Health News

Improving the health of people with learning disabilities

Date: Feb-28-2014
People with learning (intellectual) disabilities have a lower life expectancy than the general population and are more likely to suffer physical disabilities and chronic conditions.In the UK concerns about institutional discrimination raised by the charity Mencap in its Death by Indifference report, and the Confidential Inquiry into Premature Deaths of People with Learning Disabilities, have highlighted the importance of tackling these issues.

Coordinating care for persons with dementia and their carers improves outcomes

Date: Feb-28-2014
A care coordination programme for patients with Alzheimer's and their carers resulted in improvements in psychosocial function of patients with dementia. The programme, a partnership between community and health organisations, also showed positive results for carers. The work is published in the journal Alzheimer's Research and Therapy and shows that non-pharmacological programs and interventions can play a role in improving care for people with dementia and their family caregivers. Alzheimer's is the most common form of dementia.

VTT's hyperspectral camera shows promising results in detection of skin field cancerization

Date: Feb-28-2014
VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland has developed a lightweight, handheld, ultra-precision hyperspectral camera for the detection of skin cancers and their precursors. From the surface of the skin, the camera recognises early stages of cancer that are invisible to the naked eye. Collaborators in the pilot study are the University of Jyväskylä, the Päijät-Häme Central Hospital and the Skin and Allergy Hospital of Helsinki University Central Hospital. The preliminary results are promising.The hand-held, mobile hyperspectral camera images the skin region in two seconds.

UK drafts rules for three-parent IVF babies

Date: Feb-28-2014
The UK government have drafted and published, for public consultation, how the creation of three-person babies using new IVF techniques - called mitochondrial replacement - will be regulated.The new techniques are intended to prevent mothers passing on serious inherited diseases caused by flaws in mitochondrial DNA to their children.The purpose of the consultation is to gather views about the draft regulations from all those with an interest, say the Department of Health.Chief Medical Officer Prof.

New report highlights growing drug and alcohol problems for older people

Date: Feb-28-2014
DrugScope, the UK's leading membership charity for the drug and alcohol field, today launches a report on behalf of the Recovery Partnership - It's about time: tackling substance misuse in older people - revealing the extent to which problems among older people remain hidden. Drawing on the results of recent studies and government figures, together with DrugScope's own consultations with academics and health professionals and site visits to specialist services, the report highlights some disturbing trends: It has been estimated that 1.

Early atherosclerotic plaques in the vessel wall regress completely when cholesterol levels are lowered

Date: Feb-28-2014
Early but not advanced forms of atherosclerotic plaques in the vessel wall disappear when the levels of 'bad' cholesterol are lowered, according to a study in mice from Karolinska Institutet, Sweden. The findings, published in PLoS Genetics, indicate that preventative cholesterol-lowering treatment could prevent more advanced, clinically relevant plaque to develop.Almost half of all deaths worldwide are caused by strokes and heart attacks. The main underlying cause is atherosclerosis, where fat accumulates in the blood vessel walls in the so-called plaques.

Can non-invasive electrical stimulation of the brain help patients regain a state of consciousness after a coma?

Date: Feb-28-2014
Researchers have shown that transcranial direct-current stimulation allows patients in a minimally conscious state to recover cognitive and motor skills. This simple, safe and relatively low-cost technique could offer clinicians a new way to help these patients recover, even several years after their coma. However, the positive effects appear to be temporary at this stage of research.

Transition services for drug using, HIV-infected inmates leaving jail should be gender-specific

Date: Feb-28-2014
A NIDA-funded study shows that HIV-infected women who are released from jail are more likely to abuse cocaine, have co-occurring psychiatric disorders, and to have worse HIV treatment outcomes compared to men, underscoring the need for gender-specific interventions and services.The findings show that six months after release, these women were half as likely to still be receiving care and medications for their HIV status, were more likely to report depression, were more likely to have serious psychiatric disorders but were less likely to be receiving psychiatric care.

Mayo Clinic discovers African-Americans respond better to rubella vaccine

Date: Feb-28-2014
Somali Americans develop twice the antibody response to rubella from the current vaccine compared to Caucasians in a new Mayo Clinic study on individualized aspects of immune response. A non-Somali, African-American cohort ranked next in immune response, still significantly higher than Caucasians, and Hispanic Americans in the study were least responsive to the vaccine. The findings appear in the journal Vaccine."This is fascinating," says Gregory Poland, M.D., Mayo Clinic vaccinologist and senior author of the study.

Secondhand smoke exposure linked to adverse pregnancy outcomes

Date: Feb-28-2014
Secondhand smoking is linked with pregnancy loss, including miscarriage, stillbirth and tubal ectopic pregnancy, according to new research from scientists at Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI) and the University at Buffalo (UB). The study findings, published online by the journal Tobacco Control, mark a significant step toward clarifying the risks of secondhand smoke exposure."This study demonstrated that pregnancy outcomes can be correlated with secondhand smoking.