Cancer patients may have an increased risk of cognitive dysfunction compared with individuals who have never had cancer, according to a new study in the June 1 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Research has documented that cancer patients can exhibit cognitive deficits that persist even at 5 years after treatment. However, how long these cognitive deficits last or whether they worsen and become more apparent in older age–when the risk for cognitive dysfuncti
Behavior change and self-acceptance trump dieting hands-down when it comes to achieving long-term health improvements in obese women, according to a two-year study by nutrition researchers at the University of California, Davis.
The findings suggest that significant improvements in overall health can be made, regardless of weight loss, when women learn to recognize and follow internal hunger cues and begin feeling better about their size and shape. Results of the study will appe
More research needed to clarify cause and extent of impairment, say USC psychologists
Cancer survivors are twice as likely to develop cognitive problems as individuals who have never been treated for cancer, according to an article in the June 1 Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Previous research has raised concerns about a possible link among cancer, cancer therapies and cognitive dysfunction. This study found that long-term cancer survivors were at increased risk of cogni
Nearly one out of two visits to a doctor’s office for help with a sleep disorder result in the prescription of potentially addictive medications, a new study reports.
Office visits by older patients and those with publicly funded health insurance plans were nearly twice as likely to result in the prescription of these kinds of medications.
The drugs, called benzodiazepines, are often a cheaper alternative to some newer types of medicines that don’t have the same potenti
A child’s social environment may have only a modest effect on whether very young children become depressed, according to new Australian research.
“Our study found that even dysfunctional family relationships and poor communication styles have a limited impact on the observed mental health of a child,” Professor Jake Najman said. “This was contrary to our expectations.”
Professor Najman, from UQ’s Schools of Social Science and Population Health, is lead autho
Violence may be viewed as infectious disease
In a study designed to isolate the root causes of violent behavior, Harvard Medical School researchers found that young teens who witnessed gun violence were more than twice as likely as non-witnesses to commit violent crime themselves in the following years. The study will appear in the May 27 issue of Science.
“Based on this study’s results, showing the importance of personal contact with violence, the best model for violence
Quick subconscious thinking decides ‘how much louder?’ and which muscles to use
How someone tells you to “keep quiet” affects whether or how you might comply. But what happens when you’re asked to “talk louder,” or you’re talking and the background noise level suddenly goes up?
Purdue University researchers found that how you get louder is a function of how you’re told to speak louder and environmental cues. Far more surprising, they discovered that tryin
OHSU scientist participates in study supporting wider use of commercial microarrays
Technology for analyzing gene expression must be standardized among laboratories and across platforms around the world to support this age of human genome exploration, an Oregon Health & Science University researcher says.
Otherwise, scientists using DNA microarrays, also known as gene chips, risk having their research results called into question, said Peter Spencer, Ph.D., professor of ne
Researchers analyze probability of hurricane-force winds in 35 East Coast, Gulf of Mexico cities
Hurricane-force winds are most likely to strike this year in Cape Hatteras, N.C., and Miami Beach and Naples, Fla., according to an analysis of coastal cities by a University of Central Florida professor and a Georgia researcher released today. Cape Hatteras has a 10.31 percent chance of experiencing hurricane-force winds this year, followed by Miami Beach at 10.16 percent and Naple
Addressing a persistent debate in the field of dyslexia research, scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Southern California (USC) have disproved the popular theory that deficits in certain visual processes cause the spelling and reading woes commonly suffered by dyslexics.
Rather, a more general problem in basic sensory perception may be at the root of the learning disorder, the scientists report today (May 29, 2005) in the journal Nature Neuros
Measuring a hormone in the blood can help doctors greatly reduce the number of days pneumonia patients have to take antibiotics to cure their infection, according to a study to be presented at the American Thoracic Society International Conference on May 24.
In the study, pneumonia patients whose level of the hormone procalcitonin was measured during the course of their illness took antibiotics an average of 6 days, compared with 12 days for patients whose procalcitonin levels
Patients who had received livers from hepatitis B virus core antibody (HBcAb) positive (indicates prior exposure to hepatitis B) and/or hepatitis C virus (HCV) positive donors had similar graft and patient survival compared to patients who received HBcAb negative or HCV negative livers, according to a study by the University of Pittsburgh’s Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute. The results of their findings are being presented today at sixth annual American Transplant Congress, the joint
Patients disfigured in traumatic incidents are much more likely to suffer post traumatic stress disorder, unemployment, marital problems, binge drinking and depression, according to a study by Yale School of Medicine researchers.
Although the study included only 20 subjects, the findings are significant and address an issue that has not been widely studied, said the senior author, John Persing, M.D., professor and section chief of plastic surgery in the Department of Surgery.
Patients approaching the end of life can significantly reduce their depression symptoms and improve their sense of spiritual well-being according to a study published in the current issue of the Journal of Palliative Medicine.
“Patients with serious medical conditions frequently suffer psychological, relational, and spiritual distress that is being inadequately addressed by modern health care,” writes first author Douglas Miller, M.D., Indiana University School of Medicine pr
A new therapy that uses magnetic pulses to stimulate the brain may improve recovery after a stroke, according to a study published in the May 24 issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
The treatment, called repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation, improved motor function in a small group of people. For the stimulation, an insulated wire coil is placed on the scalp, and a brief electrical current is passed through the coil, creating
As a treatment for advanced cancer, shark cartilage fails to benefit patients and its adverse effects lead to poor compliance. A clinical trial published in the July 1, 2005 issue of CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, finds there was no difference in overall survival or quality of life between patients who received shark cartilage and those who received a placebo.
Some experiments have shown that some forms of shark cartilage possess a modest ability
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