Health News

Scripps Florida scientists find regulator of amyloid plaque buildup in Alzheimer's disease

Date: Jan-27-2014
Scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute have identified a critical regulator of a molecule deeply involved in the progression of Alzheimer's disease.The new study, published in an advance, online edition of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, shows for the first time that levels of this regulating protein are decreased in the brains of Alzheimer's disease sufferers and that this decrease could be a significant factor in the advance of the disease.

"Whole spine" approach to neck and back problems

Date: Jan-27-2014
A researcher at the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research in Nedlands and collaborators in the United States, have created a new tool to help health professionals improve their treatment of patients experiencing pain in the neck or back. Professor Markus Melloh, who is also associated with the University of Western Australia, says the new Spine Functional Index is a tool which was tested in 10 Australian physiotherapy outpatient clinics on more than 200 patients who had neck and back problems for less than 5 weeks.

Study seeks to explain what drives our appetites

Date: Jan-27-2014
Understanding how early life experiences may affect food choices in adulthood will be investigated as part of a major new research initiative.The £7.4 million programme, funded by the European Commission, aims to find out what drives decisions of when we eat and the types of food we choose.The research, led by the University of Edinburgh, will examine how eating habits develop and the influence of hunger, emotions, stress and economic factors on food choices.A mixture of brain imaging, behavioural studies and laboratory experiments will be used.

New cause identified for children and adults with joint, skeletal and skin problems

Date: Jan-27-2014
Scientists from The University of Manchester and Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust have identified the cause of a rare condition called Leri's pleonosteosis (LP).Dr Sid Banka from the Manchester Centre for Genomic Medicine at The University of Manchester, led a team of researchers on the study which is published in Annals of Rheumatic Diseases journal.LP is an inherited condition in which children are born with contractures of multiple joints and then develop difficulty of joint movements that progress in severity with age.

Simple protein test could improve prediction of survival rates for patients with head and neck cancer

Date: Jan-27-2014
Scientists from The University of Manchester - part of the Manchester Cancer Research Centre - used a simple protein test that could prove more useful in predicting survival chances for patients with head-and-neck cancer compared to existing methods. The team, funded by Cancer Research UK, believe the test could allow doctors to choose more appropriate and tailored treatments. Oral cancers, including the tongue and tonsils, are usually associated with tobacco and alcohol intake.

Looking inside food microstructures

Date: Jan-27-2014
Food's microstructure can explain many of its characteristics - be it cake's sponginess, bread's crispness, cracker's crunchiness or fruits' inner gas and water transport system and even colour. Understanding such microstructure and how it changes during food processing is essential to produce high-quality food. To do so, an EU-funded project, called InsideFood and completed in May 2013, aimed at dramatically improving food microstructure measurement.

The scent of cancer

Date: Jan-27-2014
A research unit in an international cooperation project, led by the Konstanz-based neurobiologist and zoologist Professor Dr. Giovanni Galizia, has been the first to demonstrate that fruit flies are able to distinguish cancer cells from healthy cells via their olfactory sense.

New national alliance aims to reduce suicide in England

Date: Jan-27-2014
A new National Suicide Prevention Alliance (NSPA), aimed at reducing the number of suicides in England and improving support for those affected by suicide, has been launched. With members including Samaritans, Rethink Mental Illness and the Department of Health (DoH), the NSPA is supported by a government grant of £120,000 over two years to deliver a work-plan of national priorities.The NSPA has developed from the Call to Action for Suicide Prevention in England, which brought together more than 50 national organisations from across the public, private and voluntary sectors.

New Prostate Cancer drugs may not target root cause of the disease, York scientists warn

Date: Jan-27-2014
New drugs being developed for the treatment of prostate cancer may not be targeting the root cause of the disease, according to research published in Cell Death & Differentiation.Scientists at the University of York have discovered that a process called 'methylation', previously thought to drive the development of cancer, occurs in cells that are already cancerous. The findings mean therapies aimed at reversing this process might not be effective against cancer stem cells, allowing the cancer to return.

Study suggests patients feel safer when they participate in a surgical safety checklist

Date: Jan-27-2014
Patients feel safer - and likely are safer - when they receive a surgical safety checklist and request that their health care providers use it, suggests a pilot study being presented at the American Society of Anesthesiologists Practice Management 2014.Use of the World Health Organization (WHO) Surgical Safety Checklist (SSC), a quality improvement tool released in 2009, has been reported to reduce complication rates. The SSC lists specific tasks that should be completed during different phases of surgery.