Action video games improve vision

Video games that involve high levels of action, such as first-person-shooter games, increase a player's real-world vision, according to research in today's Nature Neuroscience. more  

Study shows that allergic reactions to plavix can be treated with steroids and antihistamines

A clinical study of cardiac patients who suffered an allergic reaction to the widely-prescribed drug clopidogrel, also known by the pharmaceutical name Plavix, found that treatment with a combination of steroids and antihistamines can alleviate the allergic reaction symptoms thereby allowing patients to remain on the drug, say doctors from Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. The study followed 24 patients, who developed Plavix allergies after undergoing coronary stent procedures. more

Low-income families with sick children often enrolled in high-deductible health care plans

High-deductible health plans are increasingly used by healthy people who are unlikely to incur high medical expenses. But they also end up enrolling many low-income, vulnerable families, finds a study of Massachusetts families from Children's Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School's Department of Ambulatory Care and Prevention (DACP). The study appears in the April issue of the journal Pediatrics. more  

After heart attack, bone marrow stem cells increase blood flow within heart

Patients treated with their own bone marrow stem cells after a heart attack experienced increased circulation within the heart, a study by Emory University School of Medicine physicians has found. more

Infant weight gain linked to childhood obesity  

As childhood obesity continues its thirty-year advance from occasional curiosity to cultural epidemic, health care providers are struggling to find out why—and the reasons are many. Increasingly sedentary environments for both adults and children, as well as cheap and ubiquitous processed foods no doubt play a role, but researchers are finding more evidence that the first clues for childhood obesity may begin as far back as early infancy. more

New link in liver cancer 

Liver damage can be triggered by various insults, including hepatitis infection or alcohol-induced cirrhosis. In severe cases, this damage can lead to cancer. A new study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health and Osaka University reveals how one protein helps decide the fate of damaged livers in mice. The study will be published online on March 30th in the Journal of Experimental Medicine. more

Enzyme and vitamin define the yin and yang of asthma

The allergen breathed in by a person with asthma triggers a proteinase or enzyme called MMP7 that activates a cascade of events to prompt an allergic reaction, said a consortium of researchers led by Baylor College of Medicine (www.bcm.edu) in Houston in a report that appears online today in the journal Nature Immunology. more

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