Education News and Research

RSS

First Edition: February 3, 2014

Today's headlines include a range of stories about how the health law is working in different locations across the country.

3 Feb 2014

Teen girls' beliefs regarding HPV vaccine not linked to subsequent sexual behaviors

A new study may alleviate concerns that the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine leads to either the initiation of sex or unsafe sexual behaviors among teenage girls and young women.

3 Feb 2014

Financial, social hardships account for increased likelihood of asthma readmissions among black children

Black children are twice as likely as white children to be readmitted to the hospital for asthma - a disparity due in large part to a greater burden of financial and social hardships, according to a new study.

3 Feb 2014

Controlling fast food consumption could reverse epidemic of obesity

Governments could slow - and even reverse - the growing epidemic of obesity by taking measures to counter fast food consumption, according to a study published in the Bulletin of the World Health Organization today.

3 Feb 2014

Cantor says House GOP will offer health law alternative

The end of the Affordable Care Act is within sight, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor says, outlining Republican plans to propose health care legislation later this year. "In my opinion, Obamacare is on borrowed time," the Virginia Republican said in an interview for Sunday on CBS's "Face the Nation."

3 Feb 2014

Treating peanut allergy with oral immunotherapy changes DNA of immune cells

Treating a peanut allergy with oral immunotherapy changes the DNA of the patient's immune cells, according to a new study from the Stanford University School of Medicine and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford. The DNA change could serve as the basis for a simple blood test to monitor the long-term effectiveness of the allergy therapy.

31 Jan 2014

Retrieval practice can improve memory in individuals with severe TBI

Kessler Foundation researchers have shown that retrieval practice can improve memory in individuals with severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). "Retrieval Practice Improves Memory in Survivors of Severe Traumatic Brain Injury," was published as a brief report in the current issue of Archives of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation Volume 95, Issue 2 (390-396) February 2014.

31 Jan 2014

Sub-optimal sleep may activate depressive genes, increase risk for major depression

A genetic study of adult twins and a community-based study of adolescents both report novel links between sleep duration and depression. The studies are published in the Feb. 1 issue of the journal Sleep.

31 Jan 2014

Depression severity marks suicide risk in bipolar patients

The likelihood for suicide ideation among patients with bipolar depression increases with the severity of the episode, shows a study in Indian patients.

31 Jan 2014

UC Irvine researchers receive $1.54M for stem cell research

Two UC Irvine research teams will receive $1.54 million to further studies on the fundamental structure and function of stem cells. Their work will aid efforts to treat and cure a range of ailments, from cancer to neurological diseases and injuries.

31 Jan 2014

Scientists develop tissue model for human heart

When it comes to finding cures for heart disease scientists are working to their own beat. That's because they may have finally developed a tissue model for the human heart that can bridge the gap between animal models and human patients.

31 Jan 2014

Researchers find no benefit in replacing fructose with glucose

Researchers at St. Michael's Hospital have found there is no benefit in replacing fructose, the sugar most commonly blamed for obesity, with glucose in commercially prepared foods.

31 Jan 2014

Report highlights recommendations to advance safety of childbirth in Indonesia

Indonesia is a fast-rising economic power that has made significant progress toward key development goals including reducing child mortality. But for reasons outlined in a National Academy of Sciences report by U.S. and Indonesian experts, the nation's estimated rates of maternal and neonatal mortality remain tragically high.

31 Jan 2014

Patients undergone bariatric surgery may need to pay closer attention to nutritional intake

Patients who have had bariatric surgery may need to take dietary supplements and pay closer attention to their nutritional intake, a UT Southwestern Medical Center study suggests.

31 Jan 2014

Scientists discover potential cure for triple negative breast cancer

Scientists have discovered a potential cure for one of the most aggressive and least treatable forms of breast cancer called "triple negative breast cancer." In laboratory experiments involving human cancer cells, scientists used a virus similar to the one that helped eradicate smallpox to coax cancer cells to produce a protein which makes them susceptible to radioactive iodine.

31 Jan 2014

More than 1/2 of relevant websites carry 'unacceptable' information about vertebroplasty

Most websites with information on vertebroplasty - a procedure in which a special medical-grade cement mixture is injected into a fractured vertebra - do not paint the full picture about the pros, cons and alternatives of the treatment.

31 Jan 2014

More than 1/3 of women experience hot flashes for 10 years after menopause

A team of researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania has found that moderate to severe hot flashes continue, on average, for nearly five years after menopause, and more than a third of women experience moderate/severe hot flashes for 10 years or more after menopause.

31 Jan 2014

Prediction models can be useful for heart team to determine best treatment strategy

Detailed prediction models that project long-term patient mortality following percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) surgery can be useful for the heart team when determining the best treatment strategy for individual patients, according to a study in the February 2014 issue of The Annals of Thoracic Surgery.

31 Jan 2014

Look to heart shaped foods to protect heart

The crumbs from the Christmas cookies are gone and black-eyed peas, eaten on New Year to bring luck, are a distant memory. Declared American Heart Month with Valentine's Day smack dab in the middle, February is here. What to eat to keep your heart healthy?

31 Jan 2014

Researchers identify potential genes that can be targeted for new treatments for hepatocellular cancer

Patients with advanced hepatocellular (or liver) cancer have high mortality rates, with existing drugs demonstrating only a small, but significant survival advantage. By combining a zebrafish model of liver cancer with data from human tumors, researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai hope to identify potential genes of interest that can be targeted for new treatments for hepatocellular carcinoma, the most common form of liver cancer to develop from liver cells.

31 Jan 2014