Children's health
28 Aug 2006
Different genes may cause autism in boys and girls
Like detectives trying to solve a murder case, researchers searching for the biological cause of autism have come up with some surprising suspects. They’ve found that different genes may be responsible for causing autism in boys than in girls. In addition, the researchers also have discovered that other genes…
Children's health
02 Aug 2006
Fatherhood boosts male brains
Fatherhood could be good for your brain, at least if you’re a monkey. It’s already known that male primates, including men, experience dramatic hormone changes when they become fathers. Yevgenia Kozorovitskiy and her colleagues from Princeton University realised that certain parts of the brain contain receptors for these hormones.
Children's health
01 Aug 2006
New hope for preterm babies
A new machine-the only one of its kind in Australia-is helping scientists better monitor the health of pre-term babies. Scientists at the Monash Institute of Medical Research are carrying out studies to understand the relationship between blood pressure and the amount of oxygen in a preterm baby’s brain.”Many preterm…
Children's health
27 Jul 2006
Doctors Treating Pain from Circumcision More Seriously
One of the first things most little boys in the U.S. experience is something they’ll never remember-circumcision-but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a painful experience. The debate over whether infants feel pain has ended, and the positive conclusion is catching up with obstetrical, paediatric and family physician training programs, 97…
Children's health
26 Jul 2006
Septum Sets The Tempo Of Brain's Electrical Activity
The brain’s septum helps prevent epileptic seizures by inducing rhythmical electrical activity in the circuits of another area of the brain known as the hippocampus, according to a new study in the Journal of Neurophysiology. The researchers found that, by imposing a normal theta rhythm on chronically epileptic rats, they…
Blood
25 Jul 2006
Members Survey Results
Prior to Virtual Medical Centre conducting branding market research on our site members, Editorial Advisory Board members and medical professionals we discovered that the word “Virtual” is no longer commonly searched for, and by continuing to use “Virtual” we are potentially limiting the amount of people who can find our…
Blood
08 Jul 2006
Omega-3s Are Important for More Than Just Heart Health
If recent news about mercury levels in fish and recommendations about adding this heart-healthy staple to our diet is confusing enough, here’s some food for thought. The same fish we’re warned against and those still considered safe to eat in bigger portions actually provide our brains with essential omega-3 fatty…
Children's health
08 Jul 2006
Wake Forest Researcher Warns Against Making Connection Between Presence of Measles Virus and Autism
An American scientist whose research replicates a connection published in England in 2002 between the measles virus and bowel disease in autistic children strongly warns against making the leap to suggesting that the measles vaccine might actually cause autism. That is not what our research is showing, said Stephen…
Cancer
07 Jul 2006
Molecular 'Brake' Found for Neurofibromatosis 1
A team led by Duke University Medical Centre researchers has identified in yeast a molecular ‘brake’ that could inhibit the proliferation of cells that characterises neurofibromatosis 1, a common hereditary disorder that causes potentially troublesome tumours along nerve fibres. This brake is a protein that appears to stop the…
