Health News

Shingles rash linked to higher risk of stroke

Date: Jan-03-2014
Shingles, the nerve rash in adulthood caused by reactivation of the chickenpox virus, is an independent risk factor for stroke and other blood clot events, the largest study to confirm the association has found.Publishing their findings in Neurology, the journal of the American Academy of Neurology, the researchers found that shingles was a risk factor for stroke and transient ischemic attack (TIA, a mini-stroke).The increased risk was independent of other factors known to raise the chances of vascular events, including obesity, smoking and high cholesterol.

Stroke researchers report improvement in spatial neglect with prism adaptation therapy

Date: Jan-03-2014
Stroke rehabilitation researchers report improvement in spatial neglect with prism adaptation therapy. This new study supports behavioral classification of patients with spatial neglect as a valuable tool for assigning targeted, effective early rehabilitation. Results of the study, "Presence of motor-intentional aiming deficit predicts functional improvement of spatial neglect with prism adaptation" were published ahead of print in Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair on December 27, 2013.The article is authored by Kelly M.

Normobaric oxygen preconditioning for cerebral ischemic injury

Date: Jan-03-2014
Normobaric oxygen has the rapid and non-invasive characteristics and may have therapeutic effects on ischemic/hypoxic disease. Dr.

Surgery vs. non-invasive treatment - Which is better for herniated discs?

Date: Jan-03-2014
For patients with herniated discs in the lower (lumbar) spine, surgery leads to greater long-term improvement in pain, functioning, and disability compared to nonsurgical treatment, concludes an eight year follow-up study in Spine. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health."Carefully selected patients who underwent surgery for a lumbar disc herniation achieved greater improvement than non-operatively treated patients," according to lead author Dr. Jon D.

Who is using MyPlate?

Date: Jan-03-2014
Most Americans know about MyPyramid - the triangle depicting how many servings of each food group you should eat in a day - but who knows about MyPlate - the circle showing what a healthy meal looks like? MyPlate was created in 2011 by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to help American consumers put the Dietary Guidelines into practice. It's a simple, colorful icon that prompts us to think about what's on our plate, illustrating healthy proportions of fruit, vegetables, grains, protein, and dairy within a single meal.Dr. Brian Wansink of Cornell University and Dr.

New study: High mortality in Central Southern states most likely due to smoking

Date: Jan-03-2014
Between 1965 and 2004, the distribution of states with the highest mortality changed dramatically. In 1965, the states with the highest mortality (Rhode Island, Alaska, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New Hampshire) were spread across geographic regions. By 2004, however, the states with the highest mortality were geographically contiguous, and located in the south. The Central South (Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Tennessee) had the highest mortality rates in the United States.

Antioxidant drug knocks down multiple sclerosis-like disease in mice

Date: Jan-03-2014
Researchers at Oregon Health & Science University have discovered that an antioxidant designed by scientists more than a dozen years ago to fight damage within human cells significantly helps symptoms in mice that have a multiple sclerosis-like disease.The antioxidant - called MitoQ - has shown some promise in fighting neurodegenerative diseases. But this is the first time it has been shown to significantly reverse an MS-like disease in an animal.The discovery could lead to an entirely new way to treat multiple sclerosis, which affects more than 2.3 million people worldwide.

UTSW study identifies potential therapeutic target for incurable, rare type of soft-tissue cancer

Date: Jan-03-2014
A deadly, rare type of soft-tissue cancer may be completely eradicated simply by inhibiting a key protein involved in its growth, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers report.In the study, published online in Cell Reports, scientists found that inhibiting the action of a protein called BRD4 caused cancer cells to die in a mouse model of malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors (MPNSTs)."This study identifies a potential new therapeutic target to combat MPNST, an incurable type of cancer that is typically fatal," said Dr.

What does compassion sound like?

Date: Jan-03-2014
"Good to see you. I'm sorry. It sounds like you've had a tough, tough, week." Spoken by a doctor to a cancer patient, that statement is an example of compassionate behavior observed by a University of Rochester Medical Center team in a new study published by the journal Health Expectations.Rochester researchers believe they are the first to systematically pinpoint and catalogue compassionate words and actions in doctor-patient conversations.

New imaging technology set to reveal secret life of virus in cells

Date: Jan-02-2014
One of the challenges of unlocking the secret lives of tiny biological agents - like viruses inside living cells - is how to get close up without disturbing their structure and behavior.Now, using high-end imaging, a team from the US has found a way to label and study the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and its activity in living cells that could become a general method for unlocking the secrets of many important RNA viruses. With the new approach, Philip Santangelo - associate professor at Wallace H.