Health News

Study assesses sleep-disordered breathing and ventilation changes comparing two different levels of spinal cord injury

Date: Jan-18-2014
A new study suggests that patients with spinal cord injuries could benefit from careful assessment for sleep apnea.Results show that 77 percent of spinal cord injury survivors had symptomatic sleep-disordered breathing, and 92 percent had poor sleep quality. The study also found that the nature of sleep-disordered breathing in patients with spinal cord injury is complex, with a high occurrence of both obstructive and central sleep apnea events.

Scientists develop first comprehensive test to detect genetic modification in food

Date: Jan-18-2014
As the abundance of genetically modified (GM) foods continues to grow, so does the demand for monitoring and labeling them. The genes of GM plants used for food are tweaked to make them more healthful or pest-resistant, but some consumers are wary of such changes. To help inform shoppers and enforce regulations, scientists are reporting in ACS' journal Analytical Chemistry the first comprehensive method to detect genetic modifications in one convenient, accurate test.

New imaging technique captures the vibrations of proteins, tiny motions critical to human life

Date: Jan-18-2014
Like the strings on a violin or the pipes of an organ, the proteins in the human body vibrate in different patterns, scientists have long suspected.Now, a new study provides what researchers say is the first conclusive evidence that this is true.Using a technique they developed based on terahertz near-field microscopy, scientists from the University at Buffalo and Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute (HWI) have for the first time observed in detail the vibrations of lysozyme, an antibacterial protein found in many animals.

Young adults 'recall memories in high definition'

Date: Jan-18-2014
It is common knowledge that as we get older, our memory capacity can decrease. But new research suggests that both older and younger people have the same memory capacity - only, younger people are able to view memories in "high definition."This is according to a study recently published in the journal Attention, Perception & Psychophysics.The research team, led by Philip Ko of Vanderbilt University in Tennessee, set out to investigate visual working memory (VWM). This is described as the ability to retain a certain amount of visual information without visual stimuli.

LGBT health research is under-funded, new study finds

Date: Jan-18-2014
The American Journal of Public Health has published a new report showing that only 0.5% of studies funded by the National Institutes of Health concern lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender health issues.Researchers from the Pittsburgh Public Health's Center for LGBT Health Research carried out the analysis and considered the amount of medical research into LGBT health issues funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to be disproportionately low.Robert W.S.

Activity 'tuned' in brain regions to enable attention

Date: Jan-18-2014
The brain appears to synchronize the activity of different brain regions to make it possible for a person to pay attention or concentrate on a task, scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have learned.Researchers think the process, roughly akin to tuning multiple walkie-talkies to the same frequency, may help establish clear channels for communication between brain areas that detect sensory stimuli.

Article in leading cancer journal calls on oncologists to support single-payer national health insurance

Date: Jan-17-2014
A feature article published in the Journal of Oncology Practice contains an evidence-based appeal by two oncologists, including a past president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), for their colleagues to endorse a single-payer health system.The authors are Dr. Ray Drasga, a longtime community-based oncologist who founded a free clinic in his own community of Crown Point, Ind., and Dr. Lawrence Einhorn, a distinguished professor of medicine at Indiana University Hospital in Indianapolis.

Google unveils 'smart contact lens' to help diabetics

Date: Jan-17-2014
Keeping blood sugar levels in check is an important part of life for diabetics, but this can be a daily struggle, involving pricking their fingers and taking blood samples. Now, Google may have a solution - in the form of a "smart contact lens" that measures glucose levels in tears.Revealing their prototype, which has been in the works for the past 18 months, Google X lab members and project co-founders Brian Otis and Babak Parviz write through their company blog that many of they people they have talked to "say managing their diabetes is like having a part-time job.

Are Californian women being over-charged for hospital births?

Date: Jan-17-2014
A new study has examined Californian hospital bills and found that there are dramatic discrepancies in how much a woman giving birth can expect to be charged.Childbirth is the most common reason for hospitalization - in California alone more than half a million women give birth in the hospital every year. But the costs of this are difficult to predict, with hospitals in the same geographic area charging amounts for the same procedure that can differ by thousands of dollars.

Comedians score high on psychotic traits

Date: Jan-17-2014
Perhaps the reason comedians make us laugh is because they show high levels of psychotic traits, suggests new research from the University of Oxford in the UK.They also score high on introverted and extroverted personality traits, say the researchers.Writing in the latest online issue of the British Journal of Psychiatry, the researchers explain how the popular belief that creativity is linked to madness has led to many studies, yet despite comedy being a prime example of creativity, little research has been done specifically on comedy and humor.