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432 news posts in Health

Health

28 Oct 2016

Frontiers in Pediatrics welcomes Prof Barbara Ludwikowski as Specialty Chief Editor

  Frontiers in Pediatrics is thrilled to announce Professor Barbara Ludwikowski (Auf Der Bult Children’Hospital, Hannover) as the new Specialty Chief Editor of the Pediatric Surgery section. In her career as clinical scientist, she has made important scientific contributions to the understanding of urological diseases and genital anomalies in children and infants. As Prof. Ludwikowski emphasizes: “One of the challenges in Pediatric Surgery is the inevitable development of ever more narrow subspecialty areas. While specialization is essential given the constant addition of new knowledge, new diagnostic, treatment modalities and surgical techniques, we should remember what Owen H Wangensteen wrote in his book about the state of general surgery after World War II.” “With the extension of surgery into many new areas since World War II and consequent fragmentation, a more important query confronting surgery today is, can we survive as a unified body? The answer would appear to be free communication between its many disciplines. Tight compartmentalization breeds sterility, the only hope is transpollination, the catalyst of life.” – Wangensteen O, Wangensteen S (1978). The Rise of Surgery. From Empiric Craft to Scientific Discipline. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press Describing her objective for the specialty section, Prof. Ludwikowski aims to […]

Health

07 Oct 2016

Mental illness genetically linked to drug use and misuse

By Tania Fitzgeorge-Balfour, Frontiers Science Writer A person’s genetic risk for psychiatric disorders is related to his or her vulnerability to substance use and misuse There are many reports of drug use leading to mental health problems, and we all know of someone having a few too many drinks to cope with a bad day. Many people who are diagnosed with a mental health disorder indulge in drugs, and vice versa. As severity of both increase, problems arise and they become more difficult to treat. But why substance involvement and psychiatric disorders often co-occur is not well understood. In addition to environmental factors, such as stress and social relationships, a person’s genetic make-up can also contribute to their vulnerability to drug use and misuse as well as mental health problems. So could genetic risk for mental illness be linked to a person’s liability to use drugs? This question has been addressed in a new study, published in the open-access journal Frontiers in Genetics. “Our research shows that if someone is genetically predisposed towards having mental illness, they are also prone to use licit and illicit substances and develop problematic usage patterns,” says Caitlin E. Carey, a PhD student in the […]

Health

07 Oct 2016

Safe Work Under the Sun

European outdoor workers are at great risk of developing non-melanoma skin cancer – so great that statistically speaking, in long-term outdoor workers, some 75-90% will develop the disease over their life time. While the numbers are startling, so is the lack of awareness of the situation. Ironically this lack of awareness is especially prevalent among outdoor workers, i.e. the people most at risk of developing non-melanoma skin cancer as a result of their occupational sun exposure. Given that skin cancer is in fact preventable, it seems an opportunity missed by not adequately informing individuals and adopting better workplace practices. Protecting workers from overexposure to UV makes total sense when we think about the savings in subsequent healthcare cost burden and even more importantly, avoidance of individual suffering and familial stress caused by skin cancer. At this year’s European Academy of Dermatology and Venerology (EADV) Congress, Prof. Swen Malte John (Professor and Chairman at the Department of Dermatology, Environmental Medicine, Health Theory, University of Osnabrueck, Germany), explained the situation: “Solar UV irradiation is now classified as a group 1 carcinogen by the WHO, being in the same category as cigarette smoking, asbestos and plutonium, yet there is no legislation in place […]

Health

30 Sep 2016

Pharmaceutical Innovation after World War II: from rational drug discovery to biopharmaceuticals

“The twentieth century has witnessed an unprecedented advancement of biomedical sciences, especially in drug discovery and design. After World War II, life-saving pharmaceutical innovation has materialised primarily through systematic research, and has consisted of a series of thematic developments that have been tightly-linked not only to the contemporary technological advances, but also particularly to the contemporary understanding of human physiology and pathophysiology.” By organising the Frontiers Research Topic “Pharmaceutical innovation after World War II: from rational drug discovery to biopharmaceuticals” in Frontiers in Pharmacology, Professor Tilli Tansey OBE and Dr Apostolos Zarros aim to explore, delineate, and conceptualise pharmaceutical innovation in the post-World War II era with contributions covering a broad spectrum of paradigm shifting factors and achievements that have shaped the pharmaceutical landscape. We asked them to share with us the inspiration behind the project. What inspired you to organize a Research Topic on pharmaceutical innovation after World War II? We are members of the History of Modern Biomedicine Research Group, which is funded by the Wellcome Trust and committed to open-access publishing. We study the history of recent biomedicine, principally by employing oral history methodology, and generate a variety of resources by collecting, transcribing, editing and undertaking research […]

Health

29 Sep 2016

Open for submissions: New Specialty Section Obesity

by Victor Kouassi, Frontiers Under the leadership of Prof. Katherine Samaras  of St Vincent’s Hospital and the Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Sydney, the journals; Frontiers in Endocrinology, Frontiers in Public Health and Frontiers in Nutrition have launched a new specialty section on Obesity. The section is now open for submissions. The Obesity Specialty Section is intended to reflect the multidisciplinary research and strategies developed in this subject from “champions from every paradigm of science, clinical practice, public health, economics and policy” states Specialty Chief Editor Prof. Samaras. With figures from the WHO showing a doubling worldwide of obese individuals since 1980, obesity has rapidly become an issue deserving of immense attention in countries of all levels of income. The need for faster and widespread dissemination of research findings to mitigate and tackle this issue are increasingly in demand. In her recently published Specialty Grand Challenge article, this threat is described as an “Obesity Armageddon” which can be dodged by encouraging “innovative science in obesity, to integrate scientific effort between the disciplines”. Asked on what attracted her to launch this section in Frontiers, Dr. Samaras said, “The Frontiers series of journals are at the cutting edge. The process of Peer Review is innovative, […]

Health

26 Sep 2016

Why do more men commit suicide than women?

by Simon Watt, Frontiers Science Writer Why do more men die when they attempt suicide than women? The answer could lie in four traits, find scientists. More than 6,000 British lives are lost to suicide each year, and nearly 75 per cent of those are male. However, research has found women are more likely to suffer from depression, and to attempt to take their own life. Scientists interested in this sex difference looked into why men’s attempts at suicide were more likely to be fatal, in a study published in open-access journal Frontiers in Psychiatry. Although men tend to choose more lethal methods than women do, the study found that even when men and women try to kill themselves using the same method, men are still more likely to die. 4 traits for suicide Prof. Gopikrishna Deshpande and his team from Auburn University in USA found there are four traits defined as “the acquired capability for suicide” which men are more likely to have than women. The traits are fearlessness of death, pain tolerance, emotional stoicism and sensation seeking. People experiencing a desire to commit suicide will not do so without first losing their fear of dying and developing the […]

Health

20 Sep 2016

Searching for answers in Hernia surgery

by Emily Barker, Frontiersin.org  Hernia surgery is one of the largest fields in general surgery – worldwide there are more than 30 million operations performed each year. Hernias are a common aliment, which if left untreated can turn into a strangulated hernia – a very painful and potentially lethal condition. However, despite large numbers of hernia cases across the world, Ferdinand Köckerling, Field Chief Editor for Frontiers in Surgery, explained there is still a number of unsolved questions when it comes to treating them. Over the past six years he and a network of surgeons have collected data from over 330,000 hernia cases for their Herniamed registry. There are many different procedures including an open or minimally invasive approach. He explained: “For the hundreds of different procedures, there is still an ongoing discussion what the best approach is for the patients.” Herniamed, a non-profit organisation, is attempting to answer those questions and they have already made some discoveries. “We found there is a clear correlation between the case volume of the surgeons and the outcome – that means when you want to have optimal outcome for the patients then you need more specialized surgeons in the field of hernia surgery;” explained […]

Health

12 Sep 2016

Eating your greens could enhance sport performance

By Fabienne Eckert, Frontiers Science Writer Nitrate supplementation in conjunction with Sprint Interval Training in low oxygen conditions could enhance sport performance a study has found. Researchers from the University of Leuven in Belgium carried out a study with twenty-seven moderately trained participants. These were given nitrate supplements ahead of Sprint Interval Training (SIT), which took the form of short but intense cycling sessions three times a week. Nitrate is commonly found in diets rich in leafy green foods, like spinach and is important for the functioning of the human body, especially during exercising. To assess differences in performance in different conditions, the study included workouts in normal oxygen conditions and in hypoxia conditions, which are low oxygen levels such as those found in high altitudes. The observations published in Frontiers in Physiology were unexpected: after only five weeks, the muscle fiber composition changed with the enhanced nitrate intake when training in low oxygen conditions. “This is probably the first study to demonstrate that a simple nutritional supplementation strategy, i.e. oral nitrate intake, can impact on training-induced changes in muscle fiber composition;” stated Professor Peter Hespel from the Athletic Performance Center at the University of Leuven. For athletes participating in […]

Health

18 Aug 2016

Just ten weeks of exercise can protect heart

— by Emily Barker, Frontiersin.org Just ten-weeks of exercise is nearly 100% effective at protecting the heart from potentially lethal changes in heart rhythms. Professor George Billman, Field Chief Editor of Frontiers in Physiology, works on preventing ventricular fibrillation, a very specific and potentially lethal change in cardiac rhythm, since 1980. In his current work, he has found that exercise could be the best non-pharmacological way to protect our hearts after sudden cardiac arrest. During ventricular fibrillation the heart does not beat in a coordinated fashion, instead it is a disorganized electrical event. “This is what you will see when they call a code blue and bring in a defibrillator to try to restore a cardiac rhythm,” he explained. The heart receives two sets of nerves, the sympathetic and the parasympathetic. A change in cardiac rhythms can be found when there is high sympathetic activity and low parasympathetic activity. To find the best way to protect the heart, Prof. Billman and his research team induced animals with a sudden cardiac arrest. They then put some of the animals on a ten week training program. About 95% of those who exercised were protected at the end of the program, whereas the sedentary animals got worse over time. […]

Health

17 Aug 2016

Frontiers in Medicine welcomes new Specialty Chief Editor of the Dermatology Section

We are delighted to announce Prof. Robert Gniadecki as our Specialty Chief Editor of the Dermatology Section in Frontiers in Medicine. Prof. Gniadecki (University of Alberta, Canada) is past President of the Danish Dermatological Society, a board member of the European Society of Dermatological Research and International Society of Cutaneous Lymphomas and serves on the editorial board of several journals. Prof. Gniadecki’s research focuses on translational aspects of cutaneous oncology with a focus on the pathogenesis and experimental therapy of cutaneous T-cell lymphomas and immunology of skin cancers. His clinical research areas include psoriasis, skin cancer risk, radiotherapy and phototherapy of cutaneous T-cell lymphomas. Prof. Gniadecki emphasizes the importance of dermatology in light of our improved understanding of the intricate interactions within the human body. He said: “Skin is the largest immunologically active organ in the human body and skin inflammation has profound effect on other tissues and organs, in particular the cardiovascular, endocrine and the central nervous system.” Furthermore, he underscores connections between dermatology and other medical disciplines and the importance of accounting for these to advance the field because “dermatology is deeply rooted in general medicine and skin diseases and cannot be fully understood without reference to other medical […]

Health

17 Aug 2016

Hospitalized patients at risk if sodium levels are low

by Emily Barker, Frontiersin.org Hospitalized ‪patients could be at risk of weak ‪‎bones‬ and increased infections if physicians ignore signs of low-sodium in the body, known as hyponatremia. Scientists knew that hyponatremia caused swelling in the brain, however new research shows that the condition is actually systemic and affects all of the body. Hyponatremia can demineralize the bones causing osteopenia – weak bones – leading to increased risk of falls and fractures, it can also lead to greater risk of infection and cause sepsis. This is particularly dangerous for elderly patients. The sodium in the body is very tightly regulated in a very narrow range, certain illnesses can mean the body is unable to get rid of water properly causing the sodium level to get low.    “When that happens water moves from outside of the cells to inside of the cells, but we are finding that low blood sodium alters cellular function so that cells do not function properly;” explained Dr. Michael Moritz, Field Chief Editor for Frontiers in Pediatrics, and Associate Editor for Nephrology in Frontiers in Medicine. Patients who are acutely ill have high vasopressin, which decreases their ability to get rid of water, increasing the risk of […]