For the second year in a row, researchers found no deaths due to heatstroke among young U.S. football players during the 2003 season, a new University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill study shows.
Between 1995 and 2001, 21 players died from heatstroke, an average of three a year, said Dr. Frederick Mueller, professor and chair of exercise and sport science in UNC’s College of Arts and Sciences.
“Again this year we have good news to report because we have been concerned ab
Three-dimensional MDCT angiography can be used in place of conventional angiography to image the extremities in nearly any case where conventional angiography is indicated, a new study suggests.
The study included 40 patients who underwent extremity MDCT angiography for a wide range of diseases, including traumatic injuries, musculoskeletal masses, and atherosclerotic disease, said lead author Dr. Musturay Karcaaltincaba of Hacettepe University School of Medicine in Ankara, Turkey. Diagnost
16-MDCT is showing promise in detecting coronary artery atherosclerosis and could, in the near future, serve as an alternative to electron beam CT, a technique that is effective but not widely available, a new study shows.
The study of 100 patients at Hiroshima University in Japan found that 16-MDCT and electron beam CT were almost equivalent in detecting coronary artery calcifications and coronary artery calcium scoring. Calcium scoring is the “quantification of total calcium burden in th
Fetal MRI allows more detailed and conclusive prenatal evaluation of the upper lip than sonography alone, allowing for better diagnosis of cleft lip and palate in fetuses, according to researchers from Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Children’s Hospital in Boston, MA.
According to the article, cleft lip and palate is the most common facial malformation in newborns, affecting about 1 in 700 births worldwide, and there are a number of benefits to the
Children who undergo chemotherapy and survive acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) endure a 200-fold increase in the frequency of somatic mutations in their DNA, researchers from the University of Vermont Medical School reported in the July 1 issue of the journal Cancer Research. The alterations in the children’s gene sequence remain embedded within their chromosomes and may pose elevated risk for development of second malignancies and other diseases later in life, cautioned Barry A. Finette, M.D., Ph.D
The surprising finding that people with cystic fibrosis (CF) produce too little airway mucus – rather than too much, as it commonly believed – could lead to more effective treatments for the genetic disorder, say researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. “It has always been thought, but never proven, that CF causes the body to produce too much abnormally thick mucus that accumulates in the lungs and intestines,” said Bruce Rubin, M.D., professor of pediatrics. “However, we have now shown th
Protein changes shape to let salts and other solutes in and out of the cell through a process called ’gating’ in order to keep tension on the membrane steady
New findings about a protein that keeps cells alive by opening and closing pores within a cell’s membrane may open the door to the development of new antibiotics. Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas are studying a protein, called MscL, found in the membrane of the single-cell bacterium Escherichia coli. The
Imagine that by altering the function of a single gene, you could live longer, be thinner and have lower cholesterol and fat levels in your blood.
Medical College of Georgia researchers are using a tiny worm called C. elegans to transform that vision into reality. Researchers You-Jun Fei and Vadivel Ganapathy have found the Indy gene is critical in providing cells with energy, producing a transporter that helps deliver key ingredients of the fuel that drives cells. Indy delivers m
Medical drug falsification mainly concerns those which are in high demand, such as antimalarials in African regions where malaria is endemic. IRD researchers (1) have examined the quality of antimalarial medicines available from informal distribution networks in Cameroon. They also assessed the impact of malaria patients’ taking these medicines, obtained on the illicit market, on their health. Self-medication is common but when it relies on supplies of poor-quality drugs it is ineffectual for contro
Children whose mothers suffer domestic abuse are much more likely to be abused themselves. An article in BMC Medicine today shows that active screening significantly helps physicians to identify families that experience domestic abuse, and thus to protect children.
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) notes that, “child abuse occurs in one third to three quarters of families that experience domestic violence”. Identifying these women, and taking steps to intervene, may be one of the m
If you want to pass an exam, be sure to get some good sleep before-hand. Because in sleep the brain processes and consolidates newly learnt matter. This is revealed in a new study shortly to be published in Nature. The study was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF).
As soon as deep sleep sets in, the brain cells start working in concord. Like football fans raising their hands in unison during a Mexican wave, millions of individual brain cells respond simultaneously wi
Researchers at the University of Essex are embarking on the first phase of a unique project to find out if mobile phone masts, have an adverse effect on our health.
The research team, led by the Department of Psychology, was awarded £250,000 to investigate into widespread public concern regarding exposure to electromagnetic fields emitted from mobile phone masts.
The first phase of the project aims to determine how common sensitivity to these fields is, and in what forms this se
Cancer treatments, including the most commonly used chemotherapy agents as well as the newest biologic and targeted therapy drugs, can harm a patient’s heart, sometimes fatally – but many physicians do not adequately monitor their patients for such damage or manage their care to minimize it.
So say cardiologists at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, who published, in the June 29 issue of the journal Circulation, the first large scale review detailing cardiovascular compli
According to a new study by Sean Harbison, M.D., F.A.C.S., associate professor of surgery at Temple University School of Medicine and Temple University Hospital, laparoscopy does not appear to spread gallbladder cancer, nor does it hinder future surgeries. “Laparoscopic techniques might actually help us diagnose gallbladder cancer earlier and should remain as a treatment option,” said Harbison.
Although rare, gallbladder cancer is particularly deadly because it is usually discovered at a ve
It sneaks up on you, arriving 25 to 60 seconds after you swallow that first bite of ice cream. You can feel it coming, but you’re powerless to stop it. When it hits, the skin temperature on your forehead falls by almost two degrees. Then, just as the pain slams into your forehead and reaches its eye-watering peak, it subsides and is quickly gone.
You’ve just been the victim of an ice-cream headache.
Usually lasting between a few seconds and a minute, ice-cream headaches – yes, that
Wins Kaye Prize for Hebrew University PH.D. Student
A method for applying drugs directly to mucousal surfaces in the intestinal system has won a coveted prize for a graduate student at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The method has potential for providing better treatment for such diseases as ulcerative colitis and colon cancer.
The student is Tareq Jubeh, 30, of Jerusalem, who is working on his Ph.D. in the Department of Pharmaceutics at the Hebrew University School o
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