Medindia Health News

Researchers Reveal Dynamics Behind Arctic Ecosystems
"I Cannot Live Without Horse Riding," Says Martina Hingis
Survey Finds Women Officials in Football Paid Less Than Their Male Counterparts
Humans Arrived in the Americas from Asia Much Earlier Than Previously Thought
Brit Kids in Primary Schools Accessing Porn Sites
Researchers Trace Origin of African Cattle to Middle East
Women in Revealing Clothes Deserve Rape, Say Brazilians
Experimental Blood Pressure Therapy Found to be Ineffective
Study Says Space Makes the Heart Grow Rounder
Rat Fleas Were Not Responsible for Spread of 14th Century Black Death
Crowdfunding Being Tried by Monks to Restore St Francis' Cell
Africa's Oldest Wildlife Reserve Threatened by Quest for Oil
Guinea Battles to Halt Spread of Deadly Ebola Epidemic
US Guidelines Differ from European Ones by Calling for More Cholesterol Drugs
Cholesterol Guidelines: New REGARDS Data Show Heart Attack, Stroke Risk Equations Are Accurate
No Need of Medication to Reverse Erectile Dysfunction
Research Indicates Concerning Number of Kids Have Elevated Cholesterol
Statins Aid Erectile Function
Link Between Celiac Disease and Coronary Artery Disease Risk Identified
Millions Could Go Off Blood Pressure Meds, Says Study
Underweight People Face Higher Chances of Dying: Study
Aspartic Acid: A Biomarker for Postoperative Cognitive Dysfunction
Percutaneous Microballoon Compression, New Operative Technique for Trigeminal Nerve Injury
Mechanical Forces Driving Breast Cancer Lead to New Discovery

Researchers Reveal Dynamics Behind Arctic Ecosystems

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An important study of entire food-web dynamics in the deserted tundra environment has been published by an international team of researchers. Field studies covering three continents show that temperature has an unexpectedly important effect on food-web structure, while the relationship between predator and prey is crucial for the food-web dynamics and thereby the entire ecosystem. Niels Martin Schmidt from Aarhus University, Denmark, one of the researchers ...

"I Cannot Live Without Horse Riding," Says Martina Hingis

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Former world number one Martina Hingis has revealed that there are a few things that she just cannot live without. The tennis pro said that she loves horses and she started riding when she was just 11-years-old, the Daily Express reported. She said that when she was playing professional tennis, she would always go for a ride after a big match and escaping into the countryside on horseback was an antidote to all the noise and stress of competing. The ...

Survey Finds Women Officials in Football Paid Less Than Their Male Counterparts

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More than a third of women currently working in football believe that they are paid less than their male counterparts, a recent survey has found. The survey conducted by Women in Football, which questioned more than 650 administrators, officials and coaches currently playing in football, reported that an astonishing 28 percent of respondents said that they have witnessed female employees being treated unfairly within their particular organisation. According ...

Humans Arrived in the Americas from Asia Much Earlier Than Previously Thought

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Archaeologists have discovered stone tools that suggest that humans reached what is now northeast Brazil as early as 22,000 years ago. This finding is contrary to a belief that people first arrived in the Americas from Asia about 13,000 years ago. "If they are right, and there is a great possibility that they are, that would change everything we know about the settlement of the Americas," Walter Neves, an evolutionary anthropologist at the University of Sao Paulo, ...

Brit Kids in Primary Schools Accessing Porn Sites

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Three in 100 primary school children in Britain are visiting hardcore adult porn websites, a shocking new study has claimed. The study, carried out by the online video regulator ATVOD (Authority for Television on Demand), added that 6 percent of children aged 15 or under had accessed an adult website. ATVOD found that at least 44,000 primary school children, and 200,000 children under age 16 had accessed an adult website. The research data ...

Researchers Trace Origin of African Cattle to Middle East

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New research has indicated that the ancient domesticated African cattle originated in the "Fertile Crescent", a region that covered modern day Iraq, Jordan, Syria and Israel. "The genetics of these African cattle breeds are similar to those of cattle first domesticated in the Middle East nearly 10,000 years ago, proving that those cattle were brought to Africa as farmers migrated south," said professor Jared Decker of the University of Missouri. In the ...

Women in Revealing Clothes Deserve Rape, Say Brazilians

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A poll in Brazil has found that most people say a woman who shows off her body deserves to be raped. Of the 3,810 respondents of both sexes who responded to the government's Institute of Applied Economic Research (IPEA) survey released this week, about 2,480 -- 65 percent -- justified raping women who wear "clothing that shows off the body." And 58.5 percent of respondents also agreed that "if women knew how to behave, there would be fewer rapes." Most ...

Experimental Blood Pressure Therapy Found to be Ineffective

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A new US study has said that an experimental therapy that was once hailed as a possible cure for people whose high blood pressure does not respond to medication, has been shown to be ineffective. Known as renal denervation, the process involves inserting a catheter into a patient's arteries and delivering radiofrequency energy that inactivates kidney nerves. It was believed to offer a pathway to lowering blood pressure by interrupting electrical signals ...

Study Says Space Makes the Heart Grow Rounder

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New research suggests that astronauts' hearts grow rounder while they are in space, suggesting that spending lots of time in microgravity could lead to heart problems. That could mean trouble for people who want to embark on long-term missions to Mars. The data presented at an American College of Cardiology meeting in Washington was based on 12 astronauts who had ultrasounds while in space. Their hearts grew 9.4 percent more spherical in ...

Rat Fleas Were Not Responsible for Spread of 14th Century Black Death

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Researchers may have uncovered the truth behind the mid-14th century's Black Death. The research, which examined 25 skeletons unearthed in the Clerkenwell area of London last year, revealed that the previously believed claim that the Black death was caused by a highly contagious strain spread by the fleas on rats may not be true at all, the Guardian reported. Now evidence reveals that only an airborne infection could have spread so fast and killed so ...

Crowdfunding Being Tried by Monks to Restore St Francis' Cell

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A group of Franciscan monks have taken to the Internet to raise funds to restore a dusty cell said to have been used by St Francis of Assisi himself. Located in the trendy Trastevere district, the church of San Francesco a Ripa looks much like any other of 900 churches in the Eternal City and is better known for a statue by Baroque master Gian Lorenzo Bernini. But the monks in charge of the church say the real treasure tucked away on the first floor ...

Africa's Oldest Wildlife Reserve Threatened by Quest for Oil

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Africa's most venerable wildlife reserve, located in the Democratic Republic of Congo, is being threatened by the quest for oil. The reserve is already hard hit by deforestation, poaching and armed conflict. Early in March, European Development Commissioner Andris Piebalgs warned that "with oil production there would be a major risk of pollution at this site, located near the sources of the Nile." The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and other environmental ...

Guinea Battles to Halt Spread of Deadly Ebola Epidemic

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As neighboring Senegal closed its border, Guinea is battling to prevent an Ebola epidemic spreading from its southern forests to the capital Conakry. Responding to the deadly outbreak, the Senegalese interior ministry said Saturday it was closing border crossings to Guinea "until further notice". The order affects crossings at Kolda and Kedougou in the south of Senegal which are heavily used by traders, particularly during a weekly market attended by ...

US Guidelines Differ from European Ones by Calling for More Cholesterol Drugs

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Researchers have said that US guidelines for prescribing cholesterol-lowering drugs to people over 55 call for many more to be taking the medications than in Europe. The findings raised new questions about how popular drugs like Lipitor (atorvastatin) and Zocor (simvastatin) are prescribed and to whom, after new US guidelines issued in November called for more adults without heart disease to start taking the medications in order to prevent future health problems. ...

Cholesterol Guidelines: New REGARDS Data Show Heart Attack, Stroke Risk Equations Are Accurate

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Cholesterol treatment guidelines from the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology have drawn concern from the medical community since they were released in November last year. One of the issues raised was with risk equations to predict heart attack and stroke, but new findings from the University of Alabama at Birmingham published in the iJournal of the American Medical Association/i support the accuracy of the equations. A ...

No Need of Medication to Reverse Erectile Dysfunction

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Research at the University of Adelaide reveals that men suffering from sexual dysfunction can be successful at reversing their problem, by focusing on lifestyle factors and not just relying on medication. In a new paper published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine/a/i, researchers highlight the incidence of erectile dysfunction and lack of sexual desire among Australian men aged 35-80 years. Over a five-year period, 31% of the 810 men involved in ...

Research Indicates Concerning Number of Kids Have Elevated Cholesterol

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Research to be presented at the American College of Cardiology's 63rd Annual Scientific Session says that one out of three kids screened for high cholesterol between the ages of 9 and 11 has borderline or high cholesterol, potentially placing them at greater risk for future cardiovascular disease. In one of the largest studies of outpatient pediatric clinic visits to date, researchers examined the medical records of 12,712 children who had screening for cholesterol ...

Statins Aid Erectile Function

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Men who take cholesterol-lowering drugs to improve their cholesterol levels may also experience relevant improvements in erectile function, says new study presented at the American College of Cardiology conference. Among men who had high cholesterol and erectile dysfunction -- and who were taking statins -- there was a statistically significant increase in erectile function, amounting to a 24.3 percent boost in their self-reported scores. "The increase ...

Link Between Celiac Disease and Coronary Artery Disease Risk Identified

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People with celiac disease are at an increased risk of coronary artery disease compared with the general population, says study. The study is the first to look at the association between celiac disease and coronary artery disease and adds to the evolving understanding of how systemic inflammation and autoimmune processes might influence cardiovascular disease development. Data also showed a slightly higher risk of stroke among people with celiac disease compared ...

Millions Could Go Off Blood Pressure Meds, Says Study

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A new study conducted by scientists finds one in four American adults over 60 being treated for high blood pressure could go off their medication under recent guidelines issued in the United States. The changes, which stirred controversy in the medical community, could mean nearly six million may no longer need drugs to control their blood pressure, Duke University researchers said in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The findings ...

Underweight People Face Higher Chances of Dying: Study

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A new study suggests that for underweight people there are higher chances of dying compared to those who are obese. After an analysis of over 50 case studies, the researchers concluded that too thin people face nearly two times the risk of death compared to normal-weight people. The analysis which lasted for over five years emphasised on link between body-mass index (BMI) and problems related to it. The study, released by St Michael's Hospital in Toronto, ...

Aspartic Acid: A Biomarker for Postoperative Cognitive Dysfunction

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Postoperative cognitive dysfunction is the deterioration of cognitive performance after anesthesia and surgery. And it manifests as impairments in short-term memory, concentration, language comprehension and social integration skills. Previous studies have shown that the occurrence of postoperative cognitive dysfunction is affected by many factors, including advanced age, low educational level, pre-existing cognitive impairment, alcohol abuse, and ...

Percutaneous Microballoon Compression, New Operative Technique for Trigeminal Nerve Injury

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For the treatment of trigeminal neuralgia, percutaneous microballoon compression of the trigeminal ganglion is a brand new operative technique. However, it is unclear how the procedure mediates pain relief, and there are no standardized criteria, such as compression pressure, compression time or balloon shape, for the procedure. In particular, the links between compression duration and postoperative complications and pain recurrence are still under debate. An extended ...

Mechanical Forces Driving Breast Cancer Lead to New Discovery

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The stiffening of breast tissue in breast-cancer development points to a new way to distinguish a type of breast cancer with a poor prognosis from a related, but often less deadly type. UC San Francisco researchers have found this in a new study. The findings, published online March 16, 2014 in iNature Medicine/i, may lead eventually to new treatment focused not only on molecular targets within cancerous cells, but also on mechanical properties of surrounding ...