Health

A new study has revealed that the use of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) among children and adolescents with chronic migraine result in greater reductions in headache frequency and migraine-related disability compared with headache education

Scott W. Powers, Ph.D., of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, and colleagues randomized 135 participants (79 percent female) 10 to 17 years of age diagnosed with chronic migraine.

A new study has revealed that adolescent girls with sexual abuse-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) experienced greater benefit from prolonged exposure therapy (a type of therapy that has been shown effectiveness for adults) than from supportive counseling.

“Prolonged exposure therapy is the most studied evidence-based, theory-driven treatment for adults with PTSD, but it is rarely provided to adolescents because of concern that it may exacerbate PTSD symptoms or the belief that patients must master coping skills before exposure can safely be provided,” researcher said.

Researchers have found that exposing the brain to short bursts electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) might be used to erase unpleasant memories.

Theories suggest that every time we recall a memory we have to take it out of our mental storage banks. These memories have to be re-written back onto the brain’s circuits each them they’re accessed.

The crucial idea behind a recent experiment, conducted by Marijn Kroes and his colleagues from Radboud University Nijmegen, is an imperfect process of recalling the memories, called memory reconsolidation, Discovery News reported.

And you thought daily beatboxing practice with high-octane percussive sounds would ruin your kid’s voice?

Not really. If we believe H. Steven Sims of University of Illinois in Chicago, beatboxing may actually be gentler on vocal cords – even softer than singing itself!

Beatboxing (also beatbox) is a form of vocal percussion primarily involving the art of producing drum beats, rhythm, and musical sounds using one’s mouth, lips, tongue and voice.

Australian scientists Tuesday said they have discovered a genetic marker that can accurately predict the severity of the H7N9 avian influenza.

Researchers at the University of Melbourne claimed that by using genetic markers to blood and lung samples, they discovered certain indicators that signal increased susceptibility to this avian influenza, a statement said.

A British man has become world’s longest-surviving heart transplant patient, thus registering his name in Guinness book of world records.

John McCafferty, broke the previous world record of 30 years, 11 months and 10 days set by an American man who died in 2009, the BBC reported.

The 71-year-old, from Newport Pagnell in Buckinghamshire, told the publication that he wants this world record to be an inspiration to anyone awaiting a heart transplant and to those who, like him, have been fortunate enough to have had one.

Paedophilia, which has been viewed as a psychological disorder triggered by early childhood trauma, is actually a sexual orientation rooted deeply in our biological clock.

In what promises to be a controversial discovery, James Cantor at the Toronto-based Centre for Addiction and Mental Health has found that about 1 to 5 percent of men are paedophiles, meaning they are primarily attracted to children.

A new study has suggested that the oxytocin receptor, a gene known to influence mother-infant bonding and pair bonding in monogamous species, also plays a special role in the ability to remember faces.

Researchers have suggested that South Asian families could help improve their chance to lower their risk of type 2 diabetes by making modest lifestyle changes in diet and activity.

The three-year-old- Edinburgh University study monitored 171 people of Indian and Pakistani background residing in Scotland, who were at high risk of diabetes as shown by blood tests done at the beginning of the trial, the BBC reported.

Study participants were given advice by dieticians and offered culturally-appropriate resources to help them manage their weight through diet and exercise.

A new method to calculate the risk of heart diseases has been provided by the a study conducted by the National Heart Institute.

The Framingham Heart Study was started in 1948 to learn more about heart diseases and strokes and determine the common risk factors for cardiovascular disease, Fox News reported.

The long-term study has determined key risk factors that can increase a person’s chance of experiencing heart disease or a heart attack over their lifetime, which will help people in adopting lifestyle changes and treatments.

A new study has suggested that an antibody that blocks a component of a key signalling pathway in the respiratory airways could help the immune system rid the body of the influenza virus.

The findings, from a team at The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, not only offer a new approach to treating the flu, but also add new information about how the immune system responds to respiratory viral infections.

In view of increasing cases of malaria treatment failures reported across the globe, scientists have now identified a way to stop malaria parasites from multiplying, raising hope for a new malaria treatment.

A team of scientists led by Ed Tate, of the Department of Chemistry at Imperial College, London, have shown that blocking the activity of an enzyme called NMT in plasmodium falciparum, the most common malaria parasite, prevents mice from showing malaria symptoms and also extends their lifespan.

Hold your nerves. It’s possible to wipe out bad memories and overcome depression.

Targeted medical intervention can help reduce specific negative memories in depressed patients, according to new research.

The technique, called electro-convulsive (ECT) or electro-shock therapy, induces seizures by passing current into the brain through electrode pads placed on the scalp.

Have you gained weight this festive season? Replace your silverware with the dumbbell cutlery set.

The dumbbell cutlery set helps you build muscle while you eat, Mashable reported.

The site selling the set, TheCheeky.com, claims that the fork, knife and dessert spoon, which weigh 4.4 and 2.2 pounds, will revolutionize weight loss and that you can now “eat your way skinny”.

The cutlery set is priced at 145 dollars. (ANI)

A new study has revealed fundamental issues about Alzheimer’s disease, including where it starts, why it starts there, and how it spreads.

Researchers from Columbia University Medical Center have found that it begins specifically in the lateral entorhinal cortex, which is considered to be a gateway to the hippocampus, which plays a key role in the consolidation of long-term memory, among other functions.

Researchers have made a breakthrough in developing second generation of biofuels; they have found a family of enzymes that can degrade hard-to-digest biomass into its constituent sugars.

Fuel made from ‘difficult-to-digest’ sources, such as plant stems, wood chips, cardboard waste or insect / crustacean shells, is known as ‘second generation’ biofuels.

Finding a way of breaking down these sources into their constituent sugars to allow them to be fermented through to bioethanol is regarded as the ‘Holy Grail’ of biofuel research.

Medi BizTV, said to be the world’s first 24-hour health care television channel, was launched here Saturday.

The channel will be available in 130 countries across Asia, Africa, Australia and Europe. It is being uplinked through the APSTAR-7 satellite.

Sohan Roy, a marine engineer by profession who directed the movie “DAM 999” which was selected for the 54th Academy Awards, is behind the project.

Medi BizTV is being promoted by the BizTV network, which also owns the world’s first maritime channel – Marine Biz TV.

In a major breakthrough, new research has identified how HIV infection causes mass suicide of immune cells and how an existing anti-inflammatory drug can block cellular self-destruction.

Further, they have identified an existing anti-inflammatory drug that in laboratory tests blocks the death of these cells — and now are planning a Phase II clinical trial to determine if this drug or a similar drug can prevent HIV-infected people from developing AIDS and related conditions.

A researcher has dispelled most common myths and misconceptions about flu vaccine, explaining why every eligible person should be vaccinated against the seasonal flu.

Dr. Jennifer Caudle, an assistant professor of Family Medicine at the Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine, revealed that among the excuses she hears most often: patients are afraid, they think the vaccine will hurt, make them sick or that it simply doesn’t work.

Caudle said she understands their concerns, suggesting that the vaccine is safe, effective and essential “to nipping the seasonal bug in the bud.”

For the first time, an artificial heart that may give patients up to five years of extra life has been successfully implanted in a 75-year-old French man.

The artificial heart, designed by French biomedical firm Carmat, is powered by Lithium-ion batteries that can be worn externally.

The heart that was put into the patient at Georges Pompidou Hospital in Paris uses a range of “bio-materials”, including bovine tissue, to reduce the likelihood of the body rejecting it, ‘The Telegraph’ reported.

Researchers have found that combining centuries-old practice of yoga with nutrition education can help young cancer patients manage their disease today and lay the foundation for a healthy future.

Departments of Clinical Nutrition and Rehabilitation Services have created a program at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital that focuses on all of the benefits of yoga, which include balance, coordination, a decrease in pain and improving quality of life.

Researchers have shown that our brains stumble on even the simplest rule-based calculations.

Research by Gary Lupyan, a cognitive scientist and psychology professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, shows humans get caught up in contextual information, even when the rules are as clear-cut as separating even numbers from odd.

Almost all adults understand that it’s the last digit — and only the last digit —that determines whether a number is even, including participants in Lupyan’s study. But that didn’t keep them from mistaking a number like 798 for odd.

A mobile phone application which can assist clinicians perform fast and accurate diagnosis of skin cancers and ailments has been developed by IIT Kharagpur students.

The application ‘ClipOCam-Derma’ which can be used on any smart-phone has been developed in the School of Medical Science and Technology at IIT, Kharagpur, led by research scholar Debdoot Sheet.

“Being a portable and affordable solution, it can be used by trained health care workers to reach out to elderly and patients in mobility restricted areas for health care delivery,” Sheet told PTI.

A team of researchers has developed a new vaccine that protects against lethal pneumonia caused by Staphylococcus aureus (staph) bacteria, including drug-resistant strains like MRSA.

The new vaccine by the research team, led by Patrick Schlievert, professor and chair of microbiology in the University of Iowa’s Carver College of Medicine, targets toxins that are made and secreted by staph bacteria.

The researchers believed a vaccine that blocked the action of these toxins might prevent the serious illness caused by the bacteria.

Children who are teased while playing sports tend to have a worse quality of life than their non-teased peers, a new study suggests. Some of them may also become less active over time.

“Teasing not only influences psychological functioning but may reduce physical activity and lead to poorer physical, social, and emotional functioning for children,” Chad D. Jensen said.

He led the study at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.

The link between teasing and less physical activity is particularly concerning considering most children are already not exercising as much as they should.