Rehab For Cerebral Palsy Changes The Environment, Not The Child

A successful new rehabilitation approach to treating children with cerebral palsy puts its focus on where a child lives and plays, not just improving the child's balance, posture and movement skills.

Called a "context-focused intervention", McMaster University and the University of Alberta researchers report in a new study this approach is just as beneficial as traditional child-focused therapy, offering parents an additional treatment option for their child.

The McMaster study, in conjunction with researchers at the University of Alberta's Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine and Alberta Health Services in Calgary, is the first randomized trial to examine the effects of therapy focused on changing a child's task or environment, not the child. It appeared in the July issue of the medical journal Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology. Read full:
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/232974.php

Vitamin D Improves Exercise Outcomes In Patients With COPD

Vitamin D supplements may help patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) get more from their pulmonary rehabilitation programs, according to a study conducted by researchers from Belgium.

The study results will be presented at the ATS 2011 International Conference in Denver.

"Our study shows that high doses of vitamin D supplementation on top of a standard rehabilitation program improve the outcome in terms of exercise capacity and respiratory muscle strength," said Miek Hornikx, physiotherapist and doctoral student in the department of pneumology at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Leuven, Belgium......
Link:http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/225386.php

'Dead' Facial Nerves Brought Back To Life By Physiotherapist

A physiotherapist based at Southampton's teaching hospitals has discovered movement in the faces of patients with 'dead' nerves - by stretching the inside of their mouths with her finger.

The finding, made by specialist neurological physiotherapist Lorraine Clapham at Southampton General Hospital, gives hope to patients who suffer from facial palsy, where damage to nerves from injury, surgery or unexplained syndromes causes muscles to weaken and droop....
Source:http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/229300.php

Why Men Are At Higher Risk For Stomach Cancer

MIT researchers show how estrogen protects women from the gastric inflammation that can lead to cancer.

Several types of cancer, including stomach, liver and colon, are far more common in men than in women. Some scientists have theorized that differences in lifestyle, such as diet and smoking, may account for the discrepancy, but growing evidence suggests that the differences are rooted in basic biological differences between men and women. Read more on:
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/231079.php

What Are Pheromones? Do Humans Have Pheromones?

A pheromone is a chemical an animal produces which changes the behavior of another animal of the same species (animals include insects). Some describe pheromones as behavior-altering agents. Many people do not know that pheromones trigger other behaviors in the animal of the same species, apart from sexual behavior.

Pheromones, unlike most other hormones are ectohormones - they act outside the body of the individual that is secreting them - they impact a behavior on another individual. Hormones usually only affect the individual that is secreting them.Read more on:
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/232635.php

Depression Raises Female Risk Of Stroke By 29%

Adult females with clinicaldepression are 29% more likely to suffer a stroke than other women of the same age without depression, according to an article published in the journal Stroke. The authors, from Harvard Medical School added that there is a 39% higher risk for those on SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors). Examples of SSRIs include Prozac, Celexaand Zoloft.Read more on:
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/232718.php

Psoriatic Arthritis Patients Seem to Lack Enough Vitamin D

However, blood levels of the vitamin don't affect disease activity, researchers say

MONDAY, July 11 (HealthDay News) -- Vitamin D insufficiency is common among people with psoriatic arthritis, but levels of the vitamin in the blood do not affect disease activity, a new study finds.

People with psoriatic arthritis have the chronic skin disorder psoriasis accompanied by inflammatory arthritis.

The study, published in the July 11 issue of the journal Arthritis Care & Research, included more than 300 patients living in Toronto and Haifa, Israel, two geographically diverse locations. Vitamin D levels in the blood -- known as 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25 (OH) D] -- were measured in the summer and winter.Read more on:

http://health.usnews.com/health-news/family-health/pain/articles/2011/07/11/psoriatic-arthritis-patients-seem-to-lack-enough-vitamin-d