Category: Health Problems

A new report looks at cancer in adults 85 and older and finds incidence and mortality trends are generally similar to those in people 65 to 84, but screening is unexpectedly high and survival is poorer. The report appears in the American Cancer Society journal, CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians. Adults aged 85 years

The human liver is a vital organ involved in multiple functions. Because susceptibility to liver diseases is highly variable among patients, researchers from Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU) and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC) have engineered a model liver system that can be personalized for disease modeling and drug discovery. In a study

Many men with prostate cancer rely on common testosterone-blocking drugs as a part of their treatment. But those so-called antiandrogens also might put them at risk for a deadly heart condition, according to new research. In a study published Monday in the American Heart Association journal Circulation, researchers looked at how several testosterone-blocking drugs affect

Adults are really good at paying attention only to what you tell them to—but children don’t ignore anything. That difference can actually help children do better than adults in some learning situations, a new study suggests. Researchers surprised adults and 4- and 5-year-old children participating in the study by making information that was irrelevant at

A combination of heart cells derived from human stem cells could be the answer to developing a desperately-needed treatment for heart failure, according to new research part-funded by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) and published in Nature Biotechnology. Researchers have found that, by transplanting an area of damaged tissue with a combination of both heart

Studying how influenza viruses cause disease just got a little easier, thanks to a new tool developed at South Dakota State University. Scientists have been using cells from chickens, dogs, monkeys and hamsters to study influenza viruses that infect pigs and humans. Now they can use cell cultures from the tissues of swine nasal passages,

The American population is aging, and conditions such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease are on the rise. With those factors in place, the medical community has growing concerns about wound treatment. According to the American Professional Wound Care Association, about 15 percent of Medicare recipients suffer chronic, nonhealing wounds with an annual cost of about

Computers are more accurate than humans at detecting digitally manipulated ID photos, which merge the images of two people, new research has found. Face morphing is a method used by fraudsters in which two separate identity photographs are digitally merged to create a single image that sufficiently resembles both people. This image is then submitted

Goal-oriented, motivational physical and occupational therapy helps older patients recover more fully from broken hips, strokes and other ailments that land them in skilled nursing facilities for rehabilitation, according to new research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Enhanced Medical Rehabilitation—an approach in which physical and occupational therapists work to engage patients

Like humans, many bacteria like to spend time at the beach. The so-called flesh-eating bacteria, Vibrio vulnificus, don’t just like the beach; they need it, and rely on seasalt for survival. And as with human beachgoers, the warmer the water, the more of them there are. V. vulnificus is most commonly found in the warm

A world-first intervention for refugee men who suffer from PTSD has shown promise in a trial, encouraging them to get help. An online intervention by UNSW Sydney scientists, in partnership with Settlement Services International (SSI), has successfully helped traumatised refugee men overcome the stigma associated with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a randomised control trial has

A unique clinic for patients with terminal lung disease is leading to dramatic reductions in hospital deaths, better symptom management and lower costs for the health-care system. The multidisciplinary team at Alberta Health Services’ Kaye Edmonton Interstitial Lung Disease Clinic delivers palliative care and encourages treatment at home for patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF).

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently developed an Autocidal Gravid Ovitrap (AGP trap) that attracts and captures female mosquitos looking for a site to lay eggs. Now, researchers writing in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases report that AGO traps successfully protected people from infection with chikungunya virus (CHIKV) in communities in Puerto

After nerve injury, the protein complex mTORC1 takes over an important function in skeletal muscle to maintain the neuromuscular junction, the synapse between the nerve and muscle fiber. Researchers at the University of Basel’s Biozentrum have now shown that the activation of mTORC1 must be tightly balanced for a proper response of the muscle to

New research from UCLA indicates mindfulness meditation may be an effective and inexpensive treatment for Spanish-speaking immigrants suffering from stress-related depression. The study, published in peer-reviewed PLOS One, demonstrates key benefits of mindfulness training programs for immigrants who may struggle with learning a new language, finding a job, obtaining health care, and experiencing discrimination and

Hyperglycemia, or high levels of glucose, is common in patients with acute ischemic stroke and is associated with worse outcomes compared to normal blood sugar levels. Animal studies also pointed to an effect of high blood sugar in worsening stroke injury. Stroke experts have debated whether intensive glucose management after acute ischemic stroke leads to

As humans, we may feel rather lucky about our evolutionary lot. We live longer than many other animals, and lifespans continue to increase thanks to better diets, advances in medicine and improved public health. But our quest to beat aging and the diseases that come with aging continues. Osteoarthritis rates, for example, have doubled since

A new study has shed light on a possible risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease in women: not having a job. Dr. Elizabeth R. Mayeda, assistant professor of epidemiology at UCLA’s Fielding School of Public Health, conducted a study on later-life cognitive health in women and found that working women showed a slower decrease in memory

(HealthDay)—In the July 19 issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, recommendations are presented for use of the Japanese encephalitis (JE) vaccine. Susan L. Hills, M.B.B.S., from the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases at the CDC in Fort Collins, Colorado, and colleagues summarize the

Hallucinations are spooky and, fortunately, fairly rare. But, a new study suggests, the real question isn’t so much why some people occasionally experience them. It’s why all of us aren’t hallucinating all the time. In the study, Stanford University School of Medicine neuroscientists stimulated nerve cells in the visual cortex of mice to induce an