Alternative Health News

Researchers look to understand the causes of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), in the hope of finding new ways to treat the disease. A new study published online in the Cell Press journal Neuron shows that a common gene mutation in ALS generates a deadly protein that may cause the damage in the brain that leads to ALS. About 5 percent of ALS patients carry an altered … [Read more...]

Amyloid precursor protein (APP), a key protein implicated in the development Alzheimer's disease, may play an important role in eye and muscle health. In a new report published in the June 2015 issue of The FASEB Journal, scientists have discovered that when proteins that bind to the APP, called FE65 and FE65L1, are deleted, they cause cataracts and muscle weakness in mice. … [Read more...]

One of the greatest casualties of war is its lasting effect on the minds of soldiers. This presents a daunting public health problem: More than 20 percent of veterans returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have post-traumatic stress disorder, according to a 2012 report by RAND Corp. A new study from the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds at the Waisman Center of … [Read more...]

From multivitamins to supplements that pledge to help with everything from depression to treating athlete's foot, whole stores are filled with these alternative medications. With so many options out there it can be difficult for patients to know what is beneficial or even where to start. "Today more than ever it's important for patients to work with their physician or … [Read more...]

Researchers from the University of Birmingham have identified an important new way in which our immune systems are regulated, and hope that understanding it will help tackle the debilitating effects of type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis and other serious diseases. The team discovered a novel pathway that regulates the movement of pathogenic immune cells from the blood … [Read more...]

In patients with a traumatic brain injury (TBI), neither the administration of the hormone erythropoietin (EPO) or maintaining a higher hemoglobin concentration through blood transfusion resulted in improved neurological outcome at 6 months, according to a study in the July 2 issue of JAMA. Transfusing at higher hemoglobin concentrations was associated with a higher risk of … [Read more...]

Lack of sleep can make you sick. And while everybody has the occasional restless night, for those who suffer from chronic insomnia -- some 15 percent of older adults in the United States -- that sleep loss can increase the risk for cardiovascular disease, hypertension, weight gain, type 2 diabetes, and even lead to an earlier death. The reason for the increased risk of … [Read more...]

Right now no one can say whether yoga provides clinical benefits to people with bipolar disorder, but in a new article in the Journal of Psychiatric Practice, researchers report survey responses they gathered from scores of people with the condition who practice yoga. What the collective testimony suggests is that yoga can be a substantial help, but it sometimes carries risks, … [Read more...]

Coaching patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease to manage stress, practice relaxation and participate in light exercise can boost a patient's quality of life and can even improve physical symptoms, researchers at Duke Medicine report. In a study published online Sept. 25, 2014, in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine, Duke researchers examined how telephone-based … [Read more...]

New research by biomedical engineers at the University of Minnesota shows that people who practice yoga and meditation long term can learn to control a computer with their minds faster and better than people with little or no yoga or meditation experience. The research could have major implications for treatments of people who are paralyzed or have neurodegenerative … [Read more...]

More than two-thirds of children from low-income Latino families don't receive adequate pain control when they go home after surgery, according to a study being presented at the ANESTHESIOLOGY™ 2014 annual meeting. Obstacles to appropriate pain management include language barriers, misconceptions about pain management and a preference for alternative therapies, the study … [Read more...]

While participating in physical activities such as bike riding, dancing, walking and gardening and mentally stimulating activities such as crosswords and reading may reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease, they may not do so by affecting the underlying markers for the disease, according to a study published in the June 10, 2015, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal … [Read more...]

While most people should expect to fully recover from whiplash injuries within the first few months, about 25 percent have long-term pain and disability that lasts many months or years. Using special MRI imaging, Northwestern Medicine scientists have identified, within the first one and two weeks of the injury, which patients will go on to develop chronic pain, disability … [Read more...]

The relationship between mental and physical health is well established. But when mental and physical illnesses co-occur, patients' accounts of physical illness are sometimes arbitrarily discredited or dismissed by physicians. Research by Jeremy D. Coplan, MD, professor of psychiatry at SUNY Downstate Medical Center, and colleagues has documented a high rate of association … [Read more...]

A new study by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine found that synchronized physiological interactions between remote brain regions have genetic underpinnings. The research was performed at Stanford but was made possible by collaborations with the Seattle-based Allen Institute for Brain Science and the IMAGEN Consortium, a multicenter European project, … [Read more...]

An experimental drug designed to help regulate the blood's iron supply shows promise as a viable first treatment for anemia of inflammation, according to results from the first human study of the treatment published online today in Blood, the Journal of the American Society of Hematology Anemia is a condition that occurs when red blood cells are in short supply or do not … [Read more...]

A Penn Medicine-developed drug has received orphan status in Europe this week for the treatment of paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH), a rare, life-threatening disease that causes anemia due to destruction of red blood cells and thrombosis. Orphan status brings such benefits as tax incentives, market exclusivity for 10 years, possibilities for additional research … [Read more...]

The government, pharmaceutical industry, and national medical organizations need to work together to look at the harms and benefits of long-term use of cognitive-enhancing drugs by healthy individuals, say neuroscientists Professor Barbara Sahakian and Dr Sharon Morein-Zamir from the University of Cambridge in the UK, writing in a Personal View in The Lancet Psychiatry … [Read more...]

From 2004 to 2010 in Texas, mental illness was the most common reason for the hospitalization of children ages 10-14 while pregnancy/birth was the most common reason for the hospitalization of adolescents ages 15-17, according to researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) Medical School. The results were published in the July issue of … [Read more...]

A simple point-of-care testing device for anemia could provide more rapid diagnosis of the common blood disorder and allow inexpensive at-home self-monitoring of persons with chronic forms of the disease. The disposable self-testing device analyzes a single droplet of blood using a chemical reagent that produces visible color changes corresponding to different levels of … [Read more...]

At some point, virtually every child gets a stomachache. Fortunately, it's usually short-lived and not cause for concern. But what happens when a child's stomach troubles -- including pain and constipation or diarrhea -- don't go away? Harry Cynamon, MD, a pediatric gastroenterologist at Children's Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA), talks about the elusive nature of irritable … [Read more...]

Every 67 seconds someone is the United States develops Alzheimer's disease or some form of dementia. It's the sixth leading cause of death in the U.S. and it's the only cause of death in the top 10 in America that cannot be prevented, cured or slowed. This month, as the nation observes "Alzheimer's & Brain Awareness Month," James E. Galvin, M.D., M.P.H., one of the most … [Read more...]

Nursing home residents with dementia are less likely to be apathetic if they live in an appropriately stimulating environment, according to nursing researchers. Nearly half of all residents in nursing homes have dementia, according to a 2013 report by the Centers for Disease Control. Apathy is one of the most common neurobehavioral symptoms in dementia, with about 90 percent of … [Read more...]

A new study finds that that 1.2 percent of American preschool children on Medicaid are using psychotropic drugs, including antidepressants, mood stabilizers and medications for attention-deficit disorder. Using 2000-2003 Medicaid Analytic Extract data from 36 states, a group of researchers at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis and at Washington University … [Read more...]