Health News

Initiation of sex or risky sexual behavior not encouraged by beliefs about HPV vaccine

Date: Feb-03-2014
A new study may alleviate concerns that the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine leads to either the initiation of sex or unsafe sexual behaviors among teenage girls and young women.The Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center study shows that teen girls' and young women's beliefs regarding the HPV vaccine, whether accurate or inaccurate, are not linked to subsequent sexual behaviors over the six months after vaccination.

Discovery of a potent stimulator of new bone growth may lead to new drugs for osteoporosis

Date: Feb-03-2014
Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have discovered what appears to be a potent stimulator of new bone growth. The finding could lead to new treatments for osteoporosis and other diseases that occur when the body doesn't make enough bone.Osteoporosis affects 55 percent of Americans age 50 and older. Of that age group, one in three women and one in 12 men are believed to have osteoporosis, a condition responsible for millions of fractures each year, mostly involving the hips, wrist or lower back vertebrae.

Stronger development in minority youth tied to positive feelings about race, ethnicity

Date: Feb-03-2014
The more positively minority youth feel about their ethnicity or race, the fewer symptoms of depression and emotional and behavior problems they have. That's the conclusion of a new meta-analysis summarizing 46 existing studies.Published in the journal Child Development, the meta-analysis was conducted by researchers at Brown University, the University of Minnesota, Arizona State University, the University of Illinois at Chicago, and the University of Miami.

Emotional support buffers the biological toll of racial discrimination in young African-Americans

Date: Feb-03-2014
African American youth who report experiencing frequent discrimination during adolescence are at risk for developing heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and stroke in later years, according to a new study.The study also found that emotional support from parents and peers can protect African American youth from stress-related damage to their bodies and health.The study, by researchers at the University of Georgia and Emory University, appears in the journal Child Development.

Tie between toddlers' shyness, language abilities reflects reticence to respond

Date: Feb-03-2014
Previous research has suggested that shy children have difficulties with language. Now, a new longitudinal study paints a more nuanced picture. The study, of 816 toddlers, found that children who are inhibited in their behavior tend to speak less but understand what's being said as well as less shy peers. In other words, these children have performance problems when speaking with others, but don't lack capability, suggesting that they're merely reluctant to respond rather than delayed or deficient in understanding language.

New tool developed to identify genetic risk factors

Date: Feb-03-2014
Dartmouth researchers developed a new biological pathway-based computational model, called the Pathway-based Human Phenotype Network (PHPN), to identify underlying genetic connections between different diseases as reported in BioDataMining. The PHPN mines the data present in large publicly available disease datasets to find shared SNPs, genes, or pathways and expresses them in a visual form.

Scientists discover trick that aids viral infection

Date: Feb-03-2014
Scientists have identified a way some viruses protect themselves from the immune system's efforts to stop infections, a finding that may make new approaches to treating viral infections possible.Viruses have well-known strategies for slipping past the immune system. These include faking or stealing a molecular identification badge that prevents a cell from recognizing a virus.Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and elsewhere have found some viruses have another trick. They can block the immune system protein that checks for the identification badge.

For older women with breast cancer, brachytherapy offers lower rate of breast preservation compared to standard radiation

Date: Feb-03-2014
When comparing treatments designed to enable long-term breast preservation for older women with invasive breast cancer, researchers found those treated with brachytherapy were at higher risk for a later mastectomy, compared to women treated with standard radiation therapy. The research was led by The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.The findings, published in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology, are the first to provide a direct comparison of breast brachytherapy against a lumpectomy alone control group and an external beam radiation therapy control group (EBRT).

Recommendations to make childbirth safer in Indonesia

Date: Feb-03-2014
A joint report by U.S. and Indonesian experts, including Dr. Eli Y. Adashi, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Brown University, provides recommendations to improve the survival of mothers and newborns in Indonesia. That nation, a rising power, must invest in medical infrastructure including facilities and transportation, according to the report sponsored by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. Indonesia is a fast-rising economic power that has made significant progress toward key development goals including reducing child mortality.

By coaxing production of healthy cells, some lung diseases reversed in mice

Date: Feb-03-2014
It may be possible one day to treat several lung diseases by introducing proteins that direct lung stem cells to grow the specific cell types needed to repair the lung injuries involved in the conditions, according to new research at Boston Children's Hospital.Reporting in the journal Cell, researchers led by Carla Kim, PhD, and Joo-Hyeon Lee, PhD, of the Stem Cell Research Program at Boston Children's, describe a new pathway in the lung, activated by injury, that directs stem cells to transform into specific types of cells.