Health News - Monday, January 29, 2007
U.S. scientists have developed a new laboratory technique that uses ribonucleic acid (RNA), a tiny chemical cousin of DNA, to switch on genes. This approach may help in the development of treatments for diseases in which prompting genes into activity could benefit patients.
This method also provides a new research tool to learn more about the role that genes play in human health, said scientists at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. They were able to activate certain genes in cultured cells by using strands of RNA to stir up the mixture of proteins that surrounds chromosomal DNA, proteins that control whether genes are switched on or off. Continue reading
It's a puzzle to scientists, but a new study suggests that the main cause of deadly skin cancer -- sunlight -- might also help protect against the disease.
The key could lie in the amount of ultraviolet B (UVB) light the skin absorbs -- enough to stimulate a healthy, vitamin D-linked immune response in the skin but not so much that it boosts skin cancer risk. "I do think that a little bit of sunlight is good for people, but I think that one of the problems that the American Cancer Society and dermatologists have is, how do you define what a little bit is?" said skin cancer researcher Marianne Berwick, chief of epidemiology at the University of New Mexico's Cancer Research and Treatment Center. "How do you tell people that it's OK to have a little bit of sunlight but not too much?" Continue reading
The desire of every fat person to release the thin one inside them is fuelling a boom in cosmetic surgery. Women weary of pumping iron or eating hamster food are turning in growing numbers to liposuction, the short cut to a svelte figure in which fat is sucked from the abdomen, bottom, thighs, or under the chin.
Demand for liposuction rose by almost 90 per cent in 2006, according to figures released today by the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (Baaps). Almost 3,500 women and 500 men chose to have their excess fat hoovered up at a cost of £3,000 to £5,000 each. The clash between the obesity epidemic and the 21st Century search for bodily perfection is behind the boom, surgeons say. Continue reading
One of the causes of strokes is smoking, and now researchers have found stroke victims whose brains were damaged in the part of the brain called the insula have a much easier time quitting.
Antoine Bechara and Nasir H. Naqvi, neuroscientists at the University of Iowa medical school, compared 19 smokers whose strokes had destroyed a part of the brain called the insula with 50 smokers whose strokes damaged other brain regions. Previous research had revealed the insula to be involved in anticipating and responding emotionally to physical sensations. The researchers discovered people who had strokes affecting the insula were not significantly more likely to quit than those who had strokes elsewhere in the brain, but it was much easier for those who wanted to quit. Continue reading
Neurological disorders have struck millions of people, young and old alike, in the United States, new estimates show. Some 67 per 1,000 elderly Americans now have Alzheimer's disease, up substantially from past estimates, and nearly one out of every 1,000 people have multiple sclerosis (MS), a rate that is about 50 percent higher than earlier estimates. It's not clear if that represents improvements in diagnosis or an actual increase in incidence of MS.
The numbers form part of a review article appearing in the Jan. 30 issue of Neurology. "These kinds of accurate numbers are needed as a basis for many different things," said Dr. Deborah Hirtz, lead author of the review and a program director for clinical trials at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. "Certainly, if you want to figure out the burden of disease in terms of cost and human cost, you need to have accurate numbers. If you want to look at whether the numbers are increasing, you need to have a basis to start from. If you want to plan for where research resources or health-care resources need to be spent, you need to have accurate numbers. This is just a platform for other things." Continue reading