Categories
Cardiovascular
Diagnostics
Endocrinology
Health Insurance
Medical Devices
Mental Health
Nutrition
Oncology
Public Health
Sexual Health
Popular Articles

UCF Team's Advanced Nerve Cell System Could Help Cure Diabetic Neuropathy, Related Diseases
Multiple sclerosis, diabetic neuropathy, and other conditions caused by a loss of myelin insulation around nerves can be debilitating and even deadly, but adequate treatments do not yet exist. That"s in large part because of deficiencies in model research systems. In an upcoming issue of the journal Biomaterials, a UCF team addresses this problem with a report on the first lab-grown motor nerves that are insulated and organized the same way they are in the body. The group"s model system, along with further advances now within reach, could dramatically improve understanding of the causes of myelin-related conditions, and enable discovery and testing of new drug therapies.
generic viagra online
New York State Compensation Policy For Egg Donors 'Seems Justifiable,' New York Times Editorial States
Although New York state"s decision to allow state-funded embryonic stem cell researchers to compensate women for donating their eggs "has provoked criticism from some ethicists and runs counter to guidelines issued by" NIH and the National Academy of Sciences, it still "seems justifiable" to pay the women "for undergoing an arduous procedure and to spur progress on potentially important research that has been slowed because of a lack of human eggs," a New York Times editorial states. The state"s Empire State Stem Cell Board last month made the decision to allow researchers to pay women up to $10,000 as compensation.According to the editorial, "[w]omen already get paid comparable sums to donate their eggs to help infertile women have a child through in vitro fertilization," so it "is hard to see why they should not be paid for contributing their eggs for research." The editorial notes that the "money is meant as reimbursement for travel, housing, child care or medical expenses," and it also would "compensate the women for the considerable time, burden and inconvenience of harvesting their eggs, a process that can take 56 hours spread out over many weeks.""The board set reasonable constraints, insisting that the research be rigorously reviewed and approved by oversight committees, that donors be fully informed of potential physical and psychological risks and that they give informed consent to the procedure," the editorial states. It adds, "One concern has been that payments could induce women, especially poor women, to provide eggs without fully considering potential risks." The editorial continues, "In an effort to mitigate that possibility, the stem cell board will follow the guidelines of the American Society of Reproductive Medicine, which require justification for payments of $5,000 or more and deem sums above $10,000 inappropriate."The editorial adds, "Human eggs are highly prized for some of the most promising research, notably studies that require matching embryonic stem cells to a particular patient with a particular disease," concluding, "It has proved almost impossible to recruit women to go through the arduous process for free," so the "board was right to allow fair compensation" (New York Times, 7/11).
News of the day
Need Something? Talk To My Right Ear!
We humans prefer to be addressed in our right ear and are more likely to perform a task when we receive the request in our right ear rather than our left. In a series of three studies, looking at ear preference in communication between humans, Dr. Luca Tommasi and Daniele Marzoli from the University "Gabriele d"Annunzio" in Chieti, Italy, show that a natural side bias, depending on hemispheric asymmetry in the brain, manifests itself in everyday human behavior. Their findings were just published online in Springer"s journal Naturwissenschaften.
Oncology

Moderately Reduced Carbohydrate Diet Keeps People Feeling Full Longer

A modest reduction in the amount of carbohydrates eaten, without calorie restriction and weight loss, appears to increase a sense of fullness, which may help people eat less, a preliminary study found. The results were presented at The Endocrine Society"s 91st Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. "There has been great public interest in low-carbohydrate diets for weight loss, but they are difficult to maintain, in part because of the drastic reduction in carbohydrates," said coauthor Barbara Gower, PhD, a professor in the Department of Nutrition Sciences, University of Alabama at Birmingham. In this study funded by the National Institutes of Health, Gower and her co-workers investigated whether a modest reduction in dietary carbohydrates, or "carbs," would improve feelings of fullness better than a carbohydrate level comparable to that of the typical U.S. diet. In a standard American diet, according to Gower, 55 percent of daily calories consumed come from carbohydrates: sugars, starches and fiber. The control diet used in their study contained 55 percent of daily calories from carbohydrates, in contrast to their "moderate-carb diet" which was 43 percent of calories from carbohydrates. The moderate-carb diet had more fat than their control diet 39 percent versus 27 percent of calories so that protein intake could be the same percentage. The researchers matched the protein intake of both diets studied (18 percent of calories) because protein may influence both satiety ("fullness") and insulin secretion. The authors assigned the moderate-carb diet to 16 adults and the standard diet to 14 adults for a month. Subjects received enough calories to maintain their weight at what it was before the study. During the study they were weighed each weekday, and if a participant gained or lost weight, the amount of food was modified individually so weight could stay the same. After the subjects adjusted to their diet for 4 weeks, they ate a test meal, a breakfast that was specific to their diet. When carbs are eaten and digested, they change into sugar. Before and after the meal, the researchers measured the subjects" levels of insulin and circulating glucose (nonfasting blood sugar) and asked them to rate their hunger or fullness. They evaluated insulin response to a meal and blood sugar levels, because lower insulin and stable blood sugar levels may contribute to increased feelings of fullness, Gower explained. Their research showed that, even in the absence of weight loss, a modest reduction in dietary carbohydrates was sufficient to lower insulin and stabilize blood sugar after a meal. Ratings of fullness were higher in the group on the moderate-carb diet before eating breakfast and stayed higher for a longer time after the meal, compared with those eating the standard diet. "Over the long run a sustained modest reduction in carbohydrate intake may help to reduce energy consumption and facilitate weight loss," Gower said. Paula Chandler-Laney, PhD, of the University of Alabama at Birmingham presented the study results. Endocrine Society


Add your comment:
Name:
Site address: http://
Your message:
Enter today\\\\'s date, 2 digits
(spam protection):

© Copyright 2009