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Recent Discovery Helps Beat Cocaine Addiction

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Changing the brain loop could break the drug cycle and aid in cocaine addiction treatment, finds study. Scientists say the finding could provide a target for treatments to prevent or reverse addiction to the drug. Michigan State University neuroscientist A.J. Robison and colleagues say cocaine alters the nucleus accumbens, the brain's pleasure center that responds to stimuli such as food, sex and drugs. "Understanding what happens molecularly ...

Health Ministry Launches Special Screening to Detect Birth Defects in Children

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Special screening for early detection of birth defects in kids has been launched by scientists. Under the Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK), health screening and early intervention services will carried out to cover 30 common health conditions prevalent in children for early detection and free intervention and treatment under the National Rural Health Mission, a senior health ministry official said. An estimated 27 crore children in the age ...

Virtually Unknown Virus Responsible for Congenital Birth Defects

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A virtually ignored virus, that most of us carry, is thought to be the top cause of congenital birth defects. One in 750 children are born with, or develop, permanent disabilities such as hearing loss or brain damage as a result of CMV (cytomegalovirus) infection in the womb. Major research efforts are underway to combat this invidious disease. Researchers from Cardiff University and the La Jolla Institute, California, have discovered a previously unknown cellular ...

Drop in Breast Cancer Numbers, Reason Still a Mystery

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There is no clear evidence to confirm the link between the use of hormone replacement therapy and the fall in the number of new breast cancer cases, a new study suggests. The stats and time trends neither back up nor refute the claim, so no firm conclusions can be drawn, the authors in the last of a series of five critiques of the published data in three major studies on HRT said. A trio of studies - the Collaborative Reanalysis (CR); the Women's Health .���..

Victoria Beckham Spills the Beans on Her Anti-ageing Secret

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Hollywood star Victoria Beckham reveals her best kept secrets to keeping the skin fresh and youthful and also confesses ditching the self-tan. The mother of four told Hello! Magazine that she doesn't wear fake tan anymore, News.com.au reported. "Sometimes I've been turned orange but that's definitely a look from my past. Being overly tanned is very ageing and, dare I say it, a bit footballer's wife. Embrace your natural colour!" she said. Posh ...

New Sensor for Methylated DNA Developed

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A single molecule test for detecting methylated DNA has been developed by scientists. Methylation -- the addition of a methyl group of molecules to a DNA strand -- is one of the ways gene expression is regulated. The findings appear in the current issue of iScientific Reports/i (Nature Publishing Group). "While nanopores have been studied for genomic sequencing and screening analysis, this new assay can potentially circumvent the need for some of the current ...

Transplantation of Stem Cells Could Help Repair Erectile Dysfunction

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Stem cell transplantation cultivated on the surface of nanofibrous meshes could be a novel technique against erectile dysfunction (ED), say researchers. The study was conducted by a group of Korean scientists and will be awarded 3rd prize for best abstract in non-oncology research on the opening day of the congress. During their investigation, the group aimed to examine the differentiation of human mesenchymal stem cells cultivated on the surface ...

Narendra Modi Says Gujarat Has Country's Best Record in Reducing Malnutrition

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Narendra Modi - Gujarat Chief Minister said that the state had achieved the highest rate of reducing malnutrition in India. Responding to a question at the India Today conclave about his remarks on malnutrition in the state that had stirred a controversy, Modi said he had merely noted that malnutrition was not caused by poverty alone. In an interview last year to The Wall Street Journal, Modi had attributed his state's high rate of malnutrition to vegetarianism ...

New Software Improves Care of Aging Brain

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Researchers have developed novel medical records software which provides more personalized health care for older adult patients, a population at significant risk for mental health decline and disorders. A new study published in ieGEMs/i, a peer-reviewed online publication recently launched by the Electronic Data Methods Forum, unveils the enhanced Electronic Medical Record Aging Brain Care Software, an automated decision-support system that enables care coordinators ...

Surgery Benefits Men With Prostate Cancer

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In men with localised prostate cancer, surgery was found to offer better survival benefit than radiotherapy, finds study. The study won the second prize for best abstract in oncology at the 28th Annual EAU Congress which will open in Milan this Friday, 15 March. "The current gold standard management of localised prostate cancer is radical therapy, either as surgery or radiation therapy. This study suggests that surgery is likely superior to radiation ...

Prostate Cancer Lowers Libido

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In a recent study it was found that prostate cancer damages sex life. The study by the Macmillan Cancer Support charity suggested that rising cancer rates meant cases could double by 2030, the BBC reported. Yet many patients could be helped if more services were available on the NHS, it said. Erectile dysfunction is a potential side-effect of surgery, radiotherapy and hormone therapy used to treat the condition. More than ...

Blocking Cell Distress Signals can Ease Autism Symptoms: Study

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Symptoms of autism result from danger signaling by mitochondria, say researchers. The study, which presents a novel theory about the cause and potential treatment of autism, is being supported by one of Autism Speaks' first Suzanne and Bob Wright Trailblazer Awards (Autism Speaks is the world's leading autism science and advocacy organization). It is being conducted by Trailblazer researcher and mitochondrial medicine specialist Robert Naviaux, M.D., Ph.D., of ...

Inspiring Weight-loss Story of a Couple Who Shed 20st

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This is an inspiring story of a man who took up a challenge of fighting the bulge in a last bid effort to get his health back and save his marriage. His weight loss is an unbelievable 15st 12lbs. James was an inspiration to his wife, Joyce Quinn ,who also followed the strict diet to reduce weight to six dress sizes. Their teamwork is commendable and they were recently felicitated as the Slimming World's Couple of the Year. James became obese ...

The Negative Effects of Delayed Marriage

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A new study has revealed that men and women are tying the knot very late in life and there are many disadvantages to this trend. The University of Virginia's National Marriage Project discovered that the average age when men got married was 28.7 and 26.5 for women. The study also found there were high rates of depression and alcohol abuse among the unmarried lot. They also appeared a bit discontented with their lives as compared to their married peers. ...

Playing Video Games can Help Improve Your ' Searching ' Skills

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Playing shooting or driving games, even for a short period of time, can boost your ability to find a hidden target from other distractions, study shows. This is what researchers at the University of Toronto have shown in a new study. "Recent studies in different labs, including here at the University of Toronto, have shown that playing first-person shooter videogames can enhance other aspects of visual attention. But no one has previously demonstrated ...

Rare Condition Makes Woman See Everything Upside Down

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A 28-year old Serbian woman suffers from a rare brain disorder which makes her see everything upside down. Bojana Danilovic suffers from a rare condition known as spatial orientation phenomenon that makes her brain process images upside down. The condition makes her read papers upside down which she watches one TV that is balanced on its head while the rest of her family watches on another TV. Danilovic said that even doctors are stumped on why her brain ...

Boy Saves Infant's Life by Teaching Mum How to Perform CPR

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A 9-year old boy in Georgia, United States, saved the life of a two-month old baby by teaching the mother how to perform a CPR on the baby. Susanna Rohm found that her baby had gone limp and looked pale. After failing to locate her cell phone in panic, she rushed out of the house and found two boys, Ethan Wilson and his friend Rocky Hurt, playing across the street and she yelled at them to ask their parents to call 911. While Ethan went inside to alert emergency ...

Acupuncture can Help Regulate Stress Hormone Levels

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A new study published in the Journal of Endocrinology reveals that acupuncture can be used to regulate high levels of hormones caused due to stress. Researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC) conducted the study on four groups of rats over a period of 10 days. The first group was stressed and received acupuncture at a spot known as 'Zusanli'. The second group was stressed and received a sham acupuncture treatment near the tail, the third ...

FDA Probes Safety of New Class of Diabetic Drugs

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The US Food and Drug Administration revealed that it will be conducting an investigation to check whether a newly approved class of type II diabetes drugs increased the risk of pancreatitis and the development of precancerous changes in the pancreas. The class of drugs is known as incretin mimetics and some of the drugs currently being investigated by the FDA include Merck's Januvia and Janumet, Danish-based Novo Nordisk's Victoza and Bristol-Myers Squibb's Byetta ...

Brain Scans can Help Researchers Know What You are Thinking

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Reading a person's mind may seem something out of a science fiction story but researchers at Cornell University took a big step towards turning it into reality after stating that they are able to know exactly what a person is thinking by analyzing brain scans. The researchers revealed that they are able to decode images from the brain by studying brain scans, which allows them to identify what memory the person is recalling, the numbers they may have seen and even ...

A Decade After: SARS Outbreak That Changed Hong Kong

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The SARS epidemic changed the landscape in Hong Kong almost irreversibly. With its bustling streets, shops and busy restaurants, little suggests that ten years ago Amoy Gardens was on the front line of Hong Kong's battle with a virus that caused a global health crisis. The estate became a beleaguered symbol of the city's struggle to contain an outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), named and declared a "worldwide health threat" by the ...

A Universal Shot Against the Flu Possible Via 2-Pronged Immune Cell Approach

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The Centers for Disease Control estimates that seasonal epidemics of influenza result in nearly 36,000 deaths annually in the United States. Current vaccines against the influenza virus elicit an antibody response specific for proteins on the outside of the virus, specifically the hemagglutinin (HA) protein. Yearly vaccines are made by growing the flu virus in eggs. The viral envelope proteins, including HA, are cleaved off and used as the vaccine, but ...

Greater Emphasis Being Placed on Preserving Fertility Among Childhood Cancer Survivors

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With the rising rates of successful cancer treatments among children, the focus has now shifted towards ensuring better quality of life following the treatment with a greater emphasis being placed on taking steps to preserve the fertility of children as many of the cancer treatments can lead to infertility. Many cancer treatments can lead to infertility, but there are few methods to preserve the fertility of children who have not entered puberty. Spermatogonial ...

Direct and Indirect Costs of Managing Musculoskeletal Disorders Explained By Study

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According to a study, the value of medical treatment can be far greater than the cost of the treatment. The study can be found in BioMed Central's open access journal iCost Effectiveness and Resource Allocation/i. Improved physical function leads to measurable gains in employment, improved household income, and fewer days missed from work. This improvement in employment is matched by a reduction in the necessity of disability benefits. Analysis of data from ...

Catheter-based Varicose Vein Treatments More Cost-effective: Study

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According to a study at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, treating varicose veins with vein-stripping surgery is associated with higher costs than closing the veins with heat. "Cost-effectiveness is an important factor to consider when comparing different treatments for varicose vein disease," says Judith C. Lin, M.D., vascular surgeon and lead author of the study. "And these two types of treatment have similar effectiveness." The study will be presented ...

Lower Severity Of Symptoms of Fibromyalgia Reported By Low And Moderate Drinkers Of Alcohol

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According to a study, low and moderate drinkers of alcohol reported lower severity of symptoms of fibromyalgia than teetotallers. The study can be found in BioMed Central's open access journal iArthritis Research (and) Therapy/i. Too much alcohol reversed this effect. The chronic pain of fibromyalgia is thought to affect one in 20 people worldwide but there is no known cause or cure. It often goes hand in hand with fatigue and sleep problems, headaches, depression ...

Study: Computer Models Predict How Patients Will Respond to HIV Drugs

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Results of a study demonstrate that computer models can predict how HIV patients whose drug therapy is failing will respond to a new treatment. The results were published online in the iJournal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy/i. Crucially for patients in poorer countries, the models do not require the results of expensive drug resistance tests to make their predictions. The study also showed that the models were able to identify alternative drug combinations ...

Molecule's Structure Reveals New Therapeutic Opportunities for Rare Diabetes: Researchers

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Researchers have determined the complete three-dimensional structure of a protein called HNF-4 (and) #945;. HNF-4 (and) #945; controls gene expression in the liver and pancreas, switching genes on or off as needed. The researchers are from the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute (Sanford-Burnham). People with mature onset diabetes of the young (MODY1), a rare form of the disease, have inherited mutations in the HNF-4 (and) #945; protein. This first-ever look at HNF-4 (and) #945;'s full structure, ...

An Antioxidant Can Help Prevent Neuron Loss in Schizophrenia and Depression

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In schizophrenia and depression gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) deficits have been implicated. In schizophrenia, deficits have been particularly well-described for a subtype of GABA neuron, the parvalbumin fast-spiking interneurons. The activity of these neurons is critical for proper cognitive and emotional functioning. It now appears that parvalbumin neurons are particularly vulnerable to oxidative stress, a factor that may emerge commonly in development, particularly ...

Pharma Sector Litigation Thriving in India

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A leading attorney has said that India is a "hip and happening country" when it comes to litigation in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors. "I can definitely say that India is a happening country in the pharmaceutical and biotechnological sector. People are looking at India as a hip and happening country in these sectors. Lot of litigations and decisions are coming out in India in these sectors," said Sanchita Ganguly of S. Majumdar and Co. at the national ...

Researchers Say Fertilizers Could Help Tackle Nutritional Deficiency in African Country

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Researchers have said that enriching crops by adding a naturally-occurring soil mineral to fertilisers could potentially help to reduce disease and premature death in the African country of Malawi. An international study led by academics at The University of Nottingham has shown that dietary deficiency of the mineral selenium - which plays a vital role in keeping the immune system healthy and fighting illness - is likely to be endemic among the Malawi population. ...

Researchers: Sports Teams Can Learn A Lot from the Manufacturing Industry

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Could a sports teams learn something from the manufacturing industry? According to Timothy Chan of the University of Toronto (U of T) and Douglas Fearing of the Harvard Business School they could learn plenty. Using statistics from the 2012 Major League Baseball season, Chan and Fearing found that positional flexibility - the ability of a player to play multiple positions - is valuable, responsible for up to 15 per cent of the team's runs, as was the case with ...

Therapeutic Targets to Alter Inflammation, Type 2 Diabetes Revealed By BUSM Study

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New research reveals that B cells regulate obesity-associated inflammation and type 2 diabetes through two specific mechanisms. The research is from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM). The study, published in the iProceedings of the National Academies of Sciences/i, indicates the importance of continuing to explore B cells as a therapeutic target to treat these diseases. Barbara Nikolajczyk, PhD, associate professor of microbiology at BUSM, is the study's senior ...

Researchers: Neural 'Synchrony' may be Key to Understanding How the Human Brain Perceives

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Researchers have not been able to fully crack the brain's "neural code despite many remarkable discoveries in the field of neuroscience during the past several decades. The neural code details how the brain's roughly 100 billion neurons turn raw sensory inputs into information we can use to see, hear and feel things in our environment. In a perspective article published in the journal iNature Neuroscience/i on Feb. 25, 2013, biomedical engineering professor ...

Radiation can be Reduced While Maintaining High Quality in CT Colonography: Study

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A new study has found it's possible to maintain high-quality CT colonography diagnostic images while reducing the radiation dose. The study was led by a Rhode Island Hospital researcher. This is important as the use of CT colonography, or virtual colonoscopy, becomes more widely used for colorectal cancer screenings. Through his research, Kevin J. Chang, M.D., of the department of diagnostic imaging, found that decreasing the tube voltage would not negatively ...

Skin Microbiome And Its Impacts On Our Body

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The human skin is home to countless microorganisms that we can't see. These microbes help define who we are. Our invisible passengers contribute to our health in numerous ways including educating our immune system, protecting us from pathogens, and mediating skin disorders. They are also known as the skin microbiome. In a new study, researchers investigated how the skin microbiome is transmitted between players in a contact sport, using roller derby as their model system. ...

Chinese Village Officials to Publish List of Contraceptives Used by Every Family in the Village

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The decision of local officials in a village in southern China to publish a list of each family's preferred method of contraception has outraged the villagers. The list, put up on a bulletin board in a village in the city of Dongguan, gave the names and ages of married couples and detailed whether local women had been sterilized or whether they used condoms or contraceptive coils. It was removed after Chinese media visited the village this week, the ...

Johns Hopkins Researchers Develop New Procedure for Treating Potentially Blinding Vein Narrowing

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A new procedure developed by Johns Hopkins researchers in treating pseudotumor cerebri, which is caused by a dangerous narrowing of a vein located at the base of the brain, is being reported to be more effective than current treatments. The Johns Hopkins team's latest study, to be published in the iJournal of Neuro-Ophthalmology/i online March 14, is believed to be the first to show how directly lowering pressure inside the vein alleviates the condition and ���...

Researchers Identify Unique Monoclonal Antibody That can Help Anti-Cancer Agents Target Protein Inside Cancer Cell

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A unique monoclonal antibody that can help anticancer agents to effectively reach inside a cancer cell and target proteins vital for the survival of the cell has been discovered by American researchers. Scientists from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Eureka Therapeutics have collaborated to create the new human monoclonal antibody, which targets a protein associated with many types of cancer and is of great interest to cancer researchers. Unlike ...

Researchers Exploring Ways to Develop Vaccine to Treat Leading Infectious Cause of Congenital Birth Defects

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Researchers are currently developing a new vaccine to treat cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection, which is the leading infectious cause of congenital birth defects, affecting one in every 750 children born who develop permanent disabilities such as brain damage or hearing loss. Researchers from the La Jolla Institute for Allergy (and) Immunology and Cardiff University in Wales (UK) have discovered a previously unknown cellular mechanism that could prove critical in creating ...

New Advance may Allow Scientists to Tap Ancient Medical Knowledge in Development of Modern Drugs

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A new study published in the Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling reports on a new advance that can help overcome the obstacles that scientists face in using the potential of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and Ayurvedic medicine in developing new and effective drugs. Andreas Bender and colleagues explain that TCM has made key contributions to modern medicine. In the world's largest international clinical trial, for instance, scientists concluded that ...

West Bengal University to Offer Fellowship in Translational Medicine

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The West Bengal University of Health Sciences (WBUHS) has announced that it will be offering fellowship in translation science, making it the first university in the country to transform lab-based research into application at the clinical level. "This is a fellowship which is a first of its kind in the country.There are only five to six institutes in the world that offer such courses or fellowships. "The fellowship titled 'Regenerative Medicine and Translational ...