Medindia Health News

Quiz on Chemotherapy Drugs
Greek Coffee may be Key to Longevity
World's First Real-time, Electronic Tool to Enhance Diagnosis of Pneumonia Developed
Health Care Aid to Depend on Tax Returns
Now Computers can Read Emotions Through Lip - Reading!
Food Combinations that Affect Your Well Being
Scientists Create Map of Shortcuts Between All Human Genes
Over Indulgence can Shorten Lives
Horsemeat Lowers Cholesterol Levels
Hip or Knee Replacement Surgery Improves Sexual Function
Facebook: New Method to Treat Depression
Saudi Arabia may Allow Women to Drive
Online Libraries Have Caught the Readers' Fancy
Aid Eye Health Through Nutrition
Children Avoiding Scary Situations may Develop Anxiety Disorders
Hypertension Could Up Alzheimer's Disease Risk
Skimmed Milk Does Not Curb Toddler Obesity
Better Health Care With One Form
Online Public Access to Statistics on Heart Surgeries and Surgeons Performance
European Approval for Eye Care Drug Jetrea
Man Born Without Penis to be Operated for a New Penis
Low Risk of Death Among Obese Heart Patients
Poor Countries Show Impressive Progress in Eradicating Poverty
Cytoskeletal Dysregulation Underlies Buruli Ulcer Formation: Research
Researchers Unearth The Mysterious GRIN3A and the Cause of Schizophrenia

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Chemotherapy involves the administration of medications to fight cancer. Test your knowledge on chemotherapeutic medications by taking this quiz.

Greek Coffee may be Key to Longevity

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A cup of boiled Greek coffee holds the key to long life, say scientists. Now, researchers investigating cardiovascular health believe that a cup of boiled Greek coffee holds the clue to the elderly islanders' good health. Only 0.1 percent of Europeans live to be over 90, yet on the Greek island of Ikaria, the figure is 1 percent. This is recognized as one of the highest longevity rates anywhere - and the islanders tend to live out their longer lives in good ...

World's First Real-time, Electronic Tool to Enhance Diagnosis of Pneumonia Developed

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Intermountain Medical Center researchers have developed the first real-time electronic screening tool to identify patients with pneumonia. Pneumonia is the most common infectious cause of death in developed countries. It kills more than 60,000 Americans each year, and results in nearly 1.1 million hospitalizations. The new tool works seamlessly with the hospital's computerized medical screening and diagnosis technology that physicians are already ...

Health Care Aid to Depend on Tax Returns

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Income tax returns for 2012 come with implications related to health care. The returns a person files will be the chief factor to determine his eligibility for federal assistance when buying health insurance through the new state health exchange which will operate from 2014. According to the federal Affordable Care act all Americans are required to buy health insurance or face tax penalties. There will be no change for who are covered ...

Now Computers can Read Emotions Through Lip - Reading!

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Malaysian researchers have developed a computer that has the ability to decode human emotions by studying lip pattern. Karthigayan Muthukaruppan and his colleagues of the Manipal International University in Selangor, Malaysia, have created a system using a genetic algorithm to correlate irregular ellipse- fitting equations to the shape that the human mouth takes on while displaying different emotions. The upper and the lower lips of the mouth ...

Food Combinations that Affect Your Well Being

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Combining the foods to give you the optimum nutritional value is the key to healthy eating.

Scientists Create Map of Shortcuts Between All Human Genes

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A map of gene shortcuts to simplify the hunt for disease causing genes has been created by scientists. Some diseases are caused by single gene mutations. Current techniques for identifying the disease-causing gene in a patient produce hundreds of potential gene candidates, making it difficult for scientists to pinpoint the single causative gene. The investigation, spearheaded by Yuval Itan, a postdoctoral fellow in the St. Giles Laboratory of Human ...

Over Indulgence can Shorten Lives

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The holiday season may be a good time to eat, drink and have a ball but over indulgence can peel several years off one's life. According to a recent article published in the BMJ, smoking, consuming red meat, having a couple of drinks and watching television excessively can take away 30 minutes from each day of our lives that we indulge in. On the other hand, taking just one drink, eating lots of fruits and vegetables and exercising ...

Horsemeat Lowers Cholesterol Levels

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Horsemeat consumption was found to improve cholesterol and iron levels, find scientists. Horsemeat is very high in iron, with one 150g portion providing up to a half of the daily-recommended intake, and very low in saturated fats, which are associated with high cholesterol, said the researchers from the University of Milan. In fact, they have discovered that horse has some of the health-boosting qualities that have been associated with fish, and ...

Hip or Knee Replacement Surgery Improves Sexual Function

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Sexual function was found to be improved after total hip (THR) or total knee replacement (TKR) surgery in patients with osteoarthritis, say researchers. In the study, 147 patients under age 70, scheduled for primary THR or TKR, agreed to participate in a study requiring the completion of questionnaires prior to surgery, at six months post surgery, and at one year post surgery��. Sixty-five percent of patients returned all three surveys. The group ...

Facebook: New Method to Treat Depression

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Experts say that seeing old Facebook photos and reading old comments can help treat depression. Scientists already know that reminiscent therapy is helpful for older people with memory loss. Now the University wants to do a bigger study to confirm its findings, which could suggest Facebook can help treat mental health issues such as anxiety and depression, the Daily Mirror reports. Dr Alice Good, who led the new study, said scientists found a ...

Saudi Arabia may Allow Women to Drive

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In Saudi Arabia, a human rights group has pressed the Shura (Consultative) Council to launch a debate on the right of women to drive. The move by the Saudi Committee for Human Rights is based on a study supported by 3,000 Saudi men and women from various parts of the country. They have called for an open debate to allow women to drive 'in accordance with religious and social norms', Gulf News reports. Under the by-laws, the Shura Council ...

Online Libraries Have Caught the Readers' Fancy

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When was the last time you visited a library? Browsed through the hundreds of titles and finally borrowed a book that evoked your interest of reading. Online libraries that promise to offer nearly the same experience have caught the readers' fancy and are rekindling a lost love. The online library system works like your conventional library. Once you register, you can browse and choose a book to read, which will be delivered to you within 24 hours, ...

Aid Eye Health Through Nutrition

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Experts at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) says that it is possible to aid eye health through nutrition and supplements. Research by the National Eye Institute (NEI) has shown that high levels of antioxidants and zinc, in the form of a nutritional supplement tablet, reduced the risk of advanced age-related macular degeneration (AMD). "AMD is the leading cause of blindness in older adults," said Cynthia Owsley, Ph.D., professor and vice ...

Children Avoiding Scary Situations may Develop Anxiety Disorders

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A new study has found that children who avoid scary situations are likely to have anxiety disorders. The researchers developed two eight-question surveys - the Children's Avoidance Measure Parent Report and the Children's Avoidance Measure Self Report��. The questionnaires ask details about children's avoidance tendencies, for instance, in addressing parents, "When your child is scared or worried about something, does he or she ask to do it later?" It ...

Hypertension Could Up Alzheimer's Disease Risk

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Hypertension earlier in life may increase the risk of Alzheimer's disease, suggests study. Dr. Karen Rodrigue, assistant professor in the UT Dallas Center for Vital Longevity (CVL), was lead author on a study that looked at whether people with both hypertension and a common gene associated with risk of Alzheimer's disease (the APOE-4 gene carried by about 20 percent of the population) had more build-up of the brain plaque (amyloid protein) associated with ...

Skimmed Milk Does Not Curb Toddler Obesity

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Drinking skimmed or semi-skimmed milk does not prevent toddlers from gaining excess weight, finds study. Researchers trawled through data from a long-term probe into the health of 10,700 children born in 2001. Parents or caregivers were asked about milk consumption when the infant was two and were questioned again two years later, when the child was again weighed and measured. Overweight or obesity was widespread: 30.1 percent of the ...

Better Health Care With One Form

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The time spent in waiting rooms of physician's offices may soon be cut short by a simple health care reform in Michigan. Physicians in Michigan have been working for the past year with policy makers on legislation for the insurance companies, to work with the Health Insurance Commissioner, to develop a single form for prior authorization. At present most prior authorization forms ask for almost identical information in unique formats by the ...

Online Public Access to Statistics on Heart Surgeries and Surgeons Performance

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The Society for Cardiothoracic Surgery (SCTS) has announced that the statistics on the performance of heart surgeons and the success rate of surgeries would soon be made available to the public. In an initiative to increase the transparency of heart surgery procedures, the society has decided to launch a new website, Blue Book Online, open to public access. Patients would now be able to go through the performance of doctors, success rate of different surgical procedures ...

European Approval for Eye Care Drug Jetrea

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Pharmaceutical company, ThromboGenics, has received the green signal from the European Commission for its drug, Jetrea (ocriplasmin). Jetrea is used in treating vitreomacular traction (VMT), an age related disorder in the eye. VMT causes holes in the macula, an important area in the retina responsible for vision. It is estimated that 250,000-300,000 patients in Europe alone suffer from this condition and surgery at an advanced stage is the major treatment ...

Man Born Without Penis to be Operated for a New Penis

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Andrew Wardle, from Stalybridge, Greater Manchester, was born without penis and a urinary bladder outside the body. This rare condition affects only one in 20 million men. Specialists from University College London have agreed to give him his manhood by grafting a penis made from the skin of his arm. Previously as a child, Mr. Wardle had to undergo 15 surgeries due to many kidney problems and to build a tube from the bladder for him to urinate. The ...

Low Risk of Death Among Obese Heart Patients

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In a recent research, scientists have come up with strange results that obese people with heart disease have lower risk of death than those with normal weight. This finding contradicts the common belief that obesity increases the risk of heart ailments and death. Researchers from University College London analyzed the health conditions of 4400 heart patients. It was found that patients with high body mass index, indicating obesity, were more likely to survive when ...

Poor Countries Show Impressive Progress in Eradicating Poverty

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A recent study by Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) has revealed that many developing and poor countries are progressing at an impressive rate in reducing poverty. The study measured the poverty using a new scale, Multidimensional Poverty Index, or MPI, which considered factors other than income like education, health and sanitation. Out of the 22 countries included in the study, Nepal, Rwanda and Bangladesh performed the best in eradicating ...

Cytoskeletal Dysregulation Underlies Buruli Ulcer Formation: Research

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Buruli ulcers are open skin lesions caused when myobacterium ulcerans infects the skin and subcutaneous tissues and secretes a lipid toxin, mycolactone. In this issue of the iJournal of Clinical Investigation/i, researchers led by Caroline Demangel at the Pasteur Institue in Paris investigated the molecular actions of mycolactone and found that it dysregulates the cellular skeleton (cytoskeleton) through activation of a protein known as N-WASP. They found that ...

Researchers Unearth The Mysterious GRIN3A and the Cause of Schizophrenia

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Psychiatrists have been hunting for substances made by the body that might accumulate in abnormally high levels to produce the symptoms associated with schizophrenia since the 1960s. In particular, there was a search for chemicals that might be related to the hallucinogens phencyclidine (PCP) or lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), which could explain the emergence of psychotic symptoms in schizophrenia. This "auto-intoxication" hypothesis led investigators on a ...