With the new school year around the corner, parents of asthmatic kids are bracing for the “September spike.” The annual asthma flare-up accounts for an estimated 25 per cent of children’s emergency room admissions in September, according to the B.C. Lung Association. Asthma attacks spike in September when kids return to school.
ScienceDaily (Aug. 31, 2010) Survival rates in heart failure patients with reduced levels of vitamin D are lower than in patients with normal levels. This is the finding of a major study carried out at University Medical Center, Groningen, Netherlands, according to a presentation at the European Society of Cardiology’s Congress 2010 in Stockholm. Results also suggest that low levels of vitamin D are associated with activation of the Renin Angiotensin System (RAS — a pivotal regulatory system ...
It has taken more than a year, but kidney transplants will again be done in Saskatchewan, the provincial government says. On Friday, Health Minister Don McMorris announced the partial resumption of Saskatchewan’s kidney transplant program. It’s partial because only kidneys from living donors will be used, not those from deceased donors. The Saskatoon-based transplant program was suspended in July 2009 because of a shortage of specialists. Vascular surgeons stopped doing the procedure after a key member of the team stepped ...
ScienceDaily (Aug. 31, 2010) One of the most difficult aspects of working at the nanoscale is actually seeing the object being worked on. Biological structures like viruses, which are smaller than the wavelength of light, are invisible to standard optical microscopes and difficult to capture in their native form with other imaging techniques. A multi-disciplinary research group at UCLA has now teamed up to not only visualize a virus but to use the results to adapt the virus ...
Chronic stress plays an important role in heart attacks, according to an Israeli-Canadian study of stress hormone levels in hair. Ongoing psychological stressors such as job strain, marital problems and financial stress have been linked to a higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease including heart attacks, but not all studies have found such links. Some studies used questionnaires that asked people to recall stress levels, which might be difficult to remember accurately.
ScienceDaily (May 18, 2010) Thousands of people who are partially-sighted following stroke or brain injury could gain greater independence from a simple, cheap and accessible training course which could eventually be delivered from their mobile phones or hand-held games consoles, according to a new study. The new research has found that a computer-based technique developed and assessed by Durham University improved partially-sighted people’s capability to ‘see’ better.
Veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder may have a higher risk of dementia than those without the stress disorder, a U.S. study suggests. Life-threatening events such as war are thought to cause PTSD. Symptoms include avoiding people or things that remind someone of a trauma, nightmares, difficulty with sleep, and mood problems. “We found veterans with PTSD had twice the chance for later being diagnosed with dementia than veterans without PTSD,” stated Mark Kunik, a psychiatrist at the Michael E.
ScienceDaily (Sep. 1, 2010) Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are DNA sequence variations that occur when a single nucleotide in the genome sequence is altered. Prior research suggested an association between SNPs in a gene that encodes aspects of the brain’s gamma-amino butyric acid (GABA)-A receptors (the GABRA2 gene) and alcohol dependence. A study of responses to the aromas of alcoholic drinks according to subjects’ genotyping at a SNP in GABRA2 has found that this genotype can affect the brain’s ...
The air quality health index in Toronto has exceeded a rating of seven on only two other days this year. (Dwight Friesen/CBC) Environment Canada has issued a smog and humidex advisory for Toronto as temperatures remain unusually high Tuesday. The high is expected to reach 33 C, even though it will feel more like the low 40s after factoring in humidity.
ScienceDaily (Aug. 31, 2010) Personal listening devices like iPods have become increasingly popular among young — and not-so-young — people in recent years. But music played through headphones too loud or too long might pose a significant risk to hearing, according to a 24-year study of adolescent girls. The study, which appears on-line in the Journal of Adolescent Health, involved 8,710 girls of lower socio-economic status, whose average age was about 16. Their hearing was tested when they ...