news health

Stroke risk increased significantly in the days, weeks and months after shingles appeared, despite use of the shingles vaccine and antiviral therapy to treat it, according to preliminary research to be presented in Honolulu at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference 2019, a world premier meeting for researchers and clinicians dedicated to the science and treatment of cerebrovascular disease. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) researchers studied more than 35,000 Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries who had been diagnosed with shingles, also known as herpes zoster, and acute ischemic stroke between 2007 and 2015. They analyzed whether having the shingles vaccine, Zostavax, as a treatment, antiviral therapy or both after shingles would impact patients' stroke risk. They found that stroke incidence jumped by 61 percent within 14 days after shingles onset. The increased stroke risk remained elevated six months after shingles ...

IMAGE:  The team systematically collected information about their participants' tattoos -- how big they were, where they were located, and what colors were used. view more  Credit: �Albina_Glisic/Shutterstock.com/MPI CBS According to Weiskopf, Director at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig (MPI CBS), "...the most important questions for us were: Can we conduct our studies with tattooed subjects without hesitation? What restrictions may exist? At the Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, part of Queen Square Institute of Neurology at University College in London, where I started the study in 2011, there were increasing numbers of volunteers with tattoos. At the time, there simply was not enough data to determine the likelihood of tattoo-related side effects arising from MRI examinations." His former colleague in London, Martina Callaghan, completed the stu...

Regular aerobic exercise such as walking, cycling or climbing stairs may improve thinking skills not only in older people but in young people as well, according to a study published in the January 30, 2019, online issue of Neurology �, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The study also found that the positive effect of exercise on thinking skills may increase as people age. The specific set of thinking skills that improved with exercise is called executive function. Executive function is a person's ability to regulate their own behavior, pay attention, organize and achieve goals. "As people age, there can be a decline in thinking skills, however our study shows that getting regular exercise may help slow or even prevent such decline," said study author Yaakov Stern, PhD, of Columbia University in New York, and a member of the American Academy of Neurology. "We found that all participants who exercised not only showed improvement...

The benefits of vitamin D in promoting bone health are already well known. A new study out of Brazil suggests that vitamin D also may promote greater insulin sensitivity, thus lowering glucose levels and the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Results are published online today in Menopause , the journal of The North American Menopause Society (NAMS). Other recent studies have shown a clear relationship between vitamin D and glycemic control, suggesting that vitamin D increases insulin sensitivity and improves pancreatic beta-cell function. In this cross-sectional study involving 680 Brazilian women aged 35 to 74 years, the goal was to evaluate the possible association between vitamin D deficiency and increased glycemia. Of the women interviewed, 24 (3.5%) reported using vitamin D supplements. Vitamin D supplementation was found to be negatively associated with high glucose levels. Habitual exposure to the sun also provided the same association, demonstrating that vitam...

IMAGE:  University of Texas at Austin researchers have found that formerly sedentary young adults who were instructed to exercise regularly for several weeks started choosing healthier foods without being asked to. view more  Credit: University of Texas at Austin In the latest evidence that it's worth sticking to your health-focused New Year's resolutions, researchers at the University of Texas at Austin have found that exercising regularly is linked to better eating habits. The new study, published this week in the International Journal of Obesity , looked at 2,680 young adults who were not exercising regularly or dieting. Scientists found that after exercising for several weeks, formerly sedentary study participants were more likely to choose foods like lean meats, fruits and vegetables, while preferences for fried foods, sodas and other unhealthy options decreased. Participants were instructed ...

Exercise is often cited as the best preventive medicine, but how much is too much for the hearts of middle-aged athletes? Sports cardiologist Dr. Benjamin Levine led a study, now published in JAMA Cardiology , to find the answer. Dr. Levine is a Professor of Internal Medicine and Director of the Institute for Exercise and Environmental Medicine, a collaboration between UT Southwestern Medical Center and Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas. What is coronary calcium scanning and why is it important? Coronary calcium scanning is an imaging test that helps physicians classify patients without cardiac symptoms as low, intermediate, or high risk for heart attack. It represents how much calcium (and thus cholesterol deposits) has accumulated in the blood vessels that supply the heart. The scan can help physicians determine the need for medication, lifestyle modification, and other risk-reducing measures. "The question has never been whether exercise is good for yo...

  Diet Healthy diet Jonathan Kantrowitzat Health News Report - 53 minutes ago Key facts - A healthy diet helps to protect against malnutrition in all its forms, as well as noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), including such as diabetes, heart disease, stroke and cancer. - Unhealthy diet and lack of physical activity are leading global risks to health. - Healthy dietary practices start early in life � breastfeeding fosters healthy growth and improves cognitive development, and may have longer term health benefits such as reducing the risk of becoming overweight or obese and developing NCDs later in life. - Energy intake (calories)... more �   Vegan diets are best for gut hormones and satiety Jonathan Kantrowitzat Health News Report - 58 minutes ago A study published in the journal *Nutrients* finds that a vegan diet helps to promote beneficial gut hormones that are responsible for regulating blood sugar, satiety, and weight. Researchers compared a vegan meal with a meal containi...

Pre-teens who use a mobile phone or watch TV in the dark an hour before bed are at risk of not getting enough sleep compared to those who use these devices in a lit room or do not use them at all before bedtime. The study by researchers from the University of Lincoln, Imperial College London, Birkbeck, University of London and the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute in Basel, Switzerland is the first to analyse the pre-sleep use of media devices with screens alongside the impact of room lighting conditions on sleep in pre-teens. It found that night-time use of phones, tablets and laptops is consistently associated with poor sleep quality, insufficient sleep, and poor perceived quality of life. Insufficient sleep has also been shown to be associated with impaired immune responses, depression, anxiety and obesity in children and adolescents. Data was collected from 6,616 adolescents aged between 11 and 12 and ...

Psychology researchers have found another reason that sleep, mood and stress are important: they affect the extent to which older adults feel they have control over their lives. The findings can inform efforts to improve an individual's sense of control, which has ramifications for physical, mental and emotional health. "We found that sleep, mood and stress are all important factors in determining a sense of control and in whether older adults feel they can do the things they want to do," says Shevaun Neupert, a professor of psychology at NC State and co-author of a paper on the work. "This finding is important because when older adults begin to lose their sense of autonomy, it can lead to changes in behavior that adversely affect their health and well-being." For this study, researchers evaluated data on 205 people between the ages of 60 and 94. Study participants provided information on a wide range of psychological variables on ...

One of the more common self-improvement goals, particularly in the winter months before "beach body" season, is to lose weight. How people attempt to achieve their goals may vary by individual, but one of the more popular approaches is enrollment in a commercial weight loss program that uses a 'buddy system' approach to weight loss. This is where the program's design is aimed to shape and optimize a sense of community among participants to generate a positive impact on the participants' individual weight loss efforts. So, does it work? According to some new research, it does, but possibly not in the ways most people assume. The study to be published in the January edition of the INFORMS journal Marketing Science is titled "Inspiration from the 'Biggest Loser': Social Interactions in a Weight Loss Program," and is authored by Kosuke Uetake of Yale University, and Nathan Yang of McGill University in Montreal. The study focus...