Category: Health Problems

Early-stage clinical trial of antimalarial drug begins

Enrollment has begun in a Phase 1 clinical trial to test the safety of a new investigational drug designed to treat malaria, as well as its effect on the human body. The first-in-human study is sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and

Low fitness may indicate poor arterial health in adolescents

A recent Finnish study conducted at the University of Jyväskylä showed that adolescents with better aerobic fitness have more compliant arteries than their lower fit peers do. The study also suggests that a higher anaerobic threshold is linked to better arterial health. The results were published in the European Journal of Applied Physiology. Arterial stiffness

Making sense, pictures of medical data

A woman goes to the doctor for a mammogram. The result comes back positive. “This doesn’t necessarily mean you have cancer, false positives are common,” her doctor might say. Maybe the patient is also given a pamphlet with some statistics about mortality and survival rates. But the test did come back “positive,” the patient thinks,

How the brain forgets on purpose

Researchers from Ruhr-Universität Bochum and the University Hospital of Gießen and Marburg, in collaboration with colleagues from Bonn, the Netherlands, and the UK, have analysed what happens in the brain when humans want to voluntarily forget something. They identified two areas of the brain – the prefrontal cortex and the hippocampus – whose activity patterns

Jet-air dryers should not be used in hospital toilets

Jet-air hand dryers in hospital toilets spread more germs than disposable paper towels and should not be used, say researchers. Writing in the Journal of Hospital Infection, they argue that the official guidance about how to prevent bacterial contamination in hospital buildings needs to be strengthened. At the moment, the official Department of Health guidance

Scientists test new cancer vaccine against melanoma

An experimental cancer vaccine that boosts the immune system’s ability to fight cancers could work in tandem with other cancer therapies to fight aggressive tumors, scientists reported recently in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The researchers demonstrated that adding a molecule called Diprovocim to a vaccine can draw cancer-fighting cells to tumor

Children with food insecurity at risk for high blood pressure

Kids with food insecurity, meaning they lack good access to nutritional foods, were more likely to have high blood pressure than kids with secure access to food, according to a study presented at the American Heart Association’s Joint Hypertension 2018 Scientific Sessions. “High blood pressure—even in childhood—matters,” said study author Andrew Michael South, M.D., assistant

How to ‘jumpstart’ rhythmic breathing at birth

The common expression, ‘As easy as breathing,’ is truly misleading. Breathing, as it is performed by higher vertebrates, is a complex biological function involving many types of neurons. It requires chemosensory neurons to sense oxygen and carbon dioxide levels in the blood and motor neurons to control muscle movement. It also needs specialized neurons to

Social media, social problems

Scott Caplan is a big fan of face time. That’s not FaceTime, the video calling app, but actual face time, the in-person social interaction in which people talk directly with one another the way they have for thousands of years. “The iPhone was introduced in 2007, and that’s when things really started changing because people

Climate change will increase deaths by suicide

Extreme heat has gripped the northern hemisphere in recent months, and the year 2018 is on track to be among the hottest ever recorded. Higher global temperatures are expected to have detrimental effects on our natural environments and our physical health, but what will they do to our mental health? New research from an international

WHO issues recommendations for Tx intensification in T2DM

(HealthDay)—Recommendations have been developed by the World Health Organization for treatment intensification in type 2 diabetes. The recommendations were published online Sept. 4 in the Annals of Internal Medicine. Gojka Roglic, M.D., and Susan L. Norris, M.D., M.P.H., from the World Health Organization in Switzerland, developed recommendations to provide guidance on medicine selection for treatment

First-ever guidelines for detecting, treating perimenopausal depression

It is well-recognized that women are at increased risk of depression during postpartum when hormone levels are changing, but the risk of depression associated with perimenopause—the time right before menopause when female hormones are in decline—remains under-recognized and clinical recommendations on how to diagnose and treat this kind of depression in women have been lacking

New mechanism activates bone-building cells in osteoperosis

The number of osteoporosis medications that promote bone formation are few compared to those that suppress bone resorption. A research group led by Kumamoto University scientists has discovered that the gene SIRT7 is important for bone formation, and has discovered a new mechanism to activate gene functions essential for bone formation. The researchers believe that

USPSTF reaffirms screening for syphilis in pregnancy

(HealthDay)—The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommends screening all pregnant women for syphilis infection. These findings form the basis of a reaffirmation recommendation statement published in the Sept. 4 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. Using data from seven studies, Jennifer S. Lin, M.D., from Kaiser Permanente Research Affiliates in Portland,

New clues found to understanding relapse in breast cancer

A large genomic analysis has linked certain DNA mutations to a high risk of relapse in estrogen receptor positive breast cancer, while other mutations were associated with better outcomes, according to researchers from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, the Baylor College of Medicine and the University of British Columbia. The knowledge could