Health News

Hospitals and nursing homes can learn much from hospice care

Date: Jan-23-2014
There is much value in training hospital and nursing home staff in the basics of palliative care to make the last days of a dying patient's life as comfortable and dignified as possible. So says F. Amos Bailey of the Birmingham Veterans Affairs Medical Center and the University of Alabama at Birmingham in the US. Bailey is the leader of a study that saw the benefits of introducing palliative care strategies, typical of hospices, within the setting of Veterans Affairs Medical Centers.

Alzheimer's defense: omega-3s linked to larger brain volume

Date: Jan-23-2014
Among the myriad changes that accompany aging, shrinking brain volume can be a worrying one. A normal part of growing older, it can also be a sign of Alzheimer's disease. But the good news is that a recent study suggests people with higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids have larger brain volumes in old age.The research, published in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology, suggests that the larger brain volumes associated with higher omega-3 levels are the equivalent to preserving up to 2 years of brain health.James V.

Cancer diagnosis doesn't increase a child's risk of post-traumatic stress disorder

Date: Jan-23-2014
A St. Jude Children's Research Hospital study found that despite being diagnosed with life-threatening illnesses, childhood cancer patients are no more likely than their healthy peers to develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The research appears in the current online edition of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.Young cancer patients were also more likely than children who experience other stressful events to report having benefited from the experience. Reported benefits included developing greater empathy and growing closer to family and friends.The study included 255 St.

Disadvantaged, non-college bound young adults at risk for excessive weight gain

Date: Jan-23-2014
Young adults are at particularly high risk for excessive weight gain. Although weight gain intervention for young adults attending two- or four-year colleges has been studied extensively, there has been little research into effective weight management programs targeting low-income, non-college bound young adults. A team of registered dietitian nutritionists from the University of Maine, in collaboration with scientists from multiple institutions from around the US, have now developed a weight management intervention program that is particularly relevant for disadvantaged young adults.

New web-based course to prevent excessive weight gain may improve health in young adults

Date: Jan-23-2014
The transition from adolescence to adulthood presents individuals with many challenges. Perhaps none are as important as those relating to health and quality of life. Young adults, aged 18 to 25, are at high risk for weight gain. Being mild to moderately overweight during this period substantially increases the likelihood of obesity at age 35 to 37. To prevent weight gain and promote healthy decision making, researchers from 14 institutions collaborated to develop a tailored, theory-based, web-delivered course to prevent excessive weight gain in young adults.

Modest familial risks for multiple sclerosis

Date: Jan-23-2014
Even though multiple sclerosis is largely caused by genetic factors, the risk of patients' relatives developing the disease is lower than previously assumed. This is the conclusion of a new population registry-based study, published in the scientific journal Brain.In the present study from Karolinska Institutet, researchers have assessed the familial risks for multiple sclerosis (MS) by using population registers and health care registries. This way, the researchers were able to include in their study almost everyone diagnosed with the disease in Sweden.

Brain works like a radio receiver

Date: Jan-23-2014
Initial evidence is found that the brain has a 'tuning knob' that is actually influencing behaviour. Brain circuits can tune into the frequency of other brain parts relevant at the time. The scientific magazine Neuron is publishing the results of researchers at Radboud University the Netherlands.Animals (and humans alike) have a metal map of the surrounding environment, consisting of place cells. These cells correspond with places in the physical space and fire when the animal reaches the place or remembers it.

Xpert® MTB/RIF assay for pulmonary tuberculosis and rifampicin resistance in adults

Date: Jan-23-2014
A second systematic review of a diagnostic test for tuberculosis (TB) endorsed by the World Health Organisation (WHO), has confirmed the accuracy of the test. The updated review assessing the accuracy of Xpert® MTB/RIF includes new studies published since the original Cochrane Review was published in January last year. Led by Karen Steingart, an Editor with the Cochrane Infectious Diseases Group at LSTM, the researchers found that Xpert® MTB/RIF is more accurate than smear microscopy for diagnosing TB and also accurate for detecting rifampicin resistance.

Renal cooling during robotic kidney transplant benefits patients

Date: Jan-23-2014
A collaboration of surgeons at Henry Ford Hospital and Medanta Hospital in India successfully transplanted kidneys into 50 recipients using an innovative robot-assisted procedure in which the organ is cooled with sterile ice during the operation.The research project, published online ahead of print in European Urology, the journal of the European Association of Urology, advances minimally invasive robotic surgery as a safe alternative to traditional open surgery.

Suicide risk reduced for all students by gay-straight alliances in schools

Date: Jan-23-2014
Canadian schools with explicit anti-homophobia interventions such as gay-straight alliances (GSAs) may reduce the odds of suicidal thoughts and attempts among both sexual minority and straight students, according to a new study by University of British Columbia researchers.Gay-straight alliances are student-led clubs that aim to make the school community a safer place for all students regardless of their sexual orientation. Their members include lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning (LGBTQ) youth and their straight allies.