Health News

Large skin flaps developed to reconstruct severe facial defects

Date: Feb-07-2014
Chinese surgeons develop 'monoblock' flaps to reconstruct severe facial defects, reports the journal of craniofacial surgeryPatients with massive burns causing complete loss of the facial skin pose a difficult challenge for reconstructive surgeons. Now a group of surgeons in China have developed an innovative technique for creating a one-piece skin flap large enough to perform full-face resurfacing, reports The Journal of Craniofacial Surgery, published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.Dr.

Crowdsourcing novel childhood predictors of adult obesity

Date: Feb-07-2014
Will your child be a slim adult? A novel new study published in PLOS ONE asked 532 international English speaking adults to submit or "crowd-source" predictors of whether a child is going to be an overweight or a slim adult. Each participant offered what they believed to be the best predictor of what a child would weigh as an adult and submitted it in the form of a question. Questions were related to factors of participants' childhood experience including home environment, psychosocial well-being, lifestyle, built environment, and family history.

Crowdsourcing novel childhood predictors of adult obesity

Date: Feb-07-2014
Will your child be a slim adult? A novel new study published in PLOS ONE asked 532 international English speaking adults to submit or "crowd-source" predictors of whether a child is going to be an overweight or a slim adult. Each participant offered what they believed to be the best predictor of what a child would weigh as an adult and submitted it in the form of a question. Questions were related to factors of participants' childhood experience including home environment, psychosocial well-being, lifestyle, built environment, and family history.

The proportion of different receptor groups in the cell membrane determines cell repulsion

Date: Feb-07-2014
When cells migrate in the body, for instance, during development, or when neurons establish new connections, cells need to know where they are going. A 'wrong turn' will generally cause disease or developmental disorders. The cells take direction cues from other cells with which they interact, and which they then repel after a short period of contact. Among those direction cues are ephrin ligands, recognized by Eph receptors on the cell.

Why iodine deficiency during pregnancy may have disastrous consequences

Date: Feb-07-2014
Higher mammals, such as humans, have markedly larger brains than other mammals. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in Dresden recently discovered a new mechanism governing brain stem cell proliferation. It serves to boost the production of neurons during development, thus causing the enlargement of the cerebral cortex - the part of the brain that enables us humans to speak, think and dream.

Insight into rural women's health care offered by rural primary care physicians

Date: Feb-07-2014
Women living in rural communities are less likely than urban-dwelling women to receive sufficient mental health care, in large part due to limited access to services and societal stigma, according to medicine and public health researchers.Some reports indicate that rural women are more likely than urban women to have depressive mood and anxiety symptoms. However rural women do not have adequate access to mental health care, compared with city women. Rural women who do seek mental health help are more likely to receive care from their primary physician than are urban women.

Yogurt consumption reduces the risk of type 2 diabetes

Date: Feb-07-2014
New research published in Diabetologia (the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes) shows that higher consumption of yoghurt, compared with no consumption, can reduce the risk of new-onset type 2 diabetes by 28%. Scientists at the University of Cambridge found that in fact higher consumption of low-fat fermented dairy products, which include all yoghurt varieties and some low-fat cheeses, also reduced the relative risk of diabetes by 24% overall.

Yogurt consumption reduces the risk of type 2 diabetes

Date: Feb-07-2014
New research published in Diabetologia (the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes) shows that higher consumption of yoghurt, compared with no consumption, can reduce the risk of new-onset type 2 diabetes by 28%. Scientists at the University of Cambridge found that in fact higher consumption of low-fat fermented dairy products, which include all yoghurt varieties and some low-fat cheeses, also reduced the relative risk of diabetes by 24% overall.

Growing human embryonic stem cells without the need for human and animal cells

Date: Feb-07-2014
A new study, published in the journal Applied Materials & Interfaces, has found a new method for growing human embryonic stem cells, that doesn't rely on supporting human or animal cells.Traditionally, these stem cells are cultivated with the help of proteins from animals, which rules out use in the treatment of humans. Growing stem cells on other human cells risks contamination with pathogens that could transmit diseases to patients.

Growing human embryonic stem cells without the need for human and animal cells

Date: Feb-07-2014
A new study, published in the journal Applied Materials & Interfaces, has found a new method for growing human embryonic stem cells, that doesn't rely on supporting human or animal cells.Traditionally, these stem cells are cultivated with the help of proteins from animals, which rules out use in the treatment of humans. Growing stem cells on other human cells risks contamination with pathogens that could transmit diseases to patients.