Health News

Media literacy tops traditional education in school smoking-prevention efforts

Date: Jan-15-2014
A school-based smoking prevention program centered on media literacy performed better than traditional anti-smoking educational programming, according to a new University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine study. While traditional anti-smoking education focuses on health effects of smoking and resisting peer and other social influences, media literacy empowers participants to analyze and evaluate portrayals of tobacco use in media.

Cadila Pharmaceuticals ties up with NovaSAID of Sweden to develop innovative treatments in inflammation and pain management

Date: Jan-15-2014
NovaSAID AB and Cadila Pharmaceuticals Limited have entered into a strategic partnership to develop new treatments for inflammation and pain in conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis. NovaSAID is a company in Karolinska Development's portfolio. The companies will collaborate around preclinical and clinical development of drug candidates that have been developed by NovaSAID and the development will be conducted at Cadila Pharmaceuticals' facility in Ahmedabad, India.

The most common gene mutation in human pigmentation in the Mediterranean countries increases predisposition to skin cancer

Date: Jan-15-2014
When Homo sapiens left Africa and had to adapt to less sunny climates, there was a mutation in one of the genes responsible for regulating the synthesis of melanin, the MC1R gene, which involved a discoloration of the skin. This discoloration allowed for better absorption of vitamin D, necessary for growth, but it also increased the risk of developing skin cancer in adulthood. This mutation, called "V60L", is at present the most common among people from Mediterranean regions such as Spain, Portugal, Italy and Israel.

Construction industry reassured that facade paint offers no nano-dust danger

Date: Jan-15-2014
After 42 months the EU research project 'NanoHouse' has ended, and the verdict is a cautious "all clear" - nanoparticles in the paint used on building facades do not represent a particular health risk. In the course of a 'Technology Briefing' Empa researchers discussed these results with specialists from the construction industry.Five Empa laboratories were involved in the EU 'NanoHouse' project, along with four other European research institutes and four industrial partners.

Factors that may affect adherence to medication following heart attack

Date: Jan-15-2014
Heart attack survivors of different races and genders are about equally likely to be on medications that reduce the risk of another heart attack and other potentially life-threatening cardiovascular problems. But, according to a new study at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, that's not the case a year later. The odds that a patient is still taking the medications as prescribed within a year vary significantly depending on race and gender, and black and Hispanic women are the least likely to adhere to their regimens.

Prototype of assistive technology system developed in Spain to aid the blind

Date: Jan-15-2014
The commercial systems that exist today in Spain for the mobility of persons with sight impairment are insufficient, according to these UC3M researchers, because they are costly and too bulky. The assistive technology, conceived as a sound guide that gives information as to the user's environment, precisely aims to make this ingenious complement to the classic cane or guide dog more economical.

Life evaluation by Americans with and without children at home

Date: Jan-15-2014
Americans aged 34 to 46 with children at home rate their life satisfaction at higher levels than those without children at home, according to a report by Princeton University and Stony Brook University published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. However, the researchers say that factors such as higher educational attainment, higher income, better health and religiosity all enhance life satisfaction and that, once these are taken into account, parents and nonparents have similar levels of life satisfaction.

Candesartan offers hope to migraine sufferers who currently get no relief from existing treatments

Date: Jan-15-2014
Candesartan is just as effective as the more commonly prescribed propranolol when it comes to preventing migraine attacks, according to a new study from St. Olavs Hospital in Trondheim, Norway and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU).The researchers have also found that candesartan may work for patients who get no relief from propranolol."This gives doctors more possibilities and we can help more people," says Professor Lars Jacob Stovner, leader of Norwegian National Headache Centre, who also led the study.

Discovery of genetic diversity within multiple myeloma tumors could have implications for treatment

Date: Jan-15-2014
The most comprehensive genetic study to date of the blood cancer multiple myeloma has revealed that the genetic landscape of the disease may be more complicated than previously thought. Through results published in Cancer Cell, a team of Broad researchers has shown that an individual patient's tumor can harbor populations of cancer cells equipped with different mutations. These findings could have therapeutic implications for patients in the future.

Malaria and the immune system

Date: Jan-15-2014
The parasites that cause malaria are exquisitely adapted to the various hosts they infect - so studying the disease in mice doesn't necessarily reveal information that could lead to drugs effective against human disease.Now, a team led by MIT researchers has developed a strain of mice that mimics many of the features of the human immune system and can be infected with the most common human form of the malaria parasite, known as Plasmodium falciparum.