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World Asthma Day 2013

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Asthma is a common respiratory disease today, partly due to increase in urbanization and air pollution. According to the WHO, around 235 million people all over the world including children suffer from this chronic respiratory condition, which is characterized by recurrent attacks of breathlessness and wheezing to varying extents. The World Asthma Day is celebrated every year on the first Tuesday of May since 1998 to improve asthma awareness and care ...

Nutrition Plays Key Role in Oral Health, Says Research Paper

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A strong link between the food people eat and their oral health has been established in a recent study. The Academy's position paper highlighted that nutrition is an integral component of oral health. The Academy supports integration of oral health with nutrition services, education and research. Collaboration between dietetics practitioners and oral health care professionals is recommended for oral health promotion and disease prevention and ...

Super Immune Boosters

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Grab these foods of the supermarket shelves to pack in the immune boost. Read on

New Jab can Control Diabetes and also Fight Obesity

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For many diabetes patients, a simple once-a-day jab could be a lifeline, which will not only help control their condition but also fight obesity. The 1.90 pounds-a-day breakthrough treatment is far cheaper than using other similar drugs and could save the NHS at least 70 million pounds over the next five years, the Daily Express reported. Doctors can prescribe Lyxumia to patients following approval by the European Medicines Agency. They ...

India's Population is 1.21 Billion: Census 2011

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The total population of India now stands at 1.21 billion, which is 17.7 per cent more than the last decade. According to Primary Census Abstract-Data Highlights of Census 2011, India's total population as on March 1, 2011 is 1,210,726,932 or 1.21 billion, an increase of 181.96 million persons in absolute number of population during 2001-11. There was an increase of 90.97 million males and increase of 90.99 million females. The growth rate of females ...

Oral Drops can Benefit Kids With Asthma, Allergies

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Under-the-tongue drops may prove beneficial for pediatric allergy sufferers, says review. The new research comes on the heels of another recent Hopkins study, which showed that oral drops provide a safe and effective alternative for adult allergy sufferers. The new review, appearing May 6 in the journal iPediatrics/i, is an analysis of 34 previously published clinical trials and suggests that both drops and injections work well in alleviating ...

Simple Tips to Prevent Skin Cancer

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Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA) has listed down six tips for prevention and early detection of melanoma. When left untreated, melanoma is the most dangerous and aggressive form of skin cancer, accounting for more than 9,000 of the 12,000-plus skin cancer deaths each year. "While SCCA doctors have developed successful and innovative methods to treat skin cancer, the true fight against melanoma starts with the simple routines each of us do daily ...

Portable Cancer Device to Detect Tuberculosis

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A handheld diagnostic device which was developed to diagnose cancer has now been used to diagnose tuberculosis and other infectious bacteria. These portable devices combine microfluidic technology with nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) to not only diagnose these important infections but also determine the presence of antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains. "Rapidly identifying the pathogen responsible for an infection and testing for the presence ...

First Polio Case in Pakistan's Waziristan

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First polio case has been detected in Pakistan's militant-infested tribal belt since the Taliban banned vaccinations a year ago, says a UN official. "The new case has been detected in North Waziristan where we had been denied access in June last year," the World Health Organization's senior coordinator for polio eradication in Pakistan, Elias Durry, told AFP. Tribesmen in North Waziristan, Pakistan's most notorious stronghold of Taliban and Al-Qaeda ...

Ankle Injuries and Disorders

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The ankle is among the most commonly injured parts of the body. It has to support the entire weight of the body, and is thus extremely vulnerable to injury.

Sex Superbug Could be Deadlier Than AIDS

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A new and aggressive sexually transmitted superbug could prove deadly than AIDS, say doctors. According to reports, the antibiotic-resistant strain of gonorrhea HO41 was found in Japan two years ago in a 31-year-old female sex worker. Alan Christianson, a doctor of naturopathic medicine, recently told CNBC that the superbug might be a lot worse than AIDS in the short run, as the bacteria is more aggressive and will affect more people quickly, ...

Researchers Devise Novel Method for Enhancing CEST MRI

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Researchers have created a novel way to enhance MRI by reducing interference from large macromolecules that can often obscure images generated by current chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) methods. Their work, took place at New York University and NYU Langone Medical Center and which appears in the Nature publishing group journal iScientific Reports/i, has the potential to improve MRI for cartilage as well as for brain tissue. "We have ...

Skin Cancer Survivors Shy Away from Sunscreen

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A recent study has revealed that one fourth of skin cancer survivors do not wear sunscreen; some even continue to use tanning beds. In a recent survey carried out by the American Association for Cancer Research it was found that 27.3 percent of those who have had melanoma, a deadly form of skin cancer, do not use sunscreen. Besides this shocker, the study also revealed that 21.5 percent of them continue to use tanning beds, which have been proven ...

Champagne Boosts Memory

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Three glasses of champagne were found to improve memory, say researchers. Scientists are convinced that a regular tipple of champagne can help prevent brain disorders such as dementia and Alzheimer?s disease, Daily Mail reported. The study at Reading University, Berkshire, is the first time scientists have identified health benefits in champagne. In Britain, one in three 'over 65s' develops dementia. The compound that ...

Nanoparticles for Diabetics Developed

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Nanoparticles developed by scientists are capable of releasing insulin in the blood and thereby maintains normal blood sugar levels. In a promising development for diabetes treatment, researchers have developed a network of nanoscale particles that can be injected into the body and release insulin when blood-sugar levels rise, maintaining normal blood sugar levels for more than a week in animal-based laboratory tests. The work was done by researchers ...

Novel Brown Fat Cell Helps Fight Obesity

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Newly discovered brown fat cell has the unique property of being able to burn energy and turn it into heat, say researchers. According to Sven Enerback, who heads the country's leading research group in the study of fat cells and metabolism, this is an interesting discovery. "We already know that those of us who have more brown fat tissue have a smaller risk of developing type 2 diabetes. With these new results, we should eventually be able to develop methods ...

Sound Stimulation During Sleep Improves Memory

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Researchers belonging to the University of Tubingen have discovered that sound stimulation during sleep can actually improve memory. A recent study by these researchers has suggested that there exists a non invasive method to boost memory and enhance sleep. When sounds were played in accordance to the rhythm of the slow oscillations of the brain of those who were sleeping, they were able to improve these brain oscillations and, thereby, enhance ...

Study Says Flame Retardants may be Toxic to Children

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Exposure to flame retardants is linked with reduced intelligence and hyperactivity in early childhood, shows recent study. "In animal studies, PBDEs can disrupt thyroid hormone and cause hyperactivity and learning problems," said lead author Aimin Chen, MD, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Environmental Health at University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. "Our study adds to several other human studies to highlight the need to reduce exposure ...

Exercise Helps Reduce Violent Behavior Among Teen Girls

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Adolescent girls who exercise on a daily basis are less likely to be violent, finds new research. Researchers from Columbia University analyzed results of a 2008 survey completed by 1,312 students at four inner-city high schools in New York to determine if there was an association between regular exercise and violence-related behaviors. "Violence in neighborhoods spans the entire length of this country and disproportionately affects the poor and ...

Risk of Blood Clots can be Lowered With Lifestyle Changes

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Very simple changes in lifestyle that involves healthy eating and exercising well can help reduce the risk of blood clots, a recent study has revealed. The study has underlined the importance of having a healthy body mass index. Nearly 30,000 people aged 45 and older were tracked for nearly five years. The participants' heart health was evaluated as per the American Heart Association's Life's Simple 7 measures, which are eating healthy, keeping active, avoiding ...

First Horse Slaughterhouses to be Opened in US Since 2007

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Congress is trying to forbid sale and export of horse meat even as it is clear that Americans do not like horse meat. Yet for the first time since 2007, new horse slaughterhouses are set to open in the United States. While Europe has been embroiled in a horse meat scandal since January, five new US slaughterhouses have filed requests for licensing at the Agriculture Department (USDA), a spokesman told AFP. One of them, in the New Mexican ...

Rainfall Patterns Could be Affected by Global Warming

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New evidence that global warming could change future global rainfall patterns and increase the risk of both flooding and drought has been provided in a new NASA-led study. The study shows for the first time how rising carbon dioxide concentrations could affect the entire range of rainfall types on Earth. Analysis of computer simulations from 14 climate models indicates wet regions of the world, such as the equatorial Pacific Ocean and Asian monsoon regions, ...

Tharoor Says More Special Schools Needed to Help Autistic Children

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Minister of State for Human Resource Development Shashi Tharoor has said that more special schools can create awareness among parents and help in social acceptance of children with neurological disorders. Tharoor said that a new centre for excellence for autism would be opened shortly by an NGO in the Gurgaon. The NGO, Special Child Trust, will open the centre in alliance with New England Centre for Children (NECC), a non-profit autism research and education ...

How Type 2 Diabetes Develops Demystified in New Mouse Model

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A new mouse model that answers the question of what actually happens in the body when type 2 diabetes develops has been developed by researchers at Lund University in Sweden. Long-term studies of the middle-aged mouse model will be better than previous studies at confirming how drugs for type 2 diabetes function in humans."The animal models for type 2 diabetes studies that have previously existed have not been optimal because they use young mice. Our idea was to ...

For Humans, Fig is More Than Just a Fruit

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Figs are familiar to a wide cross-section of human society and have widespread importance. David Wilson of Ecology and Heritage Partners and Anna Wilson from the University of Melbourne in Australia has explored the global nature of this association between figs and humans, which is maintained across species, continents and societies. Using examples from around the world, they showed that figs are a vital resource for humans, no matter which species ...

Risk of Ipsilateral Breast Event Quantified by DCIS Score

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There is a dearth of clinical tools to help quantify breast cancer risk. The ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) Score quantifies the risk of ipsilateral breast event (IBE) and invasive IBE risk, complements both traditional clinical and pathologic factors, and helps provide a new clinical tool to improve the process of selecting individualized treatment for women with DCIS who meet the criteria, according to a study published May 2 in the iJournal of the National ...

Scientists Transform Adult Cells into Early-Stage Nerve Cells

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Skin cells from people and monkeys have been converted into a cell that can form a wide variety of nervous-system cells by a University of Wisconsin-Madison research group. This has been accomplished without passing through the do-it-all stage called the induced pluripotent stem cell, or iPSC. Bypassing the ultra-flexible iPSC stage was a key advantage, says senior author Su-Chun Zhang, a professor of neuroscience and neurology. "IPSC cells can generate ...

Creation of Genetically Altered Mice to Model Human Disease Undergoes Radical Change

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Whitehead Institute Founding Member Rudolf Jaenisch is again revolutionizing how genetically altered animal models are created. Jaenisch had helped transform the study of genetics by creating the first transgenic mouse in 1974. "This new method is a game changer," says Jaenisch, who is also a professor of biology at MIT. "We can now make a mouse with five mutations in just three to four weeks, whereas the conventional way would take three to four years. And it's ...

Report Highlights Unethical Advertising at Launch of Antidepressants

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Antidepressant drugs that were introduced in the 1990s had milder side-effects than their predecessors. Combined with aggressive marketing, this meant that annual sales in Sweden increased from just under EUR 18 million to over EUR 100 million in the space of just a few years. Most countries have an established system for self-regulation of pharmaceuticals advertising. Sweden has been held up internationally as a good example. The Swedish pharmaceutical ...

Facebook Profiles Help Students Judge Professors

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A recent estimate suggests that 93 percent of college students have an active account on the social networking site Facebook. As both students and faculty on college campuses increasingly use Facebook as a means of communication, the sharing of personal information, likes and dislikes, or religious and political beliefs, for example, may affect what students think of professors and expect from their classes. This phenomenon is explored in a study published ...

Cancer Connections Deciphered by Computer Algorithms

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Powerful data-sifting algorithms are helping scientists to untangle the profoundly complex genetics of cancer. These algorithms have been developed by computer scientists at Brown University. In a study reported today in the iNew England Journal of Medicine/i, researchers from Washington University in St. Louis used two algorithms developed at Brown to assemble the most complete genetic profile yet of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), an aggressive form of blood ...

Study Finds Fetuses Emit Hormone Crucial to Preventing Preeclampsia

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A hormone, adrenomedullin, plays a crucial role in preventing the pregnancy complication preeclampsia, researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have found in a mice study. Surprisingly, this hormone protects women from preeclampsia when emitted by the fetus, not the mother, during the most critical times in pregnancy. "We've identified the fact that the baby is important in protecting the mom from preeclampsia," said the study's ...

Vaccination Campaigns Beefed Up by UNICEF Amid Measles Outbreak in Syria

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Vaccination campaigns in Syria, and neighboring Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Turkey are being stepped up by UNICEF amid measles outbreaks in the region. This statement was made by UN spokesman Martin Nesirky on Tuesday. "In Turkey alone, there have been some 3,000 to 4,000 measles cases reported across the country, including 300 among Syrian refugees," Nesirky said at a daily news briefing here. "UNICEF has said that nearly half of the displaced and refugee ...

Scientists Decode Molecular Messages That Tell Prostate and Breast Cancers to Spread

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The molecular chatter that ramps certain cancer cells into overdrive and can cause tumors to spread throughout the body has been decoded by scientists at the University of Michigan. Researchers have long known that tumors recruit healing cells, which is a major reason why cancer is so difficult to thwart. This is the first known study to explain the molecular behavior behind the series of changes that happen in the healing cells that result in metastasis. Russell ...

Repeating Patterns in Nature can Help Researchers Understand Immune System Better

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Researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center suggest that fractals, self-similar and repeating patterns found in nature, can help scientists understand the organization of immune system and can be used in improving stem cell transplant outcomes in leukemia patients by predicting the probability of transplant complications. Recently published in the journal iBiology of Blood and Marrow Transplantation/i, the study led by Amir Toor, M.D., ...

Effective Use Nerve Transfer in Treating Patients With Brachial Plexus Injuries can Improve Quality of Life

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The quality of life in patients who are suffering from brachial plexus injuries can be improved by the effective use of nerve transfer in reconstruction of elbow flexion, a new study presented at the 81st American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) Annual Scientific Meeting reveals. With the rise in recent years of nerve transfers as an option for brachial plexus injuries, the researchers reviewed the clinical outcomes of their patients who have undergone ...

Childhood Adversity can Affect Adult Life and Offspring

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A new study published in JAMA suggests that childhood adversity not only increases the risk of chronic physical and mental disability in adult life but also affects the next generation. David A. Brent, M.D., of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, Pittsburgh, presented the Viewpoint at a iJAMA/i media briefing. Dr. Brent and co-author Michael Silverstein, M.D., M.P.H., of the Boston University ...

Giant Mystery About Neurons Clarified by Tiny Worm

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A gene that keeps our nerve fibers from clogging up has been identified by scientists. Researchers in Ken Miller's laboratory at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation (OMRF) found that the unc-16 gene of the roundworm iCaenorhabditis elegans/i encodes a gatekeeper that restricts flow of cellular organelles from the cell body to the axon, a long, narrow extension that neurons use for signaling. Organelles clogging the axon could interfere with neuronal signaling ...

Scientists Identify Gene Causing Motor Development Disorder

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The causative gene behind rare genetic disorder, which delays development of motor activities in children has been discovered by scientists. The study was done on a four-year-old child from Punjab, and nine other children who were suffering from motor developmental delay. They could not walk and sit without support. The team, led by Ryan Taft of the University of Queensland's Institute for Molecular Bioscience (IMB), comprised 16 researchers including ...

Google Glass is Water-proof

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Washington, May. 1 (ANI): The Google Glass, which overlays digital information in the real world, could be water-proof, as a well known technology and social media personality has discovered. Even though Google Chairman Eric Schmidt had said that there might be some places where the glasses might not be best to wear, technology expert Robert Scoble found that his personal shower is not one of those places, reports ABC News. Scoble, who received his ...

Healthy Immune System is a Lesson in Balance

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Providing protection against disease without attacking healthy tissue, a properly functioning immune system is a lesson in balance. Work led by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists and published recently in iNature Immunology/i has identified a mechanism that helps T cells find that sweet spot where the strength of the immune response matches the threat. The finding offers important insight into the immune response. The work also lays ...