Health

Researchers are digging deeper into whether infants` ability to learn new words is shaped by the particular language being acquired.

A new Northwestern University study cites a promising new research agenda aimed at bringing researchers closer to discovering the impact of different languages on early language and cognitive development.

For decades, researchers have asked why infants learn new nouns more rapidly and more easily than new verbs.

Many researchers have asserted that the early advantage for learning nouns over verbs is a universal feature of human language.

Elderly people who are isolated and do not see friends or family regularly are at an increased risk of mortality, a new study has warned.

British researchers found that social isolation could dramatically increase the risk of mortality in both men and women, even after underlying health problems are taken into account.

Researchers studied lifestyles of 6,500 people aged 52 and over, who were followed over a seven-year period up until March last year.

The use of contraceptive pills cause some 2,500 accidents and 20 deaths every year in France.

This is the finding of the National Agency for the Safety of Drugs and Health Products (ANSM), reports Xinhua.

ANSM’s undated study estimated that the contraceptive pills are tied to blood clots, and 1,751 accidents as well as 14 of 20 deaths were caused by the third and fourth generation pills.

The other six deaths were blamed on first and second eneration pills.

Eating a breakfast rich in protein significantly improves appetite control and reduces unhealthy snacking on high-fat or high-sugar foods in the evening, according to an expert.

This could help improve the diets of more than 25 million overweight or obese young adults in the US.

Heather Leidy, an assistant professor in the Department of Nutrition and Exercise Physiology, is the first to examine the impact of breakfast consumption on daily appetite and evening snacking in young people who habitually skip breakfast.

Scientists, for the first time, have developed a new chemotherapy drug in the form of nanoparticles that is less toxic to a young woman`s fertility but extra tough on cancer.

This is the first cancer drug tested while in development for its effect on fertility using a novel in vitro test.

The scientists designed a quick new in vitro test that predicts the toxicity of a chemotherapy drug to fertility and can be easily used to test other cancer drugs in development as well as existing ones.

Eavesdropping on the buzzing of honey bees in their hives can reveal whether they are suffering from disease, scientists have claimed.

Researchers have found that they can detect subtle changes in the vibrations honey bees use to communicate with each other that indicate how healthy the insects are, the Telegraph reported.

Growing levels of disease, including a deadly parasite known as verroa mite, have taken a devastating toll on honey bee colonies, causing numbers of the insects in Britain to more than halve in the past 25 years.

Pregnant women in Ghana who slept on their back (supine sleep) were at an increased risk of stillbirth compared to women who did not sleep on their back, a new study has revealed.

In the study, researchers from University of Michigan found that supine sleep increased the risk of low birth weight by a factor of 5 and that it was the low birth weight that explained the high risk for stillbirth in these women.

Even temporary tattoos can cause some serious health problems, US health agency the Food and Drug Administration has warned.

MedWatch, which oversees FDA`s safety information and adverse event reporting program, has received reports of negative and long-lasting reactions to temporary tattoos, CBS News reported.

“Just because a tattoo is temporary it doesn`t mean that it is risk free,” said Dr. Linda Katz, director of FDA`s Office of Cosmetics and Colors, in a press release.

Seeking to check the alarming rise of drug abuse in various parts of the country, government will soon introduce a `National Policy on Drug Abuse` and has formed an expert committee to suggest guidelines for it.

The need to have a National Policy on Drug Abuse was felt for a long time. The Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry recently took the decision in this regard and an expert committee has been formed to study nation-wide scenario of drug and substance abuse, sources said here.

Pregnant women in Ghana who slept on their back (supine sleep) were at an increased risk of stillbirth compared to women who did not sleep on their back, a new study has revealed.

In the study, researchers from University of Michigan found that supine sleep increased the risk of low birth weight by a factor of 5 and that it was the low birth weight that explained the high risk for stillbirth in these women.

People who smoke marijuana are at a higher risk of developing nicotine addiction if they try cigarettes, according to a new study.

In the study, researchers first exposed mice to tetrahydrocannabinol (THC, the active ingredient in marijuana) or a placebo for three days.

Then, they attempted to train the mice to self-administer nicotine, which was delivered into their blood when they poked their noses through a hole in the cage.

Orthorexia is a relatively new term for a disorder where a person becomes obsessed with the ” perfect diet,” the cleanliness of food and eating on a highly regulated regime.

Recent studies were unable to determine who can fall into the orthorexic trap, but it seems women are a high-risk group, Fox News reported.

Orthorexics can be under pressure to stay fit and young while experiencing life stress on an intense, long-lasting level.

People lost 25 percent less weight if they ate lunch after 3 pm, a new study has found.

The study followed 420 Spanish people in a weight-loss program.

However, the study doesn`t mean that you should eat earlier-in fact, you might want to do the opposite.

The Spanish are known for making a late lunch the biggest meal of the day, so the study`s authors couldn`t say that the findings would apply in the US.

That said, other new research does show that when you eat-not what you eat-can turn on your body`s fat-fighting genes.

Scientists have used stem cells taken from amniotic fluid to restore gut structure and function following intestinal damage in rodents, paving the way for a new form of cell therapy to reverse serious damage from inflammation in the intestines of babies.

The study, funded by Great Ormond Street Hospital Children`s Charity, investigated a new way to treat necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), where severe inflammation destroys tissues in the gut.

NEC is the most common gastrointestinal surgical emergency in newborn babies, with mortality rates of around 15 to 30 percent in the UK.

Extra chromosome inherited in Down syndrome-chromosome 21-alters brain and body development, a study has found.

Researchers at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute (Sanford-Burnham) have new evidence that points to a protein called sorting nexin 27, or SNX27.

SNX27 production is inhibited by a molecule encoded on chromosome 21.

The study shows that SNX27 is reduced in human Down syndrome brains.

The extra copy of chromosome 21 means a person with Down syndrome produces less SNX27 protein, which in turn disrupts brain function.

The World Tuberculosis Day is being observed Sunday.

A series of functions are being oraganised by the concerned departments to raise awareness about prevention of the disease.

On this occasion, President Pranab Mukherjee has said India has, and will continue to lead the fight against TB.

Consumption of energy drinks might impact cardiac health by increasing blood pressure and disturbing heart rhythm, researchers have claimed.

They analyzed data from seven previously published observational and interventional studies to determine how consuming energy drinks might impact heart health.

Excessive salt consumption contributed to 2.3 million deaths from heart attacks, strokes and other heart-related diseases throughout the world in 2010, researchers have claimed.

The fatality represents 15 percent of all deaths due to these causes.

The researchers analyzed 247 surveys of adult sodium intake, stratified by age, gender, region and country between 1990 and 2010 as part of the 2010 Global Burden of Diseases Study.

Researchers have revealed that around 75 percent of snacks targeted at children have a high sodium content that could increase the possibility of long-term health risks, says a study.

Nearly 75 percent of commercial pre-packaged meals and savoury snacks for toddlers are high in sodium, according to research presented at the American Heart Association`s Epidemiology and Prevention/Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism 2013 Scientific Sessions.

Naproxen, the over-the-counter anti-inflammatory drug, may also exhibit antiviral activity against influenza A virus, a team of French scientists has concluded.

New influenza vaccines must be developed annually, because the surface proteins they target mutate rapidly, the way cars used to get a whole new look every year.

The researchers, led by Anny Slama-Schwok of the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, Jouy en Josas, France, found a much more stable, reliable target for anti-influenza activity.

Proteins found in soybeans, could inhibit growth of colon, liver and lung cancers, a new study has revealed.

Soybean meal is a bi-product following oil extraction from soybean seeds. It is rich in protein, which usually makes up around 40 percent of the nutritional components of the seeds and dependent on the line, and can also contain high oleic acid (a monounsaturated omega-9 fatty acid).

The study, conducted by scientists from University of Arkansas, looked at the role soybeans could have in the prevention of cancer.

Washington, March 22 (ANI): Five cancer patients experience complete remission of their disease with no detectable cancerous cells after they received transfusions of their own immune cells that had been genetically modified with an extra cancer-fighting gene, scientists have revealed.

The patients had all experienced a serious relapse of a form of cancer of the white blood cells, called B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, before the treatment, the Independent reported

Washington, March 22 (ANI): Knowing whether a man acts out his dreams while sleeping could help predict if he’s is developing dementia with Lewy bodies — the second most common form of dementia in the elderly — Mayo Clinic researchers have discovered.

The study found that patients are five times more likely to have dementia with Lewy bodies if they experience a condition known as rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behavior disorder than if they have one of the risk factors now used to make a diagnosis, such as fluctuating cognition or hallucinations.

Washington, Mar 21 (ANI): Post-menopausal women, who often suffer from joint pain, could find some long-term relief by taking estrogen-only medication, a new study has revealed.

Previous studies of estrogen’s influence on joint symptoms had produced mixed results, so researchers examined the findings of the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI), the largest-ever study of the use of hormonal therapy in post-menopausal women.

Researchers from University of South Florida played a key role in an international multidisciplinary project that has yielded a promising new antimalarial drug with the potential to cure malaria and block its transmission with low doses.

Roman Manetsch, PhD, USF associate professor of chemistry, and Dennis Kyle, PhD, USF professor of global health, were co-leaders of the USF team, which helped to discover and develop a series of potent compounds to combat malaria known as the 4-(1H)-quinolone-3-diarylethers, or quinolones.