Health News

In a rat model of myocardial infarction, transplanted human umbilical cord blood cells improved heart function

Date: Mar-10-2014
When human umbilical cord blood cells were transplanted into rats that had undergone a simulated myocardial infarction (MI), researchers investigating the long term effects of the transplantation found that left ventricular (LV) heart function in the treated rats was improved over those that did not get the stem cells. The animals were maintained without immunosuppressive therapy.The study will be published in a future issue of Cell Transplantation but is currently freely available on-line as an unedited early e-pub.

Preschoolers can do algebra

Date: Mar-10-2014
Millions of high school and college algebra students are united in a shared agony over solving for x and y, and for those to whom the answers don't come easily, it gets worse: most preschoolers and kindergarteners can do some algebra before even entering a math class.

Critical link identified between obesity and diabetes

Date: Mar-10-2014
It's by now well established that obesity is a major risk factor for diabetes. But what exactly is it about extra body fat that leads to insulin resistance and blood glucose elevation, the hallmarks of diabetes?Over the past several years, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) endocrinologist Barbara Kahn, MD, has developed a large body of research suggesting that a molecule called retinol binding protein 4 (RBP4) plays a key role in the process.

Black boys viewed as older, less innocent than whites

Date: Mar-10-2014
Black boys as young as 10 may not be viewed in the same light of childhood innocence as their white peers, but are instead more likely to be mistaken as older, be perceived as guilty and face police violence if accused of a crime, according to new research published by the American Psychological Association."Children in most societies are considered to be in a distinct group with characteristics such as innocence and the need for protection.

Social and emotional learning intervention can lead to academic gains

Date: Mar-10-2014
Classroom programs designed to improve elementary school students' social and emotional skills can also increase reading and math achievement, even if academic improvement is not a direct goal of the skills building, according to a study to be published this month in American Educational Research Journal (AERJ). The benefit holds true for students across a range of socio-economic backgrounds. In the study, "Efficacy of the Responsive Classroom Approach: Results from a Three Year, Longitudinal Randomized Controlled Trial," researchers Sara Rimm-Kaufman (University of Virginia), Ross A.

Mental health care model reduced symptoms in those most affected by BP oil spill

Date: Mar-10-2014
A model of care developed by the Department of Psychiatry at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans School of Medicine to provide mental health services after the Deepwater Horizon Gulf Oil Spill reduced both mental health and general medical symptoms. The novel approach embedded psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers and telemedicine resources into primary care clinics in the most affected areas. This new model can be used in communities at risk for disasters and rural communities with limited mental health resources.

The health benefits of seeing the same doctor

Date: Mar-10-2014
Patients are more likely to raise a health problem with a doctor they've seen over time and have built-up a relationship with, new research has revealed. The insight comes as an increasing number of patients struggle to see the same GP.Researchers from the University of Bristol will shared their findings with health practitioners and researchers at the recent South West Society for Academic Primary Care (SW SAPC) meeting.

Improved management of a chronic graft-vs.-host disease complication

Date: Mar-10-2014
A simple questionnaire that rates breathing difficulties on a scale of 0 to 3 predicts survival in chronic graft-vs.-host disease, according to a study published in the March issue of Biology of Blood and Marrow Transplantation.And although a poor score means a higher risk of death, asking a simple question that can spot lung involvement early means that patients can begin treatments to reduce or manage symptoms, said senior author Stephanie Lee, M.D., M.P.H.

In the UK verbal and physical aggression towards NHS staff is on the increase

Date: Mar-10-2014
VERBAL and physical aggression towards health and social care staff is on the increase. The NHS has reported a rise of 5.8 per cent in reported assaults - up to 63,199 in 2012/13. Now a University of Huddersfield lecturer has called for a programme of research to establish the best methods for dealing with the problem.Various techniques known as "de-escalation" have evolved in order to calm threatening situations.

How changes in the organized cell membrane network of heart muscle lead to heart failure

Date: Mar-10-2014
Colchicine, a drug that's used to treat gout, has the beneficial side effect of lowering the risk of heart attack in patients taking it. Conversely, taxol, a drug for treating cancer, has the opposite effect; raising the risk of heart failure.What both these drugs have in common is that they act on microtubules - a network of fibers inside heart cells that provide internal structural support.