Posts Tagged ‘medical’

Drug protects mice against malaria brain damage and raises levels of a neuroprotective factor in humans

Main Points:

Cerebral malaria is a serious complication of infection with the malaria parasite, affecting approximately one in a thousand children in areas where malaria is common. Many of the patients die, and among those who survive, about a third have lasting cognitive and neurological disabilities, including epilepsy and learning disorders. A study published on March 6th in PLOS Pathogens shows that a known drug can prevent brain damage in a cerebral malaria mouse model and eliminate subsequent neurological deficits.

Published in:

PLOS Pathogens

Study Further:

Infection with the malaria parasite elicits a strong immune response in the patient, and it is known that both parasite and host response contribute to the nervous system problems in cerebral malaria. Lena Serghides, from the Toronto General Research Institute, Canada, and colleagues are interested in modulating the host response to malaria infection, in addition to anti-parasite drugs, with the goal to improve outcomes in patients.

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Hearing Impairment Associated With Depression in Adults, Especially Women

Main Point:

Hearing impairment (HI) is associated with depression among American adults of all ages, especially women and individuals younger than 70 years.

Published in:

JAMA Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery

Authors:

Chuan-Ming Li, M.D., Ph.D., of the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md., and colleagues.

Background:

Depression and HI are associated with personal, societal and economic burdens. However, the relationship between depression and HI has not been reported in a national sample of U.S. adults.

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E-Cigarette Use by Adolescents Associated With Higher Odds of Smoking

Main Points:

Electronic cigarettes, which deliver a heated aerosol of nicotine mimicking conventional cigarettes, was associated with higher odds of cigarette smoking by adolescents, whose use of e-cigarettes doubled between 2011 and 2012.

Published in:

JAMA Pediatrics

Author:

Lauren M. Dutra, Sc.D., and Stanton A. Glantz, Ph.D., of the Center for Tobacco Research and Education, University of California, San Francisco.

Background:

E-cigarettes are marketed in much the same way cigarette manufacturers marketed conventional cigarettes in the 1950s and 1960s, including on TV and the radio where cigarette advertising has been banned for more than 40 years. Studies have shown that exposing young people to cigarette advertising can cause them to start smoking. E-cigarettes also are sold in flavors (e.g. strawberry, licorice and chocolate) that are banned in conventional cigarettes because they appeal to young people.

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Human activity influences beach bacterial diversity

Main Point:

High beach bacterial diversity may contribute to less water contamination.

Published in:

PLOS ONE

Study Further:

Human activity influences ocean beach bacterial communities, and bacterial diversity may indicate greater ecological health and resiliency to sewage contamination, according to results published March 5, 2014, in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Elizabeth Halliday from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and colleagues.

Beaches all contain bacteria, but some bacteria are usually from sewage and may contaminate the water, posing a public health risk. In this study, scientists studied bacterial community composition at two distant beaches (Avalon, California, and Provincetown, Massachusetts) during levels of normal- and high-contamination (measured using a fecal or ‘poop’ indicator) by genetically sequencing over 600,000 bacteria from 24 dry sand, intertidal sand, and overlying water sampling sites at the locations. Waters at the Avalon site frequently violate water quality standards, while waters at the Provincetown site have infrequent water quality violations.

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Milestone study shows benefits of community-based treatment of schizophrenia

Main Points:

The first randomised trial to rigorously test community-based care for people with schizophrenia in a low-income country shows that treatment in the community led by lay health workers is more effective than standard facility-based care at reducing disability and psychotic symptoms, and ensuring that individuals continue their antipsychotic medication.

Published in:

The Lancet

 Study Further:

“Our findings from India show even more positive outcomes than similar trials of collaborative community-based care carried out in high-income countries. They show that this approach of using community health workers, under proper supervision, who make home visits could play a major part in improving outcomes for people with schizophrenia in low-income countries using the locally available, human resources”, explains Graham Thornicroft, a professor of community psychiatry from the Centre for Global Mental Health, King’s College London, Institute of Psychiatry, who led the research.

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