Health Problems News

Many chemotherapeutics act by damaging the DNA. Since cancer cells divide more often than most normal cells, they are more sensitive to DNA-damaging agents. One exception are oocytes. To prevent birth defects, they initiate a cellular death program if DNA damage is detected. This process, called apoptosis, is triggered in oocytes by the protein p63.

UNC Health Care has reached Stage 7, the highest level on the HIMSS Analytics EMR Adoption Model, which measures healthcare facilities on their use of advanced analytics and health information technology. The designation applies to all UNC facilities: its hospitals, physician practices and applied analytics. "The Stage 7 honors confirm UNC Health Care's place as

Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine have determined that psychological resilience has a positive effect on health outcomes for people living with schizophrenia. This is the first study to quantitatively assess the effects of both childhood trauma and psychological resilience on health and metabolic function in people living with schizophrenia. Globally

Children in sub-Saharan African settings with uncomplicated fever may be safely managed with conditional, rather than universal, 3-day follow-up with a community health worker (CHW), according to two cluster-randomized, community-based non-inferiority trials published this week in PLOS Medicine. The trials, conducted by Luke C. Mullany of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore,

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is a haematological malignancy that originates in the blood-forming cells of the bone marrow and spreads to other organs through the bloodstream. When infiltrating tissues, CLL cells come in contact with healthy cells, including immune cells. To ensure their survival and growth, CLL cells are able to establish a microenvironment in

Chlorine, commonly used in the agriculture industry to decontaminate fresh produce, can make foodborne pathogens undetectable, according to new research published in mBio, an open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology. The study may help explain outbreaks of Salmonella enterica and Listeria monocytogenes among produce in recent years. “This important work is a major

After being discharged from the hospital, an older person often is admitted directly to a skilled nursing facility (SNF). SNFs specialize in the skilled care we need to recover properly. These facilities also provide the additional rehabilitation we may need before returning home. However, experts have raised concerns about the uneven quality of SNF services,

In preclinical studies using cell models that mimicked liver cells of patients with the rare disease Friedreich’s ataxia (FA), a widely used cholesterol-lowering drug increased a precursor of HDL (high-density lipoprotein), the “good cholesterol,” according to new research published in PLOS ONE from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Decreased HDL

New research, published in Biological Reviews and conducted by researchers from the University of Liverpool and Escola Superior de Ciências da Saúde (Brasília, Brazil) has found some type of cancers unique to humans may be a result of evolutionary accidents. Cancer is a major cause of death worldwide. But humans are not the only species

Every year, health care providers in the United States discover more than 1.6 million lung nodules in patients. Many are “incidentally detected,” meaning they are found during evaluation for an unrelated cause (for example, a chest X-ray after a fall). Although 75 to 85 percent of these incidentally detected nodules turn out to be benign,

The standard of care for kidney cancer patients continues to improve. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted approval to the combination of two immunotherapy drugs, ipilimumab and nivolumab, for the treatment of metastatic kidney cancer. The results of the large, international clinical trial leading to the approval were just published the prestigious New England

A new automated text messaging service may curb opioid abuse and reduce the likelihood of relapse while also decreasing treatment costs, according to researchers at Washington University School of Medicine and Epharmix, a St. Louis-based digital health company. The service provides automated text messages and phone calls to patients being treated for opioid addiction. Such

One class of drug used to treat type 2 diabetes may not reduce the risk of death when compared with placebo, suggests new findings. The research, led by scientists from Imperial College London and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, studied three types of diabetes treatment: sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT-2) inhibitors, glucagon-like

Following a heart attack, the parts of the heart muscle that die do not regenerate into new heart tissue and instead are replaced by scar tissue. Using rodent models, researchers at Baylor College of Medicine are looking for a means to genetically convert this scar tissue into muscle tissue at the cellular level, which could

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have developed a new disease model for neurodegenerative diseases such as ALS and MS that can be used to develop new immunotherapies. The model is described in a publication in the scientific journal Nature Immunology. All of the body’s organs contain macrophages, which, as part of the immune system,

Most of the roughly 15.5 million cancer survivors in the U.S. receive chemotherapy, and roughly 65 percent develop some degree of the chemotherapy-induced nerve damage known as peripheral neuropathy. Peripheral neuropathy simply means nerves outside of the brain and spinal cord are affected, and symptoms include numbness and tingling in extremities, and in about 30

The high estrogen levels that typically afford younger women protection from cardiovascular disease appear to instead multiply their risk if they have type 1 diabetes, researchers say. A new study is examining the blood vessel health of these women during normal estrogen peaks and valleys and seeing whether treatment with over-the-counter supplements can help restore

Two genetically modified broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs) protected rhesus macaques from an HIV-like virus, report scientists at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health. After introducing genetic mutations into two potent HIV bNAbs, researchers prepared intravenous infusions of two bNAbs known as 3BNC117-LS and 10-1074-LS. Single

Giving opioids to animals to quell pain after surgery prolongs pain for more than three weeks and primes specialized immune cells in the spinal cord to be more reactive to pain, according to a new study by the University of Colorado Boulder. The authors say the paradoxical findings, if replicated in humans, could have far-reaching

In a multicenter database study of adults who had undergone surgery for spinal deformities, researchers say that those who had used narcotics daily on average had worse outcomes, such as longer intensive care unit stays and more severe postop disability, compared with those who did not use opioids preoperatively. A report of the findings published