Public Health
Johns Hopkins researchers pinpoint the cause of MRI vertigo
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A team of researchers says it has discovered why so many people undergoing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), especially in newer high-strength machines, get vertigo, or the dizzy sensation of free-falling, while inside or when coming out of the tunnel-like machine.
In a new study published in Current Biology online on Sept. 22, a team led by Johns Hopkins scientists suggests that MRI’s strong magnet pushes on fluid that circulates in the inner ear’s balance center, leading to a feeling of unexpected or unsteady movement. The finding could also call into question results of so-called functional MRI studies designed to detect what the brain and mind are doing under various circumstances.
To determine the mechanism behind MRI-induced vertigo, Dale C. Roberts, M.S., senior research systems engineer in the laboratory of David Zee, M.D., within the Department of Neurology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and his colleagues placed 10 volunteers with healthy labyrinths (inner tube-like structures in the ears that control balance) and two volunteers who lacked labyrinthine function into MRI scanners. They tracked vertigo not only by the volunteers’ reports, but also by looking for nystagmus, a type of involuntary eye movement that reflects the brain’s detection of motion - the kind of jerky eye tracking that a person on a merry-go-round might experience. Because visual clues can help suppress nystagmus, the researchers conducted their experiments in the dark.
South Korea sets sights on becoming stem cell powerhouse, again
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South Korea’s president vowed on Monday a series of regulatory reforms to help regain its place as a stem cell research powerhouse, trying to reclaim momentum five years after a cloning scandal.
President Lee Myung-bak said that by breathing new life into the industry, it could become “core new growth engine” for Asia’s fourth biggest economy along the same lines as its lucrative IT sector.
“Just a decade ago, Korea took the lead in stem cell research in the world along with the United States,” Lee said in a bi-weekly radio address.
United Nations Focus On Chronic Diseases
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Leading Australian chronic disease groups said today that this week’s historic United Nations summit on non-communicable diseases (NCDs) must mark the start of a united and continuous action in the fight against the rapid rise of major chronic diseases, such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes, stroke, kidney disease and chronic respiratory disease.
Major diseases like these represent an enormous social and economic burden for all nations, but those suffering the most are the low and middle income countries, whose health systems are ill-equipped to cope with this mounting epidemic.
A large proportion of this burden of disease is preventable through implementation of cost effective interventions, including strategies to control tobacco, salt reduction and food reformulation programs as well as encouraging individuals to be physically active on a daily basis.
Researcher launches teen contraceptive website
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Friends, the mainstream media and the internet, all potentially unreliable sources, continue to be the way America’s young adults find their health information. Research has found that while they trust health professionals and health educators, they often do not turn to them for information, especially when it comes to their sexual health.
In an attempt to provide a reliable and trustworthy source for reproductive health information for teenagers, one physician-researcher at Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island has launched the website Ask A Doc RI.
“My thought was to bring the information to where the teenagers are, which is on the internet,” says Vinita Goyal, MD, MPH, of Women & Infants’ Center for Women’s Primary Care. “Ask A Doc RI contains a variety of information on contraception and local clinical resources where youth can seek health care.”
The breathtaking dance of plants
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The way in which plants space out the pores through which they breathe depends on keeping a protein active during stem cell growth, according to John Innes Centre scientists.
Plant pores, called stomata, are essential for life. When they evolved about 400 million years ago, they helped plants conquer the land. Plants absorb carbon dioxide through stomata and release oxygen and water vapour as part of the Earth’s carbon and water cycles.
Stomata need to be evenly spaced to maximise breathing capacity. But how they establish an even spatial pattern during plant growth has been a mystery.
What are Antioxidants and Why Do You Need Them?
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IFT Member Claudia Fajardo-Lira, PhD, Professor of Food Science and Nutrition at California State University-Northridge, explains the facts about antioxidants:
Q: What are antioxidants?
A: Antioxidants play an important role in overall health. They are natural compounds found in some foods that help neutralize free radicals in our bodies. Free radicals are substances that occur naturally in our bodies but attack the fats, protein and the DNA in our cells, which can cause different types of diseases and accelerate the aging process.
Q: What foods are the best sources for antioxidants?
Male-female ring finger proportions tied to sex hormones in embryo; may offer health insights
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Biologists at the University of Florida have found a reason why men’s ring fingers are generally longer than their index fingers — and why the reverse usually holds true for women.
The finding could help medical professionals understand the origin of behavior and disease, which may be useful for customizing treatments or assessing risks in context with specific medical conditions.
Writing this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, developmental biologists Martin Cohn, Ph.D., and Zhengui Zheng, Ph.D., of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the department of molecular genetics and microbiology at the UF College of Medicine, show that male and female digit proportions are determined by the balance of sex hormones during early embryonic development. Differences in how these hormones activate receptors in males and females affect the growth of specific digits.
The discovery provides a genetic explanation for a raft of studies that link finger proportions with traits ranging from sperm counts, aggression, musical ability, sexual orientation and sports prowess, to health problems such as autism, depression, heart attack and breast cancer.
College Athlete Died of Head Trauma, Father Says
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A 22-year-old football player for Frostburg State University in Maryland has died from head trauma sustained on the field, his father said.
Nearly a week after passing out during a routine practice, fullback Derek Sheely died late Sunday at the University of Maryland R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore.
Kenneth Sheely, Derek’s father, said in a telephone interview from the family’s home in Germantown, Md., that he was told by doctors that Derek had sustained “severe head trauma.”
Men, boomers fuel growth in spa industry
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The spa industry is booming, particularly in China and India, as more men and aging boomers seek pain relief as well as relaxing and luxury treatments, including $1,250 facials.
Massage is still the most popular request, but people with deep pockets can opt for pricier treatments such as the ultra-expensive facial from New York skincare expert Dangene, who is booked months in advance.
Treatments ranging from plasma therapy, in which a patient’s platelet-rich plasma is extracted from their blood and injected into wrinkles, and infrared saunas to oxygen therapy and salt rooms are also giving a boost to the $250 billion industry.
Aid poised to flow as fog of war lifts in Tripoli
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Humanitarian aid workers said on Tuesday a rapid resolution to the Libyan conflict would help them bring urgent help to the residents of Tripoli, where medicine and fuel supplies have run low and many foreigners have fled.
Any prolongation of the conflict in Tripoli could be disastrous, since the civilian population faces much greater risks from continued fighting than they have during the past six months of a slowly tightening siege.
Gaddafi’s four decades of absolute power appeared over on Tuesday as rebels burst into his compound in Tripoli after a fierce battle with a loyalist rearguard.
Poorly controlled asthma costly
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Poorly controlled asthma more than doubles healthcare costs associated with the disease and threatens educational achievement through a dramatic increase in school absence, according to researchers at National Jewish Health. The research team reported in the August 2011 issue of The Archives of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology that children with “very poorly controlled” asthma missed an average of 18 days of school each year, compared to 2 or less for other asthma patients.
“This study looks for the first time at how effective and ineffective management of severe asthma impacts cost ,” said Stanley Szefler, MD, lead author and Professor of Pediatrics at National Jewish Health. “It highlights the toll that poorly controlled asthma takes on children. It also points to an opportunity – with proper attention and education, many, if not most, of those children could gain control over their asthma, thus reducing healthcare costs, improving their lives and their chances for success.”
The researchers studied 628 children ages 6 to 12 with severe or difficult-to-treat asthma. They evaluated direct medical costs – medications, unscheduled office and emergency visits, and hospital admissions – and indirect costs as measured by school/work days lost. Costs were evaluated at baseline, 12 months and 24 months. Patients were divided into three groups - very poorly controlled, not well controlled and well controlled asthma, according to NIH guidelines.
Diesel fumes pose risk to heart as well as lungs, study shows
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Tiny chemical particles emitted by diesel exhaust fumes could raise the risk of heart attacks, research has shown.
Scientists have found that ultrafine particles produced when diesel burns are harmful to blood vessels and can increase the chances of blood clots forming in arteries, leading to a heart attack or stroke.
The research by the University of Edinburgh measured the impact of diesel exhaust fumes on healthy volunteers at levels that would be found in heavily polluted cities.
UCSF team describes genetic basis of rare human diseases
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Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco and in Michigan, North Carolina and Spain have discovered how genetic mutations cause a number of rare human diseases, which include Meckel syndrome, Joubert syndrome and several other disorders.
The work gives doctors new possible targets for designing better diagnostics to detect and drugs to treat these diseases, which together affect perhaps one in 200 people in the United States.
On the surface, these diseases look very different. Meckel syndrome causes deadly brain malformations and kidney cysts. Joubert syndrome strikes people with severe movement disorders. But the work of the UCSF-led team, published this week in the journal Nature Genetics, found similarities between the diseases at the molecular level.
Smoke from Southeast wildfires is health hazard
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It’s turning into the summer of smoke in parts of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina.
Public health officials in all three states have warned people with chronic respiratory problems or heart and lung disease to stay inside as smoke from wildfires in Florida and Georgia drifts north.
The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control warned residents of 13 counties of the possible health effects of smoke blowing their way on Tuesday from fires in southern Georgia’s Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge.
EU bans Egyptian seeds over deadly E.coli outbreak
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Europe banned imports of some seeds and beans from Egypt on Tuesday after food safety investigators said a single shipment of fenugreek seeds from there was the most likely source of a highly toxic E. coli epidemic which has killed 49 people.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) said beyond France and Germany, where outbreaks of the deadly E. coli strain have made thousands ill in recent months, other European Union countries may have received batches of suspect seeds.
It urged the officials to make “all efforts” to prevent any further exposure and said consumers should not eat sprouts or sprouted seeds unless they are thoroughly cooked.
