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Research confirms potential use of iron oxide nanoparticles in biomedical applications

Iron oxides are widespread in nature and can be readily synthesized in the laboratory. Among them, hematite, magnetite and maghemite nanoparticles have particularly promising properties for biomedical applications.

16 Mar 2016

Mindfulness meditation reduces pain without endogenous opioid system

Everyone knows that stubbing your toe hurts. What makes it stop hurting is the body's main pain-blocking process - the natural production of opioids.

16 Mar 2016

Over- or under-reaction of immune system can be life-threatening

The dilemma of our immune system is comparable to the story of Icarus and Daedalus from Greek mythology. To escape their captivity, Daedalus built wings from feathers and wax for himself and his son. Daedalus warned his son that he must neither fly too high but also not too low, otherwise the sun's heat or the humidity of the sea would destroy his wings and he would crash. After they had successfully escaped, Icarus became boisterous and flew higher and higher until the sun began to melt the wax of his wings and he fell into the sea. Similarly, an over- or under-reaction of our immune system can be life-threatening.

11 Mar 2016

Brown fat may help to keep blood sugar steady in adults

Australian scientists have shown that brown fat - a special type of fat that burns energy to produce heat - may also help to keep blood sugar steady in adults.

10 Mar 2016

Scientists discover molecular switch that can burn off excess pounds

The number of overweight people is increasing worldwide -- and thus the risk of developing diabetes or cardiovascular disease.

10 Mar 2016

Is the global diet getting sweeter? An interview with Professor Barry Popkin

In the past, caloric sweeteners simply referred to cane sugar or beet sugar. However, over time we've created hundreds of different sugars that are all providing calories of the same amount, about four calories for every gram of the sugar. Some examples include corn syrups and more processed sweeteners like high fructose corn syrup.

10 Mar 2016

Hot weather affects health of migratory farmworkers, finds UTHealth study

Hot weather is significantly associated with clinical visits among migratory farmworkers compared to other patients, according to a study by researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) published recently in the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

10 Mar 2016

Vanderbilt investigators isolate human antibodies against H7 bird flu

Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center have isolated human antibodies against a type of bird flu that has killed more than 200 people in China since 2012 and which may pose a worldwide pandemic threat.

10 Mar 2016

Startling lack of resistance genes discovered in intensively-farmed beef

In the first study to track antibiotic resistance in intensively-farmed beef, scientists discovered a "startling" lack of resistance genes in meat.Meanwhile, in soil and faeces samples from cattle pens they found genes resistant to a powerful "last resort" class of antibiotics called carpabemens that aren't used in the livestock industry. These genes may have jumped from humans or companion animals to livestock, or could even be present at low levels in the wider environment.

9 Mar 2016

Tips to treat boils and styes at home

It may be tempting to squeeze or pop a painful lump on your skin, but experts advise against it. The bump could be a boil - a pus-filled skin infection that occurs around a hair follicle or oil gland - or a stye if the lump is on your eyelid. According to dermatologists, squeezing a boil or stye could make the infection worse.

9 Mar 2016

Paxman wins ‘Partnership with Academia Award’ for improving patient care with Huddersfield University

A UK healthcare manufacturer who specialises in scalp cooling has been awarded the prestigious ‘Partnership with Academia Award’ following an innovative two-year project with the University of Huddersfield.

From Paxman 2 Mar 2016

Global climate crisis threatens public health

In a review published in the Annals of Global Health, doctors warn of the impending public health crisis brought on by climate change and call for action to help prepare the world for what is ahead.

2 Mar 2016

Advances in the field of MPI: an interview with Professor Kannan Krishnan

In around 2004, there was a Phillips paper that discussed a new imaging technique called MPI. At that time, I had an eager, promising graduate student named Matt Ferguson who wanted a project, so I asked him to take a look.

From Bruker BioSpin Group 1 Mar 2016

NHS could continue to waste £10 million per year on treating preventable cold-related illness, NEA warns

Fuel poverty charity National Energy Action (NEA) is today [26 February] warning that the NHS could continue to waste well over a billion pounds a year on treating preventable cold-related illness.

1 Mar 2016

Young parents call for better advice to deal with fuel poverty

Young parents are calling for better advice to tackle fuel poverty as almost four million children in England live in families that are struggling to pay their energy bills, according to evidence gathered in a new report.

1 Mar 2016

New ways to monitor physical activity at workplace

The science of physical activity at work remains understudied despite widespread acceptance that it plays an important role in health. Now, researchers at the Colorado School of Public Health at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus have published a comprehensive review of ways to monitor physical activity and tools for occupational exposure scientists.

26 Feb 2016

Researchers map cellular pathway that may lead to treatments for obesity, diabetes

Control over obesity and diabetes may be one step closer thanks to a Hiroshima University study in fat tissue.

26 Feb 2016

Neurosurgeons use laser probe to deliver chemotherapy drugs to patients with glioblastoma

Using a laser probe, neurosurgeons at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have opened the brain's protective cover, enabling them to deliver chemotherapy drugs to patients with a form of deadly brain cancer.

26 Feb 2016

NJIT students building low-cost water filter for people suffering from kidney disease in rural Sri Lanka

Backed by a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, an interdisciplinary, student-led team from New Jersey Institute of Technology is building a low-cost water filter for villagers in the north central farming region of Sri Lanka who are suffering from high rates of chronic kidney disease.

19 Feb 2016

Beiging of white fat could be harnessed to combat diabetes

Researchers are getting closer to learning how to turn white fat cells into brown fat cells, in a process called "beiging," to bring down blood sugar levels and fight diabetes. The team, led by Joseph Baur, PhD, an assistant professor of Physiology in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania published their findings this month in the journal Diabetes.

18 Feb 2016