Health News

Middle-school girls 'play soccer with concussion symptoms'

Date: Jan-21-2014
For teenagers who play soccer, there are bound to be some bumps to the head from time to time. But a new study has found that concussions are common among middle-school girls who play soccer, and the majority of these girls continue to play when they have concussion symptoms.This is according to a new study published in JAMA Pediatrics.A concussion is a type of traumatic brain injury that is caused by a blow or jolt to the head that can alter normal brain function.

Is aggression in toddlers down to genetics?

Date: Jan-21-2014
A new study carried out by the University of Montreal and CHU Sainte-Justine Hospital in Montreal, Canada, suggests that physical aggression in toddlers develops more as a result of genetic rather than environmental factors.The theory that physical aggression in children develops over time as a result of exposure to aggressive role models (both in their social environment and the media) has dominated research on the subject over the past 25 years.

What is blood pressure? How is it measured?

Date: Jan-21-2014
Normal blood pressure is vital to life: without the pressure that forces our blood to flow around the circulatory system, no oxygen or nutrients would be delivered through our arteries to the tissues and organs.Blood pressure can be unhealthily high, and it can also be too low, but without a normal baseline, neither would white blood cells - part of our immune system - get distributed around our bodies.This page explains exactly what blood pressure is, how our bodies maintain it, and how BP is measured.

What is blood pressure? How is it measured?

Date: Jan-21-2014
Normal blood pressure is vital to life: without the pressure that forces our blood to flow around the circulatory system, no oxygen or nutrients would be delivered through our arteries to the tissues and organs.Blood pressure can be unhealthily high, and it can also be too low, but without a normal baseline, neither would white blood cells - part of our immune system - get distributed around our bodies.This page explains exactly what blood pressure is, how our bodies maintain it, and how BP is measured.

Autophagy - or how cells tidy up

Date: Jan-21-2014
"Bang - and the dirt is gone!" There are many commercials for products that claim to make the unpopular process of cleaning up easier. But it's not only our surroundings that need to be kept clean. Even our cells need to tidy up. The responsible cellular process is called autophagy, in which the coordinated action of a set of proteins removes damaged cell material or pathogens, such as bacteria, from a cell. At the same time autophagy also helps cells to survive in times of starvation by recycling the cells' own components to produce energy, similar to recycling stations in a city.

New UK initiative launched to end the loneliness and isolation associated with depression

Date: Jan-21-2014
'Friends in Need'- a new online and offline community designed to end the loneliness associated with depression launched on January 21st 2014, with sports pundit and former footballer Stan Collymore speaking about his experience of depression. The availability of this supportive community is well-timed as results from a new survey commissioned by the Depression Alliance show that almost half of UK adults (45 per cent) have experienced depression - almost twice as many as the routinely quoted figure of one in four people.

Researchers hope to keep deadly brain diseases in check following prion discovery

Date: Jan-21-2014
New research from David Westaway, PhD, of the University of Alberta and Jiri Safar, PhD, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine has uncovered a quality control mechanism in brain cells that may help keep deadly neurological diseases in check for months or years.

Risk factor identified for life-threatening disease in preemies

Date: Jan-21-2014
Many premature infants suffer a life-threatening bowel infection called necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC).Researchers at Loyola University Health System have identified a marker to identify those infants who are at risk for the infection, enabling doctors to employ early preventive strategies. These findings were published in the latest issue of the Journal of Pediatric Surgery."This information will allow us to better care for these premature infants," said Jonathan Muraskas, MD, study investigator and co-medical director of Loyola's neonatal ICU.

Association between parietal gray matter volume changes and early Parkinson's disease memory deficits

Date: Jan-21-2014
Research by a team of investigators in Finland suggests that the free recall memory deficits common even in early stages Parkinson's disease (PD) are related to structural changes in the brain, specifically parietal cortical gray matter volume. Their findings are published in the current issue of the Journal of Parkinson's Disease.

Potential future cure for diabetes

Date: Jan-21-2014
Klaus Kaestner, PhD, professor of Genetics and postdoctoral fellow Dana Avrahami, PhD, from the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, published a study in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, with colleague Benjamin Glaser, MD, from the Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center, Jerusalem, and colleagues. In this study, they were able to replicate human pancreatic beta cells - the cells in our body that produce the critical hormone insulin - in a mouse model in which donor cells were transplanted.