A new interactive multi-media self-help package for people diagnosed with eating disorders developed by a medical researcher at the University of Glasgow is now set to be delivered over the internet to adolescent sufferers.
The package, initially developed as a CD-ROM cognitive-behavioural self-help tool for the treatment of the eating disorder bulimia nervosa (BN), is set to revolutionise therapy. Bulimia nervosa is a common and disabling condition with significant personal, s
Since Saturday, 19 March, the study entitled Women International Space Simulation for Exploration (WISE) has been fully under way. All participants in the first of two campaigns have been lying in bed, tilted head down at an angle of 6º below horizontal, so that their heads are slightly lower than their feet.
This position results in physiological changes that also occur in astronauts during space flight. The study will assess the roles of nutrition and combined physical exe
Scientists at the University of Liverpool, supported by the British Heart Foundation, are studying blood flow in the brain to further medical understanding of cardiovascular disease.
Dr John Quayle and Dr Tomoko Kamishima, from the University’s Department of Human Anatomy and Cell Biology, are investigating why blood supply to the brain becomes inadequate during serious illnesses, such as strokes. Approximately one in eight people are diagnosed with a disease of the heart or circ
Efficient, effective and reliable remote healthcare monitoring is a holy grail in medicine but solutions have so far proved elusive. But it took a step closer to reality with the successful conclusion of pilot tests under the E-Care project.
The project developed a comprehensive monitoring system to capture, transmit and distribute vital health data to doctors, carers and family. Pilot tests of the system indicate that doctors, nurses, patients and their families found E-Care rel
UCL public health scientist, Professor Sir Michael Marmot, writes in a paper published in the Lancet journal on 18th March 2005 that a major new thrust is needed internationally to tackle health inequalities. Professor Marmot, Director of UCL’s International
Centre for Health & Society, will chair the Commission on Social Determinants of Health launched by the World Health Organisation on Friday 18th March bringing together scientists and policy-makers to help reverse the negativ
NHS Stop-Smoking Services are insufficient to deliver national smoking targets, and Government smoking targets are themselves insufficient for the poorest communities, says a study published online by the BMJ today.
The study examined the effectiveness of NHS smoking cessation services in Northumberland and Tyne and Wear. These areas have populations dominated by manual workers and contain some of the worst health and deprivation in the country.
Research showed that smo
Acupuncture and strengthening exercises help relieve pelvic girdle pain during pregnancy and are effective complements to standard treatment, finds a study published online by the BMJ today.
Pelvic girdle pain is a common complaint among pregnant women worldwide, but no cure exists.
Researchers in Sweden identified 386 pregnant women with pelvic girdle pain. Women were randomly divided into three groups; one received standard treatment (a pelvic belt and a home exercise p
The European Society of Cardiology (ESC) today launches its new initiative Women at Heart at the Spring Meeting of its 49 National Cardiac Societies. Women at Heart is aimed at medical professionals, to highlight the growing burden and under-appreciation of women’s heart disease and promote improved handling of women at risk of cardiovascular disease in clinical practice.
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the primary cause of death in European women, killing a higher percentage of
The circumference of a man’s waist is a better predictor of his risk of developing type 2 diabetes than his body mass index (BMI), which is a weight-to-height ratio, or waist-to-hip ratio alone. This finding, published in the March 2005 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, is based on data collected from 27,270 men tracked over 13 years who participated in the Harvard Health Professionals Follow-Up Study.
Men who had larger waists (assessed using waist circumference and
Scientists at Emory University and the Georgia Emerging Infections Program find powerful positive effect on both children and unvaccinated adults
The problem of increasing antibiotic resistance in cases of Streptococcus pneumoniae, a major cause of pneumonia, meningitis and sepsis, was dramatically reversed following the licensing and use of a new conjugate vaccine for young children in February 2000, according to research conducted at Emory University, the Atlanta Veterans Affairs M
Doctors working at the edge of extreme are set to climb the world’s tallest mountain to look death in the face – and take its pulse. The medical research team will make the first ever measurements of blood oxygen in the ‘death zone’, at altitudes above 8,000 metres where the human body has struggled – and frequently failed – to survive.
The Centre for Aviation, Space and Extreme Environment Medicine (CASE) team, based at University College London (UCL), will lead the expedition
Work-related sleeping disorders have proliferated rapidly in recent years with increases in occupational stress and abnormal working hours. ”Sleep deprivation affects a person’s emotional and mental faculties and increases the risk of, for example, cardiovascular diseases. Work-related sleeping disorders and changes in lifestyle due to occupation are key factors affecting national health,” says Finnish Institute of Occupational Health Senior Researcher, Mikko Härmä, speaking at an Academy of F
Images of brain activity may hold clues to the onset of schizophrenia in people at high risk for the disease, according to a study headed by psychiatry researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine.
The new findings appear in the March issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry, a journal of the American Medical Association.
A decline in function in the prefrontal cortex, the “executive” or front part of the brain, is present in high-ris
Fixing of the lumbar vertebral column aided by simple radiological techniques facilitates the process and avoids complications. This technique has arisen as a result of the conclusion of the PhD thesis by Dr. Matías Alfonso, specialist in the Department of Orthopaedic and Bone Surgery at the University Hospital of Navarre, and has been based on research carried out on a pedicular screw method based on intraoperatorial anatomical references. The study has been applied to 44 patients attending
A newly discovered mechanism by which an infectious fungus perceives light also plays an important role in its virulence, according to Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigators at Duke University Medical Center. The findings suggest that changes in light following fungal invasion of the human body may be an important and previously overlooked cue that sparks infection, the researchers said.
The discovery in the human pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans further suggests that lig
Although hypnosis has been shown to reduce pain perception, it is not clear how the technique works. Identifying a sound, scientific explanation for hypnosis’ effect might increase acceptance and use of this safe pain-reduction option in clinical settings.
Researchers at the University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine and the Technical University of Aachen, Germany, used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to find out if hypnosis alters brain
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