Category: Health

Mouse and human skin cells produce melanin on a 48-hour cycle

Tom Patriot

Researchers have discovered that mouse skin and skin cells from humans produce pigmentation in response to sunlight on a 48-hour cycle. They observed that exposing skin to ultraviolet light every 2 days yielded darker pigmentation with less radiation damage than daily exposure. The findings appear October 25 in the journal Molecular Cell. “The damaging effects of high doses of ultraviolet rays are known, but we were curious to see the effect of exposure frequency on skin,” says senior author Carmit Levy, a molecular geneticist at Tel Aviv University. “It turns out…

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Functional nasal surgery relieves chronic headache for some patients

Tom Patriot

Nasal surgery to relieve obstructed breathing can reduce or eliminate chronic headaches in selected patients, reports a paper in the December issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery®. Eighty-five percent of patients undergoing functional nasal surgery had at least partial improvement in their headaches, according to a research summary and update by Ahmed M. Afifi, MD, and colleagues of University of Wisconsin, Madison. They write, “These results suggest that the use of nasal surgery to improve headache symptoms is a viable treatment option in appropriately selected chronic headache patients.” Nasal Surgery Improves…

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Eggs for breakfast benefits those with diabetes

Tom Patriot

While some cereals may be the breakfast of champions, a UBC professor suggests people with Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) should be reaching for something else. Associate Professor Jonathan Little, who teaches in UBC Okanagan’s School of Health and Exercise Sciences, published a study this week demonstrating that a high-fat, low-carb breakfast (LCBF) can help those with T2D control blood sugar levels throughout the day. “The large blood sugar spike that follows breakfast is due to the combination of pronounced insulin resistance in the morning in people with T2D and because…

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A topical gel to protect farmers from lethal effects of pesticides

Tom Patriot

Farmers are exposed to toxic pesticides, through skin contact and inhalation, during the spraying of pesticides. This is a severe health hazard. In the last year, from the Vidharbha region in Maharashtra alone, spraying is thought to have led to over 40 deaths, 25 cases of lost vision, and over 1000 hospitalizations. This is just one example demonstrating the severity of this unmet need. Despite this need, at present, no single technology exists to chemically deactivate pesticides on the skin to protect farmers from pesticide exposure. Organophosphates, are a major…

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Why do women get more migraines?

Tom Patriot

Research published today reveals a potential mechanism for migraine causation which could explain why women get more migraines than men. The study, in Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences, suggests that sex hormones affect cells around the trigeminal nerve and connected blood vessels in the head, with estrogens — at their highest levels in women of reproductive age — being particularly important for sensitizing these cells to migraine triggers. The finding provides scientists with a promising new route to personalized treatments for migraine patients. “We can observe significant differences in our experimental migraine…

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