Medindia Health News

Soil Fungus May Help Prevent Dengue Spread
Task Force Recommends New Guidelines For Lung Cancer Screening
Researchers Reveal How Dietary Fat Regulates Cholesterol Absorption
Here's The Reason Why Women Need Reading Glasses Sooner Than Men
Smoking Dads Raise Cancer Risk In Their Offsprings
Daffodils Holds Promise For Future Depression Treatment
Pasta Made From Green Banana Flour A Boon For Celiac Sufferers
New Technique Spots Tuberculosis in Non-human Primates
Woman Tests Positive for H1N1
Free AIDS Treatment Across Africa Called By Vatican
Europe Campaign Says Science Is Girl Thing
640,000 Hospital Admissions in England and Wales Every Year Might Be Due To Alcohol
Women Who Have Had An Ectopic Pregnancy Might Have Future Reproductive Outcomes
Trichotillomania: Hair Loss From Pulling Your Hair
Health Ministry Says Website Not Hacked
Exercise Reduces Heart Risk in Lung Transplant Patients
Kerala Ready to Battle Dengue
Zimbabwe MPs Get Circumcised in AIDS Fight
Effective Way to Reduce Smoking in Pregnant Women
New Non-Antibiotic Approach For Treating Urinary Tract Infections
New Prognosis Tool for Deadly Brain Cancer Shown By UW Research
Controversial Vaccine Trial Should Never Have Been Run in India: Researchers
Child Welfare Investigation Predicts Mental Health Problems in Young Children
Olympic Terrorism Threats Being Assessed

Soil Fungus May Help Prevent Dengue Spread

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Researchers have found that common fungus may help to stop the spread of dengue fever. Dr Jonathan Darbro, from Queensland Institute of Medical Research's Mosquito Control Laboratory, said initial testing showed the Beauveria bassiana fungus killed Aedes aegypti, the mosquito that carries the viral disease. In laboratory and "semi-field" conditions, the soil fungus also reduced how often the mosquitoes bit humans. Dr Darbro said the results ...

Task Force Recommends New Guidelines For Lung Cancer Screening

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A task force has strongly recommended new guidelines for screening of lung cancer. Led by medical professionals from Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) the task force was established by the American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS). Recent research has shown low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) is beneficial in reducing deaths from lung cancer. So the AATS task force recommends an annual lung cancer screening using LDCT for: Smokers and former ...

Researchers Reveal How Dietary Fat Regulates Cholesterol Absorption

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New research suggests there may be a biological reason why fatty and cholesterol-rich foods are so appealing together. It has been known for more than 40 years that dietary fat promotes cholesterol uptake, but fundamental aspects of that process remain poorly understood. James Walters, Ph.D., and his colleagues at the Carnegie Institution for Science are using zebrafish to better understand the cellular mechanisms of cholesterol processing and have discovered a ...

Here's The Reason Why Women Need Reading Glasses Sooner Than Men

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Previous studies have stated that unlike men, women start wearing reading glasses or bifocal lenses earlier. A recent study has found that there are other factors for the cause apart from the focusing ability, like the arm length or preferred reading distance, which should be considered when prescribing readers or bifocals. The new evidence was found by a team of researchers who performed a meta-analysis using nine cross-sectional studies to compare the prevalence ...

Smoking Dads Raise Cancer Risk In Their Offsprings

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In a new research, scientists show for the first time, that men who smoke before conception can damage the genetic information of their offspring. These inherited changes in DNA could possibly render an offspring in the womb susceptible to later disease such as cancer. This provides evidence showing why men should be urged to stop smoking before trying to conceive in the same way women have been urged to quit. Interestingly, a fertile sperm cell takes ...

Daffodils Holds Promise For Future Depression Treatment

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The compounds present in South African flower, Daffodil, may be used to treat brain related diseases, including depression, according to researchers. At the University of Copenhagen, a number of these substances have now been tested in a laboratory model of the blood-brain barrier. Pharmaceutical research Scientists from the University had previously documented that substances from the South African plant species Crinum and Cyrtanthus - akin to snowdrops ...

Pasta Made From Green Banana Flour A Boon For Celiac Sufferers

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Researchers have developed a gluten-free pasta from green banana flour which offers a tasty alternative for those suffering from celiac disease. The pasta found to be more acceptable than regular whole wheat pasta and will be a boon for gluten-free eaters, who struggle with limited food choices. "There was no significant difference between the modified pasta and standard samples in terms of appearance, aroma, flavor, and overall quality," reports lead ...

New Technique Spots Tuberculosis in Non-human Primates

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The detection of tuberculosis causing bacteria using a new technique could help in protecting the health of primate populations. Monkeys and apes might find tuberculosis to be a serious threat. The method can spot TB even among infected primates that show no outward sign of disease, but are still capable of spreading infection to others of their kind. Existing tests for TB in primates are difficult to apply and give unreliable results, often failing ...

Woman Tests Positive for H1N1

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A newspaper report said that a 26-year-old woman tested positive for H1N1 or swine flu in Mumbai. She was admitted to a hospital in Thane along with her son. Raut and her son Soham visited Mumbai on June 18 and then seemed to develop H1N1 symptoms, said the report. Government doctors have started screening around 150 families residing in the colony where they lived and a special ward has been created at the TAPS Hospital of Thane for the purpose. All ...

Free AIDS Treatment Across Africa Called By Vatican

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Call for international community to provide "free and efficient treatment" for AIDS in Africa, starting with pregnant women, mothers and their babies. The call was made by a top Vatican official on Friday. During an international conference organised by the Sant'Egidio Community, the number two in the Vatican, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, made the call "to states and to donors" to "rapidly provide those sick with AIDS with free and efficient treatment." "Let ...

Europe Campaign Says Science Is Girl Thing

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Newly launched campaign trying to convince teenagers that science is a 'girl thing'. The campaign makes an effort to bring more women to the fore front to take up research based jobs. "Science does not just mean old men in white coats," said Research and Science Commissioner Maire Geoghegan-Quinn. "The under-representation of women in a sector so vital to our economy does not make sense at a time when Europe is fighting for more growth and jobs." Women ...

640,000 Hospital Admissions in England and Wales Every Year Might Be Due To Alcohol

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A research published online in iEmergency Medicine Journal/i suggests that alcohol may be involved in up to 640,000 hospital admissions and nearly 2 million visits to emergency care departments in England and Wales every year. The authors base their findings on the number of patients requiring treatment at one inner city emergency care department in the South West of England, and the extrapolation of those figures. Almost a thousand adults seeking ...

Women Who Have Had An Ectopic Pregnancy Might Have Future Reproductive Outcomes

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According to a study by a team of Scottish researchers published yesterday in iPLoS Medicine/i women who experience an initial ectopic pregnancy-when the embryo implants outside the womb, usually in the fallopian tubes-are less likely to conceive in the future and if they do, are at increased risk of having another ectopic pregnancy, but are no more likely than first time mothers to suffer complications in an ongoing pregnancy. Ectopic pregnancies occur in ...

Trichotillomania: Hair Loss From Pulling Your Hair

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Trichotillomania is an impulse control disorder in which the patient suffers from a severe urge to pull hair from the scalp, eyelids, eyebrows and pubic area. Frequently pulling outhair could lead to noticeable hair loss and bald patches, that further aggravate distress and social or functional impairment. This is a rare and chronic disorder and treatment poses a challenge to doctors. Trichotillomania occurs in infants as early as 18 months, but the peak ...

Health Ministry Says Website Not Hacked

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Health ministry denies that the post-graduate (PG) medical courses website for admission was hacked. The result of the third round of counselling for allocation of seats for PG medical courses was inadvertently released June 11 - a day before it was to be officially announced, the ministry said. An apex court vacation bench of Justice H.L. Gokhale and Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai was told that the release of result was related to a ...

Exercise Reduces Heart Risk in Lung Transplant Patients

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Exercise program improves health of lung transplant patients and reduces their risk of heart problems, reveals study published in the iAmerican Journal of Transplantation/i. "People who have received lung transplants often have weak muscles and limited endurance due to their sedentary lifestyle before their transplant and the drugs they need to take after surgery," explains lead author Dr. Daniel Langer, a Belgian expert in respiratory diseases and rehabilitation. ...

Kerala Ready to Battle Dengue

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Doctors in Kerala are ready to battle dengue, as the arrival of monsoon results in a surge in dengue cases. A Faseelathu Beevi, medical superintendent at the state run general hospital, told reporters on Friday that with the onset of monsoon there has been a significant rise in the number of patients suffering from the deadly disease. "As of today the important variety that is being reported is the dengue outbreak. The routine viral cases do happen, ...

Zimbabwe MPs Get Circumcised in AIDS Fight

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Male lawmakers in Zimbabwe get circumcised in a health drive to curb the spread of HIV. A handful of lawmakers stepped into a mobile clinic set up inside the parliament building to undergo the procedure carried out under local anaesthetic and using a new method that does not require downtime. "I feel proud now that I have accomplished what we set to accomplish," Blessing Chebundo, a member of parliament from Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement ...

Effective Way to Reduce Smoking in Pregnant Women

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Contingency management programs help high-risk pregnant smokers, say researchers. One of the most effective methods of helping people to quit smoking is contingency management, which gives smokers monetary incentives for meeting target goals. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University's Center for Addiction and Pregnancy recently used contingency management to shape smoking reduction and abstinence in drug-dependent pregnant women, with promising results. One ...

New Non-Antibiotic Approach For Treating Urinary Tract Infections

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A potential new approach for treating urinary tract infections (UTIs) without traditional antibiotics is being reported in ACS' iJournal of Medicinal Chemistry/i. UTIs affect millions of people annually. This approach involves so-called FimH antagonists, which are non-antibiotic compounds and would not contribute to the growing problem of antibiotic resistance bacteria. Beat Ernst and colleagues explain that antibiotics are the mainstay treatment for UTIs. Bacteria, ...

New Prognosis Tool for Deadly Brain Cancer Shown By UW Research

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A diagnosis of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is generally a death sentence. Despite this fact new research from the University of Wisconsin-Madison lab of Dr. John Kuo shows that at least one subtype is associated with a longer life expectancy. This discovery could help with better patient prognoses and lead to targeted drug treatments for GBM subtypes. People diagnosed with GBM live on average less than 15 months after diagnosis, even after undergoing aggressive ...

Controversial Vaccine Trial Should Never Have Been Run in India: Researchers

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Research published today in the iJournal of the Royal Society of Medicine/i raises further questions about a trial of HPV vaccines in India. The trial, which has now been halted and is the subject of an investigation by the Indian government, was examining the safety and feasibility of offering a vaccine against the virus associated with cervical cancer. The new study by researchers at Queen Mary, University of London and the University of Edinburgh ...

Child Welfare Investigation Predicts Mental Health Problems in Young Children

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A study found that young children who have been investigated for maltreatment by child welfare agencies have a higher prevalence of mental health problems and that very few receive treatment for those problems. This study was published in the June 2012 issue of the iJournal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry/i. Using data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being II (NSCAW II), a group of researchers led by Dr. Sarah ...

Olympic Terrorism Threats Being Assessed

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A suggestion that that the 2012 Olympic Games to be held in London in July and August represent a potential terrorist threat as the successor to the late Osama bin Laden and a medical doctor himself, struggles to regain "face" amongst extremists opposing the West was made by the Head of Department of Asymmetric Threats at the Joint Military Intelligence Division of Hellenic National Defense General Staff, in Athens, Greece, Ioannis Galatas. There have been numerous ...