Medindia Health News

C-Sections may be Harmful for Premature Babies

Premature babies who are delivered through caesarean section are at a higher risk of developing respiratory problems, a new study presented at the annual Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine meet reveals. C-Section seems to be the preferred mode of delivery for a number of obstetricians but researchers from Johns Hopkins and Yale Universities suggested that it could increase the risk of breathing problems, such as respiratory distress syndrome, by 30 percent among the ...

Breast Cancer and Pregnancy: New Research

A new study published in The Lancet medical journal has said that pregnant women suffering from breast cancer can be safely treated with surgery or chemotherapy and still manage to deliver babies at full term. The researchers said that there was no need to deliver the babies early and revealed that terminating the pregnancy had no bearing on the survival chances of the women. The researchers said that surgery can be safely conducted in any of the three trimesters ...

European Psychologists Voice Concerns Over New DSM Criteria

Leading psychologists in UK and Europe have cast doubts over the upcoming edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), which terms shyness and rebellious nature of children as mental illness. The DSM-5 will also categorize uncertainty over gender, loneliness and unhappiness following bereavement as chronic depressive disorder while a serial rapist is to be categorized as suffering from paraphilic coercive disorder. The updated ...

Bouncing "Rubber Eggs" Hit China Markets

Food safety watchdog in Shanghai has launched a probe over the "rubber eggs" that has hit the markets across China. The eggs contain hard yolks which bounce like rubber after being boiled. The investigation was launched after some consumers said they bought the "artificial" eggs made by traders seeking profits, the China Daily said. But food experts said the eggs were likely to be natural. Their unusual characteristics could be explained ...

Video-Based Home Exercise Able to Ease Osteoarthritis Pain and Perk Up Mobility

Boosting adherence to a prescribed exercise program, easing pain, boosting physical function and enhancing life quality in patients with knee osteoarthritis, is possible with video-based home exercise programs, say researchers. The benefits of exercise in minimizing pain and improving mobility for individuals living with osteoarthritis has been well documented. In a new study, 107 individuals with diagnosed osteoarthritis in the knee were randomized to ...

Career Graph is Great for People Who Have Easy to Pronounce Names

Having a simple name that is easy to pronounce may just do the trick at work after a new study found that people who have easy to pronounce names are more likely to win favor for political office or get job promotions. The study, published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, was conducted by a group of American and Australian scientists who tracked 500 student volunteers with Anglo, Asian, and European backgrounds and 500 lawyers in the US and found that ...

Lady Gaga Battled Eating Disorders During Childhood

American pop singer Lady Gaga revealed that she suffered from eating disorders in her childhood when she wanted to transform herself from "a voluptuous little Italian girl to a skinny little ballerina". Speaking at a conference held in Brentwood School in Los Angeles, the 25-year old said that she struggled with bulimia throughout her high school days and used to throw up all that she ate in order to reduce her weight. "I used to throw up all the time in high ...

EU Presses for Sterner Breast Implant Controls

On Thursday governments were urged by The European Union's executive arm to tighten controls of medical devices following the defective French-made breast implants starting a global health scare. The European Commission called for immediate action within existing laws to restore patient confidence, including by conducting surprise inspections, testing products and ecouraging doctors to report broken devices. Governments could also set up registers to ...

Memory Enhancement by Stimulating Key Spot in Brain

Memory can be strengthened in human patients by stimulating a crucial junction in the brain, say UCLA neuroscientists who discovered the possibility. The finding could lead to a new method for boosting memory in patients with early Alzheimer's disease. The UCLA team focused on a brain site called the entorhinal cortex. Considered the doorway to the hippocampus, which helps form and store memories, the entorhinal cortex plays a crucial role in transforming ...

Dietary Habits of Diabetics can be Improved by Setting Specific Goals

Researchers have said that a specific goal to eat a set number of daily servings of low glycemic-index foods can improve dietary habits of people with type 2 diabetes. Study participants were given a goal to eat either six or eight daily servings of foods with a low glycemic index - carbohydrates that are digested slowly and are less likely to spike blood-sugar levels than would carbohydrates with a high glycemic index. verall, most participants reached ...

Expanding Gap Between Scottish and English Suicide Rates

Owing to a large extent of the many young Scottish men taking their lives the suicide rate gap widens between Scotland and England and Wales reveals a new study. The research, carried out by the Universities of Manchester and Edinburgh and the Medical Research Council Social and Public Health Sciences Unit in Glasgow, examined suicide rates north and south of the border between 1960 and 2008. The team found that the suicide rate in both men and women ...

Shippensburg University's Vending Machine Sells Emergency Contraceptive

A vending machine at the student health centre at Shippensburg University sells morning-after pills, usually unavailable on drug store shelves, can now be easily bought by college students. The vending machines will hand out a single dose of emergency contraceptive for 25-dollar, and the university won't profit from the sales. "The machine is really used as much for privacy as anything else," CBS News quoted Dr. Roger Serr, vice president of student ...

Substance P Causes Seizures in People With Pork Tapeworm

A research has found that a neuropeptide called Substance P can cause seizures in patients whose brains are infected with pork tapeworm. "Neurocysticercosis or the tapeworm parasitic infection in the brain, is the major cause of acquired seizures," said A HREF="http:www.bcm.edu/medicine/infectious/index.cfm?PMID=7674"Dr. Prema Robinson/A, assistant professor of medicine - infectious diseases, and corresponding author of the report. "It is particularly important ...

Neighboring 'Finger Nerve Cells' Render Middle Finger Slowest

Scientists have found that the middle finger has a slower reaction time than our thumb or finger because it is inhibited by its central position. Each part of the body has its own nerve cell area in the brain - we therefore have a map of our bodies in our heads. The functional significance of these maps is largely unclear. What effects they can have is now shown by RUB neuroscientists through reaction time measurements combined with learning experiments and "computational ...

Men Need More Attention in HIV Prevention

HIV/AIDS response in Africa requires a more balanced approach to gender, so that both men and women are engaged in HIV treatment and prevention, thus argues Edward Mills of the University of Ottawa, Canada and colleagues in this week's iPLoS Medicine/i. Traditionally, targeted efforts at reducing the impact of the HIV epidemic have focused on women and children while men have received considerably less attention. The authors say: "The epidemiological evidence ...

Loneliness Is Worse Than Cigarettes

Smoking is bad for heath, but being lonely with no one to share your problems may be worse than cigarettes, according to a senior Downing Street adviser. David Halpern, the director of Number 10's Behavioural Insight Team, says being lonely in old age will drive you to the grave more quickly than smoking. Halpern said not having someone to share problems with was one of the most significant lifestyle factors affecting mortality. Dubbed the ...

Gulping Huge Quantity of Soft Drinks Linked to Asthma and COPD

High level of soft drink consumption is connected with asthma and/or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), latest study published in the journal iRespirology/i. Led by Zumin Shi, MD, PhD, of the University of Adelaide, researchers conducted computer assisted telephone interviewing among 16,907 participants aged 16 years and older in South Australia between March 2008 and June 2010 inquiring about soft drink consumption. Soft drinks comprised Coke, lemonade, ...

6000-Calorie Breakfast Consumed in 26 Minutes

Media reports indicate that a British diner finished off a gigantic 6,000 calories fry-up in just 26 minutes. Robert Pinto traveled 125 miles from his home in Rutland in order to win the Kidz Breakfast culinary challenge. Greasy spoon Jesters Diner in Southtown, Great Yarmouth, offers the 15 pounds meal for free to anyone who can finish it in under an hour, the Daily Mail reported. Described as a 'heart attack on a plate', the 9lb Kidz Breakfast ...

Study Reveals Why You Should Not Opt for Window Seat During Long Flight

A new study says that oral contraceptives, sitting in a window seat, advanced age, and pregnancy increase risk of a deep vein thrombosis (DVT), or blood clot in long-distance travelers. New evidence-based guidelines from the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP) address the many risk factors for developing DVT as the result of long-distance travel. The guidelines also suggest there is no definitive evidence to support that travelling in economy ...

Higher Death Rate Observed in Cirrhosis Patients Losing Muscle Mass

Medical researchers at the University of Alberta reviewed the medical records of over 100 patients who had a liver scarring condition and noticed those who were losing muscle were likelier to die while waiting for a liver transplant.These cirrhosis patients were placed at a lower spot on the transplant list because they had a higher functioning liver and were seemingly less sick than others with the same condition, based on scoring systems physicians commonly use today. Michael ...

Hope of Early Disease Detection Via Metabolic 'Breathalyzer'

Scientists have indicated that a "breathalyser," a non-invasive and sensitive technology may help in early detection and diagnosis of diseases. New research demonstrates a simple but sensitive method that can distinguish normal and disease-state glucose metabolism by a quick assay of blood or exhaled air. Many diseases, including diabetes, cancer, and infections, alter the body's metabolism in distinctive ways. The new work shows that these biochemical ...

Ex-Welders' Clumsiness Worsens

Welders affected by manganese from welding fumes through exposure, risk acquiring added clumsiness in which case the result may persist decades after exposure has ceased. The mentioned finding of a study was of former shipyard workers at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. It is estimated that 35,000 people in Sweden work full-time with welding, while many more carry out welding as one of several workplace activities. Previous research has shown that the concentration ...

Meningococcal Vaccine Does Not Hamper Efficacy of Other Routine Infant Vaccines

A study in the February 8 issue of iJAMA/i says that administration of routine infant immunizations with a vaccine for serogroup B Neisseria meningitidis was effective against meningococcal strains. Furthermore, it produced minimal interference with the response to the routine vaccinations. Certain serogroup B Neisseria meningitidis (MenB) vaccines proved effective in clinical trials and controlled a clonal MenB outbreak in New Zealand; however, the high strain ...

Visual Encoding' Specialisation Superior to Visual Working Memory

Researchers have been aware for long that certain regions of the brain get activated when people view particular images. However, it's been unclear whether such specialization also exists for visual working memory, a category of memory that allows the brain to temporarily store and manipulate visual information for immediate tasks. Now, scientists have found evidence that visual working memory follows a more general pattern of brain activity than what ...

Genetics may be Able to Guide Treatment for Tuberculosis

New breakthrough research has indicated that a gene that influences the inflammatory response to infection may also predict the effectiveness of drug treatment for a deadly form of tuberculosis. An international collaboration between researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle, Duke University, Harvard University, the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit in Vietnam and Kings College London reported these findings Feb. 3 in the journal iCell/i. ...

Young Mice Need Mother's Warmth for Survival

A study reported in the February ICell Metabolism/I, a Cell Press publication, sheds new light on exactly where we would be without our mothers. Mice whose mothers pass along a mutant copy of a single imprinted gene can't keep themselves warm and die soon after leaving the comfort of the nest. The findings also reveal that the babies require a second round of heat-generating brown fat to survive. "When that second wave is delayed, it gets them ...

Elementary School Student Access to Food in Vending Machines and Other Food Outlets, Surveyed

A sizeable number of elementary school students, public and private, were able to buy food in one or more competitive venues on campus (vending machines, school stores, snack bars or a la carte lines) by the 2009-2010 school year. Sugary foods were obtainable to nearly all students with access to these options, according to a report published in the February issue of Archives of Pediatrics (and) Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. Access to healthier ...

Trauma Patients Have High Risk of Vitamin D Deficiency

About 77 percent of trauma patients had deficient or insufficient levels of vitamin D, new research presented at the 2012 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) has found. Researchers have linked a lack of vitamin D with muscle weakness, bone fractures, and the inability of bones to fully heal. In a new study, investigators sought to determine the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency among orthopaedic trauma patients. Investigators ...

Seizure Control and Quality of Life may be Improved by Epilepsy Surgery

Medical therapy remains the more prominent treatment option for those with epilepsy even though surgery is safe and effective for patients with this disorder. However, a new 26-year study reveals that following epilepsy surgery, nearly half of participants were free of disabling seizures and 80% reported better quality of life than before surgery. Findings from this study-the largest long-term study to date-are now available in iEpilepsia/i, a journal published ...

'Brief Attention Span' in Kids These Days, Due to Inability to Read Dickens

Claire Tomalin, the acclaimed biographer of Charles Dickens claims that nowadays children lack the required attention span to read the author's classic, although lengthy books. Tomalin blamed modern education for this state of affairs, even as Britain celebrates the 200th anniversary of Dickens' birth this year. "Today's children have very short attention spans because they are being reared on dreadful television programmes which are flickering away ...

New Technologies Could Remove Fat Without Undergoing Liposuction

With the introduction of non-invasive technologies stubborn fat can now be removed safely and effectively without undergoing liposuction, according to researchers. For many people, getting rid of excess fat can be a lifetime battle. Whether it is undesirable love handles, excess fat around the knees or flabby upper arms, pockets of fat can be difficult to reduce and sometimes diet and exercise are not enough to make a noticeable difference. "Fat cells ...

High Levels of Cadmium, Lead in Blood Linked to Pregnancy Delay

A recent study states that higher blood levels of cadmium in females and lead in males, delayed pregnancy in couples. Cigarette smoke is the most common source of exposure to cadmium,, a toxic metal found in the earth's crust, which is used in batteries, pigments, metal coatings and plastics. Smokers are estimated to have twice the levels of cadmium as do non-smokers. Exposure also occurs in workplaces where cadmium-containing products are made, and from the ...

NICE Does Not Approve Cetuximab, Bevacizumab, and Panitumumab for Metastatic Colorectal Cancer

The National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has recently published guidelines regarding the use of three new medications cetuximab, bevacizumab, and panitumumab in the treatment of late-stage colorectal cancer that has progressed despite first-line chemotherapy. It has rejected the use of all these three drugs in metastatic colorectal cancer. Colorectal cancer affects the lower digestive tract comprising of the colon and rectum. It ...

Maternal Obesity Can Be Reversed By Exercise: Study

A study has revealed that exercise is an effective means in reversing the negative metabolic effects passed on to the offsprings by their obese mothers. An overweight mother can powerfully impact the next generation, altering central appetite circuits in the brain and contributing to increased fat deposits and metabolic disease in their children. However, a new study on rodents, found that exercise was able to dramatically reverse these ...

Antenatal Thyroid Screening Ineffective

Antenatal thyroid screening fails to improve the IQ levels in 3-year-olds, reveals research. Scientists from Cardiff University's School of Medicine working with colleagues from The Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine at Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, and colleagues from Turin, Italy took blood samples from more than 20,000 women at about 13-weeks of pregnancy to test for thyroid function. Women ...

Botanical Formula Suppresses Prostate Cancer Growth

Botanical formula fights prostate cancer without toxicity, say researchers. Scientists at Indiana University, Methodist Research Institute study a botanical formula that kills aggressive prostate cancer tumours. Their findings are based on experiments in mice using a human prostate cancer tumour model. This is the third published study from a major university to show significant results of this specific multi-nutrient prostate formula against the invasive ...

Smoking Dads Raise Leukemia Risk in Kids

Exposure to heavy puffing at the time of conception put the child at a higher risk of developing the most common form of childhood cancer, known as Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL), a study reveals. The study investigated the link between parental smoking and the occurrence of ALL in offspring. "The first step towards the development of leukemia is thought to occur in utero in a lot of cases," said Elizabeth Milne from Western Australia's Telethon ...

Pathway That Links Fasting With Brain Cells Identified

A recent study shows how cell types in the brain - agouti-related peptide (AgRP)-expressing neurons and proopiomelancortin (POMC)-expressing neurons respond to fasting. Now a new study uncovers a neural pathway that links fasting with activation of AgRP neurons. The research provides valuable insight into the complex mechanisms that control food-seeking behaviour. "Given their critical roles in feeding behaviors, there is great interest in understanding ...

US Plastic Surgeries on the Rise

2011 seems to be a good year for plastic surgery, says American Society of Plastic Surgeons president Malcolm Roth. A total of 13.8 million procedures, including everything from facelifts to boob jobs to anti-wrinkle injections, were performed in 2011 in the United States, up five percent over 2010. "Consumer confidence was up, auto sales rose 10 percent, so it is not surprising that we would also see increased demand for plastic surgery procedures." ...

Islamabad University Grapples With Sex Scandals

A university based in Islamabad has been hit by series of sex scandals, with the staff being accused of sexually abusing female students. Sources told the Dawn that "seedy affairs had been going on in the holy precincts" of the International Islamic University, Islamabad (IIUI) for quite some time now. An official said a professor and a librarian recently left the university after they were accused of rape. "We did not approach ...

GAD65 Autoantigen Treatment Ineffective in Type 1 Diabetes

Treatment with GAD65 antigens failed to prevent progression of type 1 diabetes, according to a recently published study. The finding is a setback to our attempts to curb the disease by manipulating the immune system. Insulin is produced by the beta cells of the pancreas. In type 1 diabetes, antibodies are produced against these cells. The antibodies destroy the cells, thus leading to a lack of insulin and diabetes. The phenomenon is an example ...

Accreditation, Hallmark of Health Care Quality in India: Dr. Narottam Puri

Certification on products and services has become imperative to ensure safety and reliability. A similar standard for health care services is also vital since people trust hospital services and clinics with their lives. Dr. Narottam Puri, MBBS, MS (ENT), FICS, FIAMS, ADHA and Chairman, National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare (NABH), India delivered an oration on 'Accreditation-Improving Healthcare Quality in India' commemorating the sixth 'Prof.T.K. ...

Companies in U.S Cut Health Care Benefits of Retirees

A growing number of companies are failing to carry out their promise on health insurance and other retirement benefits, leaving retirees struggling and sometimes uninsured. In some cases, the companies in order to survive because of their bankruptcy must cut costs and benefits programs. In other cases, even as corporate profits soar, retirees have to manage for themselves without assistance. Through the Pension Benefits Guarantee Corp., a certain level of protection ...

DHA Launches a Breakthrough Initiative to Improve the Private Health Sector in UAE

Qadhi Saeed Al Murooshid, Director-General of the Dubai Health Authority submitted a new plan to encourage the private sector to participate more in UAE healthcare. The Dubai Health Authority does not consider the private sector to be their competitors, but considers them to be their partners in their race for excellence in healthcare. This is in line with the strategy of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler ...

Weight Loss Drug Has Killed At Least 1,300 in France

Benfluorex, commonly known as Mediator, a diabetes drug that was widely prescribed as a slimming aid, has been responsible for thousands of hospitalizations and deaths in France before it was withdrawn. Mahmoud Zureik of the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm), who co-led the probe, told AFP that around 3,100 people had required hospitalisation during the 33 years during which the drug was sold. However, these figures could well ...

Skin Cancer Drug May Help Cure Alzheimer's

In a breakthrough discovery US scientists have found that a drug, which is used to treat skin cancer, quickly reversed Alzheimer's in mice. Mice treated with the drug, known as bexarotene, became rapidly smarter and the plaque in their brains that was causing their Alzheimer's started to disappear within hours, said the research in the journal Science. "We were shocked and amazed," lead author Gary Landreth of the Department of Neurosciences at Case ...

Cannabis Use Doubles Risk of Vehicle Crash

Smoking cannabis within three hours of driving doubles the chance of causing a serious accident, claims a paper published today in the British Medical Journal (BMJ). The risk of collision is substantially higher if the driver is aged under 35, it said. The study seeks to filter out factors such as alcohol use that can skew inquiries into cannabis and road accidents. It is an overview of nine previously-published papers which looked at more ...

'Non-profit' Health Insurers in US Make Billions, Increase Premiums

Washington's three largest insurers - Premera Blue Cross, Regence BlueShield and Group Health Cooperative - are nonprofit health insurance companies. They've however, made (Dollar) 2.4 billion while handing out steep rate hikes to customers. Most publicly traded companies that make profits, face demands by shareholders to share the gains as dividends. The abovesaid companies are not public and do not have shareholders. State Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler ...

US Unveils New Rules to Help Citizens Find the Right Health Insurance Plan

The new government-approved format that health insurance companies must provide on their services to Americans, was unveiled on Thursday. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a press release, 'All consumers, for the first time, will really be able to clearly comprehend the sometimes confusing language insurance plans often use in marketing. This will give them a new edge in deciding which plan will best suit their needs and those of their ...

California Denied (Dollar) 575 Million Medicaid Savings, as US Rejects Healthcare Co-payment Plan

The US has made it mandatory for those enrolled in its Medi-Cal program for the underprivileged to make co-payments for medical services. In doing this early this week, it blocked California from reducing its health care spending. The Centers for Medicare (and) Medicaid Services wrote to the California administration saying it was 'unable to identify the legal and policy support' that would give the state permission to require co-payments to Medi-Cal under the Social ...