Posts for 'Diseases' Category

Scientists believe new research which charts the genetic make-up of Irish people will result in important advances in the study of diseases and the history of the population here. Researchers from University College Dublin (UCD) have defined the exact genetic make-up of an Irish person for the first time and shown how it differs from other nationalities.

It is now hoped that this revelation will help scientists studying diseases and the origins of Irish people. The entire genetic code -- the genome -- was identified by a team from the Conway Institute in UCD, headed up by Professor Brendan Loftus. This is the first time a complete Irish genetic code has been identified, using advanced technology.

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Heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women older than 25. Sixty-four percent of women who died suddenly of heart disease had no previous symptoms.

And in a 2008 study, the American Heart Association ranked Baton Rouge.

As the sixth least heart-healthy city for women in mid-sized metro cities. That’s the bad news.

There is good news, though  people can do things to dramatically decrease their risk for heart disease, Dr. David Carmouche, internist, said at a recent program on women’s heart health.

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Scientists have moved a step closer to understanding why older fathers are more likely to have children with certain genetic diseases. They have discovered a surprising genetic link between the formation of benign testicular tumours called spermocytic seminomas and several rare growth disorders, which are more common among the children of older fathers.

The abnormal testicular cells that form these rare tumours also produce sperm carrying mutant genes that cause serious inherited diseases, research at the University of Oxford and Copenhagen University Hospital in Denmark has shown.

The findings offer important new insights into the origin of several rare genetic disorders, including a cause of dwarfism called achondroplasia, and also promise to illuminate more common conditions such as autism, schizophrenia and breast cancer.

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Australian researchers may have uncovered a clue as to why some people who catch swine flu suffer life-threatening illness. And if they are right, there is an existing weapon in the treatment arsenal that could help reduce the pandemic death toll.

The group found that pregnant women who became severely ill with the new H1N1 virus had low levels of a particular antibody that is known to fight off viruses and help the body respond to vaccine. Moderately ill women were much less likely to have significantly suppressed levels of the antibody, the researchers reported.

"We all believe we may have stumbled onto something very interesting," said Dr. Lindsay Grayson, director of infectious disease at Austin Health, a network of three hospitals in Melbourne. "To our knowledge it's the first time that a correlation or an association is being noted between severe influenza of any sort and a subtle but potentially important immune deficiency."

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The lungs of people who have died from swine flu look more like those of the victims of H5N1 avian influenza than those of people who succumb to regular flu, the chief of infectious diseases pathology at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control says.

Study of about 70 fatal H1N1 cases so far also reveals there may be more incidences of co-infections with bacteria than was earlier thought, Dr. Sherif Zaki told The Canadian Press in an interview.The damage to lung tissue is consistent with that inflicted by ARDS or acute respiratory distress symptom, Zaki says, referring to an often-fatal, difficult-to-treat syndrome that can have a number of causes. The U.S. National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute estimates about 30 per cent of people who develop ARDS die.

"In terms of the disease, yes, it (H1N1) is remarkably different than seasonal flu," Zaki says. "The pathology looks very similar to H5(N1)."The dangerous avian flu virus has killed 60 per cent of the 440 people known to have been infected with it. To date, though, the virus hasn't acquired the capacity to spread easily from person to person.

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Almost nine out of 10 GPs believe diagnosing swine flu over the phone means other diseases could be missed, a study has suggested. Infections such as tonsilitis or bronchitis may be overlooked as well as serious diseases such as meningitis, according to a poll of doctors.

The survey of 251 GPs found that 87% answered yes when asked the question: "Does diagnosing swine flu over the phone mean other diseases may be missed?" Another 10% were unsure and just 3% said no.

The Government's National Pandemic Flu Service for England consists of a telephone service as well as a website. So far, about half of people being diagnosed with swine flu are receiving their diagnosis over the telephone by non-medical staff working from a checklist.

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Canada could be heading for even higher rates of heart disease, suggests a new report that finds more young Canadians are at serious risk of the disease.

The report in the Canadian Medical Association Journal found that the risk factors for cardiovascular disease -- such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and obesity -- are rising among younger people between 12 to 50 years of age.

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Celiac disease is an autoimmune digestive disease that destroys the villi of the small intestine when a sufferer ingests any form of gluten, which includes wheat, barley, and rye. It may not be swine flu, but the symptoms of Celiac disease can be varied and intense, and often take many months to correctly diagnose in suffering patients.

Symptoms can include bloating, gas, severe diarrhea, headaches, skin rash, and poor weight gain, and can also lead to unexplained depression, infertility and attention deficit disorder.  In a recent study conducted at the Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition at the Rambam Medical Center in Haifa, doctors found that previous statistics which suggested only 1:786 Israelis were Celiac sufferers was grossly incorrect and more realistically about 1:157 Israelis are affected by the disorder.

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Cases of sexually transmitted disease increased in Minnesota in 2008, according to data released by the Minnesota Department of Health on Wednesday. Young men and women accounted for the bulk of the increase, prompting some observers to call for an aggressive STD prevention campaign in Minnesota.

“What surprised us with the 2008 chlamydia data was the sudden and large increase in cases among males,” said Peter Carr, director of the STD and HIV section at the health department. “We saw a 13-percent increase among 15- to 24-year-old males, compared to the 2007 report.”

Also alarming were increases in Greater Minnesota. “With gonorrhea cases, the Twin Cities and suburban areas saw a drop in the number of cases, and Greater Minnesota saw a 14-percent increase,” said Carr. “Statewide, about six out of 10 cases occurred among those between the ages of 15 and 24.”

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Obesity, and the diseases that come with the illness, such as heart disease and diabetes, play a role in speeding up the onset of dementia and Alzheimer's disease, according to new reports.

According to the papers, published in Neurology, looking after physical health is an important part of staying mentally healthy.

One report, led by University of California professor Dr Kristine Yaffe, found that metabolic syndrome, which includes obesity, high blood pressure and low high-density lipoprotein (HDL), caused a 23 per cent increased risk of cognitive problems.

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