“Fat” hormone sheds new light on obesity
The hormone, leptin, that tells us we are full also regulates our desire for certain foods, researchers said on Thursday. The finding sheds light on why people gain weight and could lead to new treatments for obesity.
The study showed that patients with a rare genetic disorder who lacked the hormone ate less after receiving injections of the hormone, said I.S. Farooqi, a researcher at Cambridge University who led the study.
“Whispering stroke” symptoms may damage health, lower quality of life
People who have stroke-like symptoms but no stroke diagnosis incur physical and mental damage that significantly lowers their quality of life, according to a report in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.
In a study reviewing data from more than 21,000 people, those reporting stroke-like symptoms had functional impairment similar to that of people who had a history of transient ischemic attack (TIA), which is sometimes called “mini-stroke.” Because almost 20 percent of people older than age 45 may have vague or “whispering stroke” symptoms, the condition poses a major public health problem, said study author George Howard, Dr.P.H.
Hearing test may spot babies at risk for SIDS
A subtle difference in responses on a newborn hearing screening test may identify babies who are at risk for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), according to a new study.
A disruption of the function of the inner ear may interfere with not only hearing but also with a baby’s control of breathing during sleep, the researchers explain in the medical journal Early Human Development. This defect in the inner ear of newborns can be detected with a particular hearing test, called “transient evoked otoacoustic emission” or TEOAE.
Minorities at higher risk of arthritis disability
Black and Hispanic adults with arthritis are more likely than whites to become disabled from the joint disease, new research findings suggest.
In a study that followed nearly 7,300 Americans with arthritis for six years, researchers found that African-American patients were twice as likely to develop a disability as their white counterparts. The same was true of Hispanic adults who spoke Spanish as their primary language, but not primarily English-speaking Hispanic patients.
Flu killed 68 children this season: CDC
Influenza killed at least 68 children in America during the latest flu season and a third of them had a worrying new complication, U.S. health officials said on Thursday.
The 2006-2007 annual flu season never reached epidemic stage, but doctors should keep a lookout for such dangerous cases in children, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
