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Study Reveals a New Gene Mutation That may Cause Diabetes

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Study shows that a single gene mutation may lead to development of type 1 diabetes and other autoimmune diseases. The research began when Marc Donath, M.D., endocrinologist and researcher at the University Hospital Basel in Switzerland, discovered an interesting pattern of autoimmune disease within the family of one of his patients, a 26-year-old male who had recently been diagnosed with T1D. The patient showed an uncommonly strong family history of ...

Quiz on Probiotics

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Though probiotics have been a part of our diet since ancient times, their use as medicines has been relatively recent. Test your knowledge on probiotics by taking this quiz.

Flip of Molecular Switch Turns Old Brain Young

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Researchers at Yale have found a new way to turn an aged brain young. The flip of a single molecular switch helps create the mature neuronal connections that allow the brain to bridge the gap between adolescent impressionability and adult stability. Now, the Yale School of Medicine researchers have reversed the process, recreating a youthful brain that facilitated both learning and healing in the adult mouse. Scientists have long known that ...

Weight Loss, Diet Key to Healthy Life

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The effects of obesity can be counteracted by diet and active lifestyle, suggests new study. Epidemiologists estimate that about 80 percent of the most common diseases are linked to severe overweight and obesity and a sedentary lifestyle. Obese people are at an increased risk for cardiovascular diseases, vascular diseases, hypertension, diabetes and cancer. This lowers their life expectancy. The links between body weight, lifestyle ...

Healthy Beverage Practises for Children may Need Extra Support

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Extra efforts may be needed to inculcate healthy beverage choices among children. Support is needed in child care centers to help meet existing water policies and new water requirements included in the 2010 Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act, according to a study published by the Yale Rudd Center for Food Policy (and) Obesity. The study, published in the March/April 2013 issue of the iJournal of Nutrition Education and Behavior/i, is the first to document availability ...

US Catholics Support Gay Marriages

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US Catholics support gay marriages on a much larger margin than Americans, despite being forbidden by the Church, a new poll reveals. The Quinnipiac University poll found 54 percent of Catholics support same-sex marriage while just 38 percent are opposed, compared to a 47-43 percent margin among all American voters. Both margins represent a reversal from the 36-55 percent opposition among all voters the group found as recently as July 2008. "Catholic ...

Secret to Happiness Lies in a Peptide

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The release of hypocretin peptide is high in people who were happy and low when they were sad, say UCLA scientists. The finding suggests that boosting hypocretin could elevate both mood and alertness in humans, thus laying the foundation for possible future treatments of psychiatric disorders like depression by targeting measureable abnormalities in brain chemistry. In addition, the study measured for the first time the release of another peptide, ...

New Hearing Aids to Distinguish Between Speech and Background Noises

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New research striving to develop new hearing aids that distinguish between background noises and speech. Conventional hearing aids amplify both speech and noise indiscriminately so they don't make it easy to distinguish meaningful signals, such as speech, from background noise. To overcome this barrier, researchers from the Universities of Southampton and Cambridge will use knowledge generated from neuronal brainstem recordings to design novel signal ...

Prickly Heat

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The discomfort from prickly heat is unimaginable - but so simple to avoid and even easier to cure.

Risk Factor for Heart Failure Among Kidney Dialysis Patients Identified

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In patients with kidney failure undergoing dialysis, carbamylation protein was found to contribute to heart disease risk, say researchers. A blood test to measure carbamylated albumin protein can help clinicians better gauge the effectiveness of dialysis and identify patients at risk of cardiac complications. The findings additionally suggest the need for further investigation to determine if therapy with supplemental amino acids could help to prevent the carbamylation process. ...

Food Poisoning For A Dinner At The 'World's Best Restaurant'

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Diners at the Danish restaurant, known to be the 'World's Top Restaurant' come down with a nasty food poisoning. The two-Michelin-star Noma restaurant in Copenhagen prides itself on dishes like pike perch and cabbages or wild duck and pear but in February its delights left 63 punters and some staff members vomiting or suffering from diarrhoea, health officials said Friday. The diners at Noma, which grabbed the number one spot in Restaurant magazine's ...

Self Confidence - Key to Workplace Success

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Self-confidence is the key to workplace success, says a new study. Confidence in yourself helps you make better decisions at workplace, handle stress better and cope with peer pressure single-handedly. A recent study in Melbourne claims that self-confidence is the key determinant to workplace success. This study interviewed 100 professional staff in New York, Melbourne and Toronto, and discovered that there was a strong co-relation between self-confidence ...

New Kitchen Gardens Get an A+

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Schools encourage children to grow and eat their own produce - an initiative to adopt healthy eating habits. Through community-based kitchen garden programs, particularly those with dedicated cooking components, schools are successfully introducing students to healthier foods. In a new study released in the March/April 2013 issue of the iJournal of Nutrition Education and Behavior/i, researchers found that growing and then cooking the foods that kids grew ...

Sugar Rush- Decoded

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With the increasing focus on diet and nutrition due to weight loss fads making rounds, we all seem to be looking up food guides and diet on the Internet. Sugar is among the biggest culprits of weight gain and numerous studies and researches now suggest that sugar could be responsible for various other health issues. A sugar rush, also known as a sugar high, is that amazing surge of instant energy you get when you consume a sugary substance. This sugar rush ...

Incurable Cancer Tumor Development Blocked in a Mouse Model

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Scientists at the UT Southwestern Medical Center succeeded in inhibiting tumor development in a mouse model of an incurable human cancer. "To my knowledge, this is the first time that a mouse model of a genetically defined malignant human cancer has been generated in which the formation of the tumor from beginning to end can be monitored and in which blocking the pathway cures the mouse of the tumor," said Dr. Luis Parada, chair of the department of developmental ...

New Discovery Opens Up Possibilities to Prevent Premature Birth

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Scientists figure out that a key gene which may prevent early labor, is switched off by the inflammation of the uterus during labor, opening up new treatments for the prevention of premature births. In the UK premature birth affects roughly one in 10 deliveries and complications arising from pre-term birth are a leading cause of deaths amongst new-born babies. Babies that survive going into labour too soon are at an increased risk of developing long-term medical ...

Marriage may Not be 'Healthy' for All

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A new study claims that marriage may not be as good for health as presumed earlier. Researchers made two discoveries that explain why: First, marriage provides less protection against mortality as health deteriorates, even though it does seem to benefit those who are in excellent health. Secondly, married people tend to overestimate how healthy they are, compared to others. "We believe marriage is still good for the health of some people, but it is ...

Superdrug Could Prevent Cancer, Alzheimer's Disease

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A new class of superdrug invented by an Australian scientist could prevent cancer, Alzheimer's disease. What's more, Professor David Sinclair said that his drugs have the potential to help some people enjoy a healthy life until the age of 150. However, this needs further research. The researcher explains how the drugs have the ability to switch on the body's defenses against ageing, News.com.au reported. Three of the drugs are in human ...

Brisk Walking Benefits Stroke Patients

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Stroke survivors can have a speedy recovery with regular brisk walks, suggest researchers. A three-month study found outdoor walking three times a week boosted endurance and resting heart rate, the BBC reported. Those taking part were able to walk independently or with a cane but researchers said many stroke survivors lack energy and fear falling. A stroke charity said other exercises could help those unable to walk. It is ...

Caffeine Boosts Memory of Bees

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Caffeine was found to improve a honeybee's memory and could help the plant recruit more bees to spread its pollen. The researchers showed through tests that honeybees feeding on a sugar solution containing caffeine, which occurs naturally in the nectar of coffee and citrus flowers, were three times more likely to remember a flower's scent than those feeding on just sugar. Study leader Dr Geraldine Wright, Reader in Neuroethology at Newcastle University, ...

Maternal Obesity Ups Wheezing Risk

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Children of obese mothers are four times more likely to have frequent wheezing, compared to children of mothers weighing a normal weight, states study. Researchers from the Centre for Research in Environmental Epidemiology (CREAL) assessed whether obesity in mothers increases the risk of their children having frequent wheezing, a symptom associated with susceptibility to asthma during infancy that manifests as sharp, whistling sounds when breathing. During ...

Report Says Coal-fired Power Plants Making Europeans Sick

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In European Union, emissions from coal-fired power plants contribute to 18,000 premature deaths a year, reveals report from the Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL). The 46-page report titled "The Unpaid Health Bill", says such power plants are a key contributor to air pollution, dubbed an "invisible killer" and a major public health threat by medical experts. Figures published in the report blame the plants for more than 18,200 premature deaths, ...

Fatty Acid Compound Could Lead to Flu Drug

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A compound derived from fats present in fish oils was found to prevent death in influenza-virus-infected mice, say researchers. The study offers a promising strategy for the treatment of patients with severe influenza virus infections. "Given the potential for future lethal pandemics, effective drugs are needed for the treatment of severe influenza, such as that caused by H5N1 viruses," says senior study author Yumiko Imai of Akita University. "We have identified ...

Lack of Aspirin Before Heart Operation Linked With Death Risk

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Patients who were not given aspirin before artery-clearing coronary angioplasty were found to have a significantly higher in-hospital death rate, shows research. Aspirin use before angioplasty is a Class I recommendation of the American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association, the highest level of evidence for ACC/AHA guidelines. Aspirin has well-documented anti-platelet activity in reducing the risk of cardiac events. Researchers ...

Weight Loss may Prevent Osteoarthritis

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In obese patients, weight loss may prevent and alleviate osteoarthritis symptoms, states study published in iJournal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons/i (JAAOS). According to the article, obesity actually may trigger the biomechanical and inflammatory changes that cause osteoarthritis, and the pain and loss of mobility associated with the condition. "There's a clear link between obesity and osteoarthritis, and the link is both from ...

Mice Grafted With Human Brain Cells Show Improved Learning Ability

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In a recent research, scientists had grafted glia cells, a type of human brain cells, into the brains of baby mice and found that the implanted human cells developed inside the brains of the mice and made them smarter. The mice with mutated brain cells were found to learn to escape traps at a faster rate when compared with their counterparts with normal brain. Astrocytes, a type of glial cells, were initially thought to be mere support cells without transporting ...

Investigators Figure Out How We Taste Sweetness and Bitterness

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A team of investigators from nine institutions has shed light on how cells transmit taste information to the brain for three out of the five primary taste types, sweet, bitter, and umami. They have discovered how ATP - the body's main fuel source- is released as the neurotransmitter from sweet, bitter, and umami, or savory, taste bud cells. The CALHM1 channel protein, which spans a taste bud cell's outer membrane to allow ions and molecules in and out, ...

Family Friend Reveals That 'Pregnant' Duchess Kate 'Feeling Great'

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A family friend has revealed that the Duchess of Cambridge, whose morning sickness is under control, is looking and feeling lovely as she prepares for the July birth of her first child with Prince William. In recent weeks the royal mom-to-be has happily embraced her new curves and is showing off her growing belly at engagements in England and Switzerland, Us magazine reported. A family friend told Us magazine that the 31-year-old royal is absolutely ...

Internet Search Engines Hold the Potential to Detect Unnoticed Side Effects of Drugs

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Internet search engines may hold the potential to track harmful effects of drugs, reports a recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association. Most drugs have certain side effects and some of the effects present themselves only when used in combination with other drugs. While some of the rare effects are detected only after it is available in the market and used by large number of people. Hence, some adverse effects are often missed ...

Fake Nurse Pleads Guilty and Gets a Suspended Sentence for Two Years

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Denise Stewart, a former healthcare assistant who posed as a registered nurse for six years has been found guilty of eight charges of fraud, deception and forgery. Judge Jeremy Carey criticized Stewart for breaching the trust. He imposed an imprisonment for 20 months and suspended his sentence for 2 years. Denise Stewart had used the identity of a nurse, Amaya Lloyd-Johnson who had moved to Canada without informing the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC). ...

Concentration Can be Improved by Chewing Gums

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A latest study published in the British Journal of Psychology, suggests that chewing gums can improve your concentration. Researchers from the University of Cardiff conducted the study on 38 volunteers who were split into two groups. The participants were give the task of identifying odd and even numbers from a list that was read out to them for 30 minutes. The team reported that participants who had taken the test without chewing gum initially performed ...

Health of Many Affected Following Street Spice Food Festival

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An outbreak of Salmonella has been confirmed following the Street Spice Food festival held in NewCastle's Times Square from February 28 to March 2. The event, arranged in aid of Brain Tumour UK, involved 16 businesses and nearly 12,000 people attended the festival. According to Newcastle City Council and the Health Protection Agency, preliminary tests on four people taken ill after the event had confirmed Salmonella. More than 200 people have reported symptoms of ...