Health News

Protecting the eyes and vision of astronauts

Date: Dec-13-2013
Those who travel to space are rewarded with a beautiful sight - planet Earth. But the effects of space travel on the human sense of sight aren't so beautiful. More than 30 percent of astronauts who returned from two-week space shuttle missions and 60 percent who spent six months aboard the International Space Station were diagnosed with eye problems. Two recent investigations examined mechanisms that may explain eye changes in spaceflight, help find ways to minimize this health risk to astronauts and eventually prevent and treat eye diseases on Earth.

Genetics rather than environment reflect differences in educational achievement

Date: Dec-13-2013
The degree to which students' exam scores differ owes more to their genes than to their teachers, schools or family environments, according to new research from King's College London published in PLOS ONE.The study, which took place in the UK, looked at students' scores for their GCSE's (General Certificate of Secondary Education), a UK-wide examination at the end of compulsory education at 16 years old.

In lower-risk breast cancer patients, Herceptin plus Taxol highly effective

Date: Dec-13-2013
A remarkable 98.7 percent of certain lower-risk breast cancer patients were cancer free for at least three years after taking a combination of the drugs Herceptin and Taxol, a study has found.The study is the first major trial to examine the Herceptin-Taxol combination in patients who have a type of breast cancer with the biology known as small, node-negative, HER2+. Results were presented during the 2013 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.

Contrary to popular opinion, research finds no cognitive benefits of music lessons

Date: Dec-13-2013
Children get plenty of benefits from music lessons- learning to play an instrument can be a great outlet for a child's creativity, and the repeated practice can teach much-needed focus and discipline. What's more, the payoff, whether it's learning a new song - or just mastering a new chord - is often a boost of self-esteem.But Harvard researchers now say that one oft-cited benefit - that studying music improves intelligence - is a myth.

One step closer to understanding a deadly childhood brain cancer

Date: Dec-13-2013
A new study by Canadian researchers may pave the way for more effective treatment of an aggressive and deadly type of brain tumour, known as ETMR/ETANTR. The tumour, which is seen only in children under four, is almost always fatal, despite aggressive treatment. The study proposes a new model for how this brain tumour develops and suggests possible targets to investigate for novel therapies. These findings, recently published in Nature Genetics, also shed new light on the complex process of early brain development.

Older Native-Americans and African-Americans with diabetes at increased risk for dementia

Date: Dec-13-2013
In the first study to look at racial and ethnic differences in dementia risk among older adults with type 2 diabetes, researchers found that dementia was much higher among Native Americans and African-Americans and lowest among Asian-Americans.The study, published in Diabetes Care, included a group of more than 22,000 patients aged 60 or older who were members of the Kaiser Permanente Northern California Diabetes Registry. Dementia was diagnosed in 3,796 patients (17.1 percent of the study cohort) during a follow-up of up to 10 years.

Sleep problems due to traumatic brain injury improved by dietary amino acids in mouse model

Date: Dec-13-2013
Scientists have discovered how to fix sleep disturbances in mice with traumatic brain injuries - a discovery that could lead to help for hundreds of thousands of people who have long-term and debilitating sleep and wakefulness issues after they suffer concussions.What scientists found helpful was giving the mice something all humans produce from foods in their normal diets - something called branched chain amino acids.

Support mothers to secure future public health

Date: Dec-13-2013
Current approaches to curbing the global rise of chronic diseases, such as diabetes and heart disease, are failing, according to University of Southampton researchers.Writing in Nature, the group, led by the late Professor David Barker, say more needs to be done to support young girls and women to feel more in control of their lives and so better able to prioritise healthy eating.They believe this will have significant benefits in improving the health of future generations and reducing mortality rates.

How sleep-deprivation affects the body

Date: Dec-13-2013
Sleep, or the lack of it, seems to affect just about every aspect of human physiology. Yet, the molecular pathways through which sleep deprivation wreaks its detrimental effects on the body remain poorly understood. Although numerous studies have looked at the consequences of sleep deprivation on the brain, comparatively few have directly tested its effects on peripheral organs.During sleep deprivation cells upregulate the UPR - the unfolded protein response - a process where misfolded proteins get refolded or degraded.

Younger women more likely to have and die from acute myocardial infarction

Date: Dec-13-2013
Young women, ages 55 years or below, are more likely to be hospitalized for an acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and to die within the first 30 days than men in the same age group, according to a new study published in Journal of Women's Health, a peer-reviewed publication from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available on the Journal of Women's Health website.