Month: January 2016

In this Oct. 22, 2011 file photo, Cuba’s gold medalist Lisette Hechevarria, left, competes with Brazil’s Aline Ferreira da Silva, also known as Aline Silva, during the women’s wrestling Greco-Roman 72 kg at the Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico. Silva has had the dengue fever twice, and said she’s not taking any chances with the Zika virus. “For me it’s very worrying,” said Silva, who said she applies repellent about every 90 minutes when

By Anthony Boadle RECIFE, Brazil (Reuters) – For scores of women in the epicenter of the Zika outbreak in Brazil, the joy of pregnancy has given way to fear. In the sprawling coastal city of Recife, panic has struck maternity wards since Zika – a mosquito-borne virus first detected in the Americas last year – was linked to wave of brain damage in newborns. There is no vaccine or known cure for the poorly understood

Ohio regulators should have clamped down right away on a village water system after its operators didn’t meet federal deadlines requiring them to alert residents about their lead-tainted tap water, the state’s environmental agency director said Friday. Urgent warnings should have been sent to the village of Sebring after officials failed to notify all water users within 60 days that tests during the late summer showed high levels of lead in at six homes, said

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — The state of New York is investigating possible illegal dumping of commercial waste in a town that’s already the focus of a water contamination probe. Police from the state Department of Environmental Conservation, armed with a search warrant, searched woods Friday near the main road through the town of Hoosick Falls, near the Vermont border, DEC spokeswoman Emily DeSantis said. She said a tipster reported the dumping of waste containing PFOA,

AMMAN (Reuters) – The Syrian opposition delegation in Geneva for peace talks could walk out of the process if President Bashar al-Assad’s forces and allies continue to escalate a bombing campaign in rebel-held areas and hamper delivery of humanitarian aid, a senior negotiator said on Sunday. The delegation is seeking a halt to attacks on civilian areas, the release of detainees and a lifting of blockades. The measures were mentioned in a Security Council resolution

Swiss doctors have separated eight-day-old conjoined twin sisters fused at the liver and chest—the youngest ever successfully separated, a Swiss paper reported Sunday. Five surgeons, assisted by two nurses and six anaesthesiologists, carried out the successful, five-hour operation last month to separate the tiny identical twins, the Le Matin Dimanche weekly reported. Maya and Lydia were born at Bern hospital two months prematurely along with their triplet sister Kamilla on December 2. The two were

An international team, made up of researchers from the University of Granada, Washington University in St. Louis, and the University of South Florida, has linked the symptoms of schizophrenia with the anatomical characteristics of the brain, by employing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Their research, published in the academic journal NeuroImage, could herald a significant step forward in the diagnosis and treatment of schizophrenia. In a major breakthrough, scientists have successfully linked the symptoms of the

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Two Brazilian women, two pregnancies, one nightmare. But two very different stories. Regina de Lima and Tainara Lourenco became pregnant at a scary moment — the dawn of an extraordinary Zika outbreak, as authorities came to suspect that the virus was causing an alarming spike in a rare birth defect called microcephaly. Both have reason to fear for the health of their unborn offspring. But that is where the similarities

By Edmund Blair OGOLCHO, Ethiopia (Reuters) – Ethiopia urged international donors on Sunday to offer aid promptly for relief operations to support 10.2 million people critically short of food, and said it was committed to allocating as much of its own funds as necessary. Deputy Prime Minister Demeke Mekonen was speaking beside U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon during a tour of an area where one of the worst droughts in decades has left children malnourished,

GENEVA (Reuters) – The Syrian town of Mouadamiya is newly under siege by Syrian government forces, the United Nations said on Sunday, adding 45,000 to the number of people it says are cut off from humanitarian aid and medical help in Syria. The development comes as President Bashar al-Assad’s government faces a demand from the U.N. Security Council to improve humanitarian access as part of U.N.-mediated peace talks with an opposition delegation in Geneva. It

AMMAN (Reuters) – The Syrian opposition delegation in Geneva for peace talks could walk out of the process if President Bashar al-Assad’s forces and allies continue to escalate a bombing campaign in rebel-held areas and hamper delivery of humanitarian aid, a senior negotiator said on Sunday. The delegation is seeking a halt to attacks on civilian areas, the release of detainees and a lifting of blockades. The measures were mentioned in a Security Council resolution

“The chains of habit are too light to be felt until they’re too heavy to be broken.” — Warren Buffet. Are your habits ruining your chances of a bright future? Success and failure are both a result of a gradual process. The habits you develop over time cement themselves. Your circumstances act as a mirror of your actions. Your actions are determined by your habits. Today I’m going to share some negative habits that will

“Don’t talk to me until I’ve had my coffee.”Sound familiar? “I can’t survive without caffeine.”Maybe it’s just a case of the Mondays, or maybe you’re unaware of exactly how much caffeine you’re guzzling on a daily basis. Time for a reality check: When you’re feeling that afternoon lull, do you reach for a cup of energy-boosting java or chug a Coke? How do you know if and when it’s time to switch to decaf … or water?

Camacari was in chaos, its hospitals overflowing with sick people desperate to know what was happening to them, never suspecting theirs would be the first confirmed cases of Zika in Brazil. In the city where the virus made its explosive debut in early 2015, anxious residents asked themselves: Was it dengue? An allergic reaction to contaminated water? The “mysterious” disease, people called it, while medical reports referred to it as “undetermined eczematous syndrome,” noting the

The United States makes up about 5 percent of the world’s population, yet consumes more than 75 percent of the world’s prescription drugs, according to the 2011 UN World Drug Report. It’s a sobering statistic that’s highlighted in the new documentary “Prescription Thugs,” which takes an intimate look at what many addiction experts agree is the worst epidemic in America today. “The subject kind of picked me. My older brother died from a prescription drug,

After being married just a few months, Bryan and Casey Kirsch, both 36, were overjoyed to find out they were pregnant with their first child. It was 2010 and the Hoboken, N.J., couple was enjoying a normal and healthy pregnancy, until they received devastating news after their 12-week ultrasound.      “It looks like the baby has something called an omphalocele,” her doctor explained, then immediately referred her to a specialist.   “His last words were,

An Indonesian research institute said Sunday it had found one positive Zika case on Sumatra island, adding that the virus has been circulating in the country “for a while”. Indonesia’s health ministry could not immediately comment on the report by the Eijkman Institute for Molecular Biology. The mosquito-borne virus has sparked widespread alarm in parts of the Americas. It is suspected of causing grave brain damage in newborns and has similar symptoms to dengue fever.

Some fear is rational, keeping us appropriately cautious in the face of dangerous animals, hot stoves and contagions that could make us ill. But rational caution can turn to irrational panic about imagined terrors that are unlikely to occur or cause much actual damage if they did. While we all face fears, phobias are intense fears that have become irrational. Common phobias include fears of falling, injections, animals, blood and flying, and social phobia. Suma

/ no comments http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/

A new paper published in Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology, co-authored by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, calls for ongoing development and regulatory acceptance of adverse outcome pathways (AOPs), a framework for improving chemical hazard assessment by prioritizing modern test methods that reduce animal use. The paper is a scientific report from a September 2014 workshop titled Adverse Outcome Pathways: From Research to Regulation, which was co-organized by Kristie Sullivan, M.P.H., Physicians Committee director of

A research group at Lund University in Sweden has been able to show that bile acid is transferred from the mother to the foetus via the placenta to enable the foetus to produce blood stem cells. Researchers have not yet managed to get the blood-forming stem cells to produce new stem and blood cells in a laboratory. The problem with making blood stem cells proliferate outside the body is that the artificial growth gives rise

/ no comments Home

Schizophrenia is a mysterious and devastating disorder that afflicts one percent of the adult population worldwide. Its symptoms — hallucinations, emotional withdrawal, and cognitive impairment — are chronic and typically emerge just as individuals are entering adulthood. Today’s medications treat just one of these symptoms (psychosis); treatments for the underlying disease and its many other symptoms have been hard to develop, because no one really understands what causes the disorder. During the past decade, scientists

Credit: George Hodan/public domain A new coffee diet claiming to help lose weight and improve IQ is gaining a major following in the United States—and raising eyebrows among doctors skeptical of its benefits. Dave Asprey, the founder and CEO of the “Bulletproof Diet,” pulls no punches when making claims for his radical health recipe, cup of coffee in hand. “You become a better employee, better parent, better friend, better person,” said the former Silicon Valley

A Bangladeshi father dubbed “Tree Man” for massive bark-like warts on his hands and feet will finally have surgery to remove the growths that first began appearing 10 years ago, a hospital said Sunday. Abul Bajandar, from the southern district of Khulna, was undergoing preparations for the surgery to cut out the growths weighing at least five kilogrammes (11 pounds) that have smothered his hands and feet. “Initially, I thought that they’re harmless,” the 26-year-old

People hospitalized due to an encounter with a law enforcement officer are more likely to have a mental illness, have longer hospitalizations, more injuries to the back and spine, and greater need for extended care than those hospitalized due to altercations with other civilians. The findings, based on 10 years of Illinois hospitalization data, are published in the journal Injury Epidemiology. Lee Friedman, associate professor of environmental and occupational health sciences at the University of

Researchers have successfully demonstrated how it is possible to interface graphene – a two-dimensional form of carbon – with neurons, or nerve cells, while maintaining the integrity of these vital cells. The work may be used to build graphene-based electrodes that can safely be implanted in the brain, offering promise for the restoration of sensory functions for amputee or paralysed patients, or for individuals with motor disorders such as epilepsy or Parkinson’s disease. The research,

Cohen Veterans Bioscience today announced two new collaborative partnership efforts that will provide critical research tools for understanding the underlying neurobiology and genetics of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI) with the goal of accelerating the development of first generation diagnostics and treatments. For the partnership with the Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cohen Veterans Bioscience will contribute funding to support both genotyping of

/ no comments Bentham Science Publishers

/ no comments St. Baldricks Foundation; Children’s Oncology Group

Washington (AFP) – A number of technology startups are devising creative new ways of detecting concussions in pro and amateur athletes, using apps, tablets and sensors to monitor the often debilitating brain injury. Sports organizations increasingly are looking for better concussion detection methods, and a sense of urgency has grown with the release of the 2015 film “Concussion” starring Will Smith on the problem of chronic brain injury suffered by American football players. Although some

/ no comments http://www.upm.es/

For women undergoing breast cancer surgery, a technique called lipofilling—using the patient’s own fat cells to optimize the results of breast reconstruction—does not increase the risk of recurrent breast cancer, reports a study in the February issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery®, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS). “Our controlled study shows that, used as part of breast reconstruction, lipofilling is a safe procedure that does not increase the

In the brain, the visual cortex processes visual information and passes it from lower to higher areas of the brain. However, information also flows in the opposite direction, e.g. to direct attention to particular stimuli. But how does the brain know which path the information should take? Researchers at the Ernst Strüngmann Institute (ESI) for Neuroscience in Frankfurt in Cooperation with Max Planck Society have now demonstrated that the visual cortex of human subjects uses

Zika (Uganda) (AFP) – Down winding paths through dense jungles, Gerald Mukisa kicks up the dry leaves noisily with his feet to provide warning sounds, noting that the late afternoon heat is “snake time”. The forest is calm. Only the sound of insects, birdsong and the rustle of monkeys in the jungle canopy above disturb the air. It was here in the thick woodland of Zika forest, some 25 kilometres (15 miles) from Uganda’s capital

By Mary Wisniewski (Reuters) – Animal welfare workers on Saturday were evaluating the health of almost 700 dogs, cats, horses and other animals that were taken this week from what were described as “filthy” conditions and neglect at a rural North Carolina shelter. Stephen Spear, 67, and Linden Spear, 59, managers of The Haven-Friends for Life, a private no-kill shelter in Raeford, North Carolina, were arrested on Wednesday and face charges of animal cruelty and

FLINT, Mich. — The trouble with the water in Flint just doesn’t let up. Residents have been using water filters for the last few months since dangerous lead levels were discovered. Now, it appears some of those filters haven’t been filtering enough. Saturday State workers got bottled water long before Flint residents Flint’s drinking water problems are getting worse. Last night, residents of the Michigan town were advised to have their water re-tested after ne…

Colombia announced Saturday that more than 2,000 pregnant women have been infected with Zika, amid growing concern about the spread of the virus suspected of causing irreversible brain damage in newborns. The National Health Institute reported that Colombia now has 20,297 cases of Zika infection, including 2,116 in expectant mothers. The latest numbers, reported in the institute’s epidemiological bulletin, make Colombia the second most affected country in the region, after Brazil, the epicenter of the

Ahead of a Sunday deadline, consumers are stepping up to enroll for 2015 coverage under President Barack Obama’s health care law, administration officials said Wednesday.

The concrete circular urinal is out in the open, though plants and a screen offer some privacy. It’s a welcome addition for the park that had just three toilets, which led many to relieve themselves in bushes and on buildings. “Honestly, we were ready to go pee anywhere,” San Francisco resident Aaron Cutler told news station KNTV. “So any facility is better than none.” The park now features 27 toilets, including the outdoor urinal, thanks

LONDON (AP) — Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter will make a rare address to Britain’s House of Lords on Wednesday to discuss his work to eradicate Guinea worm disease. The 91-year-old ex-president has helped lead the successful campaign against the disease since 1986. His office says the eradication of the painful disease spread by contaminated water is now within reach, with just 22 cases reported last year. There were an estimated 3.5 million cases each

By Julia Symmes Cobb BOGOTA (Reuters) – More than 2,100 pregnant Colombian women are infected with the mosquito-borne Zika virus, the country’s national health institute said on Saturday, as the disease continues its spread across the Americas. The virus has been linked to the devastating birth defect microcephaly, which prevents fetus’ brains from developing properly. There is no vaccine or treatment. There are 20,297 confirmed cases of the disease in Colombia, the national health institute

Guatemala City (AFP) – Guatemalan health officials said Saturday that at least 105 people there had been infected with Zika, the virus suspected of causing grave brain damage in newborns. Health Ministry epidemiologist Judith Garcia told the newspaper Prensa Libre that the 105 confirmed cases emerged from a total of 200 suspected cases, 68 of them from 2015. For each confirmed case, Garcia said, there may be three more patients who have not come forward

BOGOTA, Colombia — More than 2,100 pregnant women in Colombia are infected with the mosquito-borne Zika virus, the country’s national health institute said on Saturday, according to Reuters. The disease has been linked to a serious birth defect called microcephaly, which causes babies to be born with small heads and underdeveloped brains. Overall, more than 20,000 people in Colombia have developed Zika. The virus was initially detected last year in Brazil. Dr. Margaret Chan, Director-General

Every week, The WorldPost asks an expert to shed light on a topic driving headlines around the world. Today, we speak with Georgetown University’s Daniel Lucey and Lawrence Gostin about the global response to the Zika virus. The World Health Organization was widely criticized for delays and mismanagement in its response to the Ebola crisis that ravaged three West African countries in 2014.  The Ebola virus has killed over 11,000 people, mostly in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, since 2013.

By Andrew Both Jan 30 (Reuters) – Two decades after the NFL brushed off concussion concerns as being of interest only to journalists, the issue is at the forefront of any discussion about player safety and unlikely to go away anytime soon. From the 2015 film “Concussion” about a doctor who fought the NFL’s campaign to conceal his research on the brain damage suffered by players, to a lawsuit over brain injuries that could cost

By Andrew Both (Reuters) – Two decades after the NFL brushed off concussion concerns as being of interest only to journalists, the issue is at the forefront of any discussion about player safety and unlikely to go away anytime soon. From the 2015 film “Concussion” about a doctor who fought the NFL’s campaign to conceal his research on the brain damage suffered by players, to a lawsuit over brain injuries that could cost America’s most

Join the Women’s Health Weekend Challenge to help you meet your fitness goals fast and make your weekend workouts count. Here’s this weekend’s move: Underhand grip rear lateral raise: We know you’ve already done about a bajillion pushups and bicep-curled your heart out for a stronger top half. But this new move targets all those upper-body muscles, like your shoulders, arms, core, and upper back, without EVER being a bore. It’s time to break out

The Lifestyle My weight fluctuated for most of my life, but I hovered somewhere around 150 pounds, which wasn’t ideal for my height, 5? 2?. About three years ago, after giving birth to my son, a few people in my family faced serious health problems. I found myself turning to food to deal with stress and family issues. We always had snack foods like chips around, and I would wander into the kitchen whenever I was

Bogota (AFP) – Colombia announced Saturday that more than 2,000 pregnant women in the South American country have been infected with the Zika virus, which is suspected of causing brain damage in newborns. The National Health Institute reported that Colombia now has 20,297 cases of Zika infection, including 2,116 in pregnant women. The latest numbers, reported in the institute’s epidemiological bulletin, would make Colombia the second most affected country in the region, after Brazil. Although

It’ll Make “That Talk” More Comfortable You’ll be better positioned to ask for a raise, so think of it as professional development. “If you have that open dialogue with your boss and you feel free and welcome and invited to speak with them on a regular basis, then it shouldn’t feel uncomfortable for you to ask for a raise or for more training, because you’ve built that relationship,” Salemi said. How do you pull this

As the Zika virus spreads, so has widespread alarm and confusion. The leader of the World Health Organization said Wednesday that it is “spreading explosively,” estimating up to 4 million infections over the next year.   The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said that a U.S. outbreak of the mosquito-borne virus, which is spreading rapidly through mostly central and south America, is “likely,” but the risk for local transmission is low. In Brazil, the virus

An international team of researchers lead by the University of Granada (UGR) has proven that mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) may be used as enhancer agents of local and systemic effects of radiotherapy, that is to say, those which affect the irradiated tumour and tumour cells located at a certain distance of the irradiated ones. This breakthrough, published in the renowned Oncotarget scientific magazine, could lead to a more effective use of radiotherapy, and points to

A study to be published in the February 2016 issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (JAACAP) reports that adolescents chronically victimized during at least two school years, are about five times more at risk of thinking about suicide and 6 times more at risk of attempting suicide at 15 years compared to those who were never victimized. This is the first study to show a predictive association between

Scientists from the University of Granada have developed a new fluorescent dye capable of detecting, in a single test lasting 20 minutes, the presence of phosphate and biothiol inside living cells. This scientific breakthrough could contribute significantly to the early diagnosis of diseases such as osteoporosis, Alzheimer’s, type 2 diabetes, and prostate cancer, since abnormal levels of both substances are associated with these diseases. In a paper published in the academic journal Chemistry – A

Colombia announced Saturday that more than 2,000 pregnant women in the South American country have been infected with the Zika virus, which is suspected of causing brain damage in newborns. The National Health Institute reported that Colombia now has 20,297 cases of Zika infection, including 2,116 in pregnant women. The latest numbers, reported in the institute’s epidemiological bulletin, would make Colombia the second most affected country in the region, after Brazil. Although the mosquito-borne virus’s

50 pairs of siblings (one of them suffered psychosis while the other didn’t) participated in this research, published in the renowned Journal of Psychiatric Research magazine A research carried out with participation of the University of Granada (UGR) proves that suffering repeated traumatic experiences throughout infancy and adolescence multiplies by 7 the risk of suffering psychosis during adulthood. Additionally, having been a heavy cannabis user (that is, smoking five times a week or more) during

2. Bronchitis (A Few Days to a Few Weeks) It’s the barky, hacking cough that quickly turns you into office enemy numero uno. Bronchitis (an inflammation of the bronchial tubes) often starts out as a mild cold and then develops into that nasty, sometimes painful, wet cough that won’t quit (and brings up lovely phlegm in shades of brown, green, and yellow). Treatment is usually rest and warm fluids to break up the mucus clinging

50 pairs of siblings (one of them suffered psychosis while the other didn’t) participated in this research, published in the renowned Journal of Psychiatric Research magazine A research carried out with participation of the University of Granada (UGR) proves that suffering repeated traumatic experiences throughout infancy and adolescence multiplies by 7 the risk of suffering psychosis during adulthood. Additionally, having been a heavy cannabis user (that is, smoking five times a week or more) during

ICYMI Health features what we’re reading this week. This week, as news about Brazil’s Zika virus dominated our social media feeds, our graphics editor carefully diagrammed the illness for us — outlining the virus’ origin, mapping its spread, and pinpointing Zika-carrying mosquito territory — all in easy-to-read illustrations. Clearly, we were impressed. In lighter news, we read up on the psychology of why some people take breakups harder than others, and chuckled over a humorous

A grudge is a worn, ugly, itchy sweater you can’t get rid of – because if you do, how will you stay warm? Nursing a grievance is part of human nature: At some point, almost everyone does it. Freeing yourself from a festering grudge that’s taken on a life of its own isn’t easy. But the relief and lightness you’ll feel are worth it. Below, therapists explain how grudges hurt you and outline steps for

/ no comments Can the spread of the Zika virus be curtailed by eliminating mosquitoes that carry it? Professor Anthony James of UC Irvine discusses the consequences of pesticides to our health and on the ecosystem.

Even though the possibilities of colorectal cancer increases with age, a new study found that certain ethnicities are starting to be diagnosed with the condition at younger ages than ever before. Researchers from the University of Missouri School of Medicine found on average, African Americans, Hispanics and Pacific Islanders were diagnosed between the ages of 64 and 68, while whites were typically diagnosed at age 72, according to the study. When diagnosed, minority groups also

African American and Hispanic adolescents and young adults fare far worse than their white counterparts when faced with a mostly curable type of cancer, Hodgkin lymphoma, a study by a UC Davis epidemiologist has found. Insurance coverage, neighborhood socio-economic status (SES) and the types of treatment provided patients all played a role in survival, the study found. The research, led by Theresa Keegan, associate professor in the Division of Hematology and Oncology, found that while

An average of 30 years had passed since the traumatic events that had left them depressed, anxious, irritable, hypervigilant, unable to sleep well and prone to nightmares. But for 12 people who were involved in a UCLA-led study — survivors of rape, car accidents, domestic abuse and other traumas — an unobtrusive patch on the forehead provided considerable relief from post-traumatic stress disorder. “We’re talking about patients for whom illness had almost become a way

Frequent measurement of blood flow changes could improve the ability of health care providers to diagnose and treat patients with vascular conditions, such as those associated with diabetes and high blood pressure. A U.S.-Chinese team that included researchers from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, both parts of the National Institutes of Health, conducted a pilot study showing that an ultrathin, skin-conforming sensor—resembling a

Children born to obese women with diabetes are more than four times as likely to be diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder than children of healthy weight mothers without diabetes, new Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health research suggests. The findings, to be published Jan. 29 in the journal Pediatrics, highlight what has become a leading theory about autism, that the risk likely develops before the child is even born. “We have long known that

By Paulo Prada Rio de Janeiro (Reuters) – Last January, long lines formed outside health clinics in Recife, a city in Brazil’s northeast hit hard in recent years by outbreaks of dengue, a painful tropical disease. Doctors were on guard because federal health officials and the World Health Organization (WHO) had warned 2015 would be a bad year for dengue and possibly another viral disease, chikungunya, both spread by the same type of mosquito. But

Here are our favorites—you’ll be back to taking those duck-face selfies in no time. 1. Glamglow Poutmud Fizzy Lip Exfoliating Treatment The idea of “scrubbing” at your cracked lips might sound painful, but just like your body and face require exfoliation to shed dead skin cells and create new ones, so does your kisser. This multi-action treatment consists of Caribbean cane sugar, Hawaiian sea salt, and hibiscus flower powder with a tropical fruit blend of

The booty call is a wonderful thing—it’s like orgasms on demand!—but it can also be a tricky business. When hormones are flying and feelings are at stake, maintaining that all-important balance of having fun and respecting each other’s boundaries is crucial. Booty calls come in many forms, but here are eight stories from real women that will probably sound pretty familiar.