Physicians and other health-care providers may advise their patients to quit smoking, but few providers have the adequate training to follow their patients through the cessation process.
Body
Researchers from the John Innes Centre in Norwich, Great Britain, in collaboration with other European centres participating to the FLORA project, have obtained genetically modified tomatoes rich in anthocyanins, a category of antioxidants belonging to the class of flavonoids. These tomatoes, added to the diet of cancer-prone mice, showed a significant protective effect by extending the mice lifespan. The research has been published in the 26 October issue of Nature Biotechnology.
A University of Iowa study suggests that the prolonged fatigue after mild exercise that occurs in people with many forms of muscular dystrophy is distinct from the inherent muscle weakness caused by the disease.
Scientists have expressed genes from snapdragon in tomatoes to grow purple tomatoes high in health-protecting anthocyanins.
Anthocyanins are naturally occurring pigments found at particularly high levels in berries such as blackberry, cranberry and chokeberry. Scientists are investigating ways to increase the levels of health-promoting compounds in more commonly eaten fruits and vegetables.
ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Viruses -- long regarded solely as disease agents -- now are being used in therapies for cancer. Concerns over the safety of these so-called oncolytic viruses stem from their potential to damage healthy tissues. Now Mayo Clinic researchers have discovered a way of controlling the viruses behind potential cancer therapeutics. They are engineering the virus's genetic sequence, using microRNAs to restrict them to specific tissues. The microRNAs destabilize the virus's genome, making it impossible for the virus to run amok.
Durham, N.C. -- Vaccinating new mothers and other family members against influenza before their newborns leave the hospital creates a "cocooning effect" that may shelter unprotected children from the flu, a virus that can be life-threatening to infants, according to researchers at Duke Children's Hospital.
The hospital-based outreach tested in this study proved effective at boosting immunization rates in parents – especially new fathers – and siblings who otherwise may not be vaccinated.
Giving people age 65 and older a dose four times larger than the standard flu vaccine boosts the amount of antibodies in their blood to levels considered protective against the flu, more so than the standard flu vaccine does. The findings from a study of nearly 4,000 people were presented Oct. 26 at a national meeting on infectious diseases.
The higher dose of vaccine generally resulted in approximately 30 percent to 80 percent more antibodies against flu, long considered a good measure of protection.
Rheumatologists, dermatologists, and patient advocates have come together to publish the first-ever international guidelines for the treatment of psoriatic arthritis, a disease that mainly affects people who have psoriasis but also some people without it.
In the not so distant past, women with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), an autoimmune disease, were advised not to have children, and if they became pregnant, to have therapeutic abortions to prevent severe flares of their lupus. Research by rheumatologists at Hospital for Special Surgery in New York, in patients with lupus who have had successful pregnancies is yielding insights that support a reversal of that thinking.
ROCHESTER, Minn. -- After four decades on the decline, rheumatoid arthritis is on the upswing among women in the United States. That's the finding presented by Mayo Clinic investigators at the annual meeting of the American College of Rheumatology/Association of Rheumatology Health Professionals in San Francisco.
"This is a significant finding and an indicator that more research needs to be done to better understand the causes and treatment of this devastating disease," says Sherine Gabriel, M.D., Mayo Clinic rheumatologist and lead investigator on the study.
Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients do Worse After a Heart Attack
Following a heart attack, people with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) suffer greater heart-related complications, including an increased risk for dying, when compared to other heart attack patients, according to research presented this week at the American College of Rheumatology Annual Scientific Meeting inSan Francisco.
One in every 50 people screened for a suspected sexually transmitted infection (STI) in the Emergency Department at Henry Ford Hospital was found to be infected with HIV using a rapid blood sample screening test.
Henry Ford researchers hope their study heightens awareness and directs more focus on implementing future prevention strategies in the HIV/AIDS epidemic. They say testing in the ED could diagnose new HIV infections, expand the reach of screening, and help get patients into counseling and treatment programs.
SAN DIEGO, Oct. 27 – Experts from the Center for Minority Health (CMH) at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health will address the successes and challenges of reducing health disparities at the American Public Health Association 136th Annual Meeting and Exposition inSan Diego, Oct. 25 to 29. Faculty will present innovative programs that improve the health and well-being of racial and ethnic minorities.
Nurses and Barbers Work Together to Promote Prostate Cancer Prevention
(Boston)-Researchers from Boston Medical Center (BMC) have found that education on addiction is inadequate during medical training, resulting in suboptimal medical care for those at risk. However, the research also found that a Chief Resident Immersion Training (CRIT) program in addiction medicine is an effective "train the trainers" model for dissemination of addiction knowledge and skills to generalist physician trainees. These findings appear in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.