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Diabetes drug use during pregnancy may increase risk of obesity or overweight in children

When women take the common diabetes medication metformin during pregnancy, it may put their children at increased risk of having obesity or overweight.

28 Feb 2018

Frequent exposure to diesel exhaust increases risk of ALS

People who are frequently exposed to diesel exhaust while on the job may have a higher risk of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and that risk may increase with greater exposure, according to a preliminary study released today that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 70th Annual Meeting in Los Angeles, April 21 to 27, 2018.

28 Feb 2018

Receptors crucial for establishing strong memories

When we create a memory, a pattern of connections forms between neurons in the brain. New work from UC Davis shows how these connections can be strengthened or weakened at a molecular level. The study is published Feb. 27 in the journal Cell Reports.

27 Feb 2018

Specific genes linked to differences in brain anatomy of autistic children

A team of scientists at the University of Cambridge has discovered that specific genes are linked to individual differences in brain anatomy in autistic children.

27 Feb 2018

Olfactory virtual reality system could help study how smells engage the brain's navigation system

Northwestern University researchers have developed a new "smell virtual landscape" that enables the study of how smells engage the brain's navigation system. The work demonstrates, for the first time, that the mammalian brain can form a map of its surroundings based solely on smells.

27 Feb 2018

Unhealthy behaviors in early childhood could be greatest predictors of obesity

Health authorities will need to focus on more than eating habits if they are going to combat the obesity epidemic.

27 Feb 2018

Failed osteoarthritis drug may help lessen opioid dependence

A new study from Indiana University suggests that a drug proven safe for use in people may prevent opioid tolerance and physical dependence when used in combination with opioid-based pain medications.

27 Feb 2018

Swedish sickness certificates lack important content, research reveals

About half of the medical certificates for sick leave in Sweden are deficient, according to research at Sahlgrenska Academy. Quality of the certificates was poorest in the case of symptom diagnosis, where the sickness itself had not been identified.

27 Feb 2018

New research project aims to prevent weight-related health conditions among bus drivers

Though buses are constantly on the move, the drivers who operate them spend most of their work hours seated.

27 Feb 2018

Researchers successfully graft human neural stem cells into monkeys with spinal cord injuries

Led by researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, a diverse team of neuroscientists and surgeons successfully grafted human neural progenitor cells into rhesus monkeys with spinal cord injuries.

27 Feb 2018

Concerns raised about saline in intravenous fluid

A new set of studies has explored the saline used in intravenous fluids in hospitals and found that they may not be as safe as earlier believed. These two large studies have found that the presently used concentration of saline leads to an increased risk of kidney damage and death and replacing them with an alternate fluid could reduce the deaths by 50,000 to 70,000 and reduce the number of kidney failures by 100,000 annually in the United States.

27 Feb 2018

Obesity among kids still high finds new survey report

According to a new study, the rates of obesity among kids in the United States did not decrease for any age group and continued to rise among many subgroups. This new study has shown that overall the numbers have not fallen between 1999 and 2016 as hoped for. Of particular concern, previously documented racial and ethnic disparities, especially at the most extreme weight categories, showed no sign of abating.

27 Feb 2018

ICU risk scores can be repurposed as continuous markers of illness severity

Commonly used ICU risk scores can be "repurposed" as continuous markers of severity of illness in critically ill patients--providing ongoing updates on changes in the patient's condition and risk of death, according to a study in the March issue of Critical Care Medicine, official journal of the Society of Critical Care Medicine. The journal is published by Wolters Kluwer.

27 Feb 2018

Study shows importance of family history in onset of Alzheimer's disease

You're about to turn 60, and you're fretting. Your mother has had Alzheimer's disease since the age of 65. At what age will the disease strike you? A Canadian study published in JAMA Neurology shows that the closer a person gets to the age at which their parent exhibited the first signs of Alzheimer's, the more likely they are to have amyloid plaques, the cause of the cognitive decline associated with the disease, in their brain.

27 Feb 2018

Sexting among teenagers on the rise and cause for concern

According to a new study, there is a rising trend of sexting among teenagers and younger children over the last decade and this may be a challenge for carers and parents alike.

27 Feb 2018

Standing desks may not be as good for health as previously thought

Trending at offices are standing desks that allows the user to stand for longer hours in an attempt to reduce sedentary time. While sitting for a long period of time is not a good idea, a new study finds that standing for long hours may not be good for health either.

27 Feb 2018

Increasing stress limits capacity of healthcare staff to deal with disasters

Increasing stress and a lack of motivation among healthcare staff could result in hospitals having to shut down in the wake of a major incident such as flooding or an earthquake, according to new research published in the journal Procedia Engineering.

27 Feb 2018

Fresh insights into depression could pave way for new therapies

Fresh insights into changes in the brain linked to depression could pave the way for new therapies.

27 Feb 2018

New study lays foundation to obtain apple cubes enriched with probiotics

Researchers of the Universitat Politècnica de València and the Universidade Federal do Ceará (Brazil) have completed a study that lays the foundation to obtain apple cubes enriched with probiotics, namely Lactobacillus casei. The work has been published in the most recent edition of the Journal of Functional Foods.

27 Feb 2018

Carnegie Mellon to help develop novel camera that peers deep beneath the skin

Carnegie Mellon University is part of a five-year, $10 million program sponsored by the National Science Foundation to develop a new type of camera that peers deep beneath the skin to help diagnose and monitor a wide variety of health conditions.

27 Feb 2018