Health News

Wayne State discovers potential treatment for skin and corneal wound healing in diabetics

Date: Dec-16-2013
Diabetes Mellitus (DM), a metabolic disorder that affects nearly 170 million people worldwide, is characterized by chronic hyperglycemia that disrupts carbohydrate fat and protein metabolism resulting from defects in insulin secretion, insulin action or both. DM can cause long-term damage, dysfunction and even failure of various organs.Patients with DM may develop corneal complications and delayed wound healing. This slow wound healing contributes to increased infections and the formation of bed sores and ulcers.

Whooping cough vaccine antigen disappearing from bacteria in US

Date: Dec-16-2013
Vaccines for whooping cough contain three to five protective antigens, the presence of which are critical to the vaccine's effectiveness. But one of the antigens, pertactin, which had been present in almost all isolates of Bordetella pertussis in the US as late as 2010, is now absent from more than half of them, according to a paper published ahead of print in Clinical and Vaccine Immunology."These findings tell us that there is an evolutionary advantage to lacking the protein that may have important vaccine implications," says first author Lucia C.

New disease related to non-ketotic hyperglycinaemia identified: Variant NKH

Date: Dec-16-2013
People from around the country and the world turn to Johan Van Hove, MD, PhD, for advice on a rare metabolic disease known as NKH, which can disrupt the body in devastating and even deadly ways. Now, Van Hove, a University of Colorado medical school professor, has identified a new disease related to NKH, a finding that resolves previously baffling cases including the death of a Colorado girl."This opens the door," Van Hove said. "I am hopeful that it will eventually lead to major advances in dealing with these diseases."The findings were published in the journal Brain.

Sniffing out danger: Rutgers scientists say fearful memories can trigger heightened sense of smell

Date: Dec-16-2013
Most people - including scientists - assumed we couldn't just sniff out danger.It was thought that we become afraid of an odor - such as leaking gas - only after information about a scary scent is processed by our brain.But neuroscientists at Rutgers University studying the olfactory - sense of smell - system in mice have discovered that this fear reaction can occur at the sensory level, even before the brain has the opportunity to interpret that the odor could mean trouble.

Deep sequencing of breast cancer tumors to predict clinical outcomes after single dose of therapy

Date: Dec-16-2013
New research from University Hospitals (UH) Case Medical Center Seidman Cancer Center and Case Comprehensive Cancer Center at Case Western Reserve University examined how changes in the genetic composition of breast cancer tumors after brief exposure to either biologic therapy or chemotherapy can predict future clinical outcomes in patients.Results showed that through deep genome sequencing, a reduction in the most commonly mutated genes in breast cancer could be observed after just one dose of preoperative therapy.

Children of 2-parent homes grow up to have lower rates of adult hypertension

Date: Dec-16-2013
In a study of African-American men, researchers from the National Institutes of Health found that boys who grew up in two-parent homes were less likely to have high blood pressure as adults compared to those raised by a single parent. Reported in the Dec. 12, 2013, issue of the journal Hypertension, this is the first study of an African-American population to document an association between childhood family living arrangements and blood pressure.

Simple mathematical formula describes human struggles

Date: Dec-16-2013
Would you believe that a broad range of human struggles can be understood by using a mathematical formula? From child-parent struggles to cyber-attacks and civil unrest, they can all be explained with a simple mathematical expression called a "power-law."In a sort of unified theory of human conflict, scientists have found a way to mathematically describe the severity and timing of human confrontations that affect us personally and as a society.

Research shows correlation between adult height and underlying heart disease

Date: Dec-16-2013
Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation research cardiologist Dr. Michael Miedema is the lead author of a paper published by Circulation - Cardiovascular Imaging, a journal of the American Heart Association, that suggests a connection between an adult's height and the prevalence of coronary artery calcium (CAC), a direct marker of plaque in the arteries that feed the heart. Coronary artery calcium is a strong predictor of future heart attacks with a nearly 10 fold increase in the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) in patients with elevated CAC.

Is there a protective link between hemophilia and long-term HIV infection?

Date: Dec-16-2013
People with the genetic blood clotting disorder hemophilia who have been infected with HIV for decades have an increased proportion of immune cells in their blood that specifically target HIV. This protective immune response helps chronically infected hemophilia patients survive, even during periods of HIV activity, according to a study published in BioResearch Open Access, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the BioResearch Open Access website.

Technology could revolutionize gaming, fall detection among the elderly, and more

Date: Dec-16-2013
Imagine playing a video game like Call of Duty or Battlefield and having the ability to lead your virtual army unit while moving freely throughout your house.Gaming could become this realistic, thanks to new technology developed by Dina Katabi's research group at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL) that allows for highly accurate, 3-D motion tracking. The new system, dubbed "WiTrack", uses radio signals to track a person through walls and obstructions, pinpointing her 3-D location to within 10 to 20 centimeters - about the width of an adult hand.