Health News

High-protein diets may increase risk of kidney disease

Date: Jan-26-2014
High-protein diets, such as the Dukan diet, are currently a popular alternative to the traditional calorie-counting forms of dieting. But scientists at the University of Granada in Spain have shown through tests in rats that a high-protein diet increases the risk of kidney stones and other renal diseases.Dr. Pierre Dukan's high-protein diet has received a boost in popularity in recent years, due to reports that the diet helped the Duchess of Cambridge get thin enough to fit into her wedding dress and allegedly restored the postpartum figure of Jennifer Lopez.

The difficulties encountered seeking a better flu vaccine

Date: Jan-26-2014
Currently approved flu vaccines are less effective in the elderly, yet an estimated 90% of influenza-related deaths occur in people over 65. A paper published in PLOS Pathogens reports on the challenges scientists encountered when they were trying to develop a better flu vaccine.

Researchers studying mitosis seek an answer to what makes cell division accurate

Date: Jan-26-2014
As all school-children learn, cells divide using a process called mitosis, which consists of a number of phases during which duplicate copies of the cell's DNA-containing chromosomes are pulled apart and separated into two distinct cells. Losing or gaining chromosomes during this process can lead to cancer and other diseases, so understanding mitosis is important for developing therapeutic strategies.New research from a team led by Carnegie's Yixian Zheng focused on one important part of this process.

Are we living in the final days of the stethoscope?

Date: Jan-25-2014
An editorial in this month's edition of Global Heart (the journal of the World Heart Federation) suggests the world of medicine could be experiencing its final days of the stethoscope, due to the rapid advent of point-of-care ultrasound devices that are becoming increasingly accurate, smaller to the point of being hand-held and less expensive as the years roll by. The editorial is by Professor Jagat Narula, Editor-in-Chief of Global Heart (Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, USA) and Associate Professor Bret Nelson, also of Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, USA.

Humans can use smell to detect levels of dietary fat

Date: Jan-25-2014
New research from the Monell Center reveals humans can use the sense of smell to detect dietary fat in food. As food smell almost always is detected before taste, the findings identify one of the first sensory qualities that signals whether a food contains fat. Innovative methods using odor to make low-fat foods more palatable could someday aid public health efforts to reduce dietary fat intake."The human sense of smell is far better at guiding us through our everyday lives than we give it credit for," said senior author Johan Lundström, PhD, a cognitive neuroscientist at Monell.

Eye movement speed linked to impulsive decision making

Date: Jan-25-2014
One of the most frustrating things about shopping in a grocery store can be the long lines at the cash register. Do you stand there and wait for the line to go down? Or do you join another line that looks quicker? According to new research, decisions such as this may be dependent on the speed of our eye movements.In a study published in The Journal of Neuroscience, researchers from Johns Hopkins University in Maryland found that people who are less patient are more likely to have faster eye movements.

Vulvar condition causing painful sex strikes twice as many Hispanic women, half as many black women

Date: Jan-25-2014
Hispanic women surveyed in the metro Detroit area were twice as likely as white women to be affected by vulvodynia, unexplained vulvar pain that can make sex, tampon use or even sitting excruciating. Meanwhile, the condition affected half as many black women, new University of Michigan research shows. In all ethnic groups, the prevalence and incidence rates were substantial.

Advanced genetic technique yields novel antibiotic from ocean bacteria

Date: Jan-25-2014
Scientists at the University of California, San Diego have developed a new genetic platform that allows efficient production of naturally occurring molecules, and have used it to produce a novel antibiotic compound. Their study, published in PNAS, may open new avenues for natural product discoveries and drug development.According to lead investigator Bradley S.

Scientists find neuron that controls how much we eat

Date: Jan-25-2014
By activating a neuron in the prefrontal cortex of a mouse's brain, scientists are able to make the mouse eat more. But what could this mean for humans?The influence that different areas of the brain may have over eating behaviors is a contentious debate in neurobiology.

New genes linked to abdominal fat uncovered

Date: Jan-25-2014
Excess abdominal fat can be a precursor to diseases such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and cancer. A person's measure of belly fat is reflected in the ratio of waist circumference to hip circumference, and it is estimated that genetics account for about 30-60 percent of waist-to-hip ratio (WHR). Kira Taylor, Ph.D., M.S.