Medindia Health News

New Virus Targets US Kids
Autopsy Centers in UP To be Upgraded and Modernized
One More Succumbs to Swine Flu in Madhya Pradesh
Carrots Link To Good Eyesight Is Not A Myth
Consuming Grilled Food Ups Diabetes Risk
New Smartphone Case That Helps Cut Cancer Risk Developed
Vivid Entertainment Invites Prince Harry To Star in XXX Movie
Data Looks at Cancer Survival in Germany Post Fall of the Iron Curtain
Human Airways Rely on Sticky Mucus to Expel Foreign Matter
A New Purpose Found For Archived Guthrie Cards
To Help Quell Bacterial Outbreak in Clinical Center NIH Uses Genome Sequencing
Researchers Steer Toward Medicines That Recruit the Body's Natural Disease-Fighting Proteins
Brain Structure Altered By Intense Prep for Law School Admission Test
President's 'First 100 Days In Office' Should Include Plans for Research: Likely Voters
Michelle Obama Keeps a Strict Fitness Regimen Everyday
Poker is More of Skill and Less of Luck
Annual List Details Generation Gap
Chimps are Not Cancer Prone Unlike Humans Even Though Both Share Genetic Similarity
Understanding the Manner in Which the Flu Virus Disables Immune System
Soil And Food Crops Being Contaminated by Nanomaterials
Ayurveda Tourism In Kerala to Be Taken To The Next Level
Linking Decisions Made in Womb to Infants' Body Fat
Self Recognition in the Mirror Might Be The Next Task Taken Up By A 'Self-Aware' Robot
The Guest Editor of Site That Features Sex Tips from Prostitutes Is Michelle Obama
Switch on Obesity Enzymes to Burn Fat Faster
Australian Science Tugs Heart-Strings Yet Again
Lilly's Experimental Drug Slowed Mental Deterioration in Patients With Mild Alzheimer's Disease
Australian Euthanasia Advocate Reveals Talks With Fiji Government Over Setting Up of Suicide Clinic
Multipurpose Face Paint Protects Against Blasts and Mosquitoes
Jellyfish Proteins Help Researchers Capture Footage of Proteins' Movement in Brain Cell
Johns Hopkins Researchers Develop New Method to Convert Blood Cells Back into Stem Cells
Structure of Drug Resistance in Tuberculosis Studied by Iowa State, Ames Lab Researchers
Stressful Traits in Mice Often Passed on to Female Offspring
An Invisible Helmet That Does Not Mess Up Your Hair
Use of Biodegradable Polymer Stent Reduces Risk of Adverse Cardiac Events in STEMI Patients
Researchers Identify How Photoreceptor Cells in Retinitis Pigmentosa Die
Temporal Training Helps Elderly Improve Their Cognitive Abilities
Many Women in England are Not Getting Adequate Support During Pregnancy
Obese Teens Have High Risk of Developing Gallstones
US Court Rules Against Forcing Tobacco Companies to Display Graphic Warnings
New Device to Check Glucose Levels Without Drawing Blood on the Anvil

Posted:

A study by John Hopkins researchers have found that children in the US are being targeted by a new virus. "What we are seeing is a relatively common viral illness called hand-foot-and-mouth disease but with a new twist," says Bernard Cohen, director of pediatric dermatology at Johns Hopkins Children's Center. "Your child is seemingly in perfect health when he or she goes to bed but wakes up with high fever and bright red blisters all over the body. "The ...

Autopsy Centers in UP To be Upgraded and Modernized

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Uttar Pradesh government has undertaken an ambitious project to upgrade and modernize its autopsy centers, most of which lack basic facilities. Uttar Pradesh has 75 districts but autopsy centers are in only 65 as the other 10 are newly-created and share facilities with the districts they were carved out of. At present, the bodies of all those who die unnatural deaths are dumped in these centers and a senior official said this situation needed to be rectified. ...

One More Succumbs to Swine Flu in Madhya Pradesh

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Swine flu triggered panic here on Saturday, claiming one more life, as the number of cases are feared to be escalating. According to media reports, the government has issued an alert in the state following the death of two people. The Chief Medical and Health Officer (CMHO) Dr. Pankaj Shukla, said the virus has claimed four lives in the past months and a three-month pregnant woman who tested positive, died on Friday. "Since March-April four ...

Carrots Link To Good Eyesight Is Not A Myth

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Carrots, a rich source of vitamin-A, offers innumerable health benefits, according to researchers. The story that carrots are good for eyesight was put about as propaganda to keep secret the role of radar in shooting down German bombers. "We do not need extra vitamin A because we already get enough of it in our diet in developed countries," the Daily Express quoted Dr Dolores Conroy, director of research at charity Fight For Sight, as saying. "It ...

Consuming Grilled Food Ups Diabetes Risk

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Researchers have warned against eating grilled foods like bacon, sausage sandwich or a cooked breakfast, as it could raise the risk of developing diabetes. Their study concluded that such cooking methods, which have long been hailed as the healthier alternative to fried food, could be just as bad for you. Researchers at Mount Sinai University, in New York, have discovered that a compound found when food is cooked in dry heat can trigger significant weight ...

New Smartphone Case That Helps Cut Cancer Risk Developed

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A new smartphone case, developed by Pong, claims to reduce cellphone radiation and cancer risks. The case has been made of the same material as a NASA spacecraft. Although it's still unclear as to exactly how bad the problem of cellphone radiation is, the WHO has already reclassified it as "potentially carcinogenic for humans." The problem Pong claims to be resolving is that mobile devices emit microwave energy, and the majority of it is absorbed by ...

Vivid Entertainment Invites Prince Harry To Star in XXX Movie

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Steve Hirsch, producer of porn movies, has invited Prince Harry to star in porn flick. Steve has written a letter to the Prince offering him 10 million dollars to appear in an adult movie. The casting call follows a late-night romp in Las Vegas, last weekend, by the British royal, that ended with his losing a racy game of strip billiards, TMZ.com reported. "We would like to offer you the opportunity to truly become the coolest Prince of all time, by ...

Data Looks at Cancer Survival in Germany Post Fall of the Iron Curtain

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Data from the 1970s and 1980s show that people affected by cancer survived significantly longer in West Germany than cancer patients behind the Iron Curtain. Looking at a diagnosis period from 1984 to 1985 in the former German Democratic Republic, 28 percent of colorectal cancer patients, 46 percent of prostate cancer patients, and 52 percent of breast cancer patients survived the first five years after diagnosis. By contrast, 5-year survival rates for people in West Germany ...

Human Airways Rely on Sticky Mucus to Expel Foreign Matter

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A runny nose and a wet cough caused by a cold or an allergy may irritate you, but human airways rely on sticky mucus to expel foreign matter, including toxic and infectious agents, from the body. Now, a study by Brian Button and colleagues from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC, has explained how human airways clear such mucus out of the lungs. The findings may give researchers a better understanding of what goes wrong in many human ...

A New Purpose Found For Archived Guthrie Cards

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The spotting of newborn's blood onto filter paper for disease screening, called Guthrie cards, has become routine over the last 50 years. It has become so routine that since 2000, more than 90% of newborns in the United States have had Guthrie cards created. In a study published online in iGenome Research/i/a, researchers have shown that epigenetic information stored on archived Guthrie cards provides a retrospective view of the epigenome at birth, a powerful new application ...

To Help Quell Bacterial Outbreak in Clinical Center NIH Uses Genome Sequencing

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A deadly outbreak of antibiotic-resistant bacteria kept infection-control specialists in a state of high alert for six months last year. The specialists were from the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) Clinical Center. While participating in a clinical study in the summer of 2011 a New York City patient carrying a multi-drug resistant strain of IKlebsiella pneumoniae/I, a microbe frequently associated with hospital-borne infections, introduced the dangerous bacteria ...

Researchers Steer Toward Medicines That Recruit the Body's Natural Disease-Fighting Proteins

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Recruiters pitch military service to a throng of people. In the same way scientists are developing drugs to recruit disease-fighting proteins present naturally in everyone's blood in medicine's war on infections, cancer and a range of other diseases. They reported on the latest advances in this new approach here today at the 244supth/sup National Meeting (and) Exposition of the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society. David Spiegel, M.D., ...

Brain Structure Altered By Intense Prep for Law School Admission Test

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According to neuroscientists, intensive preparation for the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) actually changes the microscopic structure of the brain. It physically bolsters the connections between areas of the brain important for reasoning. The neuroscientists are from the University of California, Berkeley. The results suggest that training people in reasoning skills - the main focus of LSAT prep courses - can reinforce the brain's circuits involved in thinking ...

President's 'First 100 Days In Office' Should Include Plans for Research: Likely Voters

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According to a new poll, on the eve of the political conventions, nearly two-thirds of likely voters say the next president should announce initiatives promoting medical progress during his "first 100 days in office." The national public opinion poll was commissioned by Research!America. Nearly three-quarters of those polled say it's important for candidates for the presidency and Congress to have a science advisor. The findings reveal deep concerns among voters about the ...

Michelle Obama Keeps a Strict Fitness Regimen Everyday

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Michelle Obama has revealed that she gets up at 4.30 am or 5 am to workout with hubby Barack. Obama made the revelation on iVillage, the women's website where she is serving as a guest editor this week, with a theme of 'Rev Up Your Back-to-School Routine.' "Barack and I work out every day. I usually get to the gym before he does," the Daily Mail quoted her as telling the site. "But he is usually there either in the middle of my workout ...

Poker is More of Skill and Less of Luck

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A Brooklyn judge has ruled that poker is mostly a game of skill, not luck, and is therefore, legal under federal law. The 120-page decision by Federal Judge Jack Weinstein closed the conviction of Lawrence Dicristina, of Staten Island, who admitted to running the Texas Hold'em contests. It is the first time that a court has ruled that poker cannot be considered illegal gambling and could bolster the case to legalize Internet poker. "While ...

Annual List Details Generation Gap

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US college freshmen this year "watch television everywhere but on a television" and have "never seen an airplane 'ticket'", according to an annual list created to detail the generation gap. The "Mindset List", whose 2012 edition came out Tuesday, was created in 1998 "as a witty way of saying to faculty colleagues 'watch your references'", and aims to give insight to the "intelligent if unprepared adolescent consciousness", its authors say on their website. According ...

Chimps are Not Cancer Prone Unlike Humans Even Though Both Share Genetic Similarity

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Chimps are not cancer prone unlike humans even though both share a genetic similarity. For that matter, chimps rarely develop cancer. Georgia Tech's Soojin Yi, a biologist, looked at brain samples of the two species. She found that differences in the modification of certain DNA, called methylation, may contribute to such changes. The results also hint that this ...

Understanding the Manner in Which the Flu Virus Disables Immune System

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Northwestern University scientists have discovered one of the ways the influenza virus disarms our natural defense system. The virus decreases the production of key immune system-regulating proteins in human cells that help fight the invader. The virus does this by turning on the microRNAs-little snippets of RNA-that regulate these proteins. The researchers, led by molecular biologist Curt M. Horvath, are among the first to show the influenza virus can ...

Soil And Food Crops Being Contaminated by Nanomaterials

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A study says that man-made nanomaterials (MNMs), used in popular cosmetic products such as shampoos, gels, hair dyes and sunscreens, may also be contaminating the quality and yield of food crops. Nanomaterials (NMS) are synthesized by manipulating matter on an atomic and molecular scale. Their effects on human health and the environment are the subject of much scientific study. "As MNMs are used more and more in consumer products, there is a higher ...

Ayurveda Tourism In Kerala to Be Taken To The Next Level

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Ayurveda is the ancient Indian system of medicine and well-being. Kerala has now set its eyes on pushing tourism centred around ayurveda to the next level by promoting its curative and cosmetic properties. "Beaches, backwaters, hills and ayurveda are the four pillars of tourism in Kerala. We realise there is still a large potential within ayurveda to attract people to our state," says state Tourism Secretary Suman Billa. "So far, when it came to ayurveda, ...

Linking Decisions Made in Womb to Infants' Body Fat

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The developing baby faces a dilemma if the supply of nutrients from the mother through the placenta is limited or unbalanced during pregnancy. The question that arises in this case is whether resources be allocated to brain growth, or to fat deposition for use as an energy reserve during the early months after birth. Scientists at the University of Southampton have shown that the decision made could have an effect on how fat we are as children. In ...

Self Recognition in the Mirror Might Be The Next Task Taken Up By A 'Self-Aware' Robot

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A humanoid robot that can recognize its own reflection in the mirror was developed by researchers. This development is a huge leap on the path of true self-awareness. Nico can identify almost exactly where its arm is in space based on the mirror image. Yale University's Justin Hart and Brian Scassellati have taught Nico to recognise its arm's location and orientation down to accuracy of 2 centimetres in any dimension. This is a feat of ...

The Guest Editor of Site That Features Sex Tips from Prostitutes Is Michelle Obama

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Michelle Obama has been sharing fitness and lifestyle tips with fans over the past week while being the guest editor of the iVillage website. But surfers who are new to the site may be shocked to notice some of the other, more sexually explicit content, running alongside the First Lady's commentary on family life and workout routines. According to CNSNews.com, among the articles currently on the iVillage site are a series of sex tips from prostitutes ...

Switch on Obesity Enzymes to Burn Fat Faster

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Obesity enzymes involved in breaking down fat can be manipulated by scientists to work three times harder by turning on a molecular switch. This was recently observed by chemists at the University of Copenhagen. Being able to control this chemical on/off button could have massive implications for curing diseases related to obesity including diabetes, cardio vascular disease, stroke and even skin problems like acne. But the implications may be wider. The ...

Australian Science Tugs Heart-Strings Yet Again

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Do humans really wear their hearts on their sleeve? An ambitious Australian neuroscience project aiming to translate emotional impulses directly into music is hoping to find out. Canadian artist Erin Gee describes it as "human voices in electronic bodies", and there is a definite futuristic feel to her collaboration with the University of Western Sydney's medical school. A fingerprint scan is required to gain entry to the labs where her ...

Lilly's Experimental Drug Slowed Mental Deterioration in Patients With Mild Alzheimer's Disease

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Indiana-based pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly revealed that its experimental Alzheimer's drug failed to achieve its primary objective of stopping the spread of the disease but revealed that it did manage to slow down the mental deterioration in patients affected with a mild form of the disease. Lilly was conducting two large clinical trials to test the effectiveness of solanezumab, which attacked a protein known as beta amyloid that produces toxic effects on the brain ...

Australian Euthanasia Advocate Reveals Talks With Fiji Government Over Setting Up of Suicide Clinic

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One of the well known faces leading the campaign for euthanasia in Australia, Philip Nitschke has revealed that he is in talks with the Fiji government and is hopeful of setting up an assisted suicide clinic in the Pacific nation. Nitschke, a doctor who has campaigned on euthanasia issues for more than a decade, wants it to operate like the Dignitas centre in Switzerland, where 144 people ended their lives in 2011, virtually all of them foreigners. Nitschke, ...

Multipurpose Face Paint Protects Against Blasts and Mosquitoes

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A multipurpose face paint that provides protection against the intense heat, acts as a mosquito repellant and hides soldiers from the enemy has been developed by a team of American researchers for the US Army. The novel face paint, developed for the US Army, has been described as one of the most fundamental changes in thousands of years to camouflage. It could also be used by fire fighters. The material is powerful enough to ...

Jellyfish Proteins Help Researchers Capture Footage of Proteins' Movement in Brain Cell

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University of Southern California researchers have captured on video the exact process through which proteins in the brain move throughout the neuron cells by making use of bioluminescent proteins from a jellyfish. The video offers a rare peek at how proteins, the brain's building blocks, are directed through neurons to renew its structure. "Your brain is being disassembled and reassembled every day," Don Arnold, corresponding author of the study from ...

Johns Hopkins Researchers Develop New Method to Convert Blood Cells Back into Stem Cells

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A reliable method through which blood cells can be converted back into stem cells from where they can be used to develop different type of cells in the body has been developed by researchers at Johns Hopkins University. The work is "Chapter Two" in an ongoing effort to efficiently and consistently convert adult blood cells into stem cells that are highly qualified for clinical and research use in place of human embryonic stem cells, said Elias Zambidis, M.D., Ph.D., ...

Structure of Drug Resistance in Tuberculosis Studied by Iowa State, Ames Lab Researchers

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Edward Yu decided to shift his research focus to tuberculosis after noting that the disease causes nearly 2 million deaths each year, 9 million infections each year, has triggered development of multidrug-resistant, extensively drug-resistant and now totally drug-resistant strains. Yu, an Iowa State University and Ames Laboratory researcher, has described in the journal iNature/i the three-part structure that allows iE. coli/i bacteria to pump out toxins ...

Stressful Traits in Mice Often Passed on to Female Offspring

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A new study conducted by researchers from Tufts University School of Medicine has found that some traits of the parents, such as stress levels, are often passed on to their female offspring and not male offspring. Adolescent mice exposed to chronic social stress, where their cage composition is constantly changing, exhibit anxiety and poor social interactions through adulthood. "These changes were especially prominent in ...

An Invisible Helmet That Does Not Mess Up Your Hair

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A new bicycle helmet that remains "invisible" and does not mess the hair has been developed by two Swedish women. Hovding, invented by Anna Haupt and Terese Alstin, is designed to inflate in a fraction of a second if you have an accident. "It became mandatory for children to wear a helmet in Sweden and many people didn't use them," ABC News quoted Haupt as saying. "We wanted to see if there was a way to change today's helmets and wanted people ...

Use of Biodegradable Polymer Stent Reduces Risk of Adverse Cardiac Events in STEMI Patients

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Using a stent made up of biodegradable polymer, which releases biolimus drug, in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction who are undergoing angioplasty led to lower number of major adverse cardiac events at the end of one year compared to using bare metal stent, a new study published in JAMA revealed. "The efficacy and safety of drug-eluting [releasing] stents compared with bare-metal stents remains controversial in patients with STEMI undergoing ...

Researchers Identify How Photoreceptor Cells in Retinitis Pigmentosa Die

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Researchers at Angiogenesis Laboratory at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary revealed that they have found out how cone photoreceptor cells die in an animal model of retinitis pigmentosa (RP). This groundbreaking study, led by Demetrios G. Vavvas, M.D., Ph.D., and including Joan W. Miller, M.D., Mass. Eye and Ear/Mass General Hospital Chief of Ophthalmology and Chair of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School, has further identified the receptor interacting protein ...

Temporal Training Helps Elderly Improve Their Cognitive Abilities

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A new study published in the journal Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience reveals that providing temporal training to the elderly not only helps improve the rate at which they process auditory information but also improves other cognitive areas. "Our study showed for the first time significant benefits of temporal training on broad aspects of cognitive function in the elderly. The results were long-lasting, with effects confirmed 18 months after the training," ...

Many Women in England are Not Getting Adequate Support During Pregnancy

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One in five women in England have admitted that they do not feel they are getting the right amount of support to help them through their pregnancies or have a say in how or where they want to give birth. The Royal College of Midwives (RCM) and Bounty Parenting Club conducted a survey among more than 1,800 women and found that more than 47 percent believe that they would liked to have spent more time with midwives while over a third revealed that they were seen by a ...

Obese Teens Have High Risk of Developing Gallstones

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Obese or overweight teenagers are at a greater risk of developing gallstones compared to teenagers who are of healthy weight, a new study published in the Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition reveals. The study was conducted by researchers at Kaiser Permanente Southern California Department of Research who analyzed more than 510,000 teenagers aged between 10 to 19 years and found that obese children were four times more likely and overweight children ...

US Court Rules Against Forcing Tobacco Companies to Display Graphic Warnings

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In a major blow to anti-tobacco campaigners, an appeals court in the United States has ruled that the government cannot force tobacco companies to display graphic warnings on cigarette packets as it was against free speech. The US government, along with the Food and Drug Administration, had planned to bring in new regulations that could have made graphic health warnings at the back of cigarette packets mandatory. The FDA had selected nine images showing dead or addicted ...

New Device to Check Glucose Levels Without Drawing Blood on the Anvil

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A new study published in the journal Advanced Functional Materials reveals that development of a new device that can check glucose levels in the body by analyzing urine, tears and saliva samples without the need of drawing out blood. The device uses a biosensor that has been developed using nanotechnology and can detect even minute concentration of glucose in the samples. The device is made up of three major parts, layers of nanosheets that resemble tiny rose petals; ...