Health News

Identifying newborns and children at-risk for developmental problems by measuring brain activity in premature infants

Date: Jan-31-2014
JoVE, the Journal of Visualized Experiments, has published a procedure to identify newborns and children at-risk for developmental problems, especially those born prematurely. The technique is an infant friendly way of measuring brain activity using non-traditional methods, and it will aid in the invention of treatment strategies leveraging neural plasticity present in the first three years of life."This new methodology has recently been used to investigate cortical processing of touch and speech sounds in a large group of full-term and preterm neonates," said Dr.

The genetic legacy of the Neanderthals

Date: Jan-31-2014
Remnants of Neanderthal DNA in modern humans are associated with genes affecting type 2 diabetes, Crohn's disease, lupus, biliary cirrhosis and smoking behavior. They also concentrate in genes that influence skin and hair characteristics. At the same time, Neanderthal DNA is conspicuously low in regions of the X chromosome and testes-specific genes.The research, led by Harvard Medical School geneticists and published Jan. 29 in Nature, suggests ways in which genetic material inherited from Neanderthals has proven both adaptive and maladaptive for modern humans.

Obesity-prevention efforts should focus on children who are overweight by five-years-old

Date: Jan-31-2014
A recent study by researchers from Emory's Rollins School of Public Health suggests that development of new childhood obesity cases, or incidence, is largely established by kindergarten. The study showed that overweight kindergarteners were four times as likely as normal-weight children to become obese by the 8th grade.Led by Solveig A. Cunningham, PhD, assistant professor in the Hubert Department of Global Health at Rollins School of Public Health, the team analyzed data on children who participated in an Early Childhood Longitudinal Study of the U.S. Kindergarten Class of 1998-1999.

Bringing testosterone back up to normal for women going through early menopause has disappointing results

Date: Jan-31-2014
With plummeting hormone levels, natural menopause before age 40 can put a damper on women's mental well being and quality of life. But bringing testosterone back up to normal may not bring them the boost some hoped for, found a new study published online in Menopause, the journal of The North American Menopause Society (NAMS).Before age 40, ovaries stop functioning in about 1% of women without some obvious genetic abnormality to blame, bringing on an early menopause.

In pediatric septic shock, mortality risk accurately predicted by new prognostic tool

Date: Jan-31-2014
Researchers have developed a tool that allows caregivers to quickly and accurately predict the risk of death in children with septic shock - a systemic infection that damages vital organs and one of the leading causes of death among hospitalized children.Reporting their results in PLOS ONE (published by the Public Library of Science), researchers say the study validates a tool that would let doctors decide much faster which severely sick children need to receive aggressive life-saving therapy.

Breast cancer survival boosted by running

Date: Jan-31-2014
Previous studies have shown that breast cancer survivors who meet the current exercise recommendations (2.5 hours of moderate intensity physical activity per week) are at 25% lower risk for dying from breast cancer. New research from the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and reported in the International Journal of Cancer suggests that exceeding the recommendations may provide greater protection, and that running may be better than walking.

Improving communication in ADHD

Date: Jan-31-2014
People with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are less able to consider the perspective of their conversational partner, says research from the University of Waterloo. The findings may lead to new remediation that can improve the way individuals with the disorder interact and communicate with others.The research appears in two published studies, one in the Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research is focused on children, the other addresses adults and appears in the Journal of Attention Disorders.

Increasing incidence of oropharyngeal cancer in young adults

Date: Jan-31-2014
A new study reveals an alarming increase in oropharyngeal cancers among young adults. While the exact cause for this phenomenon is unknown, the human papillomavirus (HPV) may be to blame.According to researchers from Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit there was an overall 60 percent increase from 1973 and 2009 in cancers of the base of tongue, tonsils, soft palate and pharynx in people younger than age 45.Among Caucasians, there was a 113 percent increase, while among African-Americans the rate of these cancers declined by 52 percent during that period of time.

Study looks at what makes soldiers reach for a pack of cigarettes or not

Date: Jan-31-2014
Is it possible to predict which soldier will start smoking and which one will maybe quit? Yes, says Christopher B. Harte of the Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System and Boston University School of Medicine in the US, especially when factors such as alcohol use, gender, a soldier's rank, war zone stressors and unit support are considered. A new study¹ led by Harte, published in the Springer journal Annals of Behavioral Medicine², looks at smoking behavior in the military.

Treatment discovered for paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinemia, a rare blood cancer

Date: Jan-31-2014
University of British Columbia researchers have discovered a potential new treatment for a rare blood cancer that may also point the way to treating other more common diseases.Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinemia (PNH) is a rare form of cancer characterized by episodic rupture of red blood cells and the danger of blood clots forming in the vascular system. The condition results in red blood cells becoming vulnerable to attacks by the body's own complement immune system and can lead to complications such as anemia, kidney disease and fatal thromboses.