Health News

Infections impair the brain's ability to make spatial memories

Date: Feb-08-2014
Researchers in the UK have found that inflammation in the brain following an infection can adversely affect how spatial memories are formed. This new study, which is published in the journal Biological Psychiatry, builds on existing research linking infections to decreased cognitive function.Study leader Dr. Neil Harrison, from the Brighton and Sussex Medical School, says: "We have known for some time that severe infections can lead to long-term cognitive impairment in the elderly.

Insights into network that plays crucial role in cell function and disease

Date: Feb-08-2014
A new research paper from the labs of University of Notre Dame researchers Holly Goodson and Mark Alber helps resolve an ongoing debate about the assembly of a subcellular network that plays a critical role in cell function and disease.Goodson and her former postdoctoral fellow Kamlesh Gupta (now a senior scientist at W. M. Keck Center for Transgene Research) from the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry teamed up with Alber's group from the Department of Applied and Computational Mathematics and Statistics, to study the dynamical behavior of subcellular fibers called microtubules.

Stroke prevention in women: guidelines set for the first time

Date: Feb-07-2014
The American Heart Association/American Stroke Association have created guidelines for health care professionals for the prevention of stroke in women for the first time. The new recommendations have recently been published in the journal Stroke.Approximately 795,000 Americans suffer from a new or recurrent stroke every year, with 60% of stroke deaths occurring in women.Many of the risk factors for stroke are the same for both men and women. These include high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, smoking, obesity, alcohol use and lack of exercise.But Dr.

No childhood leukemia risk from power lines

Date: Feb-07-2014
Children who spend their early years living near overhead power lines are not at greater risk of developing childhood leukemia, according to researchers at the University of Oxford in the UK, who report their findings in the British Journal of Cancer.In the UK, as in the US, leukemia accounts for around a third of all cancers diagnosed in children.

Pregnancy: overactive immune system linked to offspring brain damage

Date: Feb-07-2014
In a mouse study, researchers found that fetal mice who were exposed in the womb to a maternal immune system in overdrive - due to an infection or other illness - displayed lasting signs of brain damage into adulthood. And the investigators believe their findings could be relevant to human neurologic diseases, such as schizophrenia and autism.Results of the study, conducted by researchers from Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore, MD, are published in the journal Brain, Behavior and Immunity.

Star Ratings Symposium, February 24-25, 2014, Anaheim, California

Date: Feb-07-2014
How would you rank your strategy for optimizing CMS's 5-Star Quality Rating System? Were you a top-rated plan in 2013?If not, the Star Ratings Symposium is a must-attend conference for you. The information will be high-level, but very practical. You'll learn valuable strategies from the nations top health plans for improving your rating, including how to get buy-in from your providers - as well as intervention strategies.

New paper indicates a potential 50% reduction in cardiac events for prostate cancer patients with pre-existing cardiovascular disease

Date: Feb-07-2014
A recent paper published in European Urology, the official journal of the European Association of Urology, indicates that the gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) antagonist degarelix (brand name: FIRMAGON®), may halve the relative risk of cardiovascular (CV) events and death in men with pre-existing CV disease (CVD) compared to treatment with commonly prescribed luteinising hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) agonists. The report is based on a pooled analysis of 2,328 men with prostate cancer from six prospective, randomised trials.

New study uses heart age calculator to motivate people to adopt healthier lifestyles

Date: Feb-07-2014
New research, published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, has shown that using Heart Age to raise awareness of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk promotes behavioural changes that result in a decrease in CVD risk. Unlike traditional CVD risk scores that estimate percentage risk over ten years, Heart Age expresses an individual's risk score as their estimated Heart Age to make it more personally relevant to the individual. A research trial conducted amongst 3,153 patients in Spain showed significant improvements in risk scores amongst patients who were told their Heart Age.

Immune treatment for MS shows promise

Date: Feb-07-2014
A new treatment that boosts immunity to Epstein-Barr virus may benefit patients with multiple sclerosis, according to the results of an Australian study published in the Multiple Sclerosis Journal.In their study report, Michael Pender, a professor at the University of Queensland School of Medicine, Brisbane, and colleagues describe how a patient with advanced multiple sclerosis (MS) experienced noticeable clinical improvement after receiving 6 weeks of the immunotherapy treatment.

'Friendly' robots could allow for more realistic human-android relationships

Date: Feb-07-2014
Two 'friendly' robots, including a 3D-printed humanistic android, are helping scientists to understand how more realistic long-term relationships might be developed between humans and androids.ERWIN (Emotional Robot with Intelligent Network) is the brainchild of Dr John Murray, from the School of Computer Science, University of Lincoln, UK. It is now being used as part of a PhD study to find out how some of the human-like thought biases in robot characteristics affect the human-robot relationship.