Health News

The daily struggle of living with chronic pain creates a 'new self'

Date: Dec-04-2013
People who suffer with chronic musculoskeletal pain face a daily struggle with their sense of self and find it difficult to prove the legitimacy of their condition.A new study, funded by the National Institute for Health Research Health Services and Delivery Research (HS&DR) Programme, systematically searches for, and makes sense of, the growing body of qualitative research on musculoskeletal pain to help understand the experiences of patients suffering from chronic pain.

Brain changes seen in children whose bond with their mother was disrupted early in life

Date: Dec-04-2013
Children who experience profound neglect have been found to be more prone to a behavior known as "indiscriminate friendliness," characterized by an inappropriate willingness to approach adults, including strangers.UCLA researchers are now reporting some of the first evidence from human studies suggesting that this behavior is rooted in brain adaptations associated with early-life experiences. The findings appear in the peer-reviewed journal Biological Psychiatry.

Factors that influence the choice of abused pain drugs

Date: Dec-04-2013
Prescription opioid abuse has reached epidemic levels in the past 15 years. Scientists investigating why people favor one drug over another have found that oxycodone and hydrocodone are the drugs of choice for 75% of opioid-dependent individuals. Their results, published in the current issue of PAIN®, show that oxycodone was the most popular drug overall because of the quality of the high for those who sought such effects. Nonetheless, hydrocodone remains one of the most popular primary drugs, even though it has lower euphoric qualities.

Algorithm helps identify breast cancer type

Date: Dec-04-2013
Researchers from the University of Alberta and Alberta Health Services have created a computer algorithm that successfully predicts whether estrogen is sending signals to cancer cells to grow into tumours in the breast. By finding this hormone receptor, known as estrogen receptor positive, physicians can prescribe anti-estrogen drug therapies, improving patient outcomes.Since each cell in the body contains 23,000 genes, identifying the specific genes involved in cancer growth is an exceedingly complex task.

Molecular imaging tracer aids in creation of treatment plans for brain metastases

Date: Dec-04-2013
Imaging with the molecular imaging tracer 18F-FDOPA can help distinguish radiation-induced lesions from new tumor growth in patients who have been treated with radiation for brain metastases, according to new research published in The Journal of Nuclear Medicine. Using this amino acid tracer, researchers found that physicians could accurately differentiate the two types of lesions 83 percent of the time. Progression-free survival could also be predicted through evaluating the 18F-FDOPA imaging results.

Unfolded protein response contributes to sudden death in heart failure

Date: Dec-04-2013
A researcher at the Cardiovascular Institute (CVI) at Rhode Island, The Miriam and Newport hospitals has found a link to human heart failure that if blocked, may reduce the risk of sudden cardiac death. The paper, written by Samuel C. Dudley, M.D., Ph.D., chief of cardiology at the CVI, is published in the journal Circulation: Arrhythmia and Electrophysiology.Sudden cardiac death (SCD) is an unexpected death caused by loss of heart function, or sudden cardiac arrest. It is the most common cause of natural death in the U.S., resulting in approximately 325,000 adult deaths in the U.S.

Computer models of neuronal sound processing in the brain lead to cochlear implant improvements

Date: Dec-04-2013
Children learning to speak depend on functional hearing. So-called cochlear implants allow deaf people to hear again by stimulating the auditory nerve directly. Researchers at the Technische Universitaet Muenchen (TUM) are working to overcome current limits of the technology. They are investigating the implementation of signals in the auditory nerve and the subsequent neuronal processing in the brain. Using the computer models developed at the TUM manufacturers of cochlear implants improve their devices.Intact hearing is a prerequisite for learning to speak.

Exercise is beneficial for dementia patients, study shows

Date: Dec-04-2013
Researchers from the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, claim dementia sufferers benefit greatly from regular exercise, demonstrating improvements in cognitive functioning and their ability to perform daily activities.The review revisited the results of 16 previous trials that had tested 937 people to see if exercise improved cognition, activities of daily life, behavior, depression and mortality of older people with dementia. The researchers also explored whether there was a benefit to family members or caregivers.

Study links mental disorders to increased heart disease risk

Date: Dec-04-2013
In past studies, depression, anxiety and psychotic disorders have been associated with an increased risk of coronary heart disease. Now, a new study links a wider range of mental disorders to the condition.Researchers from the Universities of Edinburgh and Southampton in the UK, along with colleagues from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, published the results of their latest study in the journal Circulation.Coronary heart disease (CHD), also known as coronary artery disease, is caused by the plaque build-up in the arteries leading to the heart.

Low vitamin D levels may damage the brain

Date: Dec-04-2013
Vitamin D plays an important role in maintaining bone health, but a new study led by University of Kentucky researchers claims that deficiency of this vitamin may cause damage to the brain and other organs.The results, published in Free Radical Biology and Medicine, showed that when middle-aged rats were fed a diet low in vitamin D for several months, they developed free radical damage to the brain. They also performed less well in cognitive functioning tests for learning and memory.