Health News

Prolonged epileptic seizures: some children 'have long-term damage'

Date: Dec-10-2013
A new study has found that a subgroup of children who suffer from convulsive status epilepticus - an epileptic seizure that lasts 30 minutes or longer, or clusters of prolonged seizures - may experience long-term brain damage years after. This is according to research presented at the American Epilepsy Society's 67th Annual Meeting.

Protein delivered across blood-brain barrier to degrade Alzheimer's plaques

Date: Dec-10-2013
The body is structured to ensure that any invading organisms have a tough time reaching the brain, an organ obviously critical to survival. Known as the blood-brain barrier, cells that line the brain and spinal cord are tightly packed, making it difficult for anything besides very small molecules to cross from the bloodstream into the central nervous system. While beneficial, this blockade also stands in the way of delivering drugs intended to treat neurological disorders, such as Alzheimer's.

Emerging bird flu strain still poorly adapted for infecting humans

Date: Dec-10-2013
Avian influenza virus H7N9, which killed several dozen people in China earlier this year, has not yet acquired the changes needed to infect humans easily, according to a new study by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI). In contrast to some initial studies that had suggested that H7N9 poses an imminent risk of a global pandemic, the new research found, based on analyses of virus samples from the Chinese outbreak, that H7N9 is still mainly adapted for infecting birds, not humans.

Aging accelerated in stem cells to study age-related diseases like Parkinson's

Date: Dec-10-2013
Stem cells hold promise for understanding and treating neurodegenerative diseases, but so far they have failed to accurately model disorders that occur late in life. A study published by Cell Press in the journal Cell Stem Cell has revealed a new method for converting induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) into nerve cells that recapitulate features associated with aging as well as Parkinson's disease.

A person's 'will to persevere' may be evoked by electrical brain stimulation

Date: Dec-10-2013
What gives some people the ability to persevere through difficult situations that others may find insurmountable? The answer is no doubt a complicated one that may be beyond our full understanding, but new research published online in the Cell Press journal Neuron provides some intriguing insights. The study pinpoints a region of the brain that, when stimulated, causes an individual to anticipate a challenge and possess a strong motivation to overcome it.

Genetic defect protects mice from infection with influenza viruses

Date: Dec-10-2013
A new study published in the scientific journal PLOS Pathogens points out that mice lacking a protein called Tmprss2 are no longer affected by certain flu viruses. The discovery was made by researchers from the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig in collaboration with colleagues from Göttingen and Seattle.Whether it is H1N1, H5N1 or H7N9: The flu virus influenza A exists in many different types as its two coating proteins haemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA) can be combined in various ways. Theoretically, more than 100 different pairings are possible.

Association between exercise, weight loss and better glucose control

Date: Dec-10-2013
Asking patients about their exercise habits was associated with weight loss in overweight patients and improved glucose control for patients with diabetes, according to a recently published study in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.The health improvements identified from implementation of the Kaiser Permanente Exercise as a Vital Sign program in Northern California were small but clinically significant. Overweight adult patients with a body mass index of 25 to 29 lost an average of 0.

Healthy eating during the holiday season

Date: Dec-10-2013
The holidays are packed with celebrations, but for many of us, the colder weather discourages outdoor workout routines, our stress levels are high and we may be getting less sleep than usual. Combined, all of this can lead to weight gain over the holiday season.In a 2000 study of 195 adults, 14% gained over 5 pounds in the 6-week period from Thanksgiving to New Year's Day.While most participants gained 1 pound or less during the study - which does not seem like much - this weight is usually never lost and accumulates year after year.

Tumor cells temporarily lose mutation to evade drugs targeting mutation

Date: Dec-10-2013
A team of scientists, led by principal investigator Paul S. Mischel, MD, a member of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research and professor in the Department of Pathology at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, has found that brain cancer cells resist therapy by dialing down the gene mutation targeted by drugs, then re-amplify that growth-promoting mutation after therapy has stopped.The findings are published in the online issue of Science.

Meditation changes gene expression, study shows

Date: Dec-10-2013
Practitioners have been attesting to it for years, and now medical science is waking up to the idea that meditation really does have health benefits. A new study, published in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology, has discovered specific molecular changes in the body after a period of mindful meditation.Meditation is not new - with its roots in prehistory, it almost certainly predates the science that now endorses it. History shows that its practice was adopted by Eastern cultures thousands of years ago, with ancient Indian scriptures dating from 5,000 years ago detailing techniques.