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Millions of Chinese face risk of chronic arsenic poisoning

Since the 1960s, it has been known that groundwater resources in certain provinces of China are contaminated with arsenic. Estimates of the numbers of affected people have risen year by year. In the most recent survey - conducted by the Chinese Ministry of Health between 2001 and 2005 - more than 20,000 (5%) of the 445,000 wells tested showed arsenic concentrations higher than 50 -g/L.

23 Aug 2013

Loyola neurologists describe first known case of musical hallucinations

One night when she was trying to fall asleep, a 60-year-old woman suddenly began hearing music, as if a radio were playing at the back of her head. The songs were popular tunes her husband recognized when she sang or hummed them. But she herself could not identify them. This is the first known case of a patient hallucinating music that was familiar to people around her, but that she herself did not recognize, according to Dr. Danilo Vitorovic and Dr. José Biller of Loyola University Medical Center.

23 Aug 2013

WHO hand-hygiene compliance strategy easy for health-care workers to practise

WHO's strategy for improving hand hygiene is easy for health-care workers to practise, according to a new study published today in "Lancet Infectious Diseases". Health care-associated infections are a major threat to patient safety worldwide and transmission in these settings is mainly from the hands of health-care workers.

23 Aug 2013

Number of child refugees fleeing Syrian civil war tops one million, says Save the Children

Children trapped amid fighting in Syria are being killed, maimed, and denied access to food and medicine as the number of child refugees fleeing the civil war tops one million, Save the Children said today.

23 Aug 2013

Shire extends existing partnership with Santaris Pharma in rare genetic disease space

Santaris Pharma A/S, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of RNA-targeted therapies, today announced that its long term partner, Shire has extended the existing partnership in the rare genetic disease space.

23 Aug 2013

Hope for hand amputees: Researchers test new method for local immunosuppression

Hope for hand amputees: researchers at Inselspital and the University of Bern have successfully tested a new method for local immunosuppression.

23 Aug 2013

Tufts Health Plan provides positive coverage decision and in-network provider status to bioTheranostics

bioTheranostics, a leading provider of molecular diagnostic solutions for cancer, has received a positive coverage decision and in-network provider status from Tufts Health Plan for its CancerTYPE ID molecular cancer classifier.

23 Aug 2013

Board of Directors approve interim report for second quarter 2013

DiaGenic: The interim report for the second quarter 2013 was approved by the Board of Directors on 22 August 2013. Please find the interim report and presentation attached.

23 Aug 2013

Study suggests that human brains are hardwired to empathize with friends, spouses

Perhaps one of the most defining features of humanity is our capacity for empathy - the ability to put ourselves in others' shoes. A new University of Virginia study strongly suggests that we are hardwired to empathize because we closely associate people who are close to us - friends, spouses, lovers - with our very selves.

23 Aug 2013

Birth control mandate could cause health law's speedy Supreme Court return

ObamaCare's birth control mandate is putting the president's signature legislative issue on a fast track back to the Supreme Court.

23 Aug 2013

Stem cell therapy improves radiation-induced cognitive impairment

Patients receiving cranial irradiation treatment for brain cancer may find the treatment life-saving, but often suffer progressive and debilitating cognitive detriments, including spatial learning and memory deficits. The cognitive deficits are a contributing factor to the often significant adverse impacts on the surviving patients' quality of life after radiation therapy. In an effort to improve post-irradiation cognitive impairment, scientists at the University of California, Irvine, and colleagues at Neuralstem, Inc. (Rockville, MD), have transplanted fetal stem cells into laboratory animals with radiation-induced cognitive impairments and found that this led to a number of cognitive improvements.

23 Aug 2013

Review Article examines FMT methodology as effective treatment for C. difficile infection

Fecal microbiota transplantation has emerged as a highly effective treatment for recurrent Clostridium difficile infection, with very early experience suggesting that it may also play a role in treating other gastrointestinal and non-GI diseases.

23 Aug 2013

No need of restricting women's food and fluid intake during labor, shows study

Despite the longstanding, widespread practice of restricting women's food and fluid intake during labor, a large-scale analysis in The Cochrane Library finds no need for these restrictions and supports women eating and drinking as they please.

23 Aug 2013

Experts test new tool for providing tailor-made health care to elderly

Providing health care modulated on the specific needs of elderly for re-orienting national health systems toward a change of approach with patients. This should become the reference health strategy for the European Union, if it wants to achieve effective and efficient therapeutic goals, lowering costs while ensuring all appropriate health services, in particular when addressing the paramount issue of population progressive aging.

23 Aug 2013

Researchers estimate actual number of child fatalities due to neglect and abuse

Approximately 1,700 children die of maltreatment every year in the United States, according to the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System; however, researchers estimate that the actual number of child fatalities due to abuse and neglect is nearly double that number.

23 Aug 2013

Research findings lay foundation for regenerating damaged heart muscle

In the aftermath of a heart attack, cells within the region most affected shut down. They stop beating. And they become entombed in scar tissue. But now, scientists at the Gladstone Institutes have demonstrated that this damage need not be permanent-by finding a way to transform the class of cells that form human scar tissue into those that closely resemble beating heart cells.

23 Aug 2013

Effective management of free time has greater impact on retiree's quality of life

Retirees should be masters of their own destiny, and actively manage and plan their free time to ensure a happy and fulfilling retirement. This is the advice of Wei-Ching Wang of the I-Shou University in Taiwan, leader of a study published in Springer's journal Applied Research in Quality of Life.

23 Aug 2013

Scientists grow cells that line blood vessels from human iPSCs

In a scientific first, Harvard Stem Cell Institute scientists have successfully grown the cells that line the blood vessels-called vascular endothelial cells-from human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), revealing new details about how these cells function.

23 Aug 2013

Ultimate DIY book for laboratory chemists in search of next generation medicines

Pharmaceuticals of the future will be fashioned using the human body's own chemical substances, proteins and peptides. And now, University of Copenhagen chemists have published the ultimate DIY book for laboratory chemists in search of this next generation of medicines.

23 Aug 2013

Compounds found in red wine and green tea can be used as antibacterial coating

A simple kitchen sink experiment helped Northwestern University researchers discover that green tea leaves not only can be used to steep a good cup of tea, but they make an excellent antibacterial coating, too.

23 Aug 2013