Health News

Using air transportation data to predict pandemics

Date: Dec-21-2013
Computational work conducted at Northwestern University has led to a new mathematical theory for understanding the global spread of epidemics. The resulting insights could not only help identify an outbreak's origin but could also significantly improve the ability to forecast the global pathways through which a disease might spread.

Opportunities to strengthen trauma systems offered by Affordable Care Act

Date: Dec-21-2013
Traumatic injuries are the leading cause of death and disability for people under the age of 45 and the fourth-leading cause of death for people of all ages. Much progress has been made over the last 50 years in developing statewide regionalized trauma systems to care for these injuries, but authors of a review appearing in the December issue of Health Affairs, believe more work is needed to ensure the right patient gets to the right place at the right time, and that the Affordable Care Act may offer opportunities to strengthen trauma systems.

Enhanced tools developed for reversible gene suppression

Date: Dec-21-2013
The team of Christof Fellmann at Mirimus Inc., Cold Spring Harbor, New York, developed new technology to address the remaining limitations of RNA interference (RNAi), a powerful method that enables functional gene annotation in normal homeostasis and disease. Through an improved molecular design, the scientists at Mirimus were able to suppress target genes with massively enhanced efficiency and accuracy. These results are reported in the recent issue of Cell Reports, published online on December 12th, and will help accelerate drug target identification and validation.

Exploring evolution of bacteria that may be useful in the fight against dengue

Date: Dec-21-2013
Wolbachia, a symbiont that resides naturally up to 70% of all insect species, are probably the most prevalent infectious bacteria on Earth. In 2008 Luis Teixeira, now a principal investigator at the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência (IGC, Portugal), and other scientists have discovered that Wolbachia can protect their hosts against viral infections. Since then, several studies have been made to further investigate the interactions between Wolbachia and insects, aiming to build new strategies to use this bacterium in the control of diseases transmitted by mosquitoes, such as dengue.

The US should fundamentally change how American Indian health is funded

Date: Dec-21-2013
As federal legislators work toward a budget agreement, a new commentary documents the harmful effects of sequestration on the Indian Health Service. Sequestration forced a 5 percent reduction in funds for the Indian Health Service, perpetuating longstanding health care disparities and raising questions about the federal government's legal and moral obligation to Indians, states the commentary, which appears in the Hastings Center Report. It calls for the United States to fundamentally change how the Indian Health Service is funded.

Rapid evolution of novel forms: Environmental change triggers inborn capacity for adaptation

Date: Dec-21-2013
In the classical view of evolution, species experience spontaneous genetic mutations that produce various novel traits - some helpful, some detrimental. Nature then selects for those most beneficial, passing them along to subsequent generations.It's an elegant model. It's also an extremely time-consuming process likely to fail organisms needing to cope with sudden, potentially life-threatening changes in their environments. Surely some other mechanism could enable more rapid adaptive response.

Hybrid engineered that is five times more effective in delivering genetic material into cells

Date: Dec-21-2013
Researchers at the Polytechnic Institute of New York University (NYU-Poly) and the NYU College of Dentistry (NYUCD) have developed a carrier in their lab that is five times more efficient in delivering DNA into cells than today's commercial delivery methods - reagent vectors. This novel complex is a peptide-polymer hybrid, assembled from two separate, less effective vectors that are used to carry DNA into cells.Results of their study, "Long Term Efficient Gene Delivery Using Polyethylenimine with Modified Tat Peptide," were published in Biomaterials.

Beverage sugar tax targets minorities' health

Date: Dec-21-2013
Taxing sugar-sweetened beverages is likely to decrease consumption, resulting in lower rates of diabetes and heart disease, and these health benefits are expected to be greatest for the low-income, Hispanic and African-American Californians who are at highest risk of diabetes, according to a new analysis led by researchers at UC San Francisco.

Moderate alcohol consumption 'boosts immune system'

Date: Dec-21-2013
Many of us enjoy a drink or two to celebrate the festive season. And now, researchers say the odd glass of wine with dinner may actually benefit our health - as new research suggests it can boost the immune system and improve its response to vaccination.This is according to findings published in the journal Vaccine.

Festive season overspend? You could have the 'ostrich problem'

Date: Dec-21-2013
"'Tis the season to be jolly," which inevitably means many of us will overeat and overspend. But new research suggests these actions are natural at this time of year, as we adopt the "ostrich problem." We intentionally fail to keep track of our eating and spending, and bury our heads in the sand.Psychologists from the University of Sheffield in the UK, led by Dr. Thomas Webb of the Department of Psychology, are in the midst of a project analyzing how monitoring progress can affect the ability to achieve a goal.