Health News

Morphing material may find use in bioscaffolds, optics, drugs

Date: Dec-12-2013
Heating a sheet of plastic may not bring it to life - but it sure looks like it does in new experiments at Rice University.The materials created by Rice polymer scientist Rafael Verduzco and his colleagues start as flat slabs, but they morph into shapes that can be controlled by patterns written into their layers.The research is the subject of a new paper in the Royal Society of Chemistry journal Soft Matter.

Evidence-based recommendations for platelet-rich plasma

Date: Dec-12-2013
Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) has grabbed headlines in recent years for its role in helping some of sports' biggest stars return to play following injury - including golfer Tiger Woods, Super Bowl winner Hines Ward and NBA legend Kobe Bryant.Professional and amateur athletes alike seek PRP to address a wide-range of orthopaedic conditions, including injuries to the joints, ligaments, tendons and muscles. PRP is made by placing a sample of a patient's own blood in a centrifuge to concentrate the platelets, which are cells rich in growth factors.

New drug approach developed that could lead to cures for a wide range of diseases

Date: Dec-12-2013
A team led by a longtime Oregon Health & Science University researcher has demonstrated in mice what could be a revolutionary new technique to cure a wide range of human diseases - from cystic fibrosis to cataracts to Alzheimer's disease - that are caused by "misfolded" protein molecules.Misfolded protein molecules, caused by gene mutation, are capable of maintaining their function but are misrouted within the cell and can't work normally, thus causing disease.

Traumatic brain injury associated with PTSD symptoms in Marines

Date: Dec-11-2013
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) during a recent deployment was associated with postdeployment posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms (PTSD) among Marines, according to a study by Kate A. Yurgil, Ph.D., of the Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System, and colleagues. Blast injuries caused by the use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) are responsible for an estimated 52 percent of deployment-related TBI cases. Symptoms of PTSD are reported at approximately double the rate by service members who have mild TBI in comparison with those who do not, according to the study background.

Psychiatrists less likely to accept insurance than other physicians

Date: Dec-11-2013
Insurance acceptance rates are lower for psychiatrists than for other types of physicians, according to a study by Tara F. Bishop, M.D., M.P.H., of Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY, and colleagues. There have been recent calls for increased access to mental health services, but low insurance acceptance poses a barrier to these services, according to the study background. Researchers used data from a national survey of office-based physicians in the U.S.

Gene deficiency in males 'could cause diabetes and liver cancer'

Date: Dec-11-2013
Scientists have discovered a genetic deficiency in males that could prompt the development of the most common type of liver cancer - hepatocellular carcinoma - and type 2 diabetes. This is according to a study published in the journal Cancer Cell.Researchers from Michigan State University, led by Hua Xiao of the College of Human Medicine at the university, say their findings could lead to new therapeutic interventions for both conditions.Type 2 diabetes is commonly known to be a risk factor for liver cancer.

Tracking zinc in cells for prostate cancer diagnosis

Date: Dec-11-2013
Scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a new optical sensor that can track zinc in the body's cells, enabling researchers to learn more about its functions.Zinc is an essential mineral and is found in every tissue in the body. While the majority of zinc is tightly bound to proteins, tiny amounts are only loosely bound, or "mobile." These mobile zinc ions are believed to be crucial for the functioning of organs, including the brain, pancreas and prostate gland.

Long-term antacid use linked to vitamin B12 deficiency

Date: Dec-11-2013
Antacids are commonly used to neutralize the acid in the stomach, helping many individuals who have acid reflux. But a new study suggests that using this medication consistently for 2 years or more is linked to a deficiency of vitamin B12, which can have adverse effects for the nervous system.The research, published in JAMA, is among the first to show associations between long-term exposure to antacids and vitamin B12 deficiency in a large population-based study.

Aspartame 'safe' at current levels, says European food regulator

Date: Dec-11-2013
In a rigorous review of both animal and human studies on aspartame and its breakdown products, the European Food Safety Authority concludes that the artificial sweetener is safe for human consumption at current acceptable daily intake levels.Dr. Alicja Mortensen, who chairs the European Food Safety Authority's (EFSA) Panel on Food Additives and Nutrient Sources Added to Foods (ANS Panel), says:"This opinion represents one of the most comprehensive risk assessments of aspartame ever undertaken.

FoundationOne™ Heme enables identification of genomic alterations not identified by conventional methods across hematologic malignancies

Date: Dec-11-2013
Foundation Medicine has announced new data demonstrating that its fully informative genomic profile for hematologic cancers, FoundationOne™ Heme, can be performed in routine clinical cancer specimens to identify all classes of genomic alterations, including gene fusions, across hundreds of genes related to oncogenesis in patients with hematologic malignancies. These data were presented today in an oral presentation titled Identification Of Actionable Genomic Alterations In Hematologic Malignancies By a Clinical Next Generation Sequencing-Based Assay (abstract number 230) by Ross L.