Medindia Health News

Reasons Behind Decrease in Insulin-Producing Beta Cells in Diabetes
Smokers With Lung Cancer Have 10 Times More Genetic Damage Than Never-Smokers
David Beckham Voted World's 'Sexiest Man in A Suit'
Research Finds Increased Dietary Fructose Linked to Elevated Uric Acid Levels
Sound Waves Used by Scientists to Levitate Liquids and Improve Drug Development Process
99% of Fantasy Football Players can be Trounced by New Artificial Intelligence Program
New Research Claims Dice Throw can be Predicted
Self-Control may Not be a Depletable Resource, Say Researchers
Socioeconomic Status Plays Role In Determining Lung Transplant Approval Rates
Cuban Packages Biogas in Plastic Bags for Domestic Use
Whole-genome Scan Helps To Choose Best Treatment For Neuroblastoma
Smoking During Pregnancy Affects Babies' Mental Development
Mild Rise In Thyroid-stimulating Hormone Does No Harm Among Elderly
Simple Tool May Help Assess Violence Risk Among Mentally Ill Patients
Pinterest Gaining Popularity Among US Women
Exposure To Prenatal Air Pollution Tied To Vitamin D Deficiency in Infants
Disinfecting Isolation Rooms Daily Cuts Contamination Of Health Workers' Hands
Kids Under Six Most Likely to Gain Weight After Tonsillectomy
New Guidelines For Hypothyroidism Issued
Awareness To Improve Docs Handwriting To Prevent Fatal Errors
Natural Killer T-cells in Fat Tissue Guard Against Obesity: Study
Does a Vigorous Workout Actually 'Work Up An Appetite'?
Expert Recommendations Ignore Vital Issues for Patients: Physicians
Mode of Speech Governed Differently For Friends, Strangers

Reasons Behind Decrease in Insulin-Producing Beta Cells in Diabetes

Posted:

It is widely accepted that reduced insulin production by the pancreas, a hallmark of type 2 diabetes, is due to the death of the beta cells. However, a new study by Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) researchers shows that beta cells do not die but instead revert to a more fundamental, undifferentiated cell type. The findings suggest that strategies to prevent beta cells from de-differentiating, or to coax them to re-differentiate, might improve glucose balance ...

Smokers With Lung Cancer Have 10 Times More Genetic Damage Than Never-Smokers

Posted:

A new study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has found that lung cancer patients with a history of smoking have 10 times more genetic mutations in their tumors than those patients who have never smoked. "None of us were surprised that the genomes of smokers had more mutations than the genomes of never-smokers with lung cancer," says senior author Richard K. Wilson, PhD, director of The Genome Institute at Washington University. "But it ...

David Beckham Voted World's 'Sexiest Man in A Suit'

Posted:

The former England star David Beckham has been voted the sexiest man in a suit. Beating off a host of other tailored men to claim the accolade, including runner-up George Clooney and Daniel Craig, the father-of-four reigned proud. 'Take That' frontman Gary Barlow and Hugh Grant landed fourth and fifth spots in the poll carried out by Austin Reed to launch their charitable Suite Swap. "Undoubtedly David Beckham is one of the most stylish men ...

Research Finds Increased Dietary Fructose Linked to Elevated Uric Acid Levels

Posted:

New research indicates that obese patients with type 2 diabetes whose diet is high in fructose have reduced levels of liver adenosine triphosphate (ATP). The latter is a compound involved in the energy transfer between cells. The findings, published in the September issue of iHepatology/i, a journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, indicate that elevated uric acid levels (hyperuricemia) are associated with more severe hepatic ATP ...

Sound Waves Used by Scientists to Levitate Liquids and Improve Drug Development Process

Posted:

Levitation is being used by scientists to improve the drug development process. They hope this will eventually yield more effective pharmaceuticals with fewer side effects. Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory have discovered a way to use sound waves to levitate individual droplets of solutions containing different pharmaceuticals. While the connection between levitation and drug development may not be immediately apparent, ...

99% of Fantasy Football Players can be Trounced by New Artificial Intelligence Program

Posted:

A new artificial intelligence computer program may help select a dream team of medical staff in future. This program which can beat 99 per cent of fantasy football players, could be used to save lives in the future. In fantasy football, participants play as a manager and select teams using real-life football league players, with 15 to a squad, no more than three from any one team, and within a set budget, and only a limited number of player transfers are allowed ...

New Research Claims Dice Throw can be Predicted

Posted:

The seemingly random throw of the dice can actually be predicted, claim researchers from the Technical University of Lodz, Poland. By applying chaos theory and some high school level mechanics, they determined that by knowing the initial conditions - such as the viscosity of the air, the acceleration of gravity, and the friction of the table - it should be possible to predict the outcome when rolling the dice. The researchers created a three-dimensional ...

Self-Control may Not be a Depletable Resource, Say Researchers

Posted:

The currently accepted model of self-control may not be as precise as researchers once thought, a new study has suggested. According to Michael Inzlicht of the University of Toronto and Brandon Schmeichel of Texas A and M University, rather than being a limited resource, self-control may actually be more like a motivation and attention-driven process. Research on self-control has surged in the last decade and much of it has centred on the resource model ...

Socioeconomic Status Plays Role In Determining Lung Transplant Approval Rates

Posted:

Socioeconomic status play a role in accepting patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) for lung transplant. A new study finds that people with low socioeconomic status (SES) are less likely to be accepted for transplant after initial evaluation. "While earlier studies have indicated that SES does not affect access to care for cystic fibrosis, ours is the first study to examine the relationship between SES and access to lung transplantation in these patients," said lead ...

Cuban Packages Biogas in Plastic Bags for Domestic Use

Posted:

The Communist Party daily Granma has reported that a Cuban farmer has devised a method for packaging biogas in plastic bags to facilitate domestic use of the fuel. "Although it's just an isolated experience for now, it could end up being a highly useful innovation," the paper said Wednesday, noting that the method has been successfully employed in the western province of Pinar del Rio. Six months ago, Daniel Garcia installed a biogas system at his pig ...

Whole-genome Scan Helps To Choose Best Treatment For Neuroblastoma

Posted:

Doctors can now choose the best treatment option for neuroblastoma, one of the common types of childhood cancer, with the help of whole-genome scan, according to researchers. The researchers called for all children diagnosed with neuroblastoma worldwide to have a whole-genome scan as a standard part of their treatment. Neuroblastoma, a cancer of the developing nervous system, is sometimes very treatable but other forms are highly aggressive, making ...

Smoking During Pregnancy Affects Babies' Mental Development

Posted:

Babies born to passive smoking mothers risk poor neurological development. Exposure to nicotine affects physiological, sensory, motor and attention responses in newborns. SINC Smoking during pregnancy has been linked to many different problems in infants like learning difficulties, attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity and even obesity. However, although the pediatric and obstetric disorders linked to tobacco during this stage ...

Mild Rise In Thyroid-stimulating Hormone Does No Harm Among Elderly

Posted:

Mild increases in thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) does not increase the mortality risk in older people, finds a recent study. Hence the study suggests that treating such mild elevations of TSH among elderly is unnecessary. TSH is a sensitive, commonly measured test to check thyroid function. TSH levels are inversely related to thyroid hormone levels - thyroid hormone levels below a set-point trigger an increase in TSH. Levels of TSH gradually increase during the ...

Simple Tool May Help Assess Violence Risk Among Mentally Ill Patients

Posted:

A simple tool may help mental health experts to accurately evaluate and manage the risk of violence among their patients. The research, led by psychiatrist Alan Teo, MD, when he was a UCSF medical resident, examined how accurate psychiatrists were at evaluating risk of violence by acutely ill patients admitted to psychiatric units. The first part of the study showed that inexperienced psychiatric residents performed no better than they would have by ...

Pinterest Gaining Popularity Among US Women

Posted:

A survey has found that Pinterest, an image-based social networking service, is getting popular among women in U.S. The survey by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, which examined the habits of over one thousand American adults, showed that 19 per cent of online women in the US use the site. The survey found that Pinterest was most popular with women aged between 18 and 29, those with a university education and those with an annual household ...

Exposure To Prenatal Air Pollution Tied To Vitamin D Deficiency in Infants

Posted:

Exposure to urban air pollution during gestation lowers vitamin D levels in offspring which could affect the child's risk of developing diseases later in life, according to a study. Recent data have demonstrated that maternal vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy may have an influence on the development of asthma and allergic diseases in offspring. A number of factors may influence vitamin D supply in women. Exposure to high levels of air pollution has been suggested ...

Disinfecting Isolation Rooms Daily Cuts Contamination Of Health Workers' Hands

Posted:

Daily disinfection of isolation rooms, infected with C. difficile, MRSA, can significantly reduce the contamination of medical professionals' hands, finds a research. The findings underscore the importance of environmental cleaning for reducing the spread of difficult to treat infections. The study is published in the October issue of iInfection Control and Hospital Epidemiology/i, the journal of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA). Researchers ...

Kids Under Six Most Likely to Gain Weight After Tonsillectomy

Posted:

Researchers have linked weight gain in children under the age of six following tonsillectomy to age and not the underlying diagnosis. Sudden increases in body mass index, or BMI, have been routinely observed for months after some of the more than half-million surgeries performed annually in the United States to remove the sore and swollen tissues at the back of the throat. The Johns Hopkins study, in 115 children in the Baltimore region, is believed ...

New Guidelines For Hypothyroidism Issued

Posted:

Experts have developed a new clinical guidelines for hypothyroidism, which is a result of an underactive thyroid gland that loses its potential to produce enough thyroid hormone. The new guidelines, developed jointly by the American Thyroid Association (ATA) and American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE), are available free online on the iThyroid/i website. A task force representing the ATA and AACE reviewed the medical literature ...

Awareness To Improve Docs Handwriting To Prevent Fatal Errors

Posted:

An Indian medical group, with the backing of the Maharashtra government, is to create awareness about handwriting legibility among doctors to prevent fatal errors due to sloppy writing. More than 100 doctors across Maharashtra state met last week and found handwriting legibility to be one of the most alarming issues they faced, according to the non-profit umbrella body Medscape India. "Due to lack of clarity in doctors' written prescriptions, the number ...

Natural Killer T-cells in Fat Tissue Guard Against Obesity: Study

Posted:

A unique subset of immune cells are invariant natural killer T-cells (iNKT) that are known to influence inflammatory responses. A scientific team led by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) has found that iNKT cells play a protective role in guarding against obesity and the metabolic syndrome, a major consequence of obesity. Their discovery, published on-line today in the journal iImmunity/i, also finds that although iNKT ...

Does a Vigorous Workout Actually 'Work Up An Appetite'?

Posted:

The popular notion that we can "work up an appetite" with vigorous exercise is being challenged by US Scientists who say that it actually reduces a person's motivation for food. James LeCheminant and Michael Larson, both Brigham Young University professors, measured the neural (brain cell) activity of 35 women while they viewed food images, both following a morning of exercise and a morning without exercise. The research shows that 45 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous ...

Expert Recommendations Ignore Vital Issues for Patients: Physicians

Posted:

Two Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center physicians note that experts generally base their recommendations on the outcome of death, which is "readily determined, easily quantified, concrete." This is taking place in the medical world, where decisions invariably involve risk and uncertainty. "There is more to life than death," Pamela Hartzband, MD, and Jerome Groopman, MD, write in the Sept. 12 edition of the iNew England Journal of Medicine/i. "Basing decisions ...

Mode of Speech Governed Differently For Friends, Strangers

Posted:

In comparison to when people talk to close friends or partners they talk differently than when they address a physician or a stranger. But these differences in speech are quite subtle and hard to pinpoint, say researchers. Johanna Derix, Tonio Ball and their colleagues from the Bernstein Centre and the University Medical Centre in Freiburg, Germany, report that they were able to tell from brain signals who a person was talking to. This discovery could ...