Health News

Researcher says extensive use of antibiotics in agriculture creating public health crisis

Date: Jan-03-2014
Citing an overabundance in the use of antibiotics by the agriculture and aquaculture industries that poses a threat to public health, economics professor Aidan Hollis has proposed a solution in the form of user fees on the non-human use of antibiotics.In a newly released paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Hollis and co-author Ziana Ahmed state that in the United States 80 per cent of the antibiotics in the country are consumed in agriculture and aquaculture for the purpose of increasing food production.

Molecular markers used for assessment of early sciatic nerve injury

Date: Jan-03-2014
Substance P and calcitonin gene-related peptide are the main neuropeptides in peripheral nerve ganglia, which can anterogradely transmit nociceptive information to the central nervous system. In a study by Dr. Changma Fu and co-workers from First Hospital of Anhui Medical University in China, a model of sciatic nerve defect was prepared by dissecting the sciatic nerve at the middle, left femur in female Sprague Dawley rats. The two ends of the nerve were encased in a silica gel tube.

Genetic discovery points the way to much bigger yields in tomato, other flowering food plants

Date: Jan-03-2014
Every gardener knows the look of a ripe tomato. That bright red color, that warm earthy smell, and the sweet juicy flavor are hard to resist. But commercial tomato plants have a very different look from the backyard garden variety, which can grow endlessly under the right conditions to become tall and lanky. Tomatoes that will be canned for sauces and juice are harvested from plants that stop growing earlier than classic tomato varieties, and are therefore more like bushes.

Gene therapy for human skin disease produces long-term benefits

Date: Jan-03-2014
Stem cell-based gene therapy holds promise for the treatment of devastating genetic skin diseases, but the long-term clinical outcomes of this approach have been unclear. In a study online in the ISSCR's journal Stem Cell Reports, published by Cell Press, researchers evaluated a patient with a genetic skin disorder known as epidermolysis bullosa (EB) nearly seven years after he had undergone a gene therapy procedure as part of a clinical trial.

Researchers point to digital gains in human recognition

Date: Jan-03-2014
Human beings are highly efficient at recognising familiar faces, even from very poor quality images.New research led by a psychologist at the University of York is using advances in the level of detail available in digital photography to harness this human ability for use in forensics.As the most commonly photographed objects are faces, there is potential in mining detailed facial images for hidden information. Until now, photographers might reasonably have assumed that their own face was absent from the image.

Responses to the Public Accounts Committee report: "Access to clinical trial information and the stockpiling of Tamiflu"

Date: Jan-03-2014
The Public Accounts Committee has today called on the Government to ensure that full methods and results from clinical trials of all treatments currently used in the UK are available to doctors and researchers. This echoes the call of the AllTrials campaigni for all clinical trials to be registered and results reported. The AllTrials petition calling on governments, regulators and research bodies to implement measures to achieve this has been signed by over 60,000 people.

Activating P300 protein contributes to repair of hippocampal neuronal DNA injuries

Date: Jan-03-2014
Various medications have been developed to treat neurodegenerative disorders, and drugs without significant side effects are gaining widespread interest such disorders.Brain Research Institute of Synergon Consulting in Romania, led by Dragos Cirneci, found that the protein p300, which is a transcription co-activator required for consolidation of memories during specific learning tasks, is at the same time involved in DNA replication and repair, playing a central role in the long-patch pathway of base excision repair.

New drug candidates show promise for cure for Chagas disease

Date: Jan-03-2014
A team of researchers from Canada has developed a class of compounds which may help eradicate a neglected tropical disease that is currently hard to kill in its chronic form. The research was published ahead of print in Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy.Chagas disease or American trypanosomiasis, caused by Trypanosoma cruzi, affects about 18 million people living mostly in Latin America. The parasite is transmitted to humans by blood-sucking reduviid bugs, also known as kissing bugs due to their predilection for feeding on the faces of their victims.

New technique could boost corneal transplant acceptance rates

Date: Jan-03-2014
New research from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas has detailed a new technique that may be able to boost patients' acceptance rates of corneal transplants. This is according to a study published in the American Journal of Transplantation.A corneal transplant, also referred to as a corneal graft, is an operation involving the removal of all or part of a damaged cornea. Using healthy corneal tissue from a suitable donor, the damaged cornea is replaced.

Having Medicaid leads to 40% more ER visits, say researchers

Date: Jan-03-2014
New research suggests that adults who have their medical care covered by Medicaid use emergency rooms 40% more than adults in similar situations who do not have health insurance. This is according to a study published in the journal Science.Medicaid is a governmental program that provides medical and health-related services to individuals and families in the US who have low incomes and limited resources.