Being overweight increases the chances of premature death, according to a USC researcher.
Although people accept that obesity can shorten a person's life span, scientists have debated whether the weight category between normal and obese is, in fact, a health risk.
Asthma costs the UK health service at least £1.1 billion each year, researchers have estimated.
The findings are the result of the most comprehensive study of the state of asthma in UK to date.
Researchers found that at least three people die each day from asthma attacks. Experts say the majority of asthma deaths are preventable and greater focus on basic care is needed to cut the rates of severe attacks.
New research presented at this year's World Congress of Anaesthesiologists (WCA) in Hong Kong (Aug. 28 - Sept. 2) shows that allowing children to use iPads to distract them before surgery requiring general anaesthesia is as effective at lowering their anxiety as conventional sedatives. Furthermore, parental satisfaction and quality of anaesthesia induction was higher in children using iPads. The study is by Dr Dominique Chassard, EPICIME, Hopital Mere Enfant, Hospices Civils de Lyon, Bron, France, and colleagues.
An unnatural balance of nutrients threatens biodiversity in a survival of the fittest scenario, according to the results of a world-first global experiment published in the prestigious Nature journal.Professor Jennifer Firn, from QUT's Science and Engineering Faculty, is part of a global network of researchers who have tested the impact increased nutrient levels is having on grasslands across six continents.
The article is titled Addition of multiple limiting resources reduces grassland diversity and was led by Professor Stan Harpole from UFZ and iDIV, Germany.
HOUSTON-(Aug. 23, 2016)-Researchers at Houston Methodist have developed an artificial intelligence (AI) software that reliably interprets mammograms, assisting doctors with a quick and accurate prediction of breast cancer risk. According to a new study published in Cancer (early online Aug. 29), the computer software intuitively translates patient charts into diagnostic information at 30 times human speed and with 99 percent accuracy.
Primary care physicians are critical in identifying children and adolescents who have thyroid disorders and early identification and treatment helps to optimize growth and development.
Andrew J. Bauer, M.D., of The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, and coauthors examined the presentation, evaluation and treatment of thyroid disorders seen in primary care practice in a new review article published online by JAMA Pediatrics. The authors conducted a literature review and the article includes 83 publications.
The first national study to examine spending on a wide array of low-value health services among adults with commercial health insurance finds that while use of such services is modest, there is considerable potential for cost savings.
Studying insurance claims from more than 1.46 million adults from across the nation, researchers found that spending on 28 low-value medical services totaled $32.8 million during 2013 among the group. That accounted for 0.5 percent of total spending or more than $22 per person annually.
(TORONTO, Canada - Aug. 29, 2016) - Breast cancer researchers have discovered that mutations found outside of genes that accumulate in estrogen receptor positive breast tumours throughout their development act as dominant culprits driving the disease.
Long-term exposure to the combination of even modestly lower LDL cholesterol (LDL-C) and systolic blood pressure (SBP) has the potential to "dramatically reduce" a person's lifetime risk of cardiovascular disease, according to new findings reported at ESC Congress 2016.
Researchers from MIPT, the Institute of Biomedical Chemistry, the Institute for Energy Problems of Chemical Physics, and the Research Institute of Physico-Chemical Medicine have presented an algorithm to detect mutant proteins based on mass spectrometry data and the results of exome sequencing. Using this new approach, the scientists have discovered unique genome variants, some of which are linked to cancer development. Studying mutant peptides will help to detect weaknesses in tumor cells in search for more effective drug treatments.
Scientists at the University of Basel, ETH Zurich, and NCCR Molecular Systems Engineering have developed an artificial metalloenzyme that catalyses a reaction inside of cells without equivalent in nature. This could be a prime example for creating new non-natural metabolic pathways inside living cells, as reported today in Nature.
Violent thunderstorms can often cause torrential rain, which pose a threat for both humans and the infrastructure. Until now such extreme weather phenomena have been very poorly understood. However, using advanced simulations for cloud systems, researchers also from the Niels Bohr Institute have determined how complex cloud systems build up in the atmosphere, which then interact with each other and strengthen the further build up of heavy rain and severe thunderstorms. The results are published in the scientific journal, Nature Geoscience.
People with blood type O often get more severely ill from cholera than people of other blood types. New research from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis may explain why.
In people with blood type O, scientists found that cholera toxin hyperactivates a key signaling molecule in intestinal cells. High levels of that signaling molecule lead to excretion of electrolytes and water - in other words, diarrhea. Cholera is marked by severe diarrhea that can lead to dehydration, shock and even death.
BOSTON (August 29, 2016) - Pediatric stem cell transplant and cancer patients often are discharged from the hospital with an external central venous line for medications that parents or other caregivers must clean and flush daily to avoid potentially life-threatening infections.
More than 550,000 adults 55-years-old and older are arrested and detained every year--and that number is increasing rapidly. Yet we know very little about the special health burdens in this population. In a first of its kind study, researchers report that two-thirds of incarcerated older adults experience at least one health-related distressing symptom, such as a chronic disease, physical pain, or emotional suffering.