Futurity.org » Health & Medicine

Weekend delivery safe for high-risk babies

Emily Boynton-Rochester — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 22:03:39 +0000

U. ROCHESTER (US) — Weekday delivery is no safer for babies born with a birth defect than weekend or evening deliveries, new research shows.

Presented at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine’s annual conference, the study finds that infants with birth defects that were delivered at night or over the weekend fared just as well as those delivered on a weekday.

Fee hike makes kids’ insurance a challenge

Alison Trinidad-USC — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 21:27:04 +0000

USC (US) — Analysis shows that a public program’s higher premiums cost 20 percent of enrolled children their health insurance coverage.

Nearly 4,500 low-income immigrant children, or 20 percent of overall membership, dropped out of a public health insurance program in Los Angeles County due to a premium increase, according to a 30-month analysis led by University of Southern California (USC) researchers.

100-year-old brains may help treat mentally ill

Steve Chaplin-Indiana — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 17:39:33 +0000

INDIANA U. (US) — Using a simple blood test, DNA from brains preserved more than a century ago may help improve diagnosis and treatment for people with psychological illnesses.

The brain samples under investigation come from turn-of-the-century patients who suffered from mental disorders at Central State Hospital, an asylum established in the mid-1800s for the state of Indiana’s mentally ill that now houses the Indiana Medical History Museum.

No consensus on mastectomy follow-up

Jason Cody-Michigan State — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 17:35:00 +0000

MICHIGAN STATE (US) — A new study reveals substantial differences—by surgeon and institution—in the rates of follow-up surgeries for women who have undergone a partial mastectomy to treat breast cancer.

Those differences, which cannot be explained by a patient’s medical or treatment history, could affect both cancer recurrence and overall survival rates, according to the research, which appears in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Therapy for MS prods brain to re-cloak neurons

Deborah Williams-Hedges-Caltech — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 16:15:49 +0000

CALTECH (US) — A new gene therapy, applied directly to the brain, may help protect neurons from damage by diseases like multiple sclerosis.

Our bodies are full of tiny superheroes—antibodies that fight foreign invaders, cells that regenerate, and structures that ensure our systems run smoothly. One such structure is myelin—a material that forms a protective, insulating cape around the axons of our nerve cells so that they can send signals quickly and efficiently.

Girls ‘rewire’ brain to beat depression

Brooke Donald-Stanford — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 15:52:22 +0000

STANFORD (US) — Using brain imaging and a video game, teen girls at risk of depression are being taught how to train their brains away from negative situations.

An ongoing study’s early findings using a small sample suggest such rewiring is not only possible, it is surprisingly easy.

Brand name drugs cost Medicare the most

Anita Srikameswaran-Pittsburgh — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 15:36:46 +0000

U. PITTSBURGH (US) — Brand-name prescription drugs may be the source of regional variation in per capita drug costs, not the quantity of drugs prescribed.

The cost of medications through Medicare’s subsidized prescription drug program varies from region to region across the United States largely due to the use of more expensive brand-name drugs and not because of the amount of drugs prescribed, according to a study led by researchers from the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health (GSPH).

Spoon-fed babies may become fatter kids

Emma Rayner-Nottingham — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:18:59 +0000

U. NOTTINGHAM (UK) — Babies fed solid finger food may be less likely to become overweight as children than those who are spoon-fed pureed food.

The babies who ate solid food were also more likely to develop healthier food preferences, according to the University of Nottingham study.

Prenatal thyroid drugs don’t boost kids’ IQ

Chris Jones-Cardiff — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 16:03:39 +0000

CARDIFF (UK) — Children of mothers screened and treated for reduced thyroid function during pregnancy show no signs of improved IQ, new research shows.

Scientists took blood samples from more than 20,000 women at about 13-weeks of pregnancy to test for thyroid function who were randomly assigned to one of two groups.

Gene variant linked to endometriosis

Karen Peart-Yale — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 13:42:48 +0000

YALE (US) — Researchers may have identified a genetic basis of endometriosis, a condition that causes millions of women chronic pelvic pain and infertility.

The Yale University researchers’ discovery of a new gene mutation provides hope for new screening methods.