Rheumatology, a journal of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) journal, indicate that glucosamine does not decrease pain or improve knee bone marrow lesions - more commonly known as bone bruises and thought to be a source of pain in those with osteoarthritis (OA).

Some people are not moved by music

Date: Mar-11-2014
Although it is not associated with any apparent biological advantagess or useful value (such as money), music is ranked among the highest sources of pleasure. Music's important role in our society and culture has led to the assumption that its ability to induce pleasure is universal. However, this assumption has never been empirically tested.

The masculine culture of the workplace

Date: Mar-11-2014
Middle-class working mothers are leaving work because they are unwilling to behave like men, according to a research paper co-written by a University of Leicester management expert and a senior television producer.Mothers in professional and managerial jobs are expected to stay late or get in early even if they have negotiated reduced working hours, and to socialise with colleagues or clients in the evenings - even though this clashes with their childcare responsibilities. They must do so because working culture is still organised by men, who are less involved in childcare.

New approach needed to prostate cancer screening

Date: Mar-11-2014
The UK needs to invest in testing for those men most at risk of prostate cancer rather than follow a cast-the-net-wide approach targeting the whole population, a leading scientist from The University of Manchester - part of Manchester Cancer Research Centre - has argued at an international conference.Men in the UK are currently entitled to PSA blood test for prostate cancer once they reach the age of 50 and will be recommended to have a prostate biopsy if their PSA level is greater than their age-specific threshold.

The importance of microbial diversity in gut health and disease

Date: Mar-11-2014
The gut microbiota contains a vast number of microorganisms from all three domains of life, including bacteria, archaea and fungi, as well as viruses. These interact in a complex way to contribute towards both health and the development of disease - interactions that are only now being elucidated thanks to the application of advanced DNA sequencing technology in this field.

Stem cell study opens door to undiscovered world of biology

Date: Mar-11-2014
For the first time, researchers have shown that an essential biological process known as protein synthesis can be studied in adult stem cells - something scientists have long struggled to accomplish. The groundbreaking findings from the Children's Medical Center Research Institute at UT Southwestern (CRI) also demonstrate that the precise amount of protein produced by blood-forming stem cells is crucial to their function.

New technique helps scientists map the interactions between proteins at the heart of metastasis, many diseases

Date: Mar-11-2014
Researchers at the UNC School of Medicine have devised a new biochemical technique that will allow them and other scientists to delve much deeper than ever before into the specific cellular circuitry that keeps us healthy or causes disease.The method - developed in the lab of Klaus Hahn, PhD, and described in the journal Nature Chemical Biology - helps researchers study how specific proteins called kinases interact to trigger a specific cellular behavior, such as how a cell moves. These kinase interactions are extraordinarily complex, and their interactions remain largely unknown.

Preterm birth may increase the risk of asthma and wheezing disorders during childhood

Date: Mar-11-2014
Researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) in Boston, Massachusetts, in collaboration with investigators at the Maastricht University Medical Centre and Maastricht University School of Public Health in the Netherlands and The University of Edinburgh in the United Kingdom, have published findings strongly suggesting that preterm birth (prior to 37 weeks gestation) increases the risk of asthma and wheezing disorders during childhood and that the risk of developing these conditions increases as the degree of prematurity increases.

Visualizing transcriptomes via new bioinformatics tool

Date: Mar-11-2014
ZENBU, a new, freely available bioinformatics tool developed at the RIKEN Center for Life Science Technology in Japan, enables researchers to quickly and easily integrate, visualize and compare large amounts of genomic information resulting from large-scale, next-generation sequencing experiments.Next-generation sequencing has revolutionized functional genomics, with protocols such as RNA-seq, ChIP-seq and CAGE being used widely around the world.

Risk of contaminated hospital food reduced by hospital food safety measures

Date: Mar-11-2014
A new study found more than 80 percent of raw chicken used in hospitals in food for patients and staff was contaminated with a form of antibiotic resistant bacteria called extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) producing E. coli. While sufficient preparation eliminated the presence of bacteria, poultry meat delivered to hospital kitchens remains a potential point of entry for these dangerous bacteria into the hospital. The study was published in the April issue of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, the journal of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America.