Health News

Successful large-scale intervention and education project in South Africa

Date: Jan-21-2014
A large-scale human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) intervention/education effort aimed at helping South African men take a proactive role in the prevention of that disease has proven successful, an important development considering that country has the largest number of HIV infections in the world. Researchers, led by Prof. John B.

Car crash victims often suffer chronic neck pain, but most don't sue

Date: Jan-21-2014
A new study led by University of North Carolina School of Medicine researchers is the first large prospective study to evaluate musculoskeletal pain outcomes after motor vehicle collision in the U.S.Nearly 4 million individuals in the U.S. come to hospital emergency departments for evaluation after motor vehicle collision each year. More than 90 percent of these individuals are discharged to home after evaluation. Results of the study, which enrolled individuals from eight emergency departments in four states, indicate that persistent pain is common in this population.

Early changes seen in skin cancer caused by over-expression of splicing protein in skin repair

Date: Jan-21-2014
Normally, tissue injury triggers a mechanism in cells that tries to repair damaged tissue and restore the skin to a normal, or homeostatic state. Errors in this process can give rise to various problems, such as chronic inflammation, which is a known cause of certain cancers."It has been noted that cancer resembles a state of chronic wound healing, in which the wound-healing program is erroneously activated and perpetuated," says Professor Adrian Krainer of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL). In a paper published in Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, a team led by Dr.

Comfort for targets of prejudice

Date: Jan-21-2014
Rare in history are moments like the 1960s civil rights movement, in which members of a majority group vocally support minority groups in their fight against prejudice. New research not only confirms the power of speaking up for those facing prejudice but also underlines the importance of exactly what is communicated. Looking at YouTube video messages, researchers found that homosexual youth found the most comfort in messages that both supported them and advocated social change.The new work takes a closer look at the "It Gets Better" YouTube campaign.

More than $650 million paid by NHL teams to injured players over 3 years, concussions being the most expensive injury

Date: Jan-21-2014
Most successful businesses would not accept spending $218 million on lost time, but that's the amount NHL owners pay out every year to players who miss games due to injury, according to new research.More than 63 per cent of the 1,307 NHL players who laced up skates during the 2009-10, 2010-11 and 2011-12 regular seasons, missed at least one game due to a hockey-related injury."Employers are morally responsible for protecting their employees," said Dr. Michael Cusimano, a St. Michael's Hospital neurosurgeon and researcher.

Personalized review helps students remember more, even after classes end

Date: Jan-21-2014
Struggling to remember information presented months earlier is a source of anxiety for students the world over. New research suggests that a computer-based individualized study schedule could be the solution. The study findings show that personalized review helped students remember significantly more material on tests given at the end of the semester and a month later.

How ecstasy acts on the brain has implications for anxiety and PTSD therapy

Date: Jan-21-2014
Brain imaging experiments have revealed for the first time how ecstasy produces feelings of euphoria in users.Results of the study at Imperial College London, parts of which were televised in Drugs Live on Channel 4 in 2012, have now been published in the journal Biological Psychiatry.The findings hint at ways that ecstasy, or MDMA, might be useful in the treatment of anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).MDMA has been a popular recreational drug since the 1980s, but there has been little research on which areas of the brain it affects.

Predicting disease outbreak through internet surveillance

Date: Jan-21-2014
The habit of Googling for an online diagnosis before visiting a GP can provide early warning of an infectious disease epidemic.In a new study published in Lancet Infectious Diseases, internet-based surveillance has been found to detect infectious diseases such Dengue Fever and Influenza up to two weeks earlier than traditional surveillance methods.

Researchers learning how humans walk, one step at a time

Date: Jan-21-2014
Humans and some of our hominid ancestors such as Homo erectus have been walking for more than a million years, and researchers are close to figuring out how we do it.It's never been completely clear how human beings accomplish the routine, taken-for-granted miracle we call walking, let alone running. But findings published last month in the Journal of Experimental Biology outline a specific interaction between the ankle, knee, muscles and tendons that improve the understanding of a leg moving forward in a way that maximizes motion while using minimal amounts of energy.

During rejection episodes following facial transplantation, donor T cells are significantly involved

Date: Jan-21-2014
In 2009, the first face transplant was performed at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH), and lead surgeon, Dr. Bohdan Pomahac has been pioneering the procedure since. However, understanding the technical challenges, particularly around how the recipient accepts or rejects the donated face, is just beginning. Following any transplant, including facial transplant, T cells in the recipient mount an immune response to the donated tissue, threatening rejection. This process is successfully managed through immunosupression medication so that the recipient is able to tolerate the transplanted face.