The prevalence of frailty, which is linked to earlier death, increases throughout adulthood as people age and not just after age 65, found an article in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). Relatively good fitness levels at all ages were predictive of lower mortality and less reliance on health care services. Check the end of this report for a link to download the original study. ...

Epilepsy is a disorder of recurrent unprovoked seizures that affects 325,000 children younger than 15 years in the United States. An examination of medication adherence among children with newly diagnosed epilepsy found that nearly 60 percent showed persistent nonadherence during the first 6 months of therapy, and that lower socioeconomic status was associated with higher non-adherence according to a study ...

The largest study ever to examine the association of dietary fats and prostate cancer risk has found what is good for the heart may not be good for the prostate. Analyzing data from a nationwide study involving more than 3,400 men, researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center found that men with the highest blood percentages of docosahexaenoic acid, or DHA, an inflammation-lowering omega-3 fatty ac ...

Tai chi exercise appears to be associated with improved quality of life, mood and exercise self-efficacy in patients with chronic heart failure, according to a report in the April 25 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. The research was conducted by Gloria Y. Yeh, M.D., M.P.H., of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, and colleague ...

Today, the Interactive Autism Network (IAN), the nation's largest online autism research project, reveals the preliminary results of the first major survey on wandering and elopement among individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), and announces the launch of a new research survey on the association between pregnancy factors and ASD. Check the end of this report to read the full preliminary findings. ...

Researchers from Mount Sinai School of Medicine have for the first time determined that the ketogenic diet, a specialized high-fat, low carbohydrate diet, may reverse impaired kidney function in people with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. They also identified a previously unreported panel of genes associated with diabetes-related kidney failure, whose expression was reversed by the diet. The findings were publi ...

Frequently, depression and diabetes go hand in hand. And depression can be a major obstacle for people living with diabetes, making it less likely they’ll stick to a medicine schedule or exercise regimen. A team of researchers led by investigators at the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System and the University of Michigan Health System worked to improve diabetes patients’ health by first addressing their depressio ...

Researchers from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) and Beaumont Hospital, Dublin have conducted the first study of its kind to examine in detail the basis of psychiatric disorders which occur in people with epilepsy. The findings of this study showed similarities with the brain cell patterns in people with schizophrenia. The research gives greater insights into both conditions which may potent ...

Dr. Ricardo Dolmetsch discusses the use of stem cells that are created from common skin and blood cells of children with autism in a newly released video interview by The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). This method of stem cell creation allows for the safe study of brain cell development in those with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Included in this report is the original video interview as wel ...

A new study found that treatment-resistant epilepsy (TRE) is common in idiopathic autism. Early age at the onset of seizures and delayed global development were associated with a higher frequency of resistance to antiepileptic drugs (AEDs). Full findings appear online in Epilepsia, a journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE). ...