Category: Health Problems

Difficult to treat and aggressive “triple-negative” breast cancer is chemoresistant even before chemotherapy begins, a new study by researchers from Karolinska Institutet and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center reports. The findings, which are published in the journal Cell, may lead to better and more personalised treatments for breast cancer. Breast cancer is

In a student-led study, one hour of mindfulness meditation shown to reduce anxiety and some cardiovascular risk markers. It sounds like a late-night commercial: In just one hour you can reduce your anxiety levels and some heart health risk factors. But a recent study with 14 participants shows preliminary data that even a single session

Novel stem-cell technology developed at Swinburne will be used to grow the massive number of stem cells required for a new hand-held 3-D printer that will enable surgeons to create patient-specific bone and cartilage. The technology, called BioSphere, is being developed in collaboration with St Vincent’s Hospital in Melbourne to support the development of Biopen.

Often, people think performing in front of others will make them mess up, but a new study led by a Johns Hopkins University neuroscientist found the opposite: being watched makes people do better. When people know they are being observed, parts of the brain associated with social awareness and reward invigorate a part of the

A Vanderbilt University Medical Center-led research team has shown that magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can detect changes in resting-state spinal cord function in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). This first application of these measures in patients living with MS, reported last week in the journal Brain, could lead to new ways to monitor the effectiveness

(HealthDay)—Healthy eating may help preserve your vision as you age, eye experts say. Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) damages the macula (a small area near the center of the retina, located on the inside back layer of the eye), leading to a decline in central vision. There is no cure for AMD, which affects about 10

(HealthDay)—The outbreak of E. coli illness tied to tainted Arizona romaine lettuce continues to expand, federal health officials said Wednesday. “Since the last update on April 13, 2018, 18 more ill people have been added to this investigation, bringing the total number to 53,” the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a

(HealthDay)—For soldiers who have been deployed twice, suicide attempt (SA) risk is associated with timing of first deployment and dwell time (DT; i.e., length between deployments), according to a study published online April 18 in JAMA Psychiatry. Robert J. Ursano, M.D., from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md., and colleagues

(HealthDay)—Delayed coronary obstruction (DCO) after transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) is a rare phenomenon but is associated with a high in-hospital mortality rate, according to a study published in the April 10 issue the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. Richard J. Jabbour, M.D., from Imperial College London, and colleagues used a large international

If you have high blood glucose, but not high enough to be diagnosed with diabetes (so-called prediabetes) you may have been advised by your doctor to lose weight and to eat less fat and more fibre. If this sounds a bit one-size-fits-all, you may be encouraged by the fact that other diets may work just

Traditional methods of testing for high-blood pressure are no longer adequate and risk missing vital health signs, which can lead to premature death, a study co-led by UCL has found. The research, the largest ever cohort study of its kind, published in the New England Journal for Medicine, assessed 63,000 doctors’ patients, who had their

When you are lost or disoriented, your brain uses cues from your surroundings—landmarks both near and far—to sort out where you are. The information gathered by your senses is transmitted by nerve cells, or neurons, to specific brain regions where the signal is routed through circuits and sent downstream to areas that essentially translate the

A Rice University study predicts that this fall’s flu vaccine—a new H3N2 formulation for the first time since 2015—will likely have the same reduced efficacy against the dominant circulating strain of influenza A as the vaccine given in 2016 and 2017 due to viral mutations related to vaccine production in eggs. The Rice method, known

Scientists at the University of Maryland School of Medicine have for the first time found direct causal links between the neurotransmitter dopamine and avoidance—behavior related to pain and fear. Researchers have long known that dopamine plays a key role in driving behavior related to pleasurable goals, such as food, sex and social interaction. In general,

As an undergraduate student at York University, Joel Lopata was studying film production and jazz performance when a discrepancy became apparent. “I noticed students in the jazz program were really developing a language of creative engagement, whereas in the film program, we weren’t having the same education. It was a lot more theoretical than practical,

Tumor heterogeneity describes the differences between different cells within a given tumor. These differences have major implications for the diagnosis, prognosis, and therapy of cancer patients. Different mechanisms have been proposed to account for tumor heterogeneity such as epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT), a process in which epithelial tumor cells loose their adhesion and acquire

An investigation that has appeared in the current issue of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics suggests that low-dose aspirin may have a role in the prevention of cardiovascular risk associated with bereavement. In the 24 h following the death of a significant person, the incidence of acute myocardial infarction increases 21.1-fold. Low-dose aspirin could be a suitable

Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) are a class of stem cells located in bone marrow. HSCs give rise to every type of blood cell—from the red blood cells that carry oxygen to the white blood cells of the immune system. Bone marrow provides a niche that both houses and regulates HSCs to ensure proper formation of

A new study in fat cells has revealed a molecular mechanism that controls how lifestyle choices and the external environment affect gene expression. This mechanism includes potential targets for next-generation drug discovery efforts to treat metabolic diseases including diabetes and obesity. Researchers tracked how the epigenome changes after long-term exposure to cold temperatures, and how

The Defocus Incorporated Multiple Segments (DIMS) Spectacle Lens developed by the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) slowed down myopia progress by 60 percent in participating children; myopic progression halted completely in 21.5 percent of subjects. This lens will be launched in summer 2018, offering a non-contact, spectacle lens solution to myopic children. The lens was