Health News

Discovery of protein 'switch' advances efforts to replace damaged heart muscle

Date: Mar-05-2014
In a study that began in a pair of infant siblings with a rare heart defect, Johns Hopkins researchers say they have identified a key molecular switch that regulates heart cell division and normally turns the process off around the time of birth. Their research, they report, could advance efforts to turn the process back on and regenerate heart tissue damaged by heart attacks or disease.

HPV vaccination 'provides significant cervical protection,' review finds

Date: Mar-05-2014
After analyzing data from the first human papillomavirus vaccination program in Australia, researchers have found that the vaccine offers significant protection against cervical abnormalities. This is according to a study published in the BMJ.Human papillomavirus (HPV) is a virus that can affect human skin and the moist membranes that line the body, such as the cervix, anus, mouth and throat.The virus can cause genital warts - the most common sexually transmitted infection - and cause changes to cells in the cervix that can lead to cervical cancer.

Carbohydrates serve as identifiers for cancer cells

Date: Mar-05-2014
Researchers at New York University and the University of Texas at Austin have discovered that carbohydrates serve as identifiers for cancer cells. Their findings, which appear in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, show how these molecules may serve as signals for cancer and explain what's going on inside these cells, pointing to new ways in which sugars function as a looking glass into the workings of their underlying structures.

In first 4 years, Medicare Part D prescription drug coverage saved $1.5 billion a year with significant hospital admission reductions

Date: Mar-05-2014
A new study by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the University of Illinois at Chicago finds that Medicare Part D prescription coverage significantly reduced hospital admissions and program expenditures totaling $1.5 billion annually.

Dietary supplement may treat pancreatic cancer

Date: Mar-05-2014
The bark of the Amur cork tree (Phellodendron amurense) has traveled a centuries-long road with the healing arts. Now it is being put through its paces by science in the fight against pancreatic cancer, with the potential to make inroads against several more.UT Health Science Center researcher A. Pratap Kumar was already exploring the cork tree extract's promise in treating prostate cancer when his team found that deadly pancreatic cancers share some similar development pathways with prostate tumors.

Being a college athlete affects quality of life in later years

Date: Mar-05-2014
An Indiana University study found that elite college athletes -- typically the picture of health and vitality -- often struggle to stay active in later years, facing limitations to their day-to-day activities in middle age that could be a result of injuries during their athletic career.Lead investigator Janet Simon, a doctoral candidate in the IU School of Public Health-Bloomington's Department of Kinesiology, said researchers have long known that compared to non-athletes, college athletes experience more severe injuries -- and long-term effects of those injuries.

Even without symptoms blasts may cause brain injury

Date: Mar-05-2014
Veterans exposed to explosions who do not report symptoms of traumatic brain injury (TBI) may still have damage to the brain's white matter comparable to veterans with TBI, according to researchers at Duke Medicine and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.The findings, published in the Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation, suggest that a lack of clear TBI symptoms following an explosion may not accurately reflect the extent of brain injury.

Likelihood of strokes and heart attacks may be predicted by carotid artery MRI

Date: Mar-05-2014
Noninvasive imaging of carotid artery plaque with MRI can accurately predict future cardiovascular events like strokes and heart attacks in people without a history of cardiovascular disease, according to a new study published online in the journal Radiology.Researchers have long known that some arterial plaque is more dangerous because of its vulnerability to rupture. MRI can discern features of vulnerable plaque, such as a lipid core with a thin fibrous cap. This ability makes MRI a potentially valuable tool for identifying patients at risk for subsequent cardiovascular events.

Gonorrhea infections start from exposure to seminal fluid

Date: Mar-05-2014
Researchers have come a step closer to understanding how gonorrhea infections are transmitted. When Neisseria gonorrhoeae, the bacteria responsible for gonorrhea, are exposed to seminal plasma, the liquid part of semen containing secretions from the male genital tract, they can more easily move and start to colonize. The research, led by investigators at Northwestern University in Chicago, appears in mBio®, the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology.

In bars sexual boundaries are not really all that blurred

Date: Mar-05-2014
Meeting people within a bar scene is not usually difficult. Unfortunately, not all contact - whether romantic or sexual - is positive or consensual. In fact, sexual aggression has become a common experience, whether it is related to misperceptions in making and receiving sexual advances, or reflects intentional harassment or other sexually aggressive acts. This study uses an objective observational design to examine bar-based sexual aggression, finding that it often reflects intentional sexual invasiveness and unwanted persistence rather than misperceptions in sexual advances.