Health News

Newly developed type of filter can help people with nasal symptoms from seasonal hay fever

Date: Mar-11-2014
A small filter the size of a contact lens could possibly make life easier for some of the estimated 500 million people worldwide who suffer from itching, sneezing and a runny nose as soon as the pollen season starts.A clinical study from Aarhus University concludes that a newly developed Danish mini-filter - Rhinix - appears to be significantly more effective against the discomfort of seasonal hay fever than a filterless placebo.The study has just been published online in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

Youth suicide-related behaviors have stopped declining after years of improvement

Date: Mar-11-2014
A new study from St. Michael's Hospital found that, after four years of declining, the rates of teenagers coming into Ontario emergency departments with suicide-related behaviours stopped dropping between 2006 and 2010.Suicide-related behaviours are incidents of self-inflicted injuries or self-poisonings.Using data from the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, the researchers found that from 2002 to 2006, the rates of teenagers coming into Ontario emergency departments with suicide-related behaviours declined by 30 per cent.

Low-cost devices developed to turn smartphones into 'eye-phones'

Date: Mar-11-2014
Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have developed two inexpensive adapters that enable a smartphone to capture high-quality images of the front and back of the eye. The adapters make it easy for anyone with minimal training to take a picture of the eye and share it securely with other health practitioners or store it in the patient's electronic record."Think Instagram for the eye," said one of the developers, assistant professor of ophthalmology Robert Chang, MD.

Inherited Alzheimer's damage greater decades before symptoms appear

Date: Mar-11-2014
The progression of Alzheimer's may slow once symptoms appear and do significant damage , according to a study investigating an inherited form of the disease.In a paper published in the prestigious journal Science Translational Medicine, Professor Colin Masters from the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health and University of Melbourne - and colleagues in the UK and US - have found rapid neuronal damage begins 10 to 20 years before symptoms appear."As part of this research we have observed other changes in the brain that occur when symptoms begin to appear.

Federal grant will help researchers understand the specific asthma needs of families in California's Imperial Valley

Date: Mar-11-2014
A team led by researchers at San Diego State University has been awarded $4 million to enhance asthma education and treatment strategies in California's Imperial Valley, where children are twice as likely as the national average to suffer from asthma.The grant will allow researchers to better understand the specific asthma needs of Imperial Valley's largely Latino/Latina population, as well as develop more effective approaches to treatment for families, communities, and physicians.Approximately 4.5 million African-Americans and 3.6 million Hispanics and Latinos/Latinas in the U.S.

A team approach to autism diagnosis and care

Date: Mar-11-2014
Improving diagnosis and treatment for individuals with autism has been the focus of a growing body of research. New information from these studies led the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry to revise key parameters for evaluating and treating autism. Researchers led by Yale Child Study Center director Fred Volkmar, M.D., have published the new practice parameters in the Feb. issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

Pregnancy risks for women with Kawasaki disease are manageable, provided doctors recognize them

Date: Mar-11-2014
In the first study of its type, researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have looked at the health threat to pregnant women with a history of Kawasaki disease (KD), concluding that the risks are low with informed management and care.The findings are published in the online edition of the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.KD is a childhood condition affecting the coronary arteries. It is the most common cause of acquired heart disease in children.

New class of antibiotics discovered

Date: Mar-11-2014
A team of University of Notre Dame researchers led by Mayland Chang and Shahriar Mobashery have discovered a new class of antibiotics to fight bacteria such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and other drug-resistant bacteria that threaten public health. Their research is published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society in an article titled "Discovery of a New Class of Non-beta-lactam Inhibitors of Penicillin-Binding Proteins with Gram-Positive Antibacterial Activity.

Girls born underweight 'more likely to be infertile adults'

Date: Mar-11-2014
Researchers have found that girls who are born unexpectedly small or underweight are twice as likely to have fertility issues in adulthood than those born at a normal size. This is according to a study published in the journal BMJ Open.They note that with advances in medicine, more underweight babies are surviving into adulthood, which could mean that the prevalence of infertility could also rise.For their study, the team assessed data on all women born in Sweden from 1973 onward who were seeking infertility treatment at the Centre of Reproductive Medicine from 2005 to 2010.

Being overweight or obese 'a risk factor' for ovarian cancer

Date: Mar-11-2014
Body weight is not a factor that has been widely associated with the the risk of developing ovarian cancer. But new research suggests that women who are overweight or obese are more likely to develop the disease, compared with women of a healthy weight.Investigators from the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) and the American Institute for Cancer Research conducted the study as part of the WCRF's Continuous Update Project.