Category: Health Problems

Thirteen patients with OXA-48-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae ST392 have been reported by Sweden and Norway between January and April 2018—all returning travellers with prior hospital admission in Gran Canaria, Spain. Whole genome sequencing showed tight clustering between the bacterial isolates from the cases. According to ECDC’s risk assessment published today, the risk for individual travellers to

A four-protein biomarker blood test improves lung cancer risk assessment over existing guidelines that rely solely upon smoking history, capturing risk for people who have ever smoked, not only for heavy smokers, an international research team reports in JAMA Oncology. “This simple blood test demonstrates the potential of biomarker-based risk assessment to improve eligibility criteria

The muscles of people in intensive care are less able to use fats for energy, contributing to extensive loss of muscle mass, finds a new study co-led by UCL, King’s College London and Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust. Intensive care patients can lose 20% of their muscle mass in just 10 days, which

A new study has shown that people who regularly eat oranges are less likely to develop macular degeneration than people who do not eat oranges. Researchers at the Westmead Institute for Medical Research interviewed more than 2,000 Australian adults aged over 50 and followed them over a 15-year period. The research showed that people who

Structural differences in the cerebellum may be linked to some aspects of autism spectrum disorder, according to a neuroimaging study from Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC). The findings were published online today in PLOS ONE. The cerebellum—which means ‘little brain’ in Latin—constitutes only 10 percent of the brain’s total volume, though it contains 80

Researchers have shed new light on the psychiatric and neurological problems that Ebola survivors can suffer from, and call for more specialist support for the most severely affected patients. A new report published in Emerging Infectious Diseases details a broad range of disorders among Ebola survivors in Sierra Leone, including stroke and debilitating migraine-type headaches.

Among the most serious consequences of the opioid epidemic is the spread of hepatitis C among injecting drug users. A major new study shows that if a hepatitis C vaccine were successfully developed, it would dramatically reduce transmission of hepatitis C among drug users—even though it’s unlikely such a vaccine would provide complete immunity. The

Advanced algorithms working from large chemical databases can predict a new chemical’s toxicity better than standard animal tests, suggests a study led by scientists at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The researchers, in the study that appears in the journal Toxicological Sciences on July 11, mined a large database of known chemicals they

Increasingly, doctors are treating lung cancer based on the genetic rearrangements driving the disease. For example, cancers that are driven by changes in the genes ALK, EGFR, and ROS1 can now all be paired with drugs that target these specific changes. However, these cancers are not only dangerous in the lung where they appear, but

(HealthDay)—The common but dangerous heart rhythm disorder known as atrial fibrillation—or a-fib—can go undetected for years. Now, research suggests a high-tech, wearable patch might spot the condition early. Use of the Zio XT wireless patch, made by iRhythm, produced “an almost threefold improvement in the rate of diagnosis of a-fib in those actively monitored compared

The fingerprint is unique in every individual: As no two fingerprints are the same, they have become the go-to method of identity verification for police, immigration authorities and smartphone producers alike. But what about the central switchboard inside our heads? Is it possible to find out who a brain belongs to from certain anatomical features?

Being aware of our surroundings is a fundamental aspect of our existence. But what in our biological makeup determines how we access and interpret the endless stream of information around us? A new Tel Aviv University study published in Current Biology suggests that noradrenaline, a neurotransmitter responsible for arousal in the brain, plays a vital

New research from the University of Georgia reveals that exposure to famine during specific moments in early life is associated with depression later in life. “Nutrition deprivation and stress are important risk factors for depression particularly during periods in early life,” said lead author Changwei Li, assistant professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at UGA’s College

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may increase the long-term risk for stroke and heart attack in blue-collar clean-up crews who worked in the aftermath of The World Trade Center plane attack on September 11, 2001, according to new research in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, an American Heart Association journal. This is the first report from

Researchers funded by the British Heart Foundation have identified how a new treatment in mice can regenerate the heart after a heart attack—preventing the onset of heart failure. During a heart attack, the heart is starved of oxygen and heart muscle is damaged. The body responds by sending in immune cells to clear up dead

Scientists have discovered that it is possible to identify people at high risk of developing acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) years before diagnosis. The researchers from Wellcome Sanger Institute, European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) and their international collaborators found that patients with AML had genetic changes in their blood years before they suddenly developed the disease. The

In the maze of our brains, there are various pathways by which neural signals travel. These pathways can go awry in patients with neurological and psychiatric diseases and disorders, such as epilepsy, Parkinson’s, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Researchers have developed new therapeutic strategies to more precisely target neural pathways involved in these conditions, but they often

More than 350,000 people had sudden cardiac arrest outside of a hospital in 2017. Those who received CPR were two to three times more likely to survive. Joshua Moeckly, a Mayo Clinic cardiac nurse, explains the five steps you should go through in an effort to save a life. It’s a moment everyone hopes they

An increased use of clot-busting medicines prevented 4,000 strokes in England between 2015 and 2016, according to new research. The drugs were given to patients who were suffering from an irregular heartbeat called atrial fibrillation (AF) which can result in a five-fold increased risk of a stroke, compared to people who do not have the

Researchers have found that consuming a broth rich in umami—or savory taste—can cause subtle changes in the brain that promote healthy eating behaviors and food choices, especially in women at risk of obesity. Umami is a Japanese word to express a delicious, savory meal, and it represents one of the five basic tastes, together with