Medindia Health News

Gene That Links Stem Cells, Aging and Cancer Discovered
High-dose Fluticasone Effective Against Eosinophilic Esophagitis, Says Study
Chikungunya Cases Hit Nearly 200 in Puerto Rico, 2 in Florida: Report
New Drug That Reduces Abdominal Fat in HIV Patients also may Reduce Fat in Liver
High Rates of Violence Suffered by Unstably Housed San Francisco Women
Obese Women may Have Learning Deficit When Food is Involved
Chrysophanol Attenuates Injury to Hippocampal Neurons: Study
Protective Effect of (and) #945;-Synuclein Reduces the Depression Manifestations of PD
Hidden Differences in Neuronal Circuits may Explain Variation in Brain Injury Outcomes
Hong Kong's Poorest Residents Face Losing Their Makeshift Homes
Neuropeptide Y Protects Cortical Neurons: Study
Ginsenoside Rb1 Promotes Hippocampal Neuronal Neurite Outgrowth: Study
Apparent Diffusion Coefficient Does Not Reflect Cytotoxic Edema on the Uninjured Side After TBI
Variation in Appearance of Generic Drugs may Disrupt Use
Home Blood Pressure-monitoring Kits Save Insurance Companies Money
Dietary Fatty Acid Intake may Help Reduce the Risk for Lou Gehrig Disease
Love or Lust? Eye Movements Can Tell the Difference
New Study Offers Hope for HIV and Hepatitis C Patients
Performance Improvement Program may Help Doctors Better Manage Depression
WHO Warns About Growing Child Obesity
New Trigger for Ovulation may Make IVF Safer
Lunar Pits on the Moon Could Shelter Future Astronauts
Insulin-secreting Cells of the Pancreas Protected by Autophagy
Colleagues Remember AIDS Pioneer Killed in Malaysian Jet Crash
Discovery of a New Biomarker may Lead to New HIV Treatment
Riots, Deaths in South Africa Due to Water Problems
Brain Stabilizes Its Connections to Learn Better
Alcohol-programming Outreach is Particularly Important for Female Black and Latina Drinkers
Saturday, 19 July Best Day Ever to Have Sex, says Survey
Researchers Identify Brain Network

Gene That Links Stem Cells, Aging and Cancer Discovered

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One of the key genes that make up the maintenance mechanism for tissues has been discovered by scientists. The study is published this week in the journal emCell Reports/em. The authors believe that it adds another piece to the ageing, stem cells and cancer puzzle, made up of three main elements that are known to be related, but no one knows exactly how. By understanding this relationship throughout identification key regulatory genes, we could have a different, ...

High-dose Fluticasone Effective Against Eosinophilic Esophagitis, Says Study

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Increased doses of the corticosteroid fluticasone propionate safely and effectively induce remission in many people with eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE). EoE is a chronic inflammatory disease of the esophagus characterized by high levels of white blood cells called eosinophils. However, some trial participants did not respond to fluticasone even after six months of high-dose treatments, providing evidence that certain people with EoE are steroid-resistant. ...

Chikungunya Cases Hit Nearly 200 in Puerto Rico, 2 in Florida: Report

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Nearly 200 confirmed cases of the chikungunya virus in Puerto Rico and the first two cases of the mosquito-borne disease in Florida have been reported, say health authorities. Puerto Rico's Health Department, in its weekly report, said that, as of June 25, laboratories had confirmed the virus in 182 people and that infections were suspected in 503 more. There already have been dozens of deaths and thousands of people sickened by the virus in the ...

New Drug That Reduces Abdominal Fat in HIV Patients also may Reduce Fat in Liver

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New drug for the reduction of abdominal fat deposits in patients receiving antiviral therapy for HIV infection may also reduce fatty liver disease incidence in such patients, finds new study. In a paper that will appear in the July 23/28 issue of iJAMA/i - a theme issue on HIV/AIDS receiving early online release to coincide with the International AIDS Conference - Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigators report that daily injections of tesamorelin significantly ...

High Rates of Violence Suffered by Unstably Housed San Francisco Women

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UC San Francisco researchers found that 60 percent of the city's homeless and unstably housed women who are HIV-infected or at high risk to become infected have endured a recent experience of some form of violence. "We looked at all types of violence-physical, sexual and emotional. We expected to find higher rates than those reported in the general population, but we were surprised at the amount of harm inflicted upon this incredibly vulnerable population of women ...

Obese Women may Have Learning Deficit When Food is Involved

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When food is involved, obese women have a deficit in reward-based learning. Importantly, say researchers who report their findings in the Cell Press journal iCurrent Biology/i on July 17, those same women have no trouble at all forming accurate associations when the reward is money instead of food. The findings may lead to new, gender-appropriate ways to tackle the obesity epidemic. "Our study shows that obesity may involve a specific impairment ...

Chrysophanol Attenuates Injury to Hippocampal Neurons: Study

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Previous studies have shown that chrysophanol protects against memory and learning impairments in lead-exposed mice. Ji Zhang, Hebei North University, China, proposed a hypothesis that chrysophanol can alleviate learning and memory dysfunction and hippocampal injury in lead-exposed neonatal mice. Results showed that chrysophanol alleviated hippocampal neuronal cytoplasmic edema, promoted mitochondrial crista fusion, significantly improved learning and ...

Protective Effect of (and) #945;-Synuclein Reduces the Depression Manifestations of PD

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In a methamphetamine-induced model of Parkinson's disease (PD), the over-expression of (and) #945;-synuclein is a major factor in the death of dopaminergic neurons. Dr. Huijun Wang, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Southern Medical University, China and his team injected (and) #945;-synuclein-shRNA lentivirus stereotaxically into the right striatum of experimental rats to inhibit (and) #945;-synuclein mRNA and protein expression. Results showed that after (and) #945;-synuclein ...

Hidden Differences in Neuronal Circuits may Explain Variation in Brain Injury Outcomes

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A team of researchers have discovered that hidden differences in the properties of neural circuits can account for whether animals are behaviorally susceptible to brain injury. The research took place at the Neuroscience Institute at Georgia State University. These results could have implications for the treatment of brain trauma. People vary in their responses to stroke and trauma, which impedes the ability of physicians to predict patient outcomes. ...

Hong Kong's Poorest Residents Face Losing Their Makeshift Homes

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Their precarious rooftop houses have offered refuge from an unaffordable Hong Kong property market. But some of the territory's poorest residents face losing their makeshift homes as the government seeks to dismantle them. Perched on top of older buildings, the ramshackle dwellings may offer penthouse views in a city where space is at a premium, but the flimsy structures are frequently battered by typhoons and magnify oppressive summer heat. The ...

Neuropeptide Y Protects Cortical Neurons: Study

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Neuropeptide Y exhibits neuroprotective effects. But the neuroprotective effects that are mediated by the pathways including regulating the immunological activity of reactive microglia and reducing cytokines remains unclear. Prof. Wenqing Zhao, Graduate School, Heibei Medical University, China and his team confirmed that neuropeptide Y prevented excessive production of interleukin-1 (and) #946; and tumor necrosis factor- (and) #945; by inhibiting microglial reactivity, reduced ...

Ginsenoside Rb1 Promotes Hippocampal Neuronal Neurite Outgrowth: Study

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The main pathological changes of Alzheimer's disease (AD) include neurite outgrowth impairment and amyloid-beta protein-induced hippocampal neuronal injury. Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt pathway and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway are the important signaling pathways respectively responsible for regulating synaptic plasticity and neuronal survival. In view of the fact that ginsenoside Rb1 exhibits anti-aging and anti-dementia ...

Apparent Diffusion Coefficient Does Not Reflect Cytotoxic Edema on the Uninjured Side After TBI

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Currently, it is difficult to treat traumatic brain injury (TBI) in the clinic. There are abundant neural network connections and humoral regulation mechanisms between the cerebral hemispheres. Brain tissue on the uninjured side after TBI may also undergo abnormal changes, but these changes remain poorly understood. Hong Lu and her team, Affiliated Haikou Hospital, Xiangya School of Medicine, Central South University, in China performed a study to investigate whether ...

Variation in Appearance of Generic Drugs may Disrupt Use

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Generic versions of the same prescription drug are clinically interchangeable but depending on the manufacturer, they often look different. The FDA does not require consistent pill appearance among interchangeable generic drugs, and the shape and color of patients' pills may vary based on the particular supply at the patient's pharmacy. Studying a national cohort of patients who recently suffered a heart attack, researchers from Brigham and Women's ...

Home Blood Pressure-monitoring Kits Save Insurance Companies Money

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Home blood pressure monitoring kits can save insurance companies money by improving healthcare quality and reducing healthcare costs. This is according to new research in the American Heart Association's journal iHypertension/i. In the United States, more than 76 million adults have diagnosed high blood pressure, and many more are undiagnosed. Since high blood pressure typically has no symptoms, periodic testing is critical especially for people with the factors ...

Dietary Fatty Acid Intake may Help Reduce the Risk for Lou Gehrig Disease

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Bottom Line: Eating foods high in (and) #969;-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) from vegetable and marine sources may help reduce the risk for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). ALS is the fatal neurodegenerative disease commonly referred to as Lou Gehrig's disease. Author: Kathryn C. Fitzgerald, M.Sc., of the Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, and colleagues. Background: PUFAs can help modulate inflammation and ...

Love or Lust? Eye Movements Can Tell the Difference

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An interesting study by University of Chicago researchers has found that assessing a person's eye movements can reveal whether the person has feelings of love or lust for the 'other.' The researchers say that the eye patterns concentrate on a stranger's face when the viewer sees that person as a potential partner in romantic love, whereas the viewer gazes more at rest of the body if he or she is feeling sexual desire. The scientists performed two ...

New Study Offers Hope for HIV and Hepatitis C Patients

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A new study says novel hepatitis C drug has shown early promise in patients whose infection with both HIV and hepatitis C has made them traditionally difficult to treat. Patients were given Gilead Sciences' sofosbuvir, a drug approved for the US market in 2013 that has stirred controversy due to its high price tag -- about (Dollar) 1,000 per pill, along with another well-known drug, ribavirin. The study in the Journal of the American Medical Association's ...

Performance Improvement Program may Help Doctors Better Manage Depression

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The use of evidence-based practises among physicians could be increased by a performance improvement in physicians, a new study has found. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams (and) Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health. Led by Dr Michael E. Thase of the University of Pennsylvania Medical School, the researchers evaluated a performance improvement continuing medical education (PI CME) program to increase physicians' use of practices that have been shown ...

WHO Warns About Growing Child Obesity

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The WHO has warned that the number obese and overweight children in the world could shoot up from 44 million (2012) to 75 million (2025). This is faster than the growth rate from 1990, when the number was 31 million, said the UN's health body. In Africa alone, the number of obese and overweight children expanded from four to 10 million over the same period. "Child obesity is one of the major health issue for tomorrow and today," Peter Gluckman, ...

New Trigger for Ovulation may Make IVF Safer

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A new safer method to stimulate ovulation in women undergoing IVF treatment has now been identified by researchers. Twelve babies have been born after their mothers were given an injection of the natural hormone kisspeptin to make their eggs mature. Doctors normally administer another hormone, hCG, for this purpose, but in some women, there is a risk that this can overstimulate the ovaries, with potentially life-threatening consequences. Scientists ...

Lunar Pits on the Moon Could Shelter Future Astronauts

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There are more than 200 lunar pits that could provide shelter to future astronauts, new observations from the NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft has revealed. The pits range in size from about 5 meters across to more than 900 meters in diameter, and three of them were first identified using images from the Japanese Kaguya spacecraft. Hundreds more were found using a new computer algorithm that automatically scanned thousands of high-resolution ...

Insulin-secreting Cells of the Pancreas Protected by Autophagy

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Around 400 million people around the globe are affected by diabetes. One of the hallmarks of this disease is a loss of pancreatic (and) #946; cells, which secrete insulin. In many patients the reduction of (and) #946; cells is associated an accumulation of a toxic form of a protein produced by (and) #946; cells, known as islet amyloid polypeptide. There are no therapies or treatment available to restore the (and) #946; cell populations or function. Three new studies in iJournal of ...

Colleagues Remember AIDS Pioneer Killed in Malaysian Jet Crash

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The colleagues of Joep Lange, who was an AIDS researchers and a pioneer of cheap anti-retroviral medications for the poor, who lost his life in the Malaysian jet crash, is now being remembered. "His contribution to HIV research and treatment, and his determination to ensure access to those treatments for people in Africa and Asia cannot be underestimated," said David Cooper, director of the Kirby Centre at Australia's University of New South Wales. The ...

Discovery of a New Biomarker may Lead to New HIV Treatment

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A potential biomarker that could be associated with participants who had a more profound viral load reduction following the vaccination was observed after an analysis of a therapeutic HIV vaccine. The results of this exploratory, ad hoc, subset analysis by St George's, University of London and Bionor Pharma were announced today at the AIDS 2014 Conference in Melbourne, Australia. If confirmed, the biomarker may be able to predict which patients will benefit most ...

Riots, Deaths in South Africa Due to Water Problems

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Three babies in South Africa died a tragic death after consuming tap water that was contaminated by sewage. The poor, as always in the developing world, bear the brunt of water scarcity and irregular access, with parched communities at times erupting in deadly protests. The three babies, the youngest aged five months, died last month after E. coli bacteria contaminated the drinking water in Bloemhof, a small town southwest of Johannesburg. Town ...

Brain Stabilizes Its Connections to Learn Better

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Our brain adapt to what we memorize and learn throughout our life. The brain is indeed made up of complex networks of neurons and synapses that are constantly re-configured. However, in order for learning to leave a trace, connections must be stabilized. A team at the University of Geneva (UNIGE) discovered a new cellular mechanism involved in the long-term stabilization of neuron connections, in which non-neuronal cells, called astrocytes, play a role unidentified ...

Alcohol-programming Outreach is Particularly Important for Female Black and Latina Drinkers

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Non-English speakers and ethnic minorities are now having more difficult in availing of healthcare services.New findings show that female Black and Latina drinkers in particular are at a disadvantage. Very few national studies have examined racial/ethnic disparities in the use of alcohol services. In addition, little is known about whether racial/ethnic disparities generalize across genders, and what factors may account for any disparities. A study of the combined ...

Saturday, 19 July Best Day Ever to Have Sex, says Survey

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Saturday, July 19 is the day in the decade when Britons have most sex because of the perfect combination of the day, the date and the month, reveals survey. A poll conducted on 3,000 British people's bedroom habits people, which was commissioned by sex toy firm, Lovehoney, showed that Brits had sex most frequently on Saturdays, preferably the third week of the month, 19th being the most popular day, and July the most preferred month, the Daily Express reported. ...

Researchers Identify Brain Network

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A new image-based strategy to identify and measure placebo effects in randomized clinical trials for brain disorders has been identified by scientists. The findings are published in the August issue of iThe Journal of Clinical Investigation/i. Parkinson's disease is the second most common neurodegenerative disease in the US. Those who suffer from Parkinson's disease most often experience tremors, slowness of movement (bradykinesia), rigidity, and impaired ...