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Are You Dieting and Yet Not Losing Weight? It is All in the Brain

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Many of those fighting the bulge resort to crash diets or reduction in calories in a bid to lose weight and to their dismay find that they are not losing much weight. Funnily enough, the fewer calories they consume, the lesser they burn, which does not really make a difference to their weight. Intriguing as this may be, scientists at Sydney's Garvan Institute of Medical Research and the University of NSW tried to understand the precise brain circuitry behind this ...

Ankle Edema / Ankle Swelling

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Ankle edema is a swelling over either one or both ankles.Examples of generalized causes include heart and kidney disease. Treatment depends on the underlying condition.

Tai Chi Reduces Falls in Stroke Survivors

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Tai Chi exercise was found to reduce falls among adult stroke survivors, states recent study. Tai Chi is a martial art dating back to ancient China. It includes physical movements, mental concentration and relaxed breathing."Learning how to find and maintain your balance after a stroke is a challenge," said Ruth E. Taylor-Piliae, Ph.D., R.N., the study's principal investigator and assistant professor at the University of Arizona College of Nursing in Tucson, ...

Florida Contemplates Having Partners for Health Insurance Exchange

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Florida is reconsidering the option to run its online marketplace and has even missed the deadline to do so, as lawmakers were deliberating whether to partner with federal health officials or opt for partnership with organizations already experienced in running similar programs, instead of building something new. Florida Healthy Kids Corp. is accountable for 300,000 children covered, and is responsible for selection of plans and decides on the eligibility ...

Chocolate, the Treat We Cannot Do Without!

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The money crunch has not brought down the demand for chocolates, according to recent survey. The financial crisis is a reality and people feeling the pinch in many parts of the world are cutting back on a lot of things to tide through the phase. However, there is one thing that seems to be in demand as always -chocolates! Sales have not dipped all through the recent years and experts believe that it would remain so in the coming years too. ...

Enzyme Behind Breast Cancer Mutations Discovered

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University of Minnesota researchers have identified a human enzyme responsible for causing DNA mutations found in the majority of breast cancers. The discovery of this enzyme - called APOBEC3B - may change the way breast cancer is diagnosed and treated. The findings from a team of researchers led by Reuben Harris, Ph.D., associate professor of biochemistry, molecular biology and biophysics and also a researcher at the Masonic Cancer Center, University of ...

10 Signs You're Working Too Hard

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Most of us would agree that few decades ago, life was much slower. Look at the scenario today, where workaholics dominate the society and offices. Smartphones and portable devices have made lives easier, no doubt. But it has also bought about a significant shift in our routines-like sending an important email while having lunch, or building invoices on your way back home. It's time for a reality check. The presence of more than 5 of the following signs is ...

New Scheme for Kids' Health Launched

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United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi has launched a new scheme for the health and welfare of children. "Children are the future of this country and their welfare is our prime concern. The health of children is directly linked to the well-being of the mother, for which the central and state governments have taken several measures," Sonia Gandhi said. Her remarks came at the launch of the government's pet scheme, Rashtriya Bal ...

Is Yo-Yo Dieting Deleterious for Your Heart?

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Weight cycling, is the frequent or periodic loss and regain of body weight. When the weight cycling is the result of dieting, it is often called 'yo-yo' dieting, which could potentially have some serious health implications. Scientists have warned older females that yo-yo dieting would do more harm to them than good. A recent study has revealed that women aged who are 50 years and older increased their susceptibility of having heart ailments, ...

Obesity Ups Risk of Gum Disease

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Scientists have identified an association between obesity and gum disease. Bodies of people who are overweight produce cytokines, proteins with inflammatory properties. These cytokines may directly injure the gum tissues or reduce blood flow to the gum tissues, thus promoting the development of gum disease." Half of the U.S. population age 30 and older is affected by gum disease-a chronic inflammatory infection that impacts the surrounding and supporting structures ...

Fish Oil may Benefit Dialysis Patients

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Omega 3 fatty acids may protect hemodialysis patients from sudden cardiac death. A study published Feb. 6 online in the journal iKidney International/i, which included 100 patients who died of sudden cardiac death during their first year of hemodialysis and 300 patients who survived, is the first to examine this question. Allon N. Friedman, M.D., associate professor of medicine in the Division of Nephrology at the Indiana University School of Medicine ...

Nine-Year-Old Girl Gives Birth

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A nine-year-old girl from Mexico has given birth and authorities are looking for the presumed father, say officials. The girl, identified as Dafne, gave birth by Cesarean section to a baby girl weighing 2.7 kilos (5.7 pounds) and measuring 50 centimeters (20 inches) on January 27 in a hospital in the western state of Jalisco. The girl was not seen by doctors during her pregnancy and was almost in labor when she arrived at the hospital, said Enrique ...

Study Says Alzheimer's Cases to Triple by 2050

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In the next 40 years, Alzheimer's disease cases in the US will nearly triple, says report. In 2010, there were just 4.7 million people with Alzheimer's disease in the United States. The researchers who made the projections attribute the predicted increase to the high numbers of "baby boomers" -- the especially large generation born after World War II -- who are now reaching old age. More than half of those with the disease by 2050, some seven ...

Sandwich Shop Chain, Pret, Responds Positively to Complaints About 'Virgin Mary' Crisps

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Responding to religious complaints, the sandwich shop chain, Pret A Manger, reacted quickly and took a positive step to protect people's religious sentiments, after complaints were received regarding their new product - the 'Virgin Mary' brand of crisps. The company has acted quickly to withdraw the new "Virgin Mary" brand of crisps from the market. The firm has a good presence in the UK with about 350 shops and recently had launched a new variety of ...

Breast Feeding Mothers to be Cautious About Milk-sharing Websites

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Medical experts have cautioned people about inherent risks related to sharing breast milk after the response of many thousands of mothers who have registered on milk sharing websites. Mothers who experience a problem with breastfeeding look to connect with websites offering help. For instance, The Facebook page 'Human Milk 4 Human Babies' has become popular as way to get to know contacts of wet nurses. The page is hugely popular and has attracted the ...

Brain Inflammation Behind 'Little House' Character's Blindness

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We always thought that Laura Ingalls Wilder's sister Mary, in the Little House on the Prairie Books, lost her sight due to the infamous scarlet fever as mentioned in the book. Looking at the symptoms mentioned in the book, scientists are of the opinion that it could be brain inflammation that caused the Character, Mary, in the book to go blind. To understand the reason behind Mary's blindness, researchers went through local newspapers, and letters and ...

UK Witnesses Fall in Child Epilepsy Rates

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A recent study has found good improvement in the rates of children being diagnosed with epilepsy in the last decade. The report is the result of analysis of GP records to evaluate whether the rate of children receiving treatment for epilepsy has changed over time. The research revealed a marked improvement in the number of children diagnosed with epilepsy by five years of age. Further, the annual rate of identification of new cases also decreased over ...

Onset of Graft-versus-host Disease in Men Receiving BMTs from Female Donors Predicted By Cells

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A clutch of cells that - if seen in a male patient's blood after receiving a brand-new immune system in the form of a bone-marrow transplant from a female donor - herald the onset of chronic graft-versus-host disease, or cGVHD was identified by Stanford University School of Medicine investigators. In this devastating syndrome, the patient's tissues come under a vicious and enduring assault by the transplanted cells. "The overwhelming majority of patients who ...

Men and Women are from Earth and Not from Mars

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For generations, popular writers think that men and women are so psychologically dissimilar they could hail from entirely different planets. But a new study shows that it's time for the Mars/Venus theories about the sexes to come back to Earth. From empathy and sexuality to science inclination and extroversion, statistical analysis of 122 different characteristics involving 13,301 individuals shows that men and women, by and large, do not fall into ...

Patients Play Important Role in Determining Outcomes Of A Disease: Study

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Patients with the motivation, knowledge, skills and confidence to manage their own health have better health outcomes and incur fewer health care costs when it comes to health care. Those are the findings of a study led by Judith Hibbard, a professor emerita in the Department of Planning, Public Policy and Management at the University of Oregon. Hibbard and co-authors found that patients with the lowest level of "activation"- that is, those most lacking in the ...

High Supplemental Calcium Intake may Increase Risk of Cardiovascular Disease Death in Men: Report

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According to a report, a high intake of supplemental calcium appears to be associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) death in men but not in women in a study of more 388,000 participants between the ages of 50 and 71 years. The report was published Online First by iJAMA Internal Medicine/i, a JAMA Network publication. Calcium supplementation has become widely used, especially among the elderly population, because of its proposed bone ...

Women may Benefit from Exposure to Sunshine

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A study has revealed that exposure to the sun may cut a woman's risk of rheumatoid arthritis. New research involving more than 200,000 women has pointed out that sunshine can reduce the risk of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) to a great extent. In their study, researchers evaluated exposure to the sun depending on where women lived and worked. Earlier research had revealed that people living in northern latitudes carry an elevated risk of RA, as well as other ...

Imaging Biomarker Predicts Response to Rapid Antidepressant: Study

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A pivotal role is played by the acetylcholine system in working memory, holding information in mind temporarily. Despite this it appears to act by influencing the processing of information rather than through memory. Imaging studies suggest that visual working memory performance can be enhanced by modulating acetylcholine-induced activity in the brain's visual processing area, called the visual cortex, when processing information that is important to the task. ...

Vibrating Pen can Alert You About Spelling or Grammar Mistakes

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A vibrating pen is being designed by a German company that is capable of picking errors in spelling or letter formation in real-time, by delivering a warning vibration to the writer's hand. Users can choose between two functions that are Calligraphy Mode - pointing out flaws of form and legibility or Orthography Mode - detecting orthographic and grammatical mistakes, the Daily Mail reported. Sensors built into the pen, which is at the prototype stage, ...

In 3rd Century BC, Love was a Lot Like Now

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A naughty looking, plump, winged baby with a bow and arrow: sounds like the illustration on a Valentine's Day card, right? Wrong: it's a two-thousand-year-old statue on show in New York. A new exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, "Changing Image of Eros, Ancient Greek God of Love, from Antiquity to Renaissance," demonstrates that love as we know it doesn't just last forever -- it's been around forever too. The centerpiece of the exhibit, ...

South Delhi Municipal Corporation Plans To Name Science Museum After Gang-rape Victim

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A science museum will be named after the young woman who died following her gang-rape in December. This decision was taken by the South Delhi Municipal Corporation. The museum, to be built in R.K. Puram in south Delhi, will help to perpetuate the memory of the 23-year-old whose trauma triggered widespread protests, Mayor Savita Gupta told IANS. "She battled for her life bravely in the hospital. We salute the brave girl," Gupta said. The ...

Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems Could Help Reduce Smoking: Researchers

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In 2003 electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS), or e-cigarettes were debuted in China. They have since become available globally, particularly through the Internet. They produce fewer toxins in the vapor for the smoker though they resemble traditional tobacco cigarettes. Still, these novel products have unknown long-term health and addiction consequences, are of varying nicotine content and delivery, and may appeal to nonusers and youth. ENDS have been banned by health ...

Amyloid Peptides are Harmful to the Blood Vessels In Alzheimer's Disease

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A team of researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College has discovered that in Alzheimer's disease, amyloid peptides are harmful to the blood vessels that supply the brain with blood. Thus accelerating cognitive decline by limiting oxygen-rich blood and nutrients. In their animal studies, the investigators reveal how amyloid- (and) #946; accumulates in blood vessels and how such accumulation and damage might be ultimately prevented. Their study, published ...

Country Shown Path to Healthcare By Sikkim

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In terms of area Sikkim is the second-smallest state in India after Goa. It is also the least populated in the country with just 600,000 people. Despite this, in some matters, this Himalayan state towers over others, leading the way where the rest of India falters. Among the most innovative schemes undertaken in this state is the Comprehensive Annual and Total Check-up for Healthy (CATCH) Sikkim. This programme is aimed at tracking the health status of people ...

Cancer Patients Asked to Fight Disease With Courage By Yuvraj Singh

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Indian cricketer Yuvraj Singh was recalling his close shave with death. He has asked cancer victims to fight with disease courageously. Known as a fighter, Yuvraj recalled his successful battle with cancer on Monday on the occasion of World's Cancer Day. He asked cancer patents to fight out with strength and courage for their survival. "Today is about survivorship, strength and courage, people who are going through it, today is about letting ...

10-foot Boat To Be Used By Swedish Pensioner Who Plans to Cross The Globe

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Sven Yrvind has always swum against the tide. When the 73-year-old Swedish sailor and adventurer was asked to give a talk in front of the Swedish king and queen, he refused because he wouldn't get paid. "They (the organisers) told me that doing it was considered an honour," he scoffed. The lecture went ahead a few months later after an oil millionaire stepped in and paid Yrvind, which means "whirlwind", his fee. But even then, he refused ...

Government Will Soon Unveil a New Strategy to Cut Child Mortality

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The health ministry has said that the government will soon unveil a "new road map" to address the issue of maternal and child health. And also seek better coordination among various ministries to reduce child mortality to 33 per thousand by 2017. "India is now looking beyond the UN Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of reducing child mortality rate (CMR) to 38 per thousand. The target in the 12th Five Year Plan is to reduce it to 33 per thousand by ...

Vision Secrets of Brain Unraveled

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The two areas of the brain responsible for our perception of orientation and shape is being identified by scientists. Using sophisticated imaging equipment at York Neuroimaging Centre (YNiC), the research team found that the two neighbouring areas of the cortex-each about the size of a 5p coin and known as human visual field maps-process the different types of visual information independently. The scientists, from the Department of Psychology at York ...

Researchers Reveal Mechanism to Halt Cancer Cell Growth

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Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI) have uncovered a technique to halt the growth of cancer cells, a discovery that led them to a potential new anti-cancer therapy. When deprived of a key protein, some cancer cells are unable to properly divide, a finding described in the cover story of the February issue of the iJournal of Cell Science/i. This research is supported in part by a grant from the National Institutes of Health. ...

Virginia Museum is Using CT Scan to Depict Egyptian Mummies

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To uncover the story behind one of the earliest surviving Egyptian mummies, a Virginia museum is using CT scan. This week, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond partnered with a medical imaging center to complete a CT scan on Tjeby (CHEH-bee), its 4,000-year-old mummy, in hopes of piecing together more information about the mummy itself and better understanding the early history of the mummification process. The information gathered would help ...

HIV-positive Patient Undergoes Successful Kidney Transplant

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A doctor revealed that a 30-year-old HIV-positive patient from Nigeria got a new lease of life after a kidney transplant at a private hospital. "Ben Agande (name changed), was bed-ridden due to kidney ailment. He was refused medical treatment at many hospitals due to the complex procedure, as transplant in HIV patients requires tight-rope walking," said Sunil Prakash, director of renal sciences and transplant centre at the B.L. Kapur Hospital. The patient ...

Research Provides a Nanomechanical Signature of Breast Cancer

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Using a cutting-edge tissue diagnostic device, researchers has determined one key difference: cancerous tissue is a mix of stiff and soft zones, whereas healthy tissue has uniform stiffness. The texture of breast cancer tissue differs from that of healthy tissue. This new finding may one day help improve breast cancer diagnosis and therapy by providing a unique nanomechanical signature of tumor tissue properties that indicates the potential for the cancer ...

Scientists Identify Key to Better Myeloma Treatments

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The gene essential for survival of antibody-producing cells is being identified by scientists. A finding that could lead to better treatments for diseases where these cells are out of control, such as myeloma and chronic immune disorders. The discovery that a gene called Mcl-1 is critical for keeping this vital immune cell population alive was made by researchers at Melbourne's Walter and Eliza Hall Institute. Associate Professor David Tarlinton, Dr ...

How Do Cells Communicate?

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To every aspect of the body's internal function, clear communication between cells is essential. But since cells can't talk, or send emails, how do they communicate? The answer, in a nutshell, is by dispatching signaling molecules that selectively bind to protein receptors on the outer surface of other cells with which they must "talk." This activates the tail end of such receptors inside the cell, initiating a cascade of enzymatic reactions, or signaling pathways ...

Stroke Risk High After Cannabis Use

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Young adults must know that cannabis can up the risk of stroke by more than double, a recent research and analysis of 160 stroke and mini-stroke victims aged between 18 and 55 has revealed. "This is the first case-controlled study to show a possible link to the increased risk of stroke from cannabis," said study leader, Auckland University Professor Alan Barber. Researchers said that strokes did develop hours following the use of cannabis. Cannabis was ...

Dad's Obesity may Increase His Children's Risk of Disease

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New research from Duke Medicine explains how a father's obesity is one factor that may influence his children's health and potentially raise their risk for diseases like cancer. The study, which appears Feb. 6 in the journal iBMC Medicine/i, is the first in humans to show that paternal obesity may alter a genetic mechanism in the next generation, suggesting that a father's lifestyle factors may be transmitted to his children. "Understanding the risks ...

Study Finds Anti-obesity Interventions Effective in Schools

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Findings announced from Kaiser Permanente revealed community-based efforts to change the environment are an effective way of encouraging more physical activity and nutrition among school-age children. Researchers examined a series of Kaiser Permanente community-based obesity prevention interventions in adults and children and found that the more effective obesity prevention interventions were those that were "high dose" - reaching large populations with greater ...