Health News

Are policymakers, the food industry, or individuals to blame for obesity?

Date: Jan-24-2014
Fast food restaurants take a lot of heat for the rise in obesity in the United States, but is it really their fault? A research survey conducted by two food economists revealed that most people believe individuals are to blame for their own obesity - not restaurants, grocery stores, farmers, or government policies. One implication from this research is that creating and enforcing public policies to help reduce obesity and/or encourage healthier food choices may not be as effective as policy makers would like.

Disease management programme for asthma is largely consistent with guidelines

Date: Jan-24-2014
Current guidelines are more detailed regarding some aspects of treatmentOn 22 January 2014 the German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) published the results of a literature search for evidence-based clinical practice guidelines on the treatment of people with asthma. The aim of the report is to identify those recommendations from current guidelines of high methodological quality that may be relevant for the planned revision of the disease management programme (DMP).

Folic acid linked to breast cancer growth in animal study

Date: Jan-23-2014
Folic acid is a well-known supplement to many women, particularly those who are or plan to be pregnant. But a new study suggests that taking large amounts of folate - a B vitamin - and its synthetic form, folic acid, might actually increase the risk of developing breast cancer.Publishing their results in the journal PLoS ONE, the researchers note that the topic of folic acid and its role in cancer has been controversial.Some studies have suggested the vitamin may protect against cancer.

Hearing loss in older adults linked to faster brain shrinkage

Date: Jan-23-2014
Scientists have long known that as we age, our brain becomes smaller. But new research from the Johns Hopkins University in Maryland suggests that older adults who suffer from hearing loss are more likely to experience a higher level of brain shrinkage at a faster rate.To reach their findings, recently published online in the journal NeuroImage, the research team analyzed 126 participants aged between 56 and 86 years for up to a 10-year period.

Heart attack survival 'significantly lower' in UK than Sweden

Date: Jan-23-2014
A new study published in The Lancet has questioned the care of heart attack patients in the UK - stating that the chance of surviving a heart attack in the country is significantly lower than in Sweden. Researchers say if the UK had adopted the same health care strategies as Sweden, more than 11,000 heart attack deaths may have been prevented.The research team, including Prof. Harry Hemingway of University College London in the UK and co-leader of the study, says that their findings are "a cause for concern.

If overweight, your child will be less active

Date: Jan-23-2014
A new study from the University of Copenhagen's OPUS Research Centre reports that being overweight makes children less active. The findings underscore that parents of overweight children have an obligation to keep their children active, as physical activity is vital for the general health of all children. The study also shows that slender children do not become overweight due to a lack of activity.Over time, children with a higher fat mass reduce their level of physical activity and increasingly pursue sedentary activities such as watching TV or computer gaming.

Giving up smoking? Try positive psychotherapy

Date: Jan-23-2014
The thousands of people who've resolved to stop smoking this New Year might soon be able to make use of a new method to help them break free from tobacco. Called PPT-S, or positive psychotherapy for smoking cessation, its success and potential as a new form of treatment is outlined in the current issue of The Journal of Positive Psychology.

European epilepsy consortium uses novel combination of technologies to identify new gene for severe childhood epilepsy

Date: Jan-23-2014
A European consortium of epilepsy researchers has reported the discovery of a new gene involved in severe childhood epilepsy. Using a novel combination of technologies, including trio exome sequencing of patient/parental DNA and genetic studies in the tiny larvae of zebrafish, the EuroEPINOMICS RES consortium found that mutations in the gene CHD2 are responsible for a subset of epilepsy patients with symptoms similar to Dravet syndrome - a severe form of childhood epilepsy that is in many patients resistant to currently available anti-epileptic drugs.

CSU veterinarians seek big dogs to undergo stomach surgery and digestive evaluation

Date: Jan-23-2014
Colorado State University veterinarians want to learn about stomach function in large-breed dogs that have undergone laparoscopic gastropexy, a minimally invasive surgery in which the stomach is attached to the abdominal wall to prevent dangerous bloating.To investigate, a veterinary team is launching a clinical study in big dogs - those weighing more than 80 pounds.Gastric dilatation volvulus, when the stomach flips and expands, is both potentially fatal and fairly common in large-breed dogs, said Dr. Eric Monnet, a veterinarian in Soft Tissue Surgery Service at CSU's James L.

Particulate air pollution leads to increased heart attack risk

Date: Jan-23-2014
Long-term exposure to particulate matter is associated with an increased risk for heart attack. Moreover, this association can already be observed in levels of particulate exposure below the current specified European limit values. These are the results of a European research team led by scientists of Helmholtz Zentrum München in a population study published in the British Medical Journal.The ESCAPE study* investigates the effects of air pollution on health.