Category: Health Problems

A team from the Institute of Medicine, RUDN University discovered that light therapy (treating mental disorders with bright light) increased blood pressure in animals with inherited hypertension. It will help to make light therapy safer for patients with essential hypertension. The report was presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Light Treatment and

As children spend more time tethered to screens, there is increasing concern about potential harm to their visual development. Ophthalmologists—physicians who specialize in medical and surgical eye care—are seeing a marked increase in children with dry eye and eye strain from too much screen time. But does digital eyestrain cause lasting damage? Should your child

A devastating form of childhood epilepsy that is resistant to traditional drugs may have met its match in spider venom. Researchers from The University of Queensland and the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health discovered that a peptide in spider venom can restore the neural deficiencies that trigger seizures associated with Dravet syndrome. UQ

The size of muscles in patients suffering from chronic kidney disease (CKD) could be more important to maintaining good physical performance than muscle quality, new research has shown. In a paper published in the journal Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation, researchers from the University of Leicester have found that patients with large muscles had better physical function,

Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has joined with Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals in a collaborative research partnership aimed at pursuing new therapies for patients with complex medical conditions, especially rare diseases that may have few or no treatment options. The global pharmaceutical company, which has maintained a presence in St. Louis since its founding

A clinical trial has begun which will use stem cell transplants to grow a new immune system for people with untreatable Crohn’s disease—a painful and chronic intestinal disease which affects at least 115,000 people in the UK. The study, led by Queen Mary University of London and Barts Health NHS trust, is funded with £2m

(HealthDay)—Ultra-early neurological deterioration (U-END) occurs in one in eight ambulance-transported patients with acute cerebrovascular disease and is associated with significantly worse outcomes, according to a study published online July 23 in JAMA Neurology. Kristina Shkirkova, from the University of California in Los Angeles, and colleagues performed an exploratory analysis of the prehospital, randomized Field Administration

Mushrooms from the Far East contain natural chemical compounds that could be used for the design of the novel drugs with highly specific anti-tumor activities and low toxicity. These compounds may offer new avenues for oncology, providing physicians with either standalone alternatives to chemotherapy, chemopreventive medicines, or drugs to be used in combination with other

A new computational model has allowed researchers to identify new therapeutic targets that can attack cancer cells by lowering their intracellular pH. The study, which is the result of collaboration between IRB Barcelona, the Moffitt Cancer Center, and the University of Maryland, has been published in Nature Communications. Cancer cells are known to acidify their

Keratinocyte skin cells are common targets of the beta subtype of human papilloma virus. This usually harmless infection causes skin disease in people with rare gene mutations.[/caption] You’re probably infected with one or more subtypes of the human papilloma virus—and, as alarming as that may sound, odds are you will never show any symptoms. The

Hand, foot and mouth disease is in the news with Yankees pitcher J.A. Happ becoming the second Major League Baseball pitcher afflicted in recent weeks. Mets pitcher Noah Syndergaard was the first player to get felled by the ailment, reportedly after visiting a children’s camp. But doctors say it’s vital to understand that the group

A new study by KAIST researchers identified where the mutation causing glioblastoma starts. According to the study, neural stem cells away from the tumor mass are the cells of origin that contain mutation drivers for glioblastoma, one of the most aggressive brain tumor. This breakthrough research, reported in Nature on August 1, gives insights for

Military veterans who participated in a three week, intensive outpatient treatment program for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) saw rapid and clinically meaningful changes in PTSD and depression symptoms, according to results of a study by researchers at Rush University Medical Center published July 30 in BMC Psychiatry. This paper adds to the growing body evidence

One night after work, on her way up three flights of stairs to her apartment, Kayde Wolf paused on every landing to catch her breath. In her 20s, fit and healthy, she didn’t understand what was happening. The next day, Kayde felt lethargic and anxious. Her heart pounded so furiously that she could see it

With the spread of photo-editing technology through applications like Snapchat and Facetune, the level of physical “perfection” previously seen only on celebrity or beauty magazines is now all over social media. As these images become the norm, people’s perceptions of beauty worldwide are changing, which can take a toll on a person’s self-esteem and can

Dengue and Zika viruses are closely related and carried by mosquitos. In infested subtropical and tropical areas, dengue transmission often precedes Zika virus (ZIKV) infection, suggesting that women who previously acquired dengue immunity may be bitten by ZIKV-carrying mosquitoes during pregnancy. Whether that mother’s prior dengue immunity would protect her unborn baby from devastating brain

(HealthDay)—A new initiative to increase hepatitis B virus vaccination rates among at-risk adults has been developed, according to a report from the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID) published in support of World Hepatitis Day. The NFID is developing a new initiative to increase hepatitis B vaccination rates among at-risk adults in order to reduce

A ground-breaking study is underway at the University of Birmingham and Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham to establish if livers that have been rejected for transplantation can be made viable by using a liver perfusion machine. Scientists are hopeful that machine perfusion could be a major breakthrough that would save more lives and reduce liver transplant

Some people respond well to both aerobic exercise and strength training, while others don’t. And some of us respond well to only one of those things, but not both. Scientists at Joslin Diabetes Center now have uncovered a surprising molecular “switch” that may help to explain why this happens. “We’ve identified an exercise-activated biological pathway

More than 90 percent of people caring for a family member with dementia experience poor sleep, according to new research by the University at Buffalo School of Nursing. The study found that most participants got less than six hours of sleep each night, accompanied by frequent awakenings as often as four times per hour. These