ScienceDaily: Health & Medicine News

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• How keeping cool could spur metabolic benefits
• Advanced CT scanners reduce patient radiation exposure, study finds
• Antidepressant use during pregnancy may lead to childhood obesity, diabetes
• MA healthcare reform does not have early impact on disparities in cardiovascular care
• Fireworks lead to millions in health costs for amputations
• Telephone call is effective support when breast cancer treatment includes weight loss
• Improving academic performance with physical fitness
• Possible new combination treatment for cancer
• Common genetic link in fatal autoimmune skin disease discovered
• Job loss linked with higher incidence of depression in Americans compared with Europeans
• First Alabamian receives new retrievable, nonsurgical pacemaker
• Portable brain-mapping device allows researchers to 'see' where memory fails
• Broken gene found to protect against heart disease
• Primer for doctors' use of clinical genome, exome sequencing
• Unintended danger from antidepressant warnings
• Genomic 'dark matter' of embryonic lungs controls proper development of airways
• Many doctors concerned about physician involvement in concealed-weapon permit process
• Difference found in way bipolar disorder affects brains of children versus adults
• Study reverses current thought on treatment of cirrhosis
• Families with an autistic child are a third less likely to have more kids

How keeping cool could spur metabolic benefits Posted: 22 Jun 2014 11:22 AM PDT A new study demonstrates that ambient temperatures can influence the growth or loss of brown fat in people. Cool environments stimulate growth, warm environments loss. The study results clearly show the 'plasticity' of brown fat in humans.

Advanced CT scanners reduce patient radiation exposure, study finds Posted: 21 Jun 2014 06:31 PM PDT The use of advanced CT scanning equipment is helping to address the important concern of patient exposure to radiation. The study results provide information that will help in setting standards for radiation safety quality control in cardiovascular imaging.

Antidepressant use during pregnancy may lead to childhood obesity, diabetes Posted: 21 Jun 2014 06:30 PM PDT Maternal use of a class of antidepressants called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs, resulted in increased fat accumulation and inflammation in the liver of the adult offspring, researchers have demonstrated for the first time in an animal model. This raises new concerns about the long-term metabolic complications in children born to women who take SSRI antidepressants during pregnancy.

MA healthcare reform does not have early impact on disparities in cardiovascular care Posted: 19 Jun 2014 08:15 AM PDT Healthcare reform in Massachusetts has not yet impacted the likelihood of receiving coronary interventions by gender, race/ethnicity or socioeconomic status, a new research report concludes.

Fireworks lead to millions in health costs for amputations Posted: 19 Jun 2014 08:14 AM PDT One report of seven states revealed that the cost of stay for those hospitalized due to a fireworks-related amputation of a finger, thumb or lower arm, was $15,600. Total costs for all fireworks-related injuries in this study was estimated at $1.4 million. Also prevalent are head and eye injuries, which account for 19 and 18 percent of total reported injuries respectively.

Telephone call is effective support when breast cancer treatment includes weight loss Posted: 19 Jun 2014 06:59 AM PDT A series of simple telephone calls can make a profound difference in helping women to meet their treatment goals for breast cancer, according to a randomized trial of women who are also obese. Women who received advice about weight loss from a trained lifestyle coach by telephone achieved weight loss that was still evident after two years, lowering their risk of breast cancer recurrence.

Improving academic performance with physical fitness Posted: 19 Jun 2014 06:59 AM PDT Physical fitness in childhood and adolescence is beneficial for both physical and mental health throughout life. However, a growing body of evidence suggests that it may also play a key role in brain health and academic performance. In a new study, researchers studied the independent and combined influence of components of physical fitness on academic performance.

Possible new combination treatment for cancer Posted: 19 Jun 2014 06:58 AM PDT A new cancer treatment has been developed that has proved to be effective in mice. The treatment is based on newly discovered properties of the so-called BET bromodomain inhibitors. "The work is challenging, but we believe that the prospects for success with combination treatments are good," says the lead investigator.

Common genetic link in fatal autoimmune skin disease discovered Posted: 19 Jun 2014 06:19 AM PDT Autoimmune disease occurs when the body's own natural defense system rebels against itself. One example is pemphigus vulgaris (PV), a blistering skin disease in which autoantibodies attack desmoglein 3 (Dsg3), the protein that binds together skin cells. Researchers recently found a shared genetic link in the autoimmune response among PV patients that provides important new clues about how autoantibodies in PV originate.

Job loss linked with higher incidence of depression in Americans compared with Europeans Posted: 18 Jun 2014 07:06 PM PDT While job loss is associated with depressive symptoms in both the USA and Europe, the effects of job loss due to plant closure are much stronger in American workers as compared with European workers, a new study shows.

First Alabamian receives new retrievable, nonsurgical pacemaker Posted: 18 Jun 2014 07:05 PM PDT Developed for patients with bradycardia — a heart rate that is too slow — the Nanostim device is designed to be placed directly on the patient's heart without the visible lump, scar and insulated wires, or leads, required for conventional pacemakers.

Portable brain-mapping device allows researchers to 'see' where memory fails Posted: 18 Jun 2014 03:46 PM PDT The use of functional near infrared spectroscopy to map brain activity responses during cognitive activities allows researchers to "see" which brain region or regions fail to memorize or recall learned knowledge in student veterans with PTSD.

Broken gene found to protect against heart disease Posted: 18 Jun 2014 03:46 PM PDT By scouring the DNA of thousands of patients, researchers have discovered four rare gene mutations that not only lower the levels of triglycerides, a type of fat in the blood, but also significantly reduce a person's risk of coronary heart disease -- dropping it by 40 percent. The mutations all cripple the same gene, APOC3, suggesting a powerful strategy in developing new drugs against heart disease.

Primer for doctors' use of clinical genome, exome sequencing Posted: 18 Jun 2014 03:46 PM PDT Sooner than almost anyone expected, a new, genome-based technology for demystifying undiagnosed illnesses -- particularly rare childhood diseases -- is moving from research laboratories into general medical practice. Now, two leading scientists have sketched out what doctors need to know in order to use the new technology effectively.

Unintended danger from antidepressant warnings Posted: 18 Jun 2014 03:46 PM PDT Following 2003 FDA warnings about a potential danger to young people taking antidepressants, antidepressant use plummeted and attempted suicide by psychotropic drug poisoning increased proportionally by 22 percent. The FDA later revised the warning to recommend that physicians consider both the risk of prescribing the medication and the risk of not prescribing the medication, monitoring patients for thoughts of suicide and treating them as needed.

Genomic 'dark matter' of embryonic lungs controls proper development of airways Posted: 18 Jun 2014 03:45 PM PDT Hundreds of long non-coding RNAs expressed in developing and adult lungs have been identified by researchers. Many of these non-protein-coding RNAs in the lung regulate gene expression by opening and closing the DNA scaffolding on neighboring genes.

Many doctors concerned about physician involvement in concealed-weapon permit process Posted: 18 Jun 2014 03:45 PM PDT North Carolina doctors are concerned about the increasing number of requests they are receiving to assess their patients' competency to carry concealed weapons. In particular, a majority of physicians who responded to a recent survey said they were worried about the potential ethical consequences in the doctor-patient relationship if they participated in the concealed-weapon permit process.

Difference found in way bipolar disorder affects brains of children versus adults Posted: 18 Jun 2014 01:51 PM PDT Bipolar children have greater activation in the right amygdala -- a brain region very important for emotional reaction -- than bipolar adults when viewing emotional faces. The study suggests that bipolar children might benefit from treatments that target emotional face identification, such as computer based 'brain games' or group and individual therapy.

Study reverses current thought on treatment of cirrhosis Posted: 18 Jun 2014 01:39 PM PDT A new study reverses current thought on the treatment of cirrhotic patients with type 2 diabetes. The study found that the continuation of metformin after a cirrhosis diagnosis improved survival rates among diabetes patients.

Families with an autistic child are a third less likely to have more kids Posted: 18 Jun 2014 01:39 PM PDT Parents who have a child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are about one third less likely to have more children than families without an affected child, according to a study. This conclusion stems from the largest study of its kind on further child-bearing after a child has been diagnosed with the disorder.

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