Tag: Medical Topics

For children fearful of undergoing MRI scans, an inexpensive everyday item used as a marker, such as a jelly baby lolly or a plastic, fish-shaped soy sauce container, might make the process a little less intimidating. And thanks to a QUT study, these and other relatively cheap, common items have been shown to be visible,

Undergoing a hysterectomy, especially in conjunction with removal of the ovaries, can take a major toll on a woman’s mental health. A new study, however, turns the tables on this relationship and investigates the psychiatric symptoms that may prompt a woman to undergo an oophorectomy, even after confirmation of a nonmalignant diagnosis. Study results are

It was long believed the FMR1 premutation — an excessive number of trinucleotide repeats in the FMR1 gene — had no direct effect on the people who carry it. Until recently, the only recognized effect on the carriers of the flawed gene was the risk of having offspring with fragile X syndrome, a rare but

Eating rye comes with a variety of health benefits. A new study from the University of Eastern Finland now shows that both lactic acid bacteria and gut bacteria contribute to the health benefits of rye. Published in Microbiome, the study used a metabolomics approach to analyse metabolites found in food and the human body. Rye

Bone marrow transplants of hematopoietic stem cells have become standard treatment for a host of conditions including cancers of the blood and lymphatic systems, sickle cell anemia, inherited metabolic disorders, and radiation damage. Unfortunately, many bone marrow transplants fail due to rejection by the patient’s immune system or graft-versus-host disease (in which the transplanted marrow

Being able to see green spaces from your home is associated with reduced cravings for alcohol, cigarettes and harmful foods, new research has shown. The study, led by the University of Plymouth, is the first to demonstrate that passive exposure to nearby greenspace is linked to both lower frequencies and strengths of craving. It builds

A worldwide coalition of researchers and clinicians has agreed that light therapy is among the most effective interventions for the prevention of oral mucositis, painful ulcers in the mouth resulting from cancer therapy. The new guidelines from the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer (MASCC) and International Society of Oral Oncology (ISOO), published on

An international collaboration of infectious disease experts has identified a large group of people who appear to have naturally mounted an immune response to TB, a bacterial infection that is the leading cause of infectious disease death worldwide. Nearly 200 people from 2500 households with active TB were clearly exposed to TB for more than

Consumption of dietary supplements sold for weight loss, muscle building, and energy was associated with increased risk for severe medical events in children and young adults compared to consumption of vitamins, according to new research led by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The study found that, compared with vitamins, these types of supplements

In ongoing research to find a treatment for acute kidney injury, Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine (WFIRM) scientists have further advanced a promising approach using therapeutic factors produced by stem cells by creating a more efficient delivery method that would improve tissue regeneration. WFIRM researchers wanted to determine if any of the growth factors

An anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tear, an injury of the knee, can be devastating to a young athlete. While the ACL can be reconstructed through surgery, there is a high risk of re-injury in patients under the age of 25. In the largest clinical trial of its kind, researchers at Lawson Health Research Institute have

University of Sydney research provides new evidence that nanoparticles, which are present in many food items, may have a substantial and harmful influence on human health. The study investigated the health impacts of food additive E171 (titanium dioxide nanoparticles) which is commonly used in high quantities in foods and some medicines as a whitening agent.

Substituting fishmeal in aquaculture feeds with plant ingredients may not be as beneficial for the environment as many predict, according to new research from an international team of experts. Manufacturers of commercial fish feed are increasingly substituting fishmeal — a powder made from fish — with crop-based ingredients in a move driven by economic incentives

What makes a biological clock tick? According to a new study from U of T Mississauga, the surprising answer lies with a gene typically associated with stem and cancer cells. In the first study of its kind for the field of circadian biology, UTM researchers used RNA sequencing to observe the expression of genes in

Racial and ethnic disparities in severe maternal morbidity — life-threatening maternal complications associated with childbirth — have persisted and increased at high rates among U.S. women, according to an analysis of nearly 20 years of California hospital records funded by the National Institutes of Health. Known risk factors for these complications — such as blood

A research group headed by Professor Outi Mäkitie, University of Helsinki, Finland, identified in families with childhood-onset osteoporosis disease-causing mutations in a gene that had previously not been connected with the skeletal system or osteoporosis. “Through extensive genetic research, we identified a gene defect underlying osteoporosis in two Finnish families with several affected family members.

If hospital doctors around the world often struggle to become those health centaurs, half professionals and half managers, that modern healthcare organizations need, the main responsibility is not their resistance to change, but the lack of effective support from the organization, according to a study by Marco Sartirana (CERGAS, Bocconi University), Graeme Currie (Warwick Business

The complex sugars found in human breastmilk, long believed to be fixed in their composition, may change in women who are taking probiotics, according to new research from the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC). The finding, published in a research letter in JAMA Pediatrics, upends what scientists thought of human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) —

Myths about gluten are hard to bust. Intolerance, allergy, sensitivity, hypersensitivity. What is what? Celiac disease is none of these things. It is an autoimmune disorder, where gluten triggers the immune system to attack the gut. It is common, lifelong, and can seriously harm health — but nobody knows for sure what causes it. Now

Scientists at the University of Birmingham have developed a novel eye drop that rapidly reduces sight-threatening scarring to the surface of the eye. The surface of the eye (the cornea) is usually transparent, but scars resulting from eye infection or trauma make it opaque causing blurred vision or in extreme cases complete blindness. Their pre-clinical