In findings with implications for pandemic influenza, a new study reports for the first time that a less-virulent strain of avian influenza virus can spread from poultry to humans. The research appears in the October 1 issue of The Journal of Infectious Diseases, now available online.
Crossing the species barrier is an important step in the development of a flu virus with pandemic potential. Previous studies have focused on the ability of highly pathogenic strains, such as H5N1
Inactivity leads to significant increases in visceral fat, and a moderate exercise regimen can keep this potentially dangerous form of fat at bay, according to the results of the first randomized clinical trial evaluating the effects of exercise amount and intensity in sedentary overweight men and women.
Additionally, the Duke University Medical Center researchers found that increasing amounts of exercise can reduce visceral fat. In terms of overall weight gain, the patients who
A bike-like centrifuge that creates artificial gravity may help astronauts combat muscle atrophy in space. Through a study at the University of California, Irvine, the National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI) is exploring the concept of a Space Cycle for inflight resistance-training exercise.
“Even with onboard exercise, astronauts face the risk of losing muscle mass and function because their muscles are not bearing enough weight, or load,” said Dr. Vincent J. Caioz
Newly diagnosed can get support before drug therapy begins, OHSU neurologists say
Some people call it “the dark time,” the period between when a person is diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and when treatment with medication begins.
Julie Carter, R.N., knows it all too well. The associate professor of neurology in the Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine hosts workshops to help newly diagnosed Parkinson’s patients and their families cope w
Electroconvulsive therapy, previously known as “electric shock treatment” is a method that can help patients combat severe depressions that no other treatment can alleviate. Lund University researcher Johan Hellsten has now shown in animal experiments that electroconvulsive therapy leads to new generation of nerve cells and blood vessels in precisely those parts of the brain that are affected in patients with depression. This may explain how electroconvulsive therapy makes the disease recede.
The European Commission has selected the EBI to coordinate a project that will stimulate and explore synergies between bioinformatics (the science of storing, retrieving and analysing large amounts of biological information) and medical informatics (the science of processing, sharing and using large amounts of medical information). The SYMBiomatics project will culminate in a White Paper that will inform the Commission’s funding policy on the synergy between these two rapidly growing areas. The aim i
Using a blood test to measure the level of the hormone prolactin can help determine, in certain clinical settings, whether an epileptic seizure has occurred, according to a guideline developed by the American Academy of Neurology and published in the September 13, 2005 issue of Neurology. The guideline authors reviewed all of the scientific evidence available on use of the prolactin blood test to diagnose seizures and developed evidence-based recommendations.
The blood test, which
Women with atrial fibrillation who are not on anticoagulant therapy have a higher rate of ischemic stroke and face a higher absolute risk for stroke than do men with the condition, according to a joint study by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, Massachusetts General Hospital, the Division of Research at Kaiser Permanente and Boston University School of Medicine.
Using a sample of 13,559 patients with atrial fibrillation, or rapid irregular contraction
Despite recent claims by some urologists that measuring the blood protein prostate-specific antigen (PSA) may not be effective in predicting risk of prostate cancer, a Johns Hopkins study of more than 2,000 men confirms that PSA remains the best measure of the likelihood of cancer recurrence after surgery.
Results of the study, published in the October issue of The Journal of Urology, demonstrated that men with high PSA levels prior to prostate removal surgery were significantly
Mayo Clinic Proceedings says treatment can be safe, but exercise and diet should be first option
Mayo Clinic researchers report in the September edition of Mayo Clinic Proceedings that bariatric surgery is a safe option for treating obese patients who have coronary artery disease.
The findings are important because coronary artery disease patients can see a significant benefit with a successful procedure. The resulting weight loss is also followed by an improvement in b
In a study from Johns Hopkins, a pocket-size device giving electronic-voice reminders to “take your medicine” proves to be a success for people living with HIV whose memory is slightly impaired by the virus.
The investigators report that the device, dubbed “Jerry” by most users, is a portable gadget programmed to ease the task of taking medicines in multiple doses every day on time. HIV-infected patients, particularly those suffering from mild memory loss from the disease, benefit h
Diabetics and Non-Diabetics at Increased Risk
Lowering blood sugar levels could reduce the risk of coronary heart disease in both diabetics and non-diabetics, according to researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and other institutions. The researchers found that Hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c)—a measure of long-term blood glucose level—predicts heart disease risk in both diabetics and non-diabetics. An elevated blood glucose level is the defining feature of d
Testing for exercise capacity and heart rate recovery improves on traditional risk-factor scoring
Performing cardiac stress tests that measure exercise capacity and heart rate recovery can improve dramatically on existing techniques that predict who is most likely to suffer a heart attack or die from coronary heart disease (CHD), the leading cause of death in the United States, a team of cardiologists at Johns Hopkins reports.
In the Sept. 13 edition of the journal C
Success of hypertension treatment depends on how well the chosen treatment mode matches the patient’s genotype. Specialists of the Chair of Balneology and Physical Therapy (Kirov Army Medical College) have determined how the hypertensive patient’s genotype impacts the efficiency of magnetic-laser therapy.
Primary hypertension is one of the most frequent diseases, the treatment of which is still a problem to contemporary medicine. The disease is determined by some genes, each of t
Metabolic syndrome is a combination of several individual metabolic problems that lead to high risk of atherosclerosis and heart problems. The disease has become a serious global problem in the last two decades with as much as 47 millions of cases in US and 25 million in Europe, and further understanding of its origin and mechanism is urgent. To that aim, in an article just published online in the International Journal of Obesity, a group of Portuguese scientists reports that patients suffering
New research challenges current public debate about teenage obesity on the grounds that it is too simplistic.
The research, which is due to be published in the journal of Social Science & Medicine, claims that BMI definitions of ‘normal’ weight, overweight and obesity do not take the complexity of feelings that teenagers have about their bodies into account.
The study, which was conducted by researchers at the University of Edinburgh and an academic now at the University of
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