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In the UK, men can donate every 12 weeks, and women every 16 weeks, but the study showed that reducing the interval between donations by 4 weeks (to every 8 weeks for men, and every 12 weeks for women) had no major impact on the donors' quality of life, mental function or physical activity, and increased the amount of blood collected over two years by 33% (1.7 units) in men and 24% (0.85 units) in women. However, some people who gave blood more frequently did report minor symptoms including tiredness and restless legs, and the research suggests this may have been due to giving blood. The findings may help overcome potential risks to blood stocks, including issues attracting and retaining young donors, and increased demand caused by aging populations. In addition, it could help to increase stocks of much-needed universal blood groups  and rarer blood groups. "This study suggests that more frequent blood donation is a feasible and safe option for donors in the UK, and g...

The study analyzed blood and hair samples of 106 children 7 to 9 years of age from East Liverpool and surrounding communities, who enrolled in the study from March 2013 to June 2014. Working with a trained registered nurse from East Liverpool, participants and their caregivers were also given cognitive assessments and questionnaires at the time the samples were taken. The study found that increased Mn in hair samples was significantly associated with declines in full-scale IQ, processing speed and working memory. Manganese is an element generally found in combination with iron and many minerals . It plays a vital role in brain growth and development, but excessive exposure can result in neurotoxicity. Manganese is used widely in the production of steel, alloys, batteries and fertilizers and is added to unleaded gasoline. Erin Haynes, DrPH, associate professor in the Department of Environmental Health and lead author of the study, was approached by East Liverpool school district...

Birth defects affect 1 in 33 babies and are a leading cause of infant mortality in the United States. More than 5,500 infants die each year because of birth defects. The babies who live with birth defects are at increased risk for developing many lifelong physical , cognitive and social challenges that also affect their families. The study, by researchers at the University of Utah and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), illustrates the substantial burden on insurers of premature births as well as the challenges in assessing the potential financial benefit of new interventions to prevent early births. Pediatrics  published the study, "Employer-Sponsored Plan Expenditures for Infants Born Preterm," on Sept. 21. Lead authors are Scott D. Grosse, research economist at the CDC's National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, and Norman J. Waitzman, professor and chair of the Department of Economics at the University of Utah. Appro...

That's the finding of a study in September issue of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs. Researchers looked at 137 YouTube videos that featured alcohol brands popular with underage drinkers -- from beer to vodka to cognac. Together, the videos had been viewed nearly 97 million times. Most often -- 40 percent of the time -- the videos were traditional advertisements. Others were "guides," in which a host showcased a particular alcohol, discussing its merits and offering serving suggestions. Some (10 percent) featured men showing off their "chugging" prowess. There is no way of knowing how many of those millions of viewers were underage kids, according to lead researcher Brian Primack, M.D., Ph.D., director of the University of Pittsburgh Center for Research on Media, Technology and Health. "Our aim is not to say we should be censoring this," said Primack, who is also dean of the Honors College and a professor of medicine and pediatric...

The study pooled the results from 32 double-blind randomised controlled trials representing 6,036 patients, published between 1994 and 2015. The studies compared the effects of oral nalmefene (n=9), naltrexone (n=14), acamprosate (n=1), baclofen (n=4) and topimarate (n=4) against placebo. Many of the studies provided unreliable results due to risk of bias (potential exaggeration of the effects of the drug). Twenty-six studies (81%) showed an unclear or high risk of incomplete outcome data due to the large number of withdrawals. Seventeen studies (53%) showed an unclear or a high risk of selective outcome reporting, as they did not include a protocol registration number, which would allow another researcher to check whether all outcomes were reported. Lead author D r Palpacuer states : "Although our report is based on all available data in the public domain, we did not find clear evidence of benefit of using these drugs to control drinking. That doesn't mean the drugs a...

BYU smartfoam in soccer helmets and pads. Credit score: BYU Photograph Most soccer followers have seen gamers get hit so onerous they'll barely stroll again to the sideline. All too typically, these gamers are again on the sector only a few performs later, regardless of struggling what seems to be a head damage. Whereas football-related concussions have been prime of thoughts lately, folks have struggled to create expertise to precisely measure them in actual time. Enter BYU mechanical engineering Ph.D. scholar, Jake Merrell, and a workforce of researchers throughout three BYU departments. Merrell and others have developed and examined a nano composite smartfoam that may be positioned inside a soccer helmet (and pads) to extra precisely take a look at the affect and energy of hits. ...

A research group led by Olga Malyshevskaya and Yoshihiro Urade of International Institute for Integrative Sleep Medicine (WPI-IIIS), University of Tsukuba, discovered that seizures, a life-threatening condition, can be induced by natural Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC, main constituent of marijuana) or the synthetic cannabinoid JWH-018 (main component of synthetic blend "Spice") in mice. This was demonstrated by continuous recording of animals' electric brain activity (electroencephalogram, EEG), video and movement activity tracking. Based on their data they propose potential treatment in case of cannabinoid overdose with the cannabinoid -1-receptor (CB1R) specific antagonist (AM-251), because in their study pretreatment prevented cannabinoid-induced seizures. "Our study is quite important because unaware of the particularly severe effect by those cannabinoids, people see marijuana as a soft drug, without dangerous health effects," Malyshevskaya says. Use ...

Mitochondrial genes can be routinely checked in biopsies of patients diagnosed with many different cancer types, including breast, lung, ovarian or gastric cancers. And they prove more accurate than current methods of predicting a patient' s response to treatment. Scientists identified the new measures by looking at the expression levels of mitochondrial genes in samples from post-treatment cancer patients. "Early detection of cancer recurrence is everything; if we have information about a patient's prognosis we can act much more effectively," said Dr Michael P Lisanti, Professor of Translational Medicine at the University of Salford, and a co-author of the study. "You never know if cancer w ill return or how to prepare for that, so knowing who will and who won't respond well to treatment offers reassurance to doctors, patients and families, and allows a degree of closer monitoring." Professor Lisanti, who describes mitochondria as "t...

"What we are learning is that food is a double-edge sword -- it may promote disease, but it may also help prevent chronic diseases, like colon cancer," said Jairam K.P. Vanamala, associate professor of food sciences, Penn State. "What we don't know is, 'how does this food work on the molecular level?' This study is a step in that direction." In the study, pigs that were served a high calorie diet supplemented with purple-fleshed potatoes had less colonic mucosal interleukin-6 -- IL-6 -- compared to a control group. IL-6 is a protein that is important in inflammation, and elevated IL-6 levels are correlated with proteins, such as Ki-67, that are linked to the spread and growth of cancer cells, said Vanamala, who also is a faculty member at the Penn State Hershey Cancer Institute. According to the researchers, who reported their findings in a recent issue of the  Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry , eating whole foods that contain macronutrients -- ...

The role of insulin is to reduce and regulate the blood sugar level when it is too high. People with diabetes do not have this function, and therefore need insulin injections in order to regulate their blood sugar levels. Researchers are trying to produce beta cells artificially with the purpose of transplanting them to diabetic patients to regulate their blood sugar. A new research result from the University of Copenhagen and Novo Nordisk recently published in the scientific journal  Stem Cell Reports  provides a better understanding of how to improve the production of beta cells from human embryonic stem cells. "At the moment, we can make stem cells develop into something that resembles proper beta cells. Our research shows that the current method produces cells that resemble alpha cells a little too much. However, the research has given us a better understanding of the steps stem cells go through when they develop into beta cells. In fact, we also show that the cel...