October 8, 2006, 5:29 PM CT

Antidepressants After Plastic Surgery

It has been proven that plastic surgery can improve self-esteem, but can it also act as a natural mood enhancer? A significant number of patients stopped taking antidepressant medicine after undergoing plastic surgery, as per a research studypresented today at the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) Plastic Surgery 2006 conference in San Francisco.

"Plastic surgery patients are taking a proactive approach in making themselves happier by improving something that has truly bothered them," said Bruce Freedman, MD, ASPS Member Surgeon and study author. "While we are not saying that cosmetic plastic surgery alone is responsible for the drop in patients needing antidepressants, it surely is an important factor".

In the study, 362 patients had cosmetic plastic surgery 17 percent or 61 patients were taking antidepressants. Six months after surgery, however, that number decreased 31 percent, down to 42 patients. In addition, 98 percent of patients said cosmetic plastic surgery had markedly improved their self-esteem.

All of the patients, who were primarily middle-aged women, had an invasive cosmetic plastic surgery procedure such as breast augmentation, tummy tuck or facelift. The authors did not identify any other major life changes that may have affected patients' use of antidepressants.........

Posted by: Jenn      Permalink         Source

October 3, 2006, 10:04 PM CT

Food Sources Of Disease

As the recent U.S. outbreak of E. coli infections caused by contaminated spinach demonstrates, the safety of the food we eat cannot be taken for granted. Two studies in the Nov. 1 issue of The Journal of Infectious Diseases, now available online, further illustrate the point, one adding a new bacterial culprit to the mix and the other showing that use of antibiotics as growth promoters in livestock increases the risk of antibiotic resistance in humans.

In one study, researchers led by Katri Jalava, DVM, of the Finnish National Public Health Institute, and J. Pekka Nuorti, MD, DSc, of the National Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, traced an outbreak of Yersinia pseudotuberculosis infection among children in a Finnish town to carrots grown on a single farm. An epidemiologic investigation linked illness to eating raw carrots. Laboratory tests confirmed that the bacteria in infected children's stool samples were indistinguishable from the bacteria isolated from the farm.

The authors noted that this marked the first time that the bacterium had been recovered from an epidemiologically implicated source of food-borne illness. They pointed out that it is well known as a pathogen in wild mammals, and that the farm stored the carrots in a barn in open containers for months. "A combination of direct contact with wildlife feces during storage and cross-contamination during washing and peeling," they concluded, "are the most likely contributing factors." To prevent such outbreaks, "regulations addressing the production, storage and shipping conditions for fresh produce are needed".........

Posted by: Jenn      Permalink         Source

October 2, 2006, 9:38 PM CT

How White Blood Cells Eat Virus-infected Cells

Researchers at the Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute (VGTI) at Oregon Health & Science University have demonstrated how certain white blood cells literally eat virus-infected cells while fighting disease at the microscopic level. The research not only helps provide a clearer understanding of the body's immune system, it also offers hope of a new method for gauging vaccine effectiveness. The research is published in the current edition of the journal Nature Medicine.

CD8 T-cells are specialized white blood cells that serve an important role in the body's immune system. The cells attack and destroy disease "invaders" such as viruses in the body. Previous studies indicated that T-cells may consume parts of cells with which they interact, but this new research shows this can happen in response to a systemic viral infection.

"If you use a fluorescent dye to stain infected cells, you can literally watch T-cells consume membranes and outer surfaces of diseased cells. As they destroy and cannibalize the fluorescently labeled cells, they become labeled with the fluorescent dye themselves," explained Mark Slifka, Ph.D., a researcher in the VGTI who led the research. Slifka is also a scientist in the Division of Pathobiology and Immunology at the Oregon National Primate Research Center and holds a concurrent appointment in the Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology in the OHSU School of Medicine.........

Posted by: Jenn      Permalink         Source

September 28, 2006, 10:01 PM CT

High-resolution CT For Shin Splints

High resolution CT can accurately show medial tibial stress syndrome, better known as shin splints, in distance runners according, to a study conducted at the University of Messina in Messina, Italy.

As per the study, medial tibial stress syndrome is one of a number of overuse lower leg injuries that may be found in athletes and accounts for between 13.2% and 17.3% of all running injuries.

For the study, high-resolution CT of both tibiae (shin bones) waccording toformed on 41 subjects: 20 distance runners with no symptoms of shin splints, 11 distance runners with pain due to shin splints and 10 volunteers not involved in a sport. A total of 82 shin bones, 14 painful and 68 painless, were reviewed. Among the distance runners, CT abnormalities were found in 14 of 14 (100%) painful tibiae in patients with shin splints.

"The study demonstrates that CT is capable of revealing cortical abnormalities in medial tibial stress syndrome, thus representing a reliable diagnostic tool in patients with leg pain," said Fabio Minutoli, MD, lead author of the study.

"The results are useful for the management of athletes, especially long distance runners. Moreover, we believe that CT can be used in research studies, to evaluate other subtle bone abnormalities; for example it can be useful in studies concerning osteoporosis," said Dr. Minutoli.........

Posted by: Jenn      Permalink         Source

September 27, 2006, 9:26 PM CT

Finger Length Ratio May Predict Women's Sporting Prowess

The difference between the lengths of a woman's index and ring fingers may indicate her sporting prowess, suggests research published ahead of print in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

The finding supports other research indicating a possible link between this ratio and fertility, vulnerability to serious disease, intellectual ability, certain personality traits, and musical talent.

Most of the sporting research in this area has so far focused exclusively on men.

The scientists base their findings on x ray pictures of the right and left hands of 607 female twins, whose average age was 53. Most were right handed.

The second to fourth finger ratio was calculated by dividing the length of the index (second) finger by that of the (fourth) ring finger.

Study participants were also asked to rank their highest achievement in a wide range of individual and team sports, since the age of 11.

Participation levels were highest for swimming, cycling, tennis and running in descending order.

The association with finger ratio was highest for running, soccer, and tennis. The highest achievement in any sport was strongly associated with a low second to fourth finger ratio. Running ability was especially linked to a low (male pattern) ratio.........

Posted by: Jenn      Permalink         Source

September 24, 2006, 10:25 PM CT

Hawaiian Crickets

In only a few generations, the male cricket on Kauai, one of the Hawaiian Islands, underwent a mutation a sudden heritable change in its genetic material that rendered it incapable of using song, its sexual signal, to attract female crickets, as per a new study by UC Riverside evolutionary biologists.

In addition, the scientists observed that eventhough the new male crickets' wings lack the file and scraper apparatus mandatory for producing sound, the males are able to mate successfully with females, thus ensuring evolutionary success. They accomplish this by simply altering their behavior in an ingenious manner, suggesting that behavior can help what may seem like a harmful mutation spread.

The research team, led by Marlene Zuk, a professor of biology, observed that greater than 90 percent of male field crickets (Teleogryllus oceanicus) on Kauai shifted in less than 20 generations from having normal wings to mutated "flat wings" that inhibit the crickets from calling. The mutation occurred, the scientists conclude, to protect male crickets from a deadly parasitic fly (Ormia ochracea) that uses the cricket song to locate crickets as hosts.

Upon finding a male cricket, the fly deposits larvae onto it; these then burrow into the cricket, develop inside, and subsequently kill the cricket when they emerge from its body. Of three Hawaiian Islands (Oahu, the Big Island of Hawaii, and Kauai) where the cricket and fly co-occur, Kauai, where the rapid spread of this wing mutation in male crickets was observed, has the highest prevalence of the parasitic fly.........

Posted by: Jenn      Permalink         Source

September 24, 2006, 10:14 PM CT

Alcoholics Anonymous

There is a strong link between alcohol use and violence, such as homicide. New research that looks at the relationship among drinking, Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) membership, and homicide mortality has observed that AA can have a beneficial effect on alcohol-related homicide mortality rates, especially among males who consume beer and spirits.

Results are reported in the recent issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research

"It is important to try to understand the factors that could reduce alcohol's adverse effects," said Robert E. Mann, senior scientist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, and associate professor of public health sciences at the University of Toronto. "We know that economic and legal measures such as taxation policies, increased drinking ages, and lowered legal limits for driving can exert powerful effects on alcohol problem rates. We also know that individual participation in AA and alcohol therapy can have very beneficial effects. We wanted to see if these beneficial effects are observable at population levels, that is, if numerous people are positively influenced." Mann is also the study's corresponding author.

As per the World Health Organization, said Mark Asbridge, assistant professor and chair of graduate studies in the department of community health and epidemiology at Dalhousie University, "alcohol is a leading [contributor to the] global burden of disease, and homicide is just one of many negative consequences of its consumption. Given this link, any policies or intervention that reduce or remove alcohol consumption are bound to offer some beneficial reduction in aggregate violent incidents in this case, mortality".........

Posted by: Jenn      Permalink         Source

September 23, 2006, 11:33 AM CT

Taller Women More Likely To Conceive Twins

Taller women are more likely to have twins as per experts. They suggest insulin-like growth factorr is responsible for this increased incedence. By comparing the heights of women who had given birth to twins or triplets with the average height of women in the United States, Gary Steinman, MD, PhD, an attending doctor at Long Island Jewish (LIJ) Medical Center, found that the multiple-birth mothers averaged more than an inch taller. The study was published in the recent issue of the Journal of Reproductive Medicine.

"Any circumstance that affects the amount of available insulin-like growth factor so as to modify the sensitivity of the ovary to follicle-stimulating hormone appears to govern the rate of spontaneous twinning," said Dr. Steinman.

Insulin-like growth factor (IGF) is a protein that is released from the liver in response to growth hormone. It increases the sensitivity of the ovaries to follicle stimulating hormone, thereby increasing ovulation. Some studies also suggest that IGF may help embryos survive in the early stages of development.

Among its many effects in the body, IGF stimulates cells in the shaft of long bones to grow. Previous studies have demonstrated that people with short stature have significantly lower levels of IGF. Countries with taller women have higher rates of twinning compared to countries with shorter women.........

Posted by: Jenn      Permalink         Source

September 22, 2006, 4:34 PM CT

Disease of older adults now seen in young, obese adults

Acute diverticulitis, a disease traditionally seen in patients older than 50 years old, is now being seen in younger adults who are obese, according to a study conducted by the University of Maryland Medical Center's department of radiology in Baltimore, MD.

Acute diverticulitis is one of the most frequently encountered acute diseases of the colon and is commonly related to a low fiber diet. Increased pressure in the colon causes numerous thin-walled out-pouches (diverticula) to develop in the bowel wall, a chronic condition known as diverticulosis. Bacterial infection of these diverticula cause inflammation that may lead to a perforation in the wall of the intestine and other serious complications.

"Over the last ten years, I noted that many patients coming into the emergency room with CT findings of acute diverticulitis seemed younger than traditional teaching suggested, and often were obese," said Barry Daly, MD, an author of the study. "We were seeing patients as young as their early twenties, though textbooks typically describe this condition as a disease of the over-fifty age group," he said.

The study group was composed of 104 patients, both men and women, broken into two age groups: 50 years old or younger and older than 50 years. Abdominal obesity was present and more severe in 85.7% of the 50 years or younger group compared with 77% of the older patients.........

Posted by: Jenn      Permalink         Source

September 20, 2006, 10:04 PM CT

Corn And Soy Plastics To Be Made Into Hog Feeders

Richard Larock sorted through a pile of neatly labeled baggies filled with the plastics he makes from corn, soybean and other bio-based oils.

Larock, a University Professor of chemistry at Iowa State University, found the thin, square piece he was looking for and smacked it against his hand. This one is made from soybean oil reinforced with glass fibers, he said. And it's the kind of tough bioplastic he and his industrial collaborators will use to develop, test and manufacture new hog feeders.

Larock said his research project is about as Iowa as you can get. The state, after all, is the country's leading producer of corn, soybeans and pork.

The project is partially supported by a grant of $96,000 from the Grow Iowa Values Fund, a state economic development program. Larock is working with AgVantage Inc., a Rockford, Ill., company with manufacturing facilities in Iowa, and R3 Composites, a Muscatine manufacturer.

Larock has invented and patented a process for producing various bioplastics from inexpensive natural oils, which make up 40 percent to 80 percent of the plastics. Larock said the plastics have excellent thermal and mechanical properties and are very good at dampening noises and vibrations. They're also very good at returning to their original shapes when they're heated.........

Posted by: Jenn      Permalink         Source