Brain research offers insight into mechanisms of prejudice
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By scanning subjects’ brains while they were thinking about people either politically like or different from them, researchers have found that different areas of the brain are active in the two cases.
The researchers said their findings offer insight into the neural machinery that gives rise to perceptions that other racial or ethnic groups are different from one’s own.
They concluded that their work offers insight into prejudice and that one way to reduce prejudice is to emphasize how alike different groups are, rather than highlighting their differences.
Parkinson’s Drug Receives FDA Approval
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There’s a new tool in the fight against Parkinson’s disease. The FDA today granted approval for Azilect® (Rasagiline), a drug developed by Technion-Israel Institute of Technology researchers. The drug will be available in the United States within 8 to 10 weeks, and marketed by Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Ltd.
The brainchild of Technion Professors Moussa Youdim and John Finberg, Azilect is the first once-daily product for the treatment of Parkinson’s, a chronic, degenerative disease affecting a million people in the United States (4 million around the world).
Azilect is one of the few treatment options in the U.S. for all stages of Parkinson’s, including use as a stand-alone early-stage therapy and in combination with levodopa (a standard treatment for Parkinson’s disease) in more advanced stages of the disease. The drug is a monoamine oxidase type-B (MAO-B) inhibitor that blocks the breakdown of dopamine, a chemical that sends information to the parts of the brain that control movement and coordination.
Antioxidant-rich coffee may have health benefits
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Coffee seems to provide more than a quick pick-me-up. A new study suggests that drinking 1 to 3 cups of coffee per day may help protect against cardiovascular disease and other illnesses characterized by inflammation.
“The findings tend to suggest that there may be some benefit to drinking modest amounts of coffee,” Dr. David R. Jacobs, Jr., one of the study’s investigators, told Reuters Health.
“But I would very much like to see the finding replicated in other studies by other investigators before making a very strong statement in favor of coffee drinking,” he cautioned.
Cochlear Implant Integrity Maintained Following Electrosurgery to Remove Adenoids on Animal Model
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Cochlear implant device intergrity is not compromised by electrosurgery used in removal of tonsils and adenoids. This finding from a new experiment could be an important first step to providing safe, effective, and the most pain-free removal of tonsils and adenoids for deaf children.
Cochlear implant (CI) recipients have been discouraged from having monopolar electrosurgery for ear, nose, and throat procedures due to concerns over possible damage to the implant and the auditory neurons. While monopolar electrosurgery is rarely, if ever, absolutely necessary, it greatly facilitates treatment in certain procedures such as adenoidectomy. With a growing population of patients receiving CIs at very young ages, more children with CIs may subsequently develop a need for an adenoidectomy, such as obstructive sleep apnea. Unfortunately, no published studies have evaluated the safety of electrosurgical adenoidectomy in CI reipients.
Over the past few years, radiofrequency bipolar electrosurgery (eg, Coblation™) has become popular for adenoidectomy and tonisillectomy because of reports of less post-tonsillectomy pain. The reduction in post-tonsillectomy pain has been attributed to the more limited spread of electrical current and reduced tissue temperatures with Coblation bipolar electrosurgery relative to monopolar electrosurgery.
No Difference in Voice Quality After Comparing Different Treatments for Vocal Cord Cancer
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There is no significant difference in voice quality after external beam radiation therapy (EBRT) compared to endoscopic CO2 laser excision (CLE) in T1 glottic cancer. This is the conclusion of meta-analysis assessing voice outcomes after treatment for early glottic cancer.
A diagnosis of T1 glottic cancer, which is a tumor limited to one (T1a) or both (T1b) vocal cords, can at first appear to be devastating to the patient. However, EBRT and CLE have proven to offer high and comparable cure rates for this disease. What has not been determined is what procedure offers the best oncologic cure while minimizing adverse effects on the patient voice.
Problems associated with study design and data collection have resulted in varying voice outcomes in studies exploring CLE or EBRT. Essentially, perceptual analysis of vocal outcomes following treatment of T1 glottic cancer shows contradictory results. Both improved voice quality with EBRT and similar outcomes regardless of type of treatment have been found. Acoustic voice parameters have also demonstrated inconsistent voice outcomes following EBRT and CLE. Variability in the mouth to microphone distance, recording equipment, analyzing software, and patient effort may explain the disparate results.
Seven new cases of human infection with the H5N1 avian influenza virus in Indonesia
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The Ministry of Health in Indonesia has confirmed an additional seven cases of human infection with the H5N1 avian influenza virus. Six of the cases were fatal.
One fatal case, in a 38-year-old woman, occurred in the city of Surabaya, in East Java. She developed symptoms on 2 May, was hospitalized on 7 May, and died on 12 May. The case is the first reported from this area.
The remaining six cases are from the village of Kubu Sembelang in the Karo district of North Sumatra. All six are members of an extended family, and all but one lived in neighbouring houses.
Hurt teens often test positive for alcohol, drugs
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Nearly 40 percent of teenagers treated for injuries at one hospital had traces of alcohol or illegal drugs in their blood, U.S. researchers reported on Wednesday.
They said their finding, published in the Journal of Pediatric Surgery, suggested that it may be useful to screen young people treated for traumatic injuries for illegal substances.
The team at the University of Michigan Health System studied 443 patients aged 14 to 17 who were admitted to the University of Michigan’s hospital for treatment of a severe injury between 1999 and 2003.
Fraternity/Sorority Members Who Get Drunk Weekly At Higher Risk
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Members or pledges of college fraternities and sororities are twice as likely as non-Greek students to get drunk at least weekly - and are at significantly higher risk of being injured or injuring someone else - according to new research from Wake Forest University School of Medicine.
The research suggests that a simple screening question - “In a typical week, how many days do you get drunk?” - may help identify students at highest risk of injury from drinking.
Greek pledges who reported getting drunk at least weekly had five times the risk of falling from a height and two and a half times the risk of experiencing a burn than non-Greek students who do not get drunk, according to a study involving 10,635 students at 10 North Carolina universities. The students were surveyed in the fall terms of 2003-2005.
Hungary govt plans healthcare tax hike - paper
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Hungary’s new government plans to raise employees’ healthcare payments and is considering a basic health fee which together could generate at least 280 billion forints ($1.38 billion) in revenue, daily Nepszabadsag said.
The government intends to raise employees’ healthcare contributions to 7 percent from 3, and to charge a basic health fee of minimum 5,000 forints per month for everybody, the paper reported on Thursday, without disclosing its sources.
Other tax hike ideas considered include the raising of the lower value added tax (VAT) rate to 20 percent from 15, the introduction of a 3 percentage point extra “solidarity tax” on companies, and a tax on real estates, the paper said.
Exercise, self-help improve knee arthritis
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Exercise and education may give people with knee arthritis a small but important physical and emotional lift, a research review suggests.
In an analysis of 16 studies, researchers at San Diego State University found that both exercise therapy and self-management programs tended to lessen the overall burden of having knee osteoarthritis (OA).
Exercise generally improved arthritis patients’ physical functioning, whereas self-management programs—which teach people how to deal with the daily ups and downs of living with knee OA—tended to boost their psychological well-being.
Program helps disabled elderly stay independent
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Working collaboratively with older people who are having difficulties with bathing, dressing themselves and other activities of daily living can help them to remain independent, a new study shows.
Dr. Laura N. Gitlin of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, the study’s lead author and her colleagues tested a six-month intervention in which people received four 90-minute visits with an occupational therapist, as well as one 20-minute telephone contact, and one 90-minute physical therapy visit.
Of 319 men and women 70 and older, half were assigned to the intervention, and half received no training.
US advisers back Parkinson’s dementia drug
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Novartis Pharmaceuticals’ drug Exelon is safe for treating dementia in patients with Parkinson’s disease, a U.S. advisory panel recommended on Wednesday.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration panel of outside experts voted unanimously that the drug, already sold to treat Alzheimer’s disease, could also be used to treat Parkinson’s patients with dementia.
The FDA will make the final decision on whether to approve the additional use, but the agency usually follows its panelists’ advice.
Bone-building drug helpful in rheumatoid arthritis
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Zoledronic acid, used to inhibit the breakdown of bone and ward off the bone-thinning disease osteoporosis, could also be helpful to people with rheumatoid arthritis, researchers report.
According to the results of a small proof-of-concept study, zoledronic acid—also known as zoledronate or Aclasta—increases the benefits seen when treating early rheumatoid arthritis with the standard drug, methotrexate.
As reported in the medical journal Arthritis and Rheumatism, Dr. Paul Emery, from Chapel Allerton Hospital in Leeds, UK, and colleagues used MRI scans to assess joint erosions in 39 patients with early rheumatoid arthritis who were assigned to receive placebo or zoledronic infusions in addition to methotrexate therapy.
Genetic testing can improve newborn screening tests for hearing defects
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Researchers have identified several changes that could be made to existing newborn screening tests for hearing defects that could advance the standard of care in detecting deaf infants, according to an article in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Walter E. Nance, M.D., Ph.D., professor of human genetics in Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of Medicine, and Cynthia C. Morton, Ph.D., a professor of human genetics at the Harvard Medical School, have summarized four important criteria to be considered for screening programs throughout the country for newborn hearing defects. These include the prompt confirmation of abnormal results from screening tests; adoption of an etiologic focus to determine the cause of the deafness; initiation of molecular genetic testing for all newborns; and better recognition of infants at risk for late-onset hearing loss occurring prior to speech and language development.
Acidity in the brain could hold the key to stroke treatment
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Development of a new technique for detecting brain damage caused by stroke has been boosted up by a ?1m grant to scientists at The University of Manchester.
Professor Gareth Morris of the School of Chemistry and Professor Risto Kauppinen of the University of Birmingham are to lead the development of a new non-invasive technique which measures acidity (pH) in the brain.
A stroke is caused when part of the blood supply to the brain is cut off. This causes acidity in the brain to build up, leading to damage.
