Health News

Stimulating brain cells stops binge drinking, animal study finds

Date: Jan-09-2014
Researchers at the University at Buffalo have found a way to change alcohol drinking behavior in rodents, using the emerging technique of optogenetics, which uses light to stimulate neurons.Their work could lead to powerful new ways to treat alcoholism, other addictions, and neurological and mental illnesses; it also helps explain the underlying neurochemical basis of drug addiction.The findings, published in November in Frontiers in Neuroscience, are the first to demonstrate a causal relationship between the release of dopamine in the brain and drinking behaviors of animals.

The most common genetic cause of Parkinson's disease may be driven by unique protein interaction

Date: Jan-09-2014
The most devastating aspect of Parkinson's disease may not be its debilitating symptoms, which rob its victims of their ability to control their own movement. It may not be the millions around the world and their families who suffer each day from the disease's harmful effects. Instead, it may in fact be that its root causes remain largely a mystery. But now, scientists at the Gladstone Institutes have discovered how the interplay between two proteins in the brain fuels the degradation and death of the class of brain cells, or neurons, that leads to Parkinson's.

Head and neck cancer: mutation 'triggers cancer-causing gene'

Date: Jan-08-2014
Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in Pennsylvania say they have discovered a mechanism which causes cancer activity to increase in head and neck cancer. The discovery may lead to new treatments for the disease.Senior author of the study, Dr. Jennifer Grandis, says the team found that heightened activity of an oncogene (a gene that potentially causes cancer) called signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) may be a result of dysfunctional proteins that are meant to control the oncogene.

US cancer deaths down 20% in 20 years

Date: Jan-08-2014
The death rate from cancer in the US has fallen steadily over the past 20 years, according to the American Cancer Society's latest annual figures, which were published online this week in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians.The report shows that the cancer death rate for American men and women combined fell 20% from a peak of 215.1 per 100,000 in 1991 to 171.8 per 100,000 in 2010, the most recent year for which full data exists.Over the period, this 20% fall equates to some 1,340,400 cancer deaths avoided.

Diet and exercise: cancer benefits in huge study of women's health

Date: Jan-08-2014
In a large study of women's health, postmenopausal women who followed a healthy lifestyle were at a third lower risk of death, including a 20% smaller chance of dying from cancer, than women who did not follow guidance on diet, weight, physical activity, and alcohol intake."While it is well recognized that tobacco cessation is the lead behavioral change to reduce cancerrisk," the authors write, they analyzed the effect of other cancer prevention recommendations.

The typical Brit rates their fitness level at just 46%, a study has revealed

Date: Jan-08-2014
The typical Brit rates their fitness level at just 46%, a study has revealed. Research among 2,000 adults found most live an 'unhealthy' lifestyle amid a dizzy round of too much booze and endless high-fat food.Worryingly, a large percentage went as far as to admit they found it tough to summon enough energy to complete 'everyday tasks'.It also emerged one in three of the population do no exercise whatsoever.

Drugs related to cannabis have pain-relieving potential for osteoarthritis

Date: Jan-08-2014
Chemical compounds synthesised in the laboratory, similar to those found in cannabis, could be developed as potential drugs to reduce the pain of osteoarthritis.These compounds could also reduce joint inflammation, according to new research carried out at the Arthritis Research UK Pain Centre at The University of Nottingham.Cannabis contains a number of natural chemicals called cannabinoids and the brain has the ability to respond to such compounds.

Compounding paediatric medicines from adult preparations may result in poor content uniformity

Date: Jan-08-2014
More standardised methods are needed for the extemporaneous preparation of paediatric medicines, indicates a doctoral dissertation examined at the University of Eastern Finland. Hospital pharmacies modify adult medicines for children when there are no suitable paediatric medicines available. Medicines intended for adults can be modified for children into oral suspensions, oral powders or capsules the contents of which are emptied for use.

How to keep that New Year resolution to get fit

Date: Jan-08-2014
Recording goals in a fitness diary, reflecting on the successes and failures and being held to account by others are some of the key strategies that have been found to maximise the achievement of goals to get fit.These findings will be presented today, Wednesday 8 January 2014, to the Annual Conference of the British Psychological Society's Division of Occupational Psychology in Brighton by Dr Cheryl Travers, Dr Ray Randall and Dr Harry Hogarth from Loughborough University.

New global stroke repository offers regional comparative statistics

Date: Jan-08-2014
In many countries strokes are seen as a lower priority when compared to other diseases despite their public health impact. This is partly due to a lack of readily accessible data to make the case for the development of national stroke strategies. The International Journal of Stroke reports on the efforts of a global team to launch a repository housing the latest published information on the impact of strokes worldwide."We aim to provide a repository of the most current incidence and mortality data on stroke available by country and to illustrate the gaps in these data," said Dr.