Health News

Three doses of HPV vaccine recommended to protect against genital warts

Date: Feb-11-2014
Two doses of the vaccine against human papillomavirus (HPV) provide good protection against genital warts, but three doses is better according to an extensive register study by researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden. The results are published in the scientific periodical JAMA.Since 2012, girls between the ages of 10 and 18 have been offered free vaccination against HPV. The vaccine provides protection against various types of HPV, including some that cause cervical cancer and those that cause genital warts.

Novel immune signature 'predicts severity of flu symptoms'

Date: Feb-11-2014
New research recently published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine details the discovery of an immune signature that may predict whether patients who have been newly diagnosed with influenza are likely to develop severe symptoms and experience poor outcomes.The research team, led by Investigators from St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Tennessee, says the findings could also help explain why young children have a higher risk of complications as a result of influenza.

Scientists create computer chips that can 'listen' to bacteria

Date: Feb-11-2014
A team of New York-based researchers at Columbia University and Columbia Engineering have utilized computer-type circuitry to study bacteria.Integrated circuit technology is the basis of computers and modern cell phones but the Columbia team has developed a new kind of chip using "complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor" (CMOS) technology. This technology, they claim, allows the chips to "listen" to bacteria.The intention of the researchers it to understand how "biofilms" form. Biofilms are complex communities of microbial cells that grow together on living or inert surfaces.

TVs and cars in developing countries increase obesity risk

Date: Feb-11-2014
Much of our modern life is spent sitting down, whether in front of a computer or TV, or commuting in our cars. Now, new research shows that the obesity epidemic and rise of type-2 diabetes experienced in developed countries could soon impact low-income countries, as more people are able to own TVs, computers and cars.The study, led by Prof. Scott Lear of Simon Fraser University in Canada, was published in CMAJ, the journal of the Canadian Medical Association.

Cochlear implants without external hardware? New chip looks promising

Date: Feb-11-2014
Cochlear implants - devices that help people who would otherwise be deaf have some limited hearing - currently require hardware mounted on the outside of the skull to accommodate a recharger and microphone. Now, researchers in the US have developed a new low-powered chip that offers the prospect of eliminating these bulky, visible externals.The new chip is the work of engineers in the Microsystems Technology Laboratory at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) together with team members from Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary.

Center for Black Equity and Pitt Public Health announce HIV research project

Date: Feb-11-2014
The Center for Black Equity and the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health are partnering on a new research project to study reasons for increased risk of HIV infection among African-American men who have sex with men (MSM).The project, funded by a $3.2 million grant from the National Institute of Nursing Research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), will seek to enroll nearly 6,000 African-American MSM who attend Black Gay Pride events in large cities nationwide.

Importance of sex associated with maintaining sexual activity for midlife women

Date: Feb-11-2014
Midlife women who placed greater importance on sex maintained more sexual activity, according to a study published in a research letter by Holly N. Thomas, M.D., of the University of Pittsburgh, and colleagues. Sexual function is associated with health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and understanding what affects women's sexual activity as they age has implications for maintaining HRQoL in women, according to the study background.

Improving post-hospital outcomes with community health worker intervention

Date: Feb-11-2014
Hospitalized patients with low-socioeconomic status were more likely to obtain post-discharge primary care and less likely to have multiple 30-day readmissions to the hospital when they worked with community health workers to create individualized plans for their recovery goals, according to a study by Shreya Kangovi, M.D., M.S., of the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, and colleagues. Socioeconomic and other factors can negatively affect post-hospital outcomes.

School lesson plans on healthy living help reduce waist size in some students

Date: Feb-11-2014
Elementary school lesson plans focused on healthy eating and physical activity delivered by older children to younger students appear effective at reducing waist size and improving knowledge of healthy living behaviors, according to a study by Robert G. Santos, Ph.D., of the Healthy Child Manitoba Office and the University of Manitoba, Canada, and colleagues. Schools can be a good place to promote healthy living behaviors in children, and peer mentoring is a strategy for changing behavior in children, according to the study background.

Social media, self-esteem and suicide

Date: Feb-11-2014
In nations where corruption is rife it seems that citizens these days find an escape from the everyday problems that trickle down to their lives by using online social media more than those elsewhere. Research to be published in the International Journal of Web-based Communities also suggests that these two factors - more corruption, more social networking - also correlate with lower suicide rates.