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Can Gene Therapy Generate a Cardiac Pacemaker?

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Gene therapy has been used to develop a biological pacemaker in a pig model; if the same process is successful in humans, it would indeed be a huge benefit for patients of heart block in need of a pacemaker. h3What is gene therapy?/h3 Several medical conditions have been found to be due to a href="http:www.medindia.net/patients/patientinfo/genetic_testing_disorders.htm" target="_blank" class="vcontentshlink" alt="Information about Genetic Disorders" ...

Five Genetic Variants Influencing the Size of Human Brain Discovered

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A team of international researchers has discovered five genetic variants that influence the size of structures within the human brain. The findings were published this week in the journal Nature. The study was led by Drs. Sarah Medland, Margie Wright, Nick Martin and Paul Thompson of the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute in Australia. In the study, nearly 300 researchers analyzed genetic data and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans from ...

Mental Health - Neurosis vs Psychosis

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Mental well-being is a concern and abnormal coping of emotions can lead to neurosis or psychosis. Mental illnesses can range from depression, anxiety, phobias to schizophrenia and affective disorders.

German Regulator Hails EMA's Generic Drugs Suspension on GVK Bio Data

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German drug regulator has hailed the European Medicine Agency's decision to suspend the marketing authorisation of more than 700 generic drugs subjected to clinical trials by India's GVK Biosciences. The decision is being seen as the EU's determination to maintain high ethical and medical standards for approval of medicines. The EU drug regulator's announcement is also an endorsement of the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices' (BfArM) ...

Indian Medical Association Wants ESIC to Continue Medical Education

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The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has sent a letter to the Union Government asking it to rescue the students studying in various medical colleges that come under the Employment State Insurance Corporation (ESIC). The Corporation had recently announced its decision to exit the field of medical education. The association says that this decision will put at stake the educational future of students and job security of the faculty at these institutions ...

Elbow pain - Symptom Evaluation

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How serious is an elbow pain? What causes an elbow pain?

Reforming Law to Allow Early Medical Abortion

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The acquiescence of the Northern Territory's main termination of pregnancy provider has led to a call for major reforms to the NT's Medical Services Act. Dr Suzanne Belton, Menzies School of Health Research, Darwin, and co-authors reported that termination services in the NT were now reduced to one private hospital and one public hospital. The lack of public access is a real problem with around 20 women presenting for a surgical abortion during their ...

Childbearing in Women Diagnosed With Meningioma: Decisions on Future

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A diagnosis of brain tumor or meningioma, even the one that is usually "benign" and slow growing, can be scary. They cause temporary and permanent side effects and may recur after surgical removal. In addition, a small percentage of primary or recurrent meningiomas are malignant. Imagine yourself a female meningioma survivor in your childbearing years. Some reports indicate that pregnancy may be a risk factor for tumor progression or recurrence. What do you do? ...

Health and Sleep Improved With Flexible Work Schedules for Employees

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People having flexible work schedules have better health and they sleep better than their counterparts, examines a new study, improving their cognitive functions like alertness and processing information. Orfeu M. Buxton, associate professor of biobehavioral health, Penn State, said that in the absence of sufficient sleep, they are not as attentive or alert, they process information more slowly, miss or misinterpret social and emotional cues and decision making ...

Drug for Hepatitis C to be Launched in India by Gilead Sciences

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Gilead Sciences Inc. aims to launch Sovaldi, the hepatitis C drug, in India by June and to expand the reach of a generic licensing agreement with Indian drug-makers to include an investigational combination pill. The pill could treat six genotypes of hepatitis C if approved by regulators and is a combination of sofosbuvir, the chemical name for Sovaldi, with GS-5816, a compound in advanced clinical trials in the U.S. Gregg Alton, an executive vice ...

Predicting Breast Cancer With a Newer and More Accurate Model

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Breast tissue biopsy of women with benign breast disease and individual patient demographic information together help predict the risk of classified breast cancer more accurately than the current screening standard. Results of a Mayo Clinic study comparing the new model to the current standard, the Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Tool (BCRAT), are published in the iJournal of Clinical Oncology/i. "Physicians routinely perform biopsies to evaluate concerning findings ...

Elevated Cholesterol in Middle-Age Increases Risk of Heart Disease

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Even slight elevation in cholesterol levels in otherwise healthy adults between ages 35 to 55 can have long-term impact on their heart health find researchers. New findings from researchers at the Duke Clinical Research Institute suggest that with every decade of high cholesterol increases the chances of heart disease by 39 percent. The findings are published in the American Heart Association journal iCirculation/i. Lead author Ann Marie Navar-Boggan, ...

Swine Flu Treatment Hindered Due to Delayed Reports

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The total number of swine flu positive cases in Telangana has shot up to 440 in January. 26 persons have lost their lives due to swine flu in Telangana so far, between December and January. 52 fresh cases of swine flu have tested positive out of 116 samples tested by health authorities on Monday night. Two more persons have died of swine flu in the last 48 hours in Hyderabad. While a 40-year-old man from Nellore district died at Gandhi Hospital on ...

Bird Flu Tested Positive in Canadian Patient After China Trip

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Canadian woman who recently returned from a trip to China is the first human case of H7N9 bird flu in North America, said health officials on Monday. The patient in her 50s began feeling sick two days after returning home in Canada's westernmost British Columbia province and sought care from a doctor. Tests confirmed that she had contracted the H7N9 virus. "Today we are confirming the first case of H7N9 in humans in North America," Health ...

Anti-Inflammatory Drug Development With 3D Enzyme Model

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Phospholipase A2 are enzymes that play a significant role in many inflammatory diseases including asthma, arthritis and atherosclerosis. This could mean that the PLA2 inhibitors could represent a new class of anti-inflammatory medication. To better understand PLA2 enzymes and help drive therapeutic drug development, researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine developed 3D computer models that show exactly how two PLA2 enzymes extract their ...

Chewing Gum can be an Oral Cavity Cleanser

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Researchers at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands found that chewing gum can trap and remove 100 million bacteria from the oral cavity in just 10 minutes. Five college students were recruited to chew two different standard types of spearmint gum for various lengths of time ranging from 30 seconds to 10 minutes. The gum was spit into a cup filled with sterile water to be analysed. There were were about 100 million bacteria detected on each ...

Brain Circuit Regulating Thirst Identified

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A circuit in the brains of mice that regulates thirst has been identified. When the circuit is switched on, mice began drinking water in spite of being fully hydrated. A second set of cells suppresses the urge to drink. The thirst-regulating circuit is located in a region of the brain called the sub-fornical organ (SFO). "We view the SFO as a dedicated circuit that has two elements that likely interact with each other to maintain the perfect balance, so you drink ...

Implantation of a Novel Device Treats Dry Eyes

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The recent therapies for dry eye like eye drops and cyclosporine are either difficult to manage or don't really fix the problem. Certain conditions should be maintained while handling eye drops like refrigeration, so keeping them cold and handy is a challenge. Cyclosporine treats the inflammation and has a low rate of patient compliance. Oculeve, a company, which came out of the Stanford Biodesign program, has developed a tiny implant that may help a ...

Medicaid Patients Rely on ERs Despite Copayments for Non-Urgent Care

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Adequate health care to poor people has to be provided by states and federal government without overburdening taxpayers or leaving health care providers with billions in unpaid bills. This thorny problem is especially challenging in the aftermath of a recession and congressional mandates expanding Medicaid eligibility. To help control rising costs, in 2005, Congress gave states the option of charging copayments for Medicaid recipients who get nonurgent care in hospital ...

How to Control Impulses: Learn from Scorpions

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Benefits of prolonging nerve impulses can be understood from scorpions, found a study. The results could pave way for easier identification of drugs that function similar to scorpion venom, but with positive results in the recipient. The study is published in emThe Journal of General Physiology/em. For venomous animals seeking to cripple their prey or defend against predators, voltage-gated sodium (Nasubv/sub) channels are attractive targets. These transmembrane ...

Unusual Heart Arryhthmias can be Due to Leaky Channels

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Leaky transmembrane channels could cause disruptions in normal heart function, reveal researchers in Canada. Unusual cardiac arrhythmias can occur due to ion leaks in mutant sodium channels, suggests the study. Voltage-gated sodium (Nasubv/sub) channels are responsible for mediating an "action potential" in muscle cells that leads to contraction. Nasubv/sub1.5 is the primary Nasubv/sub channel expressed in the muscle cells of the heart, and Nasubv/sub1.5 ...

Extending Lifespan of Human Cells

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Telomeres are essential part of human cells that affect how our cells age, and a new study has shown that extending telomeres can slow down the cell aging process. The study allows scientists to increase cell numbers for testing drugs, but may also hold a key to longer and healthier lives. Helen M. Blau, Ph.D., who led the research as Director of the Baxter Laboratory for Stem Cell Biology in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Stanford ...

Human Learning Linked to Combination of Sleep and Memory

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The connection between sleep, memory and learning is deep and a new study has provided a deeper insight into how sleep and memory team up to help humans with learning. Most animals, from flies to humans, have trouble remembering when sleep deprived, and studies have shown that sleep is critical in converting short-term into long-term memory, a process known as memory consolidation. But just how that process works has remained a mystery. Paula Haynes ...

Role of Genes and Environment on Drinking Habits

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Alcohol use typically begins during adolescence, but your genes and environment contribute to the link between you drinking alone or under peer pressure. Alcohol use during adolescence, within social contexts, and is often correlated with the drinking of one's peers. A new study of how a person's drinking is related to the alcohol use of their peers from early adolescence through to early adulthood has found that both genetic and environmental factors contribute ...

Heartburn Lasting for More Than Three Weeks can Indicate Cancer

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Heartburn that lasts for three weeks continuously can indicate the presence of oesophageal or stomach cancer, revealed a new study. A national Be Clear on Cancer campaign launch coincides with results of a new survey commissioned by Public Health England, whichreveals only one in two people would visit their doctor if they had heartburn most days for three weeks or more, the Mirror reported. However, having the complaint this often can be a sign of oesophageal ...

Spectators Thrilled by Fly-Past During Conclusion of Republic Day Parade

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Indian Air Force (IAF) leave the spectators thrilled with a dazzling display of aerial prowess by their aircraft as the Republic Day parade came to a conclusion. As the planes and helicopters showcased their might during their flypast, hundreds of Tricolour balloons were released in the air, with the audience left spellbound. The parade ended with a performance of the national anthem, following which, President Pranab Mukherjee, Prime Minister Narendra ...

Health Benefits of 'Umami' Taste

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Umami taste is one of the five basic tastes and is now found to prove beneficial for health, says a new research. Despite the widely held belief that monosodium glutamate (MSG) was an unhealthy addition to food, researchers from Tohoku University Graduate School of Dentistry, Japan, show that the taste it triggers, umami, is important for health, especially in elderly people. In a small study of 44 elderly patients, the researchers showed that some elderly ...