Health News

Children's health spending increased between 2009-2012 despite recession

Date: Mar-02-2014
Health care spending higher for boys than girls; rise in teen use of prescriptions and mental health services; spending on babies highest of any children's age groupSpending on health care for children covered by employer-sponsored insurance (ESI) increased between 2009 and 2012, rising an average 5.5 percent a year, with more dollars spent on boys than girls, and higher spending on infants and toddlers (ages 0-3) than any other children's age group, finds a new report released today by the Health Care Cost Institute (HCCI).

Women 'subconsciously outdo other females' during ovulation

Date: Mar-02-2014
In the movie The Devil Wears Prada, the ruthless magazine editor Miranda Priestly - played by Meryl Streep - is the epitome of the nightmare boss. She consistently disregards the welfare of others to get what she wants. Now, new research suggests there is a Miranda Priestly in all women at a specific time of the month - during ovulation.A study, from the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) and the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management, suggests that the ovulatory cycle subconsciously changes women's behavior, prompting them to outdo other women.

Humans' memory of sound is weaker than for other stimuli

Date: Mar-02-2014
"As it turns out, there is merit to the Chinese proverb 'I hear, and I forget; I see, and I remember,'" says graduate student James Bigelow.Bigelow and his University of Iowa (UI) colleagues have published their results of an investigation into how humans remember sound in the journal PLOS One.Their findings? That we have a harder time remembering things we have heard, compared with things we have seen or felt.

With up to 10 new designer drugs flooding streets every year, more education is needed to convey risks

Date: Mar-02-2014
In the span of a decade, Canada has gone from ecstasy importer to global supplier of the illegal party drug. At the same time, even newer designer highs - sometimes just a mouse-click away - are flooding the drug market faster than legislation can keep pace.It's a worrying problem that University of Alberta researchers say requires more education to help Canadians understand the very real, deadly risks of designer drug use.

System-wide analyses have underestimated the importance of transcription in animals

Date: Mar-02-2014
Over the last ten years, a number of studies have suggested that, in animal cells, translation and protein turnover play a larger role in determining the different levels at which proteins are expressed than transcription. The major evidence supporting these claims is a weak correlation between system-wide protein and mRNA abundance measurements. A highly cited Nature article by Schwanhausser et al. in 2011 provides the most comprehensive example of such analyses. A new study just published in PeerJ by Li et al., however, questions the conclusions of these papers.

Many women seeking medical care have experienced reproductive coercion and intimate partner violence

Date: Mar-01-2014
Enough women experience reproductive coercion - male behavior to control contraception and pregnancy outcomes - that a research team now recommends health care providers address the subjects with their patients and tailor family planning discussions and recommendations accordingly.Researchers from Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island were part of a team that published "Reproductive coercion and co-occurring intimate partner violence in obstetrics and gynecology patients" in a recent issue of the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Risky sexual behaviors linked with gambling in adolescents

Date: Mar-01-2014
A new study, published in the journal Addictive Behaviors, investigates the extent to which the high-risk behaviors of sex and gambling affect black adolescents in primary schools.Previous studies have found an association between gambling and adolescent problem behaviors. For instance, a 2009 study by the University of Buffalo's Research Institute on Addictions in New York found that 1 in 10 young adolescent boys exhibit symptoms of conduct disorder as well as symptoms of problem gambling.

3D-printed membrane 'could predict heart attack risk'

Date: Mar-01-2014
According to The Heart Foundation, more than 920,000 Americans will have a heart attack this year. But now, researchers have created a 3D custom-fitted elastic membrane that can be implanted onto the outer layer of the heart wall, which they say could predict the occurrence of heart attacks and "transform" patient treatment.The research team, including Prof. Igor Efimov of the School of Engineering and Applied Science at Washington University, recently published details of the creation in the journal Nature Communications.

Superior parenting makes breastfed babies so smart

Date: Mar-01-2014
Loads of studies over the years have shown that children who were breastfed score higher on IQ tests and perform better in school, but the reason why remained unclear.Is it the mother-baby bonding time, something in the milk itself or some unseen attribute of mothers who breastfeed their babies?Now a new study by sociologists at Brigham Young University pinpoints two parenting skills as the real source of this cognitive boost: Responding to children's emotional cues and reading to children starting at 9 months of age.

How cancer cells use PARP1 enzyme to resist current therapies could point to next generation of cancer drugs

Date: Mar-01-2014
In the cells of humans and other organisms, only a subset of genes are active at any given time, depending largely on the stage of life and the particular duties of the cell. Cells use different molecular mechanisms to orchestrate the activation and deactivation of genes as needed. One central mechanism is an intricate DNA packaging system that either shields genes from activation or exposes them for use.In this system, the DNA strand, with its genes, is coiled around molecules known as histones, which themselves are assembled into larger entities called nucleosomes.