Category: Health Problems

Probiotics may be a relatively safe, simple, and low-cost solution for preventing Clostridium difficile infections (CDI) in hospital settings, according to two studies published today in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology, the journal of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America. Both studies show that treating patients who received antibiotics with multi-strain probiotics, cut down

Researchers today generally agree that eating garlic, used for thousands of years to treat human disease, can reduce the risk of developing certain kinds of cancers, cardiovascular disease, and type 2 diabetes. Nevertheless, in a review published April 26 in the journal Trends in Pharmacological Sciences, researchers in the UK argue that explaining exactly how

If there is one thing all cancers have in common, it is they have nothing in common. A multi-center study led by The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center has shed light on why proteins, the seedlings that serve as the incubator for many cancers, can vary from cancer to cancer and even patient

Scientists at Osaka University have discovered that Stromal derived factor-1 (SDF-1) secreted from adipocytes reduces the effectiveness of insulin in adipocytes and decreased insulin-induced glucose uptake. Insulin is a hormone that facilitates glucose uptake. Insulin binds to cellular insulin receptors to activate Insulin Receptor Substrate 1 (IRS-1), taking in sugar through phosphorylation of Akt. If

Mistaken belief in mythical causes of cancer is rife according to new research jointly funded by Cancer Research UK and published today (Thursday) in the European Journal of Cancer. Researchers at University College London (UCL) and the University of Leeds surveyed 1,330 people in England and found that more than 40% wrongly thought that stress

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) did not cross the species barrier to infect cynomolgus macaque monkeys during a lengthy investigation by National Institutes of Health scientists exploring risks to humans. CWD is a type of brain-damaging and fatal prion disease found in deer, elk and moose; in humans, prion diseases can take more than a decade

Parents and adults spend a lot of time worrying about the influence of friends and peers when it comes to teen substance use – drinking alcohol, binge drinking, marijuana use and other illicit drugs. Is it all about an adolescent’s environment, their friends, peers and family, or is there a genetic component that drives their

A new study in medical students finds that summer, not winter, is the season when people are most likely to have higher levels of circulating stress hormones. These non-intuitive findings contradict traditional concepts of the taxing physical toll of winter and the relaxed ease of summer. Researchers will present their findings today at the American

What if human brain tissue implanted into a pig transferred some of the donor’s self-awareness and memories? Such a scenario, out of reach for now, is becoming more and more conceivable, according to a group of scientists, ethicists, and philosophers who called Wednesday for a debate on the ethics of storing and using human brain

Black beats red as the colour of choice when it comes to finding new love, according to new research based on the hit TV series First Dates, which shows that single people wear more of the darker hue when meeting a potential partner for the first time. The study builds on previous research into the

Researchers from the University of Surrey, Instituto Universitario in Portugal and University of Padua in Italy, studied whether heterosexual, homosexual and lesbian men and women believe their voice is an indicator of their sexual orientation to others and their desire for it to be disclosed. Surveying 241 men and women (heterosexual, homosexual and lesbian) researchers

(HealthDay)—Evening preference and a later breakfast are associated with elevated body mass index (BMI) in adults with type 2 diabetes, according to a study published online April 13 in Diabetic Medicine. Hataikarn Nimitphong, M.D., from Mahidol University in Bangkok, and colleagues examined the correlations among meal timing, morning-evening preference, and BMI in 210 non-shift workers

(HealthDay)—For patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD), a home-based exercise intervention does not improve walking ability over nine months compared with usual care, according to a study published in the April 24 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. Mary M. McDermott, M.D., from the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago,

Many people of African heritage are protected against malaria by inheriting a particular version of a gene, a large-scale study has shown. Another variation of the same gene can have the opposite effect of raising susceptibility to malaria – but it reduces the risk of other common childhood diseases, the study found. The findings give

Hospitals in the UK are increasingly likely to recognise that a patient has dementia after they’ve been admitted for a different reason, finds a new UCL-led study, but it is still only recognised in under two-thirds of people. This is the first study to identify an improvement in dementia diagnosis in hospitals over time, and

Researchers investigating a key signaling protein in Huntington’s disease describe deleterious effects on heart function, going beyond the disease’s devastating neurological impact. By adjusting protein levels affecting an important biological pathway, the researchers improved heart function in experimental animals, shedding light on the biology of this fatal disease. “Heart disease is the second leading cause

An investigational drug in clinical trials for rheumatoid arthritis prevents a common, life-threatening side effect of stem cell transplants, new research from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis shows. Studying mice, the researchers found the drug prevented what’s known as graft-versus-host disease, a debilitating, sometimes lethal condition that develops when transplanted stem cells

Farmers worldwide face mounting pressure to increase agricultural yields to keep up with human population growth. Consequently, chemical use is on the rise – in many cases a cocktail of chemicals, from fertilizers to herbicides to insecticides. But in countries where human population growth is highest, including China, South East Asia and South America, these

People across the UK expect their memory to worsen in their 50s, according to new research from Heriot-Watt University. The results from the “What Keeps You Sharp?” survey, released today, reveals the majority of those asked believe lifestyle and genetics are equally important contributors to the changes they might experience. Almost nine out of 10

People who are 30 pounds or more overweight may want to slim down a bit even if they don’t have high blood pressure or any other heart disease risk, according to scientists at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. In a study published in the May issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology,