Health

A physiologist has developed a new technique to measure a person’s heart health with the help of their finger’s pulse.

The new method by Gary Pierce, assistant professor in the Department of Health and Human Physiology, University of Iowa, works by placing an instrument called a transducer on the finger or over the brachial artery, located inside the arm just beneath the elbow.

The readout, combined with a person’s age and body mass index, lets physicians know whether the aorta has stiffened.

Scientists have developed a new form of aspirin that could extend the drug’s benefits to people who may be resisting the drug.

Shiqi Peng, Ming Zhao and colleagues note that aspirin lowers cardiovascular disease risk by keeping blood cells called platelets from clumping and forming clots.

Their research group decided to modify aspirin in an effort to make it work for more people.

They linked aspirin to a carrier consisting of a fragment of protein that can transport aspirin directly to damaged parts of blood vessels where clots form.

Eating three or four button mushrooms a day is sufficient to make vitamin D for the average person’s estimated daily needs, according to an Australian scientist.

Professor Rebecca Mason, head of physiology at Sydney Medical School and past president of the ANZ Bone and Mineral Society has found that like humans, button mushrooms also need exposure to sunlight for the photochemical manufacturing to kick into action, News.com.au reported.

Patients suffering from clogged and hardened arteries, who already have their blood pressure under control could benefit from blood pressure-lowering medication aliskiren, a new study has claimed.

According to research from the Cleveland Clinic Coordinating Center for Clinical Research, the renin-inhibitor aliskiren tended to slow coronary disease progression and reduced the risk of death, stroke and heart attack in these patients by about 50 percent, compared to placebo, suggesting that patients with prehypertension may benefit from blood pressure lowering drugs.

A new study has found that people who stayed up for nearly a day and a half looked sadder and had more apparent wrinkles than when they were well-rested.

The study now confirms that your best beauty trick is to get a good night’s sleep, according to the New York Daily News.

Findings revealed what you’ve probably seen in the mirror after a rough night: sleep-deprived people look more, shall we say, worn-out, with redder, more swollen eyes, darker under-eye circles, more wrinkles and droopier eyelids and mouths than their well-rested selves.

A new study has found that people who stayed up for nearly a day and a half looked sadder and had more apparent wrinkles than when they were well-rested.

The study now confirms that your best beauty trick is to get a good night’s sleep, according to the New York Daily News.

Findings revealed what you’ve probably seen in the mirror after a rough night: sleep-deprived people look more, shall we say, worn-out, with redder, more swollen eyes, darker under-eye circles, more wrinkles and droopier eyelids and mouths than their well-rested selves.

The intervention of peer-led Facebook groups leads to increased home-based HIV testing among at-risk populations, a new study has revealed.

It was found that online social networking has grown exponentially in this population, suggesting that social media platforms could be used to relay HIV prevention messages.

Researchers randomly assigned sixteen peer leaders to deliver information about HIV or general health via closed Facebook groups to Los Angeles-based MSM, more than 85 percent of whom were African American or Latino.

A mother-of-two, who has an 87 percent chance of developing breast cancer, has opted to have both her breasts removed and then reconstructed using pig skin.

Kelly Cruse, who has seen her great grandmother, mother and cousin all suffer the disease, will have a double mastectomy, after which surgeons will immediately reconstruct her breasts by inserting a pig skin graft, Metro.co.uk reported.

The 32-year-old has chosen the procedure, called Strattice Tissue Matrix, which means she will have just one operation in her life.

By studying rare families in which a daughter shares the same Y chromosome as her father, scientists have determined that the pathway for male sexual development is not as consistent and robust as scientists have always assumed.

A team led by Michael Weiss, MD, PhD, and his colleagues at the university’s School of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, examined the function of the SRY gene.

This gene is responsible for initiating the process that leads to male development.

A new research has revealed that for preventing weight gain, the intensity of the activity matters more than duration.

University of Utah researchers found that even brief episodes of physical activity that exceed a certain level of intensity can have as positive an effect on weight as does the current recommendation of 10 or more minutes at a time.

It was suggested that taking the stairs, parking at the far end of the lot, and walking to the store or between errands are choices that can add up and can make a positive health difference.

Nutritious, protein-packed and sustainable insects are apparently the next big thing in food.

The crunchy and nutty flavoured crickets are increasingly coming up as a sustainable snack, the New York Daily News reported.

Aruna Antonella Handa, an advocate of eating bugs, said that insects seem like a really good solution to the future of food, but also the most toxic in terms of resistance from the public.

A research team has found that the genes that some breast cancer cells express are more likely to help them prosper in bone tissue.

When cells from a primary tumour circulate through the body and begin growing in a new organ, a metastatic tumour is formed. Such metastases are often harder to treat than primary tumours; the vast majority of people who die of cancer have not only a primary tumour but also metastatic disease.

High waist circumference, severe obesity has been linked with the greatest risk of death in heart attack survivors, according to a research.

Professor Tabassome Simon said that the impact of obesity on long term mortality and cardiovascular complications in the general population has been the object of recent debate and much emphasis has also been given to the deleterious role of abdominal obesity.

The Philippines recorded 449 new HIV-positive cases in July, the highest number in a month since the first case was reported in 1984, the health department said.

The July figure was 62 percent higher compared to the same period last year, Xinhua cited the Philippines HIV and AIDS Registry as saying Sunday.

“Most of the cases (96 percent) were male. The median age was 27 years (age range: 5-60 years). The 20-29 year (57 percent) age group had the most number of cases,” it said.

The latest HIV-positive cases brought the January-July figure to 2,772 cases.

Researchers, who examined the effect of different statins on new onset dementia (except vascular dementia) in an elderly population, have revealed that high doses of statins, particularly of high potency, prevent dementia.

Dr Lin said that previous studies had considered statin therapy to exert a beneficial effect on dementia. But few large-scale studies have focused on the impact of statins on new-onset, non-vascular dementia in the geriatric population.

Researchers have uncovered a key platelet protein that may offer a new angle for developing drugs to prevent strokes and heart attacks.

Lead study author Stephen Holly, PhD, assistant professor of biochemistry and biophysics at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, said that I think we’re at the start of an exciting journey of drug discovery for a new class of antithrombotic therapies.

A new study has tried to explain the reason behind people suffering from insomnia having trouble concentrating during the day even though objective evidence of a cognitive problem is lacking.

Lead author Sean P.A. Drummond, PhD, associate professor in the department of psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego, said that they found that insomnia subjects did not properly turn on brain regions critical to a working memory task and did not turn off ‘mind-wandering’ brain regions irrelevant to the task.

Scientists have discovered that an old cancer drug can be used to prevent rejection of transplanted tissue.

Researchers at Lund University believe their discovery could lead to new treatments for both transplant patients and those with autoimmune diseases.

“Our group was studying the effects of the old tumour drug Zebularine, developed in the US in the 1960s, and by chance we discovered that it had completely unexpected effects on the immune system,” said Leif Salford, Senior Professor of Neurosurgery at the Rausing Laboratory, Lund University.

For years, we’ve been told that drinking fruit juice is the perfect start to your day, but a new research has revealed that doing so can strongly increase the risk of diabetes.

The study by researchers from the UK, USA and Singapore also suggested that eating more whole fruits, particularly blueberries, grapes and apples, is associated with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes, with greater fruit juice consumption having an adverse effect.

Do you often worry about your posture but still slouch while working on the laptop? Well, a new gadget might help you keep your back straight.

The device called the ‘Lumoback’ is a belt that vibrates every time it senses that you are slouching and pairs with your phone to give you more information about your bad posture, ABC News reported.

The gadget is a small rectangular plastic piece fixed on the back of the elastic and adjustable belt having a tri-axis accelerometer and Bluetooth radio inside.

A new drug target to treat depression and other mood disorders could lie in a group of GABA neurons, which have been shown to contribute to symptoms like social withdrawal and increased anxiety.

Researchers have made a new breakthrough which may not only help diagnose Alzheimer`s, but also assess its severity.

Patients with Alzheimer`s disease currently undergo neuropsychological testing to detect signs of the disease. The test results are difficult to interpret and are insufficient for making a definitive diagnosis.

A sedentary lifestyle with irregular physical activity is leading to increase in back and neck related pain among young people.

A consumer research, conducted on behalf of the British Chiropractic Association (BCA), reveals that 65 percent of people in the age bracket of 16 to 34, have experienced neck or back pain and almost a third have lived with the pain for up to a month.

Many chiropractors are noticing a rise in the number of younger people presenting with neck and back problems.

A new study has revealed that one in two women below the age of 35 can be blessed with a baby if they opt for In Vitro Fertilization.

However, the research by the University of NSW also suggested that the chances of success drop dramatically after five tries, News.com.au reported.

The study, which is the first in the world to track national success rates for IVF, is based on 2011 statistics from 35 centers in Australia and New Zealand.

Eating more whole fresh fruit, especially blueberries, grapes, apples and pears, is linked to a lower risk of type 2 diabetes, but drinking more fruit juice has the opposite effect, says a study.

British, US and Singaporean researchers pored over data from three big health investigations that took place in the United States, spanning a quarter of a century in all.

More than 187,000 nurses and other professional caregivers were enrolled.