Health News

Juggling could lead to better understanding of neurological disorders

Date: Feb-15-2014
A visit to the circus would not be the same without jugglers. But although the skill is used primarily for entertainment purposes, new research suggests juggling may provide clues as to how vision and sense of touch help control the way animals and humans repetitively move their limbs - a motion that is carried out when we run, for example.This is according to a study recently published in the Journal of Neurophysiology.

Big arguments can lead to good resolutions in happy relationships

Date: Feb-15-2014
Being critical, angry and defensive isn't always a bad thing for couples having a big disagreement -- provided they are in a satisfying relationship. In that case, they likely will have a "big resolution" regardless of how negative they were during the discussion, according to a study by a Baylor University psychologist.Until now, there have been two opposing ideas on negative communication in conflict: one is to refrain from using it, while the other suggests doing so is a natural part of productive interaction to resolve conflict.

Researchers say there is no such thing as pornography addiction

Date: Feb-15-2014
Journalists and psychologists are quick to describe someone as being a porn "addict," yet there's no strong scientific research that shows such addictions actually exists. Slapping such labels onto the habit of frequently viewing images of a sexual nature only describes it as a form of pathology. These labels ignore the positive benefits it holds. So says David Ley, PhD, a clinical psychologist in practice in Albuquerque, NM, and Executive Director of New Mexico Solutions, a large behavioral health program. Dr.

More than 700,000 flu-like illnesses linked to well-child visits

Date: Feb-15-2014
New research shows that well-child doctor appointments for annual exams and vaccinations are associated with an increased risk of flu-like illnesses in children and family members within two weeks of the visit. This risk translates to more than 700,000 potentially avoidable illnesses each year, costing more than $490 million annually. The study was published in the March issue of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, the journal of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America."Well child visits are critically important.

Response to oxidation in live cells evaluated by new NIST method

Date: Feb-15-2014
Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a new method for accurately measuring a key process governing a wide variety of cellular functions that may become the basis for a "health checkup" for living cells.The NIST technique measures changes in a living cell's internal redox (reduction-oxidation) potential, a chemistry concept that expresses the favorability of reactions in which molecules or atoms either gain or lose electrons. Redox reactions are important to cell chemistry because they regulate many genes and the proteins they produce.

Research suggests that sedation before nerve block should be used very sparingly

Date: Feb-15-2014
New research suggests that sedating patients before a nerve block needed to diagnose or treat chronic pain increases costs, risks and unnecessary surgeries, and sedation does nothing to increase patient satisfaction or long-term pain control."Sedation doesn't help, but it does add expense and risk," says study leader Steven P. Cohen, M.D., a professor of anesthesiology and critical care medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. "In some places, every patient is being sedated. Our research shows it should be used very sparingly.

Screening a library of FDA-approved anticancer drugs may lead to treatment of rare, drug-resistant cancer

Date: Feb-15-2014
University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI) scientists have shown that old drugs might be able to do new tricks.By screening a library of FDA-approved anticancer drugs that previously wouldn't have been considered as a treatment for a rare type of cancer, UPCI scientists were surprised when they found several potential possibilities to try if the cancer becomes resistant to standard drug treatment.

Industrial chemicals 'may cause global neurodevelopmental epidemic'

Date: Feb-15-2014
A new review published in The Lancet Neurology stresses the importance of a global overhaul of regulations regarding industrial chemicals, as experts warn that child exposure to such toxins could be causing a "silent epidemic" of brain development disorders worldwide.According to Dr. Phillippe Grandjean, of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, MA, and Dr. Phillip Landrigan, of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, the number of chemicals that are recognized to be linked with neurodevelopmental disorders has increased from six to 12.

How smell and hunger work together is explained in a new study

Date: Feb-15-2014
New research funded by the European Research Council and published in the journal Nature Neuroscience claims to have shown how the endocannabinoid system controls food intake using the sense of smell.Endocannabinoids are cannabis-like chemicals that are made in the body and are used to send "messages" between cells. The endocannabinoid system is a network of neuron receptors, enzymes and endocannabinoids that exists both in animal and human brains. The receptors in the endocannabinoid system are associated with sensations such as euphoria, anxiety and pain.

Lapse in infection control procedure led to rare bacteria outbreak in cancer clinic

Date: Feb-15-2014
Improper handling of intravenous saline at a West Virginia outpatient oncology clinic was linked with the first reported outbreak of Tsukamurella spp., gram-positive bacteria that rarely cause disease in humans, in a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The report was published in the March issue of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, the journal of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America.