Medindia Health News

Adults Eat Most of What's on Their Plates
WHO Says West Africa Ebola Death Toll Reaches 660
Study Reveals How Swimmers can Rule the Pool
Caffeine May Worsen Hot Flashes and Night Sweats
Quiz on Pancreatic Cancer
Recession Might be Good for Health
New Study Examines Bacteria's Ability to Fight Obesity
Smartphone Charging Contributes to Global Warming, Finds Study
First Foot-and-mouth Case Reported in S.Korea
Epigenetic Changes can Drive Cancer
Spinach may Hold a Key to Convert Sunlight into Alternative Fuel Source
New Sensor can Warn If You are About to Fall Asleep Behind the Wheel
Dior's Famous 'Bonbon' Dress Celebrated in Paris Fashion Exhibit
Surgeons Find 5-Inch Sex Toy That was Left in Woman's Vagina 10 Years Ago
GSK Hoping to Introduce Malaria Vaccine Shortly
Russia Struggles With a Flood of Refugees of Ukraine Conflict
Wreckage of Crashed Algerian Plane Found in Mali
Rising Number of Adolescents and Young Adults Being Hospitalized Due to Binge Drinking on Birthdays
Parasite Leishmania is a Probiotic for the Fly That Carries It
Neymar's Dizzying Runs may be Done on Auto-Pilot
Death of a Parent During Childhood Associated With Greater Risk of Mortality
Study Finds Male Circumcision Cuts Down HIV Risk for Women as Well
New Study Finds Forty-Five Percent Rise in Diagnostic Imaging Tests by GPs
Breast Cancer Tumors may Become Resistant to Tamoxifen After Exposure to Dim Light at Night
False Positives Will Not Upset People in Lung Cancer Screening
Number of US Children Killed by Heatstroke in Parked Cars on the Rise
Research Finds Connection Between Autoimmune Disorders and Cancer
Researchers Discover Neuroprotective Role of Immune Cell
Scientists Identify Molecular Key to Healthy Pregnancy
New Link Discovered Between Obesity, Inflammation and Insulin Resistance
In 21st Century, 'Menstruation' Still a Taboo
Sham Marriages Conducted to Earn Right to Live in UK More Prevalent Than Previously Believed
Exhibition to Reveal British Royal Childhood Memories to the World
Working in Shifts can Increase Risk of Type 2 Diabetes
Study Finds Less Than One Percent of Research Funding by Charity Organizations Spent on Antibiotic Research
New Imaging Agent can Lead to More Accurate Diagnosis and Treatment of GI Tract Diseases
Watching TV Makes Stressed People Feel Guilty
New Test Helps Predict Which Children With Kidney Disease Will Respond to Standard Therapy

Adults Eat Most of What's on Their Plates

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If an adult puts something on his or her plate, it's going to end up in their stomach, states an interesting new study. The study conducted by iCornell University,/i shows that the average adult eats 92 percent of whatever he or she puts on his/her plate. Researchers say that these findings can positively impact an individual's eating behavior. "Just knowing that you're likely to consume almost all of what you serve yourself can help you ...

WHO Says West Africa Ebola Death Toll Reaches 660

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In West Africa, the death toll due to Ebola outbreak has risen to 660, reveals the World Health Organization. WHO spokesman Paul Garwood said that the extent of what is the deadliest outbreak of Ebola on record was still emerging. "This is a trend, an overall picture. It's hard to get an exact picture on the scale of the situation at the moment," he told reporters. The UN health agency said 28 news deaths were recorded between July 18 ...

Study Reveals How Swimmers can Rule the Pool

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Swimmers should concentrate working on their kick with flexible ankles in order to swim faster in the pool, reveals study. Australian sport scientists have established that elite swimmers should use their backstroke and freestyle kick to make themselves go faster, not waste it trying to keep them upright if they wanted to get an edge in the pool. The findings were based on a new computer model of the rotational effects of buoyancy on drag. David ...

Caffeine May Worsen Hot Flashes and Night Sweats

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Caffeine may worsen the hot flashes and night sweats that affect more than 80 percent of women as they go through menopause, says a new study. Researchers suggest that limiting caffeine intake may be helpful for those postmenopausal women who have worrisome hot flashes and night sweats. However, caffeine - a stimulant found in coffee, medications and chocolate - appears to have a different effect on women beginning the transition into ...

Quiz on Pancreatic Cancer

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Pancreatic cancer is often diagnosed at a late stage and can be fatal. Test your knowledge on pancreatic cancer by taking this quiz.

Recession Might be Good for Health

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Unemployment may up the risk of death in people but recession could help cut mortality risk, reveals new research. Researchers from Drexel University and the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor revealed that job loss was associated with a 73 percent increase in the probability of death, the equivalent of adding 10 years to a person's age. However, this increased risk affected only the minority of people who were unemployed and was outweighed by health-promoting ...

New Study Examines Bacteria's Ability to Fight Obesity

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Vanderbilt University investigators have identified bacteria that produce a therapeutic compound in the gut which inhibit weight gain, insulin resistance and other adverse effects of a high-fat diet in mice. "Of course it's hard to speculate from mouse to human," said senior investigator Sean Davies, Ph.D., assistant professor of Pharmacology. "But essentially, we've prevented most of the negative consequences of obesity in mice, even though they're eating a high-fat ...

Smartphone Charging Contributes to Global Warming, Finds Study

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Smartphone charging emits greenhouse gases that cause global warming, reveals new study. According to the study, these gases might even increase from 6.4 megatons to 13 megatons, within five years, CNET reported. According to the study by analyst Juniper Research, those 13 megatons would be equivalent the current annual emissions of 1.1 million cars and half of those 2019 greenhouse gases would come from mostly used in Asia's coal-fired electricity ...

First Foot-and-mouth Case Reported in S.Korea

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First case of foot-and-mouth in more than three years has been reported in South Korea, say officials. The Agriculture Ministry said in a statement that the case had been confirmed in a pig farm in Uiseong in the eastern province of North Gyeongsang. "A close examination confirmed an outbreak of FMD at the Uiseong farm," the statement said. South Korea had just regained its status as an FMD-free country in May at a meeting of the World ...

Epigenetic Changes can Drive Cancer

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Epigenetic changes - which don't change the DNA sequence but how it is 'read' - also play a role in cancer, says research. Cancer has long been thought to be primarily a genetic disease, but in recent decades scientists have come to believe that . In particular DNA methylation, the addition of a methyl group (or molecule), is an epigenetic switch that can stably turn off genes, suggesting the potential to cause cancer just as a genetic mutation can. Until now, however, direct ...

Spinach may Hold a Key to Convert Sunlight into Alternative Fuel Source

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Spinach could hold a key to convert sunlight into efficient, alternative fuel source, reveal scientists. Purdue University physicists are part of an international group using spinach to study the proteins involved in photosynthesis, the process by which plants convert the sun's energy into carbohydrates used to power cellular processes. Yulia Pushkar, a Purdue assistant professor of physics, said that the proteins they study were part of the most efficient ...

New Sensor can Warn If You are About to Fall Asleep Behind the Wheel

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Falling asleep when driving is a major concern for long distance or frequent drivers but researchers at Instituto de Biomecanica de Valencia in Spain may have come up with an early warning system for the drivers by integrating sensors in the car seats and seat belts. Called the Harken device, the sensor system tracks the heart beat and breathing of the driver and compensates for car vibrations and movement of the driver. The data is then sent to a computer ...

Dior's Famous 'Bonbon' Dress Celebrated in Paris Fashion Exhibit

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Christian Dior's famous "Bonbon" dress -cinched at the waist, with soft rounded shoulders and a swirling skirt- appears the epitome of modesty and restraint. But in 1947 -- after years of clothing coupons and wartime austerity -- this simple dusty-pink wool dress with a brown belt was nothing short of scandalous. The French fashion designer had been yearning for a return to a more feminine silhouette to replace what he called post-war "soldier women ...

Surgeons Find 5-Inch Sex Toy That was Left in Woman's Vagina 10 Years Ago

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A 38-year old woman from Aberdeen, Scotland, who visited a hospital after complaining of severe weight loss and lethargy was found to be carrying around a 5-inch sex toy in her vagina for the last 10 years. The woman visited Aberdeen Royal Infirmary after complaining of a number of 'bizarre' symptoms, including rapid and severe weight loss, constant lethargy, uncontrollable shaking and mild incontinence. The doctors took out an x-ray and found a 5-inch foreign body ...

GSK Hoping to Introduce Malaria Vaccine Shortly

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British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline has signaled its intention of coming out with a malaria vaccine after confirming that it has applied for an EU approval for its RTS,S vaccine. Despite seeking approval in Europe, the company revealed that the vaccine will be used for treating malaria in children living in sub-Saharan Africa, though the mass vaccination program will begin in 2015 at the earliest. GSK revealed that trials of the vaccine have found ...

Russia Struggles With a Flood of Refugees of Ukraine Conflict

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Officials and activists said that Russia is struggling with a flood of refugees as more than half a million flee the fighting in eastern Ukraine and it seems many are increasingly likely to stay. Widely viewed by the West as having fomented the conflict by providing support to pro-Russian separatists -- a charge Moscow denies -- Russia now faces the growing challenge of caring for the refugees. "Since April 1, over 515,000 people have arrived from southeastern ...

Wreckage of Crashed Algerian Plane Found in Mali

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Authorities have confirmed that an Algerian plane enroute to Burkina Faso has crashed in Mali with all 116 passengers feared dead. The condition of passengers cannot be confirmed but the team is working hard, said a Burkina Faso army general. The French President's office confirmed that French troops had been sent to the site. Air traffic controller had lost contact with the aircraft yesterday after the pilot had reported severe storms, reports ...

Rising Number of Adolescents and Young Adults Being Hospitalized Due to Binge Drinking on Birthdays

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Binge drinking by adolescents and young adults on their birthdays could lead to a sharp rise in in-patient/emergency department (ED) hospital admissions, says a new research. The research employed Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) intervention analysis to assess whether the rate of ICD-10 alcohol-use-disorder (AUD) events per 1000 in-patient/ED admissions increased significantly during birthday weeks. According to the study, , the second ...

Parasite Leishmania is a Probiotic for the Fly That Carries It

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Parasite iLeishmania/i, which causes the human disease leishmaniasis, acts as a probiotic in the insect that transmits it to humans, protecting them from bacterial disease. Findings published in the open access journal iParasites and Vectors/i suggest that using bacterial controls to stop the spread of leishmaniasis could sometimes have the opposite effect to that intended, by benefiting flies carrying the parasite. Around 12 million people ...

Neymar's Dizzying Runs may be Done on Auto-Pilot

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A team of Japanese neurologists suggest that Brazilian football superstar Neymar may be on autopilot when dancing past opponents as his brain activity is less than 10 percent the level of amateur players. Results of brain scans conducted on Neymar in February this year indicated minimal cerebral function when he rotated his ankle and point to the Barcelona striker's wizardry being uncannily natural. "From MRI images we discovered Neymar's brain activity ...

Death of a Parent During Childhood Associated With Greater Risk of Mortality

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A study published in this week's emPLOS Medicine/em suggests that experiencing the loss of a parent during childhood or adolescence is associated with a greater risk of mortality. The study, conducted by Jiong Li and colleagues from Aarhus University in Denmark, finds that individuals who lost either a mother or a father during childhood had a greater risk of mortality in the years following the parent's death compared with people unaffected by parental death ...

Study Finds Male Circumcision Cuts Down HIV Risk for Women as Well

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A new study presented at the World AIDS forum on Friday revealed that while circumcision helped prevent AIDS infection among males, it also indirectly benefited women by reducing their risk of contracting the HIV virus. In a South African community where large numbers of men had been circumcised, women who only had sex with circumcised partners had a 15-percent-lower risk of being infected by HIV compared with women who also had uncircumcised partners, it found. ...

New Study Finds Forty-Five Percent Rise in Diagnostic Imaging Tests by GPs

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A 45 per cent rise in diagnostic imaging tests ordered by Australian GPs is being driven by increasing GP visits, a rising number of problems managed at consultations and a higher likelihood that GPs order imaging tests for these problems. This is according to a new study released by University of Sydney. Based on a long term national survey of 9,802 GPs between 2002 and 2012, the report draws on data from more than 980,000 GP-patient encounter records to assess ...

Breast Cancer Tumors may Become Resistant to Tamoxifen After Exposure to Dim Light at Night

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Tamoxifen is one of the popular drugs used in treating breast cancer but a new study published in the journal Cancer Research has found that exposing rats that bore human breast cancer tumors to dim light at night made them resistant to the drug, though it was overcome by giving them a melatonin supplement during the night. "Resistance to tamoxifen is a growing problem among patients with hormone receptor-positive breast cancer," said Steven M. Hill, PhD, professor ...

False Positives Will Not Upset People in Lung Cancer Screening

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Allaying the fears of policymakers in the US who are worried that high rates of false positive results in computerized tomography (CT) lung screening for cancer may upset people, an analysis of National Lung Screening Trial participant responses to false positive diagnoses has found that there was no increased anxiety or lower quality of life among those who received false positive screening results compared to other participants. "Most people anticipated that ...

Number of US Children Killed by Heatstroke in Parked Cars on the Rise

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Officials in the United States reveal that an average of 38 children have died every year between 1998 and 2013 due to heatstroke after their parents left them in parked cars in the blazing heat of summer, with majority of the children under the age of five years. And so far this year, the toll stands at 17, prompting a national campaign urging parents and caregivers never to leave kids alone in parked cars. "Every summer it seems that we live out the ...

Research Finds Connection Between Autoimmune Disorders and Cancer

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A new report by George Washington University (GW) researcher Linda Kusner, Ph.D. suggests that autoimmune disorders may share certain pathogenic mechanisms with cancer. The research was published in iPLOS ONE/i on July 22. This paradigm shifting work shows that the very same inhibitors of apoptosis, or cell destruction, in tumors are also expressed in cells that produce autoimmune diseases. Henry Kaminski, M.D., chair of the Department of Neurology ...

Researchers Discover Neuroprotective Role of Immune Cell

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A type of immune cell believed to exacerbate chronic adult brain diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease and multiple sclerosis (MS), can actually protect the brain from traumatic brain injury (TBI) and may slow the progression of neurodegenerative diseases. This is according to Cleveland Clinic research published in the online journal iNature Communications/i. The research team, led by Bruce Trapp, PhD, Chair of the Department of Neurosciences at ...

Scientists Identify Molecular Key to Healthy Pregnancy

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In a study that may offer new clues about the medical challenges of infertility/subfertility, abnormal placentation, and placenta previa, scientists have identified a crucial molecular key to healthy embryo implantation and pregnancy. Multi-institutional teams led by researchers at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center report their results in emCell Reports/em on July 17. The authors found that uterine expression of a gene called Wnt5a - a major signaling ...

New Link Discovered Between Obesity, Inflammation and Insulin Resistance

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At Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute (Sanford-Burnham), new study by researchers have identified a new signal that triggers the events leading to insulin resistance in obesity. The signal causes inflammation in adipose tissue and leads to metabolic disease. The study, published July 17 in iCell Metabolism/i, suggests that blocking this signal may protect against the development of metabolic disease, type 2 diabetes, and other disorders caused by obesity-linked ...

In 21st Century, 'Menstruation' Still a Taboo

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Reports claim that about 75 percent of the women still shy away from buying sanitary pads and looks for alternatives such as getting them wrapped in newspapers or keeping them hidden in bags. It is overwhelming to hear that 40 percent of women stay at home during 'that time of the month' and 65 percent don't wash their hair. Living in the 21st century one should expect all primitive myths to be withered away by now, but that goes out of the window when ...

Sham Marriages Conducted to Earn Right to Live in UK More Prevalent Than Previously Believed

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Lawmakers in Britain have warned the government that the number of sham marriages conducted to win the right to live in the country was higher than previously thought and this poses a major risk to immigration control. The number of suspect couples referred to the interior ministry each year had more than doubled over the past three years to 2,145, a parliamentary committee said. It urged that registrars, who officiate marriages, be given the power to ...

Exhibition to Reveal British Royal Childhood Memories to the World

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The Buckingham Palace will play host to a special exhibition that feature the childhood memories of the British royal family spanning 250 years, including toys such as a gadget-laden miniature James Bond supercar. The Royal Childhood exhibition at the London palace features more than 150 objects, including cherished outfits, family photographs and private film footage. "It gives an unprecedented glimpse into life as a young member of the royal family ...

Working in Shifts can Increase Risk of Type 2 Diabetes

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A new study published in the journal Occupational (and) Environmental Medicine reveals that the risk of developing type 2 diabetes increases with shift work and is higher among men and those working rotating shift patterns. Previous research has suggested links between working shifts and a heightened risk of various health problems, including digestive disorders, certain cancers, and cardiovascular disease. But whether diabetes can be added to the list has not been ...

Study Finds Less Than One Percent of Research Funding by Charity Organizations Spent on Antibiotic Research

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A new study published in the journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases reveals that less than one percent of the funding awarded by public and charitable bodies to British researchers in 2008 was for research on new antibiotics. The study, which is the first detailed assessment of public and charitable funding to UK researchers focusing on bacteriology and antibiotic research, suggests that present levels of funding for antibiotic research in the UK are inadequate, ...

New Imaging Agent can Lead to More Accurate Diagnosis and Treatment of GI Tract Diseases

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A new nanoscale agent developed by researchers from US and South Korea can lead to better diagnosis and treatment of gut diseases by providing better images of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract in real time. Illnesses such as small bowel bacterial overgrowth, irritable bowel syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease all occur in the intestine and can lead to serious side effects in patients with diseases such as diabetes and Parkinson's. Until now, there ...

Watching TV Makes Stressed People Feel Guilty

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People who were highly stressed after work did not feel relieved or recovered when they watched television or played computer games, found a new study. Instead they had high level of guilt and feelings of failure. The study was conducted by researchers at the iJohannes Gutenberg University Mainz/i in Germany and the iVU University Amsterdam /iin the Netherlands. The researchers asked 471 participants how they felt after job or school the previous ...

New Test Helps Predict Which Children With Kidney Disease Will Respond to Standard Therapy

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A new genetic screening test developed by scientists may help predict which patients with one of the most common childhood kidney diseases will respond to standard therapies. The test is described in a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the iJournal of the American Society of Nephrology/i. Using this test could help guide clinicians as they counsel and treat patients. Sporadic nephrotic syndrome is one of the most common kidney diseases in children, ...