Watching comedy films boosts blood flow to the heart, finds a small study in the journal Heart. Researchers asked 20 healthy young adults to watch 15 to 30 minute segments of sad and humorous films, a minimum of 48 hours apart.
Examples of sad films included the opening scene of Saving Private Ryan and examples […]
The absence of a key protein may lead to infertility.
Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign report that experiments involving mice — to be detailed in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences — indicate that the transcription factor protein C/EBPb must be present in the uterus for pregnancy to occur. The study […]
Quality of life measured one year after treatment for head and neck cancer appears to be associated with longer-term survival, according to a study in the January issue of Archives of Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Several studies have provided evidence that quality of life (QOL) might be associated with […]
A new Mayo Clinic study finds that vertebroplasty, a procedure used to treat painful compression fractures in the spinal vertebrae due to osteoporosis, appears to increase the risk for new fractures in adjacent vertebrae. The study also found vertebrae adjacent to fractures treated with vertebroplasty fracture significantly sooner than more distant vertebrae. Findings will be […]
Women have yet another reason to stop smoking while pregnant. In the largest study of its kind, plastic surgeons found smoking during pregnancy significantly elevates the risk of having a child with excess, webbed or missing fingers and toes, according to the January issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery®, the official medical journal of the […]
According to exciting new research, which will be published in the March 2006 issue of Integrative Cancer Therapies - dogs can actually smell cancer on humans. We all know about the amazing ability of dogs to smell things that humans cannot and dogs have long been used to help rescue people, or discover […]
Liver disease is often associated with “sickness behaviors,” such as malaise, listlessness, anorexia, difficulty concentrating, and fatigue. In cholestatic liver diseases (where bile production is impaired) such as primary biliary cirrhosis, fatigue occurs in up to 86 percent of patients. Previous studies have suggested that these symptoms originate from changes to the central nervous system […]
A new study suggests that antibody-based cancer drugs might help patients more if they are given with substances that stimulate the immune system.
This new study is the first to indicate that the drug trastuzumab, also known as Herceptin, may work better when it is followed by injections of interleukin (IL) 2 or IL-12. Both substances […]
We all wonder what is in the air for 2006 - but for people with asthma and other breathing problems, advance knowledge of air pollution levels is very important. An ESA-backed project is forecasting daily forecasts via text message to selected individuals in parts of London and the London borough of Croydon.
As the video above […]
For the more than 18 million Americans who suffer from depressive illnesses, the best pharmacological treatments are those that increase levels of serotonin, the brain chemical that regulates mood, sleep and memory. New research by an international team of scientists, led by Rockefeller University researchers in Paul Greengard’s laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience, shows […]