Archive for the ‘Health Care’ Category

A new program to help patients and health care professionals feel more comfortable talking about bowel control problems is now available from the National Institutes of Health.

Autism blurs the molecular differences that normally distinguish different brain regions, a new study suggests. Among more than 500 genes that are normally expressed at significantly different levels in the front versus the lower middle part of the brain’s outer mantle, or cortex, only 8 showed such differences in brains of people with autism, say researchers funded in part by the National Institutes of Health.

Delineation of the origin of the retrovirus known as XMRV from the genomes of laboratory mice indicates that the virus is unlikely to be responsible for either prostate cancer or chronic fatigue syndrome in humans, as has been widely published. The virus arose because of genetic recombination of two mouse viruses. Subsequent infection of lab experiments with XMRV formed the basis of the original association.

On June 5, 1981, an article concerning five previously healthy, young gay men in Los Angeles diagnosed with Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia, an infection that usually appears only in individuals with substantial immune system damage, appeared in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, a publication of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Following recent anti-terrorism activity in Pakistan, the U.S. Department of State has issued an alert for U.S. citizens who are living or traveling abroad. Due to possible increases in anti-American violence, those living or staying in volatile areas should limit travel, avoid mass gatherings, and follow media reports on local events.

Today marks the launch of the second annual MusiCares and GRAMMY Foundation Teen Substance Abuse Awareness through Music Contest. Announced by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health, along with MusiCares and the GRAMMY Foundation — the two nonprofit organizations of The Recording Academy — the contest asks young musicians, ages 14-18, to compose or create an original song and/or music video that explores, encourages, and celebrates a healthy lifestyle or accurately depicts a story about drug abuse. Winners will be revealed during NIDA’s second annual National Drug Facts Week, which begins Oct. 31, 2011.

Make your health a top priority through good nutrition, regular exercise, preventive screenings, and stress management.

Thirty years since the first report of the disease we now know as AIDS, scientists supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, continue advancing toward our goal of a vaccine to prevent HIV infection. I am optimistic that we will succeed.

Get practical tips on hay fever, depression, keeping food safe, getting a good night’s sleep, HPV (human papillomavirus), and other topics. You can order the kit in printed form or view an online version of the publications.

Men and women infected with HIV reduced the risk of transmitting the virus to their sexual partners by taking oral antiretroviral medicines when their immune systems were relatively healthy, according to findings from a large-scale clinical study sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health.

Exposure to secondhand smoke, such as a person can get by riding in an enclosed car while someone else smokes, has a direct, measurable impact on the brain — and the effect is similar to what happens in the brain of the person doing the smoking.

Today, the National Institutes of Health joins with public health officials, health organizations, and patient groups around the world to recognize World Asthma Day.

Have you traced your family history through several generations? Use government resources to help you discover your ancestors.

See which pages, links, and search terms were most popular on USA.gov last month.

Whether you’ve been giving an hour each month to tutor kids or working regular hours at a shelter, share your story on Serve.gov’s blog.

Martha J. Somerman, D.D.S., Ph.D., has been appointed as director of the National Institute of dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR). She is currently dean of the University of Washington School of Dentistry, Seattle, a position she has held since 2002. She will begin her duties as NIDCR director on Aug. 29, 2011. National Institutes of Health Director Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., selected Somerman.

A specific form of vitamin E improved the most severe form of fatty liver disease in some children, according to a study funded by the National Institutes of Health. Results appear in the April 27 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. A previous study found vitamin E effective in some adults with the disease.

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