Health posts
- February 2, 2012
- 07:00 PM
- 27 views
Herpes Gladiatorum: Full Contact Infectious Diseases
by rbca in BODY HORRORS
In honor of one of the most lucrative American holidays happening this very weekend, I thought I’d explore sports and infectious diseases. Specifically, contact sports and skin infections! What could be better than watching the Super Bowl and knowing just exactly what kind of diseases could possibly be smeared between the players of the Patriots and Giants?... Read more »
Adams, B. (2010) Skin infections in athletes. Expert Review of Dermatology, 5(5), 567-577. DOI: 10.1586/edm.10.50
- February 2, 2012
- 02:30 PM
- 43 views
A Case for Oral Diagnostics with Microfluidics
by Hector Munoz in Microfluidic Future
What’s So Great About Oral Diagnostics?
Well, a lot of things, but let’s start with the basics. In order to use a microfluidic device, you need some type of fluid right? Sure if you had some powder or fine material you could suspend it in a fluid, but for simplicity sake, let’s look at fluids as our test material. If you wanted to run a health-related diagnostic, you only have so many bodily fluids available before you have to get creative and very invasive:
Blood
........ Read more »
Giannobile, W., McDevitt, J., Niedbala, R., & Malamud, D. (2011) Translational and Clinical Applications of Salivary Diagnostics. Advances in Dental Research, 23(4), 375-380. DOI: 10.1177/0022034511420434
Hart, R., Mauk, M., Liu, C., Qiu, X., Thompson, J., Chen, D., Malamud, D., Abrams, W., & Bau, H. (2011) Point-of-care oral-based diagnostics. Oral Diseases, 17(8), 745-752. DOI: 10.1111/j.1601-0825.2011.01808.x
- February 2, 2012
- 12:32 PM
- 35 views
Improving healthy food & beverage choices through choice architecture
by pennydeck in Feedback Solutions for Obesity
In my previous blog post, I discussed a study by Thorndike et al that looked at how both labeling healthy and unhealthy food choices with colour codes affected the purchase of healthy foods and beverages (1). The previous post focused … Continue reading →... Read more »
Thorndike, A., Sonnenberg, L., Riis, J., Barraclough, S., & Levy, D. (2012) A 2-Phase Labeling and Choice Architecture Intervention to Improve Healthy Food and Beverage Choices. American Journal of Public Health. DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2011.300391
- February 2, 2012
- 06:30 AM
- 70 views
This is the Way to Bad Medicine - II
by Rogue Medic in Rogue Medic
Their categorization of only 3 (out of 32) serious adverse events as "Probably related to treatment" and none as "Definitely related to treatment" suggests that they are not being objective. How do they explain this in the discussion? They don’t. Maybe they aren’t referring to the serious adverse events, but are referring to deaths. I don’t know and since they do not explain, I can only speculate.... Read more »
Barreto, A., Alexandrov, A., Lyden, P., Lee, J., Martin-Schild, S., Shen, L., Wu, T., Sisson, A., Pandurengan, R., Chen, Z.... (2012) The Argatroban and Tissue-Type Plasminogen Activator Stroke Study: Final Results of a Pilot Safety Study. Stroke. DOI: 10.1161/STROKEAHA.111.625574
- February 1, 2012
- 12:08 AM
- 51 views
Water, Water Everywhere…but How Much Should You Drink?
by Jeffrey Driban in Sports Medicine Research (SMR): In the Lab & In the Field
Williams and colleagues utilized a questionnaire to assess runners’ hydration plans for before, during, and after the London Marathon, and evaluated how closely these plans followed the current recommendations.... Read more »
Williams J, Tzortzioubrown V, Malliaras P, Perry M, & Kipps C. (2012) Hydration Strategies of Runners in the London Marathon. Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine. PMID: 22246343
- January 31, 2012
- 07:00 PM
- 58 views
Drinking Milk Might Be Good for your Brain, Study Says
by Jaime Menchen in United Academics
New research at the University of Maine, US, provides a novel field of study: drinking milk, among consuming other dairy products, may benefit our brain health, its authors say.... Read more »
Crichton, G., Elias, M., Dore, G., & Robbins, M. (2012) Relation between dairy food intake and cognitive function: The Maine-Syracuse Longitudinal Study. International Dairy Journal, 22(1), 15-23. DOI: 10.1016/j.idairyj.2011.08.001
- January 31, 2012
- 11:20 AM
- 65 views
Reward and Punish: Say Hello to Dopamine’s Leetle Friend
by Dirk Hanson in Addiction Inbox
Dopamine recruits a helper to track drug rewards.
Ah, dopamine. Whenever it seems like researchers have finally gotten a bead on how that tricky molecule modulates pleasure and reward, and the role in plays in the process of drug and alcohol addiction, along come new findings that rearrange its role, deepening and complicating our understanding of brain function.
We know that the ultimate site of dopamine activity caused by drugs is the ventral tegmental area, or VTA, and an associated ........ Read more »
Cohen, J., Haesler, S., Vong, L., Lowell, B., & Uchida, N. (2012) Neuron-type-specific signals for reward and punishment in the ventral tegmental area. Nature. DOI: 10.1038/nature10754
- January 31, 2012
- 12:08 AM
- 37 views
Social Interactions may Influence Inflammation
by Jeffrey Driban in Sports Medicine Research (SMR): In the Lab & In the Field
Chiang et al evaluated if daily social interactions among 122 healthy young adults to determine if these interactions relate to systematic concentrations of proinflammatory mediators (measured via oral collection) at rest and after acute stress. Social interactions were classified into 3 categories: negative (e.g., conflict with another person), competitive (e.g., competing for attention, academic competition, games) and positive (e.g., time with friends, support from partner) daily interactions........ Read more »
Chiang, J., Eisenberger, N., Seeman, T., & Taylor, S. (2012) Negative and competitive social interactions are related to heightened proinflammatory cytokine activity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1120972109
- January 30, 2012
- 07:45 PM
- 55 views
Avian flu: not so deadly as advertised?
by Mutant Dragon in Puff the Mutant Dragon
You've probably heard many times that avian flu is extremely lethal, with "a mortality rate of about 60 percent", in the words of one mainstream media article from December of last year. The 50 - 60 percent figure has been widely quoted by reporters, and if true it would indeed make avian flu an extremely dangerous virus. But is this an accurate number?... Read more »
Palese, P., & Wang, T. (2012) H5N1 influenza viruses: Facts, not fear. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1121297109
- January 30, 2012
- 07:44 AM
- 76 views
Teen Brain Prone to Addiction
by Carian Thus in United Academics
Researchers of the University of Pittsburgh studied the brains of adolescent and adult rats during a task in which they taught the rats to respond to a tone in a certain way, resulting in a tasty treat. According to the researchers, the brain region traditionally associated with reward and motivation – the nucleus accumbens – was activated similarly in adult and adolescent rats.... Read more »
Sturman, D., & Moghaddam, B. (2012) Striatum processes reward differently in adolescents versus adults. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1114137109
- January 30, 2012
- 07:33 AM
- 68 views
Absence of evidence is, er, well, absence of evidence — even for agrobiodiversity and health
by Jeremy in Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog
It has been a bit of a rough week for people who prefer their grand policy pronouncements backed with a teeny bit of evidence. Like us. Two big papers, in important journals, have concluded that there is very little evidence that agriculturally improving dietary diversity feeds into better nutrition and health. In the British Medical [...]... Read more »
Masset, E., Haddad, L., Cornelius, A., & Isaza-Castro, J. (2012) Effectiveness of agricultural interventions that aim to improve nutritional status of children: systematic review. BMJ, 344(jan17 1). DOI: 10.1136/bmj.d8222
Termote, C., Bwama Meyi, M., Dhed'a Djailo, B., Huybregts, L., Lachat, C., Kolsteren, P., & Van Damme, P. (2012) A Biodiverse Rich Environment Does Not Contribute to a Better Diet: A Case Study from DR Congo. PLoS ONE, 7(1). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0030533
Frison EA, Smith IF, Johns T, Cherfas J, & Eyzaguirre PB. (2006) Agricultural biodiversity, nutrition, and health: making a difference to hunger and nutrition in the developing world. Food and nutrition bulletin, 27(2), 167-79. PMID: 16786983
Frison, E., Cherfas, J., & Hodgkin, T. (2011) Agricultural Biodiversity Is Essential for a Sustainable Improvement in Food and Nutrition Security. Sustainability, 3(1), 238-253. DOI: 10.3390/su3010238
- January 30, 2012
- 05:33 AM
- 51 views
Do we really need a new measles vaccine?
by Connor Bamford in The Rule of 6ix
Measles, that deadly childhood infectious disease is almost a distant memory to most people nowadays, that is except for a few isolated outbreaks across the US and Europe. This is all because of a really amazing preventative therapy: the vaccine.
Vaccines are great. They are by far the most effective means that we have to control - and hopefully eradicate - infectious diseases from a range of species. Measles is one of these diseases that, over the last half a decade or so, we have backed........ Read more »
Poland GA, & Jacobson RM. (2012) The re-emergence of measles in developed countries: Time to develop the next-generation measles vaccines?. Vaccine, 30(2), 103-4. PMID: 22196079
- January 30, 2012
- 02:05 AM
- 59 views
Mutations linked to aggressive childhood brain tumours
by Suzanne Elvidge in Genome Engineering
Diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) is a rare and lethal childhood brain cancer, and researchers taking part in the Pediatric Cancer Genome Project (PCGP) have found a link with a gene not previously connected with cancer, in a paper published in Nature Genetics.... Read more »
Wu, G., Broniscer, A., McEachron, T., Lu, C., Paugh, B., Becksfort, J., Qu, C., Ding, L., Huether, R., Parker, M.... (2012) Somatic histone H3 alterations in pediatric diffuse intrinsic pontine gliomas and non-brainstem glioblastomas. Nature Genetics. DOI: 10.1038/ng.1102
- January 29, 2012
- 03:31 PM
- 55 views
8 Tips for Developing Preventive Interventions for Children Exposed to Acute Medical Events
by Eva Alisic in Trauma Recovery
As a field, we have made significant progress in developing models and identifying key risk factors associated with the development of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in children who experience acute medical traumatic events. Additionally, we have given much attention to the evaluation of preventive interventions. However, a standard process for the development of preventive interventions is less clear.
... Read more »
Kazak AE, Kassam-Adams N, Schneider S, Zelikovsky N, Alderfer MA, & Rourke M. (2006) An integrative model of pediatric medical traumatic stress. Journal of pediatric psychology, 31(4), 343-55. PMID: 16093522
Marsac ML, Kassam-Adams N, Hildenbrand AK, Kohser KL, & Winston FK. (2011) After the injury: initial evaluation of a web-based intervention for parents of injured children. Health education research, 26(1), 1-12. PMID: 20858769
- January 29, 2012
- 03:28 AM
- 117 views
2011 Orwellian Prize for Journalistic Misrepresentation
by Dorothy Bishop in bishopblog
The Orwellian Prize was set up to identify bad science journalism. The winner for 2011 contains a spectacular number of errors in reporting on a paper about cannabinoid receptors in rats.... Read more »
Kucewicz, M., Tricklebank, M., Bogacz, R., & Jones, M. (2011) Dysfunctional Prefrontal Cortical Network Activity and Interactions following Cannabinoid Receptor Activation. Journal of Neuroscience, 31(43), 15560-15568. DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2970-11.2011
- January 29, 2012
- 01:56 AM
- 74 views
Drunken Escape Fuels Much Male Suicide
by ultimo167 in Strong Silent Types
Many men who commit suicide could be described as impulsive and in terms of what they seemingly, actually responded to, over the top. Shniedman (1993)called it 'psychache'. Here, Coleman et al. (2011) draw from Baumeister's 'escape theory' to jam together impulsivity, alcohol misuse and lots and lots of anger to conclude that many suicidal men get stuck on a thought, that is, the thought that they must die. Supposedly, this painted into a bad corner montage was inspired ........ Read more »
Coleman, D., Kaplan, M., & Casey, J. (2011) The Social Nature of Male Suicide: A New Analytic Model. International Journal of Men's Health, 10(3), 240-252. DOI: 10.3149/jmh.1003.240
- January 29, 2012
- 12:00 AM
- 43 views
Playing the Didgeridoo against Snoring
by Theresa Patzchke in United Academics
Snoring is more dangerous than what one might think. It can be reduced to collapsibility of the upper airways during sleep. In case of a related sleep disorder, the obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome, the affected person regularly looses the ability to breathe for 10 seconds or more. Both of the disorders can lead to a higher risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.... Read more »
Puhan, M. (2006) Didgeridoo playing as alternative treatment for obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome: randomised controlled trial. BMJ, 332(7536), 266-270. DOI: 10.1136/bmj.38705.470590.55
- January 27, 2012
- 07:00 PM
- 40 views
Magic Mushrooms Found to Be Therapeutic
by Mark Fonseca in United Academics
As it turns out, magic mushrooms don’t actually expand your brain, they contract it. But that’s not a bad thing. In fact, two new studies from the UK have revealed that psilocybin, the active ingredient found in magic mushrooms, could actually help treat depression... Read more »
Carhart-Harris, R., Erritzoe, D., Williams, T., Stone, J., Reed, L., Colasanti, A., Tyacke, R., Leech, R., Malizia, A., Murphy, K.... (2012) Neural correlates of the psychedelic state as determined by fMRI studies with psilocybin. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1119598109
- January 27, 2012
- 12:43 PM
- 58 views
Bird-Flu Bioterror
by E Markham in Genetic Cuckoo
Recent controversy about publishing research which might lead to terrorism has taken the media by story in relation to avian influenza. Scientists need to openly share their research but the US government has asked for it to be censored in case of terrorism, but with censorship comes limitation, which would hamper exchange of ideas and new developments. This article is a discussion of the issues raised and its potential impacts. ... Read more »
E Markham. (2012) Bird-Flu Bioterror. Blogspot. info:/
- January 27, 2012
- 10:10 AM
- 107 views
Oxford University Censor First Broadcast of Lecture That Resulted in Censuring of Prof. Nutt, Former UK Government Drugs Advisor
by Neurobonkers in Neurobonkers
Watch the full video of the lecture and uncover what was in the slides censored for "copyright reasons"... Read more »
Nutt, D., King, L., & Phillips, L. (2010) Drug harms in the UK: a multicriteria decision analysis. The Lancet, 376(9752), 1558-1565. DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(10)61462-6
Nutt, D. (2009) Estimating drug harms: a risky business?. Centre for Crime and Justice Studies. info:/
Halpern JH, Sherwood AR, Hudson JI, Gruber S, Kozin D, & Pope HG Jr. (2011) Residual neurocognitive features of long-term ecstasy users with minimal exposure to other drugs. Addiction (Abingdon, England), 106(4), 777-86. PMID: 21205042
Carhart-Harris, R., Erritzoe, D., Williams, T., Stone, J., Reed, L., Colasanti, A., Tyacke, R., Leech, R., Malizia, A., Murphy, K.... (2012) Neural correlates of the psychedelic state as determined by fMRI studies with psilocybin. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1119598109
Editorial team. (2010) The EMCDDA annual report 2010: the state of the drugs problem in Europe. The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, also published in Euro surveillance :European communicable disease bulletin, 15(46). PMID: 21144426
topics
join us!
Do you write about peer-reviewed research in your blog? Use ResearchBlogging.org to make it easy for your readers — and others from around the world — to find your serious posts about academic research.
If you don't have a blog, you can still use our site to learn about fascinating developments in cutting-edge research from around the world.
