Health News

Speech uses both sides of brain

Date: Jan-17-2014
Many scientists believe we only use one side of our brain for speech and language. Now, a new study from the US shows that as far as speech is concerned, we use both sides.The study poses a significant challenge to current thinking about brain activity and could have important implications for developing treatment and rehabilitation to help people recover speech after stroke or injury, say the researchers from New York University (NYU) and NYU Langone Medical Center.

Monitoring inactive hepatitis B patients is cost-effective strategy for Shanghai

Date: Jan-17-2014
A novel study determined that monitoring inactive chronic hepatitis B (HBV) carriers is a cost-effective strategy for China. However, results published in Hepatology, a journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, show that increasing treatment, monitoring and adherence to therapy are necessary to achieve significant health benefits at the population level.

VHIO genomic study identifies subgroups of HER2+ breast cancer with varying sensitivities to anti-HER2 treatment

Date: Jan-17-2014
Research led by the Translational Genomics Group at Vall d'Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO) in Barcelona has not only shown that HER2+ breast cancer can be classified into four different subtypes, but also unmasked a subtype showing both a greater response to and increased benefit from chemotherapy and anti-HER2 therapy. Such newly, refined classification of different tumor subtypes will ultimately facilitate more effective treatment tailored to a specific tumor as well as advance targeted therapy against HER2+ breast cancer.

Two million people in England eligible for weight loss surgery

Date: Jan-17-2014
Two million people in England could be eligible for weight loss surgery according to new research published by JRSM Open, the open access companion publication of the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. The figure far exceeds previous estimates of eligibility. In the first study to quantify the number of people in England eligible for bariatric surgery, researchers from Imperial College London concluded that people fulfilling the national criteria were more likely to be women, retired, have lower educational qualifications and have lower socioeconomic status.

NORD commends expansion of SSA's "Compassionate Allowances" list

Date: Jan-17-2014
Peter L. Saltonstall, president and CEO of the National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD), has praised the Social Security Administration's announcement that 25 additional medical diagnoses would be added to SSA's Compassionate Allowances initiative.That initiative provides expedited review of applications for disability assistance from individuals diagnosed with certain medical conditions so disabling that they invariably would meet SSA's requirements.

148 cases of Guinea worm disease remain worldwide

Date: Jan-17-2014
The Carter Center has announced that 148 Guinea worm cases were reported worldwide in 2013. These provisional numbers, reported by ministries of health in the remaining four endemic nations and compiled by the Center, show that cases of the debilitating disease were reduced by 73 percent in 2013 compared to 542 cases in 2012. When the Center began leading the first international campaign to eradicate a parasitic disease, there were an estimated 3.5 million Guinea worm cases occurring annually in Africa and Asia.

Research in fruit flies suggests a new mechanism explaining how diet may affect cancer, obesity and adaptations to malnutrition

Date: Jan-17-2014
New research from the MRC Clinical Sciences Centre suggests that nutrients in the diet may play a role in changing the architecture of blood vessels in the gut and other organs. The study, in fruit flies, found that small changes in their diet alter the nerve signalling that guides branching of new oxygen-delivering tubules - a process reminiscent of adaptive angiogenesis. In turn, this affects how the fly handles and stores different nutrients from its diet.

Fibromyalgia pain and fatigue reduced by vitamin D supplementation

Date: Jan-17-2014
Patients with fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) typically have widespread chronic pain and fatigue. For those with low vitamin D levels, vitamin D supplements can reduce pain and may be a cost-effective alternative or adjunct to other treatment, say researchers in the current issue of PAIN®.In addition to pain and fatigue, individuals diagnosed with FMS may experience sleep disorders, morning stiffness, poor concentration, and occasionally mild-to-severe mental symptoms such as anxiety or depression.

Discovery of quantum vibrations in "microtubules" in side brain neurons corroborates controversial 20-year-old theory of consciousness

Date: Jan-17-2014
A review and update of a controversial 20-year-old theory of consciousness published in Physics of Life Reviews claims that consciousness derives from deeper level, finer scale activities inside brain neurons. The recent discovery of quantum vibrations in "microtubules" inside brain neurons corroborates this theory, according to review authors Stuart Hameroff and Sir Roger Penrose.

Breakthrough announced in treatment of patient with rare type of leukaemia

Date: Jan-17-2014
A team of scientists from the University of Leicester has demonstrated a novel treatment for Hairy Cell Leukaemia (HCL), a rare type of blood cancer, using a drug administered to combat skin cancer.The research, which is published in the New England Journal of Medicine, indicates Vemurafenib, a BRAF inhibitor that has been approved as a treatment for advanced melanomas, is also successful in treating leukaemia. The study shows the treatment, which can be taken orally, cleared the malignant cells from the patient's blood and led to a complete clinical recovery in a number of days.