Friday 5 July 2019

Telling Familiar Stories Can Help Brain Injury

Telling Familiar Stories Can Help Brain Injury.
Hearing their loved ones carry weight overfree stories can help brain injury patients in a coma regain consciousness faster and have a better recovery, a restored study suggests. The study included 15 masculine and female brain injury patients, average age 35, who were in a vegetative or minimally alert state. Their brain injuries were caused by car or motorcycle crashes, blow up blasts or assaults. Beginning an average of 70 days after they suffered their brain injury, the patients were played recordings of their kindred members telling familiar stories that were stored in the patients' long-term memories.

The recordings were played over headphones four times a epoch for six weeks, according to the turn over published Jan. 22 in the journal Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair. "We believe hearing those stories in parents' and siblings' voices exercises the circuits in the perceptiveness responsible for long-term memories," haunt author Theresa Pape, a neuroscientist in physical medicine and rehabilitation at Northwestern University's School of Medicine in Chicago, said in a university copy release.

Thursday 4 July 2019

Winter Health And Safety Tips

Winter Health And Safety Tips.
Viral infections can happen at any time, but they're more community during winter when plebeians spend more time in close contact with others indoors. Although most respiratory viruses absolve up within a few days, some can lead to dangerous complications, particularly for smokers, the US Food and Drug Administration reports. Signs of complications include: a cough that interrupts sleep; persistent, euphoric fever; breast pain; or shortness of breath. Unlike colds, the flu comes on swiftly and lasts more than a few days.

Each year, more than 200000 people in the United States are hospitalized from flu complications, and thousands pop off from flu, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In the United States, flu time peaks between December and February. Although colds and the flu allotment some signs, the flu can lead to more serious symptoms, including fever, headache, chills, cutting cough, body aches and fatigue. Influenza can also cause nausea and vomiting among green children, the FDA said in a news release.

The flu virus is spread through droplets from coughing, sneezing and talking. It can also infect surfaces. The best method to protect yourself from the flu is to get vaccinated every year, the FDA said. Flu viruses are constantly changing so the vaccines must be updated annually. The flu vaccine is close by as an injection or a nasal spray. Although it's best to get the flu vaccine in October, getting it later can still improve take under one's wing you from the virus, the agency said.

Electronic Cigarettes And Risk Of Respiratory Infections

Electronic Cigarettes And Risk Of Respiratory Infections.
Vapor from electronic cigarettes may development puerile people's risk of respiratory infections, whether or not it contains nicotine, a different laboratory study has found. Lung tissue samples from deceased children appeared to bear damage when exposed to e-cigarette vapor in the laboratory, researchers reported in a recent issue of the memoir PLOS One. The vapor triggered a strong immune response in epithelial cells, which are cells that crease the inside of the lung and protect the organ from harm, said lead prime mover Dr Qun Wu, a lung disease researcher at National Jewish Health in Denver. Once exposed to e-cigarette vapor, these cells also became more reachable to infection by rhinovirus, the virus that's the predominating cause of the common cold, the researchers found.

And "Epithelial cells are the first line of defense in our airways. "They mind our bodies from anything dangerous we might inhale. Even without nicotine, this liquor can hurt your epithelial defense system and you will be more likely to get sick". The new report comes centre of a surge in the popularity of e-cigarettes, which are being promoted by manufacturers as a safer alternative to traditional tobacco cigarettes and a tenable smoking-cessation aid.

Nearly 1,8 million children and teens in the United States had tried e-cigarettes by 2012, the boning up authors said in background information. Less than 2 percent of American adults had tried e-cigarettes in 2010, but by most recent year the number had topped 40 million, an increment of 620 percent. For the study, researchers obtained respiratory way tissue from children aged 8 to 10 who had passed away and donated their organs to medical science.

Researchers specifically looked for mass from young donors because they wanted to focus on the effects of e-cigarettes on kids. The accommodating cells were placed in a sterile container at one end of a machine, with an e-cigarette at the other end. The gadget applied suction to the e-cigarette to simulate the act of using the device, with the vapors produced by that suction traveling through tubes to the container holding the humane cells.

Wednesday 3 July 2019

Vitamin D And Chemotherapy Of Colon Cancer

Vitamin D And Chemotherapy Of Colon Cancer.
Higher vitamin D levels in patients with advanced colon cancer appear to benefit reply to chemotherapy and targeted anti-cancer drugs, researchers say. "We found that patients who had vitamin D levels at the highest department had improved survival and improved progression-free survival, compared with patients in the lowest category," said superintend inventor Dr Kimmie Ng, an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston. Those patients survived one-third longer than patients with ribald levels of vitamin D - an norm 32,6 months, compared with 24,5 months, the researchers found.

The report, scheduled for spectacle this week at the Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium in San Francisco, adds more burden to suspicions that vitamin D might be a valuable cancer-fighting supplement. However, colon cancer patients shouldn't analyse to boost vitamin D levels beyond the usual range, one expert said. The study only found an association between vitamin D levels and colon cancer survival rates. It did not examine cause and effect.

Researchers for years have investigated vitamin D as a passive anti-cancer tool, but none of the findings have been strong enough to warrant a recommendation, said Dr Len Lichtenfeld, emissary chief medical officer for the American Cancer Society. "Everyone comes to the same conclusion - yes, there may be some benefit, but we at bottom need to study it carefully so we can be certain there aren't other factors that mutate vitamin D look better than it is.

These findings are interesting, and show that vitamin D may have a lines in improving outcomes in cancer care". In this study, researchers measured blood levels of vitamin D in 1,043 patients enrolled in a appearance 3 clinical attempt comparing three first-line treatments for newly diagnosed, advanced colon cancer. All of the treatments implicated chemotherapy combined with the targeted anti-cancer drugs bevacizumab and/or cetuximab.

Vitamin D is called the "sunshine vitamin" because kind-hearted bodies produce it when the sun's ultraviolet rays whip the skin. It promotes the intestines' ability to absorb calcium and other important minerals, and is fundamental for maintaining strong, healthy bones, according to the US National Institutes of Health. But vitamin D also influences cellular occupation in ways that could be beneficial in treating cancer.

Tuesday 2 July 2019

Where Most Refuse Vaccination

Where Most Refuse Vaccination.
Parents who litter to have their children vaccinated appear to be clustered in unspecified areas, a new study suggests. Among more than 150000 children in 13 counties in Northern California, the researchers found five clusters where kids had missed one or more vaccinations by the leisure they were 3 years old. "It's known from other studies that areas where there are clusters of vaccine option are at higher imperil of epidemics, such as whooping cough epidemics," said lead investigator Dr Tracy Lieu, a pediatrician and the man of the division of research at Kaiser Permanente Northern California, in Oakland. "Clusters may be entitled to special outreach efforts to make sure parents have all the information they prerequisite to make informed decisions about vaccination.

Specifically, the researchers found the rate of missed vaccinations within these clusters ranged from 18 percent to 23 percent, compared with a berate of missed vaccinations outside the clusters of 11 percent. Missed vaccinations for measles, mumps, rubella and varicella (chickenpox) were comparable in all the clusters. In uniting to missed vaccinations, children whose parents refused vaccinations were also found in clusters.

In the clusters, vaccine turn-down rates ranged from 5,5 percent to 13,5 percent, compared with 2,6 percent mien the clusters, Lieu's team found. Parents who decline or shelve vaccines do so for a variety of reasons. "Many parents have questions about the safety of vaccines, and it's bona fide to have these concerns even though there's reassuring evidence available about many questions regarding vaccine safety.

The Lung Transplantation From Heavy Drinkers Donors

The Lung Transplantation From Heavy Drinkers Donors.
Lung uproot recipients who sustain lungs from donors who were heavy drinkers may be much more likely to develop a life-threatening complication, a unexplored study suggests. The study included 173 lung transplant patients. One-quarter of them received lungs from grieving drinkers. Heavy drinking is defined as more than three drinks a age or seven drinks a week for women, and more than four drinks a day or 14 drinks a week for men, according to the researchers. Compared to patients who received lungs from nondrinkers, those who received lungs from stuffy drinkers were nearly nine times more suitable to develop a complication called severe prime graft dysfunction.

This type of lung injury can occur during the first three days after transplant. Many patients with this puzzler die. Survivors can have poor long-term lung function and an increased chance of rejection, the Loyola University Medical Center researchers said. "We have need of to understand the mechanisms that cause this increased risk so that in the future donor lungs can be treated, perhaps erstwhile to transplant, to improve outcomes," study author Dr Erin Lowery said in a university newscast release.

Monday 1 July 2019

A Rough Start To The Flu Season

A Rough Start To The Flu Season.
After a cruel start-up to the flu season, the number of infections seems to have peaked and is even starting to decline in many parts of the nation, federal haleness officials reported Thursday. "We likely reached our highest position of activity and in many parts of the country we are starting to see flu activity decline," said Dr Michael Jhung, a medical officer of the law in US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Influenza Division. Jhung added, however, that flu remains widespread in much of the country.

As has been the cause since the flu mature began, the predominant type of flu continues to be an H3N2 strain, which is not a probity match to this year's vaccine. The majority of H3N2-related infections diagnosed so far - 65 percent - are "different from the roots in the vaccine. The reason: the circulating H3N2 stretch mutated after scientists settled last year on the makeup of this season's flu shot. This year's flu condition continues to hit children and the elderly hardest.

And some children continue to pop one's clogs from flu. "That's not surprising," Jhung said, adding that 56 children have died from complications of flu. In an mean year, children's deaths vary from as few as 30 to as many as 170 or more, CDC officials said. Jhung thinks that over the next few weeks, as in other flu seasons, particular flu strains - such as H1N1 - will undoubtedly become more common. "I expect to see some other strains circulating, but I don't understand how much.

Sunday 30 June 2019

Binge-Eating Disorder And Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Binge-Eating Disorder And Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.
A downer reach-me-down to treat attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may also help treat binge-eating disorder, introductory research suggests. At higher doses tested, the prescription drug Vyvanse curtailed the overdone food consumption that characterizes binge-eating disorder. Vyvanse (lisdexamfetamine dimesylate) is solely approved in the United States to study ADHD, and no drug has been approved to curb binge-eating disorder. Binge-eating - only recently recognized by the psychiatric community as a plain disorder - is characterized by reoccurring episodes of excessive food consumption accompanied by a sense of loss of control and unconscious distress, the study authors noted.

It is also associated with obesity. "Right now the most commonly used medications are epilepsy drugs," said look co-author Dr James Mitchell, president of the Neuropsychiatric Research Institute in Fargo, ND. "And they do employee patients to eat well and cut down on weight. However, their aspect effect profiles are not great, with their impact on cognitive mental impairment in itemized making them difficult for many patients to tolerate".

What Mitchell found most impressive in the new study on Vyvanse was the drug's effectiveness and that it was "very well tolerated". The 14-week study, reported in the Jan 14, 2015 online copy of JAMA Psychiatry, was funded by Shire Development, LLC, the fabricator of Vyvanse. The researchers tracked outcomes middle roughly 260 patients with moderate to strict binge-eating disorder between 2011 and 2012. All of the participants were between 18 and 55 years old, and none had a diagnosis of any additional psychiatric disorders, such as ADHD, anorexia or bulimia.

The volunteers were divided into four groups for 11 weeks. The original faction received 30 milligrams (mg) of Vyvanse daily, while the aid and third groups started with 30 mg a day, increasing to 50 mg or 70 mg (respectively) within three weeks. A fourth gathering took an listless placebo pill. Vyvanse did not appear to help curtail binge eating at the lowest dosage. But population taking the higher doses experienced a bigger drop in the number of days they binged each week compared with the placebo group, the researchers found.

Yet Another Winter Health And Safety Tips

Yet Another Winter Health And Safety Tips.
As a potentially record-breaking blizzard pummels the US Northeast, there are steps residents should take i a accommodate to stifle themselves and their loved ones safe, doctors say. The National Weather Service is predicting anywhere from 2 to 3 feet of snow along a 300-mile hallway that stretches from New Jersey to Maine. Wind gusts up to 60 miles per hour are also predicted. "Snow, extraordinary winds and freezing are a risky combination," Dr Sampson Davis, an emergency medicine physician at Meadowlands Hospital Medical Center, in Secaucus, NJ, said in a health centre news release.

For starters, Davis advises, follow rise above reports - and pay attention to the wind chill. "With temperature drops, increased bombast chill and inadequate clothing, your body temperature can drop speedily leading to hypothermia, frostbite and death. Extremely cold days are not a time to show your fashion best - rather it is well-connected to wear multiple layers, including a hat. A great deal of temperature loss occurs through the head.

So "Children are especially vulnerable, so record sure to keep the hat, scarf and glove set handy. Also, a two of a kind of thermals - or as my mother calls them, long johns - can go a eat one's heart out way in keeping your body heat in. Lastly, make sure to remove fog clothing immediately. The moisture in the clothing serves as an accelerator for heat loss. Also, be indubitable your home's heating systems, including the furnace and fireplace, and your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors have been checked and are working properly.

Organ Donation Must Increase

Organ Donation Must Increase.
Organ transplants have saved more than 2 million years of zest in the United States over 25 years, unheard of research shows. But less than half of the commoners who needed a transplant in that time period got one, according to a report published in the Jan 28, 2015 online print run of the journal JAMA Surgery. "The critical lack of donors continues to hamper this field: only 47,9 percent of patients on the waiting list during the 25-year den period underwent a transplant. The need is increasing: therefore, organ giving must increase," Dr Abbas Rana, of the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, and colleagues wrote.

The researchers analyzed the medical records of more than 530000 folk who received organ transplants between 1987 and 2012, and of almost 580000 rank and file who were placed on a waiting list but never received a transplant. During that time, transplants saved about 2,2 million years of life, with an regular of slightly more than four years of duration saved for every person who received an organ transplant, the study authors pointed out in a dossier news release.

How Fast Bone Density Decreases

How Fast Bone Density Decreases.
Older women who are satisfied with their lives may have better bone health, a redone Finnish bone up suggests. Up to half of all women older than 50 will elaborate the bone-thinning disease osteoporosis, which can lead to serious bone fractures, according to the US National Library of Medicine. Major danger factors for osteoporosis include menopause, slight frame, smoking, vulgar calcium intake, and certain medications and medical conditions, the study authors explained. In addition, long-term note can affect metabolism and, ultimately, osteoporosis risk, according to researcher Paivi Rauma, of the University of Eastern Finland, and colleagues.

They published their scan findings recently in the daily Psychosomatic Medicine. The health behaviors of a person with depression might also pull together the risk for poor bone health, perhaps leading them to smoke or refrain from exercise, the researchers suggested in a catalogue news release. The study included more than 1100 Finnish women ancient 60 to 70. The participants were given bone density tests to assess their bone health.

Saturday 29 June 2019

Risk Factors For Cancer

Risk Factors For Cancer.
Although about one-third of cancers can be linked to environmental factors or inherited genes, redone inquiry suggests the remaining two-thirds may be caused by unpremeditated mutations. These mutations take place when stem cells divide, according to the study by researchers at Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center. Stem cells regenerate and substitute for cells that suffer death off. If stem cells make random mistakes and mutate during this stall division, cancer can develop. The more of these mistakes that happen, the greater a person's risk that cells will evolve out of control and develop into cancer, the study authors explained in a Hopkins news release.

Although harmful lifestyle choices, such as smoking, are a contributing factor, the researchers concluded that the "bad luck" of aleatory mutations plays a key role in the development of many forms of cancer. "All cancers are caused by a mix of bad luck, the environment and heredity, and we've created a model that may assistant quantify how much of these three factors contribute to cancer development," said Dr Bert Vogelstein, professor of oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. "Cancer-free longevity in forebears exposed to cancer-causing agents, such as tobacco, is often attributed to their 'good genes,' but the reality is that most of them simply had penetrating luck," added Vogelstein, who is also co-director of the Ludwig Center at Johns Hopkins and an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

The researchers said their findings might not only change-over the way people make out their risk for cancer, but also funding for cancer research. Cristian Tomasetti is a biomathematician and assistant professor of oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Bloomberg School of Public Health. "If two-thirds of cancer amount across tissues is explained by indefinite DNA mutations that turn up when stem cells divide, then changing our lifestyle and habits will be a huge help in preventing trustworthy cancers, but this may not be as effective for a variety of others," Tomasetti said in the news release.

July Effect For Stroke Patients

July Effect For Stroke Patients.
People who diminish strokes in July - the month when medical trainees lead their hospital work - don't get on any worse than stroke patients treated the rest of the year, a new study finds. Researchers investigating the professed "July effect" found that when recent medical school graduates begin their residency programs every summer in teaching hospitals, this change doesn't reduce the quality of care for patients with compelling medical conditions, such as stroke. "We found there was no higher rate of deaths after 30 or 90 days, no poorer or greater rates of impotence or loss of independence and no evidence of a July effect for hint patients," said the study's lead author, Dr Gustavo Saposnik, director of the Stroke Research Center of St Michael's Hospital, Toronto, in a dispensary news release.

For the study, published recently in the Journal of Stroke and Cerebrovascular Diseases, the researchers examined records on more than 10300 patients who had an ischemic pet (stroke caused by a blood clot) between July 2003 and March 2008. They also analyzed term of hospitalization, referrals to long-term concern facilities and impecuniousness for readmission or emergency room treatment for a stroke or any other reason in the month after their discharge.

Genetic Changes In The Ebola Virus

Genetic Changes In The Ebola Virus.
Genetic changes that have occurred in the Ebola virus over the mould few decades could become it more difficult for scientists to find ways to investigate the deadly pathogen, a new study says. Many of the most promising experimental drugs being developed to disturbance Ebola bind to and target a section of the virus's genetic sequence or a protein derived from that genetic sequence. If there are significant changes in Ebola's genetic sequence, these drugs may not work, the researchers explained. The researchers compared the genetic makeup of the Ebola family causing the progress outbreak in West Africa with the genetic makeup of strains that caused outbreaks in Africa in 1976 and 1995.

Compared to the older strains, the widespread heritage had changes in about 3 percent of its genetic structure, the work authors said. The findings were published Jan. 20 online in the almanac mBio. "Our work highlights the genetic changes that could affect these sequence-based drugs that were first designed in the early 2000s based on virus strains from outbreaks in 1976 and 1995," mull over senior author Gustavo Palacios said in a journal news release.

New Gene Mutations Linked To Colon Cancer

New Gene Mutations Linked To Colon Cancer.
Researchers who discovered novel gene mutations linked to colon cancer in dark-skinned Americans say their findings could primacy to improved diagnosis and treatment. In the United States, blacks are significantly more likely to result colon cancer and to die from the disease than other racial groups. For the study, the researchers said they employed DNA sequencing to examined 50 million bits of data from 20000 genes. They said that determining gene mutations has been the driving persistence behind all the new drugs created to handle cancer in the last decade.

So "Many of the new cancer drugs on the market today were developed to object specific genes in which mutations were discovered to cause specific cancers," study corresponding initiator Dr Sanford Markowitz, an expert in the genetics of cancer at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, said in a university info release. The investigators compared 103 colon cancer samples from unspeakable patients and 129 samples from white patients treated at University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland.

Friday 28 June 2019

The Pneumonia And Death From Heart Disease

The Pneumonia And Death From Heart Disease.
Older patients hospitalized with pneumonia appear to have an increased peril of resolution attack, stroke or death from heart disorder for years afterward, a new study finds. This elevated risk was highest in the oldest month after pneumonia - fourfold - but remained 1,5 times higher over resultant years, the researchers say. "A single episode of pneumonia could have long-term consequences several months or years later," said guidance researcher Dr Sachin Yende, an associate professor of deprecative care medicine and clinical and translational sciences at the University of Pittsburgh. This year's flu age is particularly hard on older adults, and pneumonia is a serious complication of flu.

Getting a flu missile and the pneumonia vaccine "may not only prevent these infections, but may also prevent subsequent centre disease and stroke". Pneumonia, which affects 1,2 percent of the population in the northern hemisphere each year, is the most run-of-the-mill cause of hospitalizations in the United States, the researchers said in background notes. The discharge was published Jan 20, 2015 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Thursday 27 June 2019

The Martial Arts Can Damage The Brain

The Martial Arts Can Damage The Brain.
Another contemplate supports the impression that repeated blows to the head in boxing or the martial arts can damage the brain. The study, led by Dr Charles Bernick of the Cleveland Clinic, included virtuoso fighters - 93 boxers and 131 varied martial arts experts. They ranged in period from 18 to 44, and were compared against 22 people of similar age with no the past of head injuries. The amount of time the boxers and martial arts combatants had depleted as professional fighters ranged from zero to 24 years, with an average of four years, Bernick's set said.

The number of professional matches they'd had ranged from zero to 101, with an mean of 10 a year. MRI brain scans and tests of memory, reaction time and other mental abilities showed that the fighters who had suffered repeated blows to the head had smaller brain volume and slower processing speeds, compared to non-fighters. While the reading couldn't prove cause-and-effect, the stuff were evident at a relatively young age and tied to a higher risk of thinking and memory problems, the Cleveland researchers said.

How To Treat Travelers' Diarrhea

How To Treat Travelers' Diarrhea.
The overuse of antibiotics to scrutinize travelers' diarrhea may present to the spread of drug-resistant superbugs, a new study suggests. Antibiotics should be second-hand to treat travelers' diarrhea only in severe cases, said the study authors. The reading was published online Jan 22, 2015 in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases. "The great best part of all cases of travelers' diarrhea are mild and resolve on their own," lead designer Dr Anu Kantele, associate professor in infectious diseases at Helsinki University Hospital in Finland, said in a paper news release.

The researchers tested 430 people from Finland before and after they traveled freelance of the country. About one in five of those who traveled to tropical and subtropical regions unknowingly returned with antibiotic-resistant corporation bacteria. Risk factors for catching antibiotic-resistant gut bacteria allow for having travelers' diarrhea and taking antibiotics for it while abroad. More than one-third of the travelers who took antibiotics for diarrhea came to the heart with the antibiotic-resistant bacteria, according to the study.

The Risk Of Complications From Breast Reconstruction

The Risk Of Complications From Breast Reconstruction.
The overall imperil of complications from core reconstruction after breast removal is only slightly higher for older women than for younger women, a creative study indicates. Researchers looked at data from nearly 41000 women in the United States who had one boob removed between 2005 and 2012. Of those patients, about 11800 also underwent heart of hearts reconstruction. Patients aged 65 and older were less likely to have breast reconstruction than younger women. About 11 percent of older women chose to have the surgery compared to nearly 40 percent of women under 65, the investigation found.

Women who had bosom reconstruction had more complications - such as longer clinic stays and repeat surgeries - than those who did not have breast reconstruction. However, overall complication rates after titty reconstruction were similar. About 7 percent of older women had complications, while slightly more than 5 percent of younger women did. One special case was the risk of blood clot-related complications after heart reconstruction that used a patient's own tissue instead of implants.

What About Seniors And Falls

What About Seniors And Falls.
Many seniors don't instruct their doctors they've had a keel over because they're worried they'll be told they can't live on their own anymore, a medical doctor says. Millions of Americans aged 65 and older fall every year, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But, fewer than half require their doctor, the researchers noted. "They're troubled about other people becoming concerned about safety issues at native and the potential that they may have to move from their home to assisted living or a nursing home," Dr Nicole Osevala, an internal cure-all specialist at Penn State University, said in a school news release. Seniors also don't want others to care about them.

So "If they fall and don't have a serious injury, they don't want to lather their kids or loved ones". But she urged seniors to tell their medical practitioner about any falls so the causes can be pinpointed and corrected. Chronic health conditions such as osteoarthritis and nerve cost in the feet and other extremities - called peripheral neuropathy - can increase the risk of falls, as can current changes in health.