Improving fecal microbiota transplantation

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A placebo-controlled trial may provide a strategy for improving fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) for patients with recurrent Clostridium difficile infection. The study identified microorganisms that are key for cure with fecal microbiota transplantation.

Never-smoking women have high prevalence of COPD

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African-American women who have never smoked have a high prevalence of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) -7 percent versus 5.2% of European-American womenand 2.9% of never-smoking European-American men.

Researchers are scrambling to explain it because COPD is the third leading cause of death in the USA and smoking is considered the biggest risk factor for the disease. Yet 25 percent of Americans with COPD have never smoked.

Smoking intensity in coronary heart disease risk

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Smoking causes increased relative risks for coronary heart disease, so the number of cigarettes must also. If you smoke twice as many cigarettes, your risk should be twice as high, right? 

A new study instead says it's time spent smoking, not quantity of cigarettes. 

Cellular switch to turn off asthma attacks

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Using human immune cells, researchers report they have identified a critical cellular "off" switch for the inflammatory immune response that contributes to lung-constricting asthma attacks. The switch, they say, is composed of regulatory proteins that control an immune signaling pathway in cells.

Saturated fat is bad for you again, finds weak observational study

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Data from 73,147 women involved in the Nurses' Health Study between 1984 and 2012, and 42,635 men who were in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study between 1986 and 2010, correlates saturated fats in red meat, dairy, butter, lard, and palm oil, may increase the risk of coronary heart disease.

Significantly more radioactivity in infant formula than reported

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Based on measurements of radioactivity in samples of infant formula manufactured and sold around the world, researchers estimate that infants 1 year of age or younger who consume these formulas would ingest a significantly higher radioactivity dose than reported levels, but lower than internationally recommended limits. The researchers report the radioactivity levels for each brand of formula in an article published in Environmental Engineering Science, http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/ees.2015.0114.

Sexual activity causes immune system changes that increase chances of conception

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Research from Indiana University has found that sexual activity triggers physiological changes in the body that increase a woman's chances of getting pregnant, even outside the window of ovulation.

The results could eventually influence recommendations regarding how often to engage in sexual intercourse for couples trying to get pregnant. It could also potentially impact treatment for people with autoimmune disorders.

Marijuana use linked to weakened heart muscle

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Younger marijuana users were twice as likely as non-users to experience stress cardiomyopathy, a sudden, usually temporary, weakening of the heart muscle that occurs more commonly in older women.If you use marijuana and experience chest pain or shortness of breath, seek medical help to rule out this infrequent but serious condition.

Stress cardiomyopathy is a sudden, usually temporary, weakening of the heart muscle that reduces the heart's ability to pump, leading to chest pain, shortness of breath, dizziness and sometimes fainting.

'Multiplicative' benefit of cholesterol and blood pressure-lowering on cardiovascular risk

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Long-term exposure to the combination of even modestly lower LDL cholesterol (LDL-C) and systolic blood pressure (SBP) has the potential to "dramatically reduce" a person's lifetime risk of cardiovascular disease, according to new findings reported at ESC Congress 2016.

1 in 6 women with breast cancer didn't go to the doctor because of a lump

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One in six women (17 percent) diagnosed with breast cancer go to their doctor with a symptom other than a lump - the most commonly reported breast cancer symptom - according to data from 2009/10 National Audit of Cancer Diagnosis in Primary Care presented at the 2016 National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) Cancer conference in Liverpool. There are more than 53,600 breast cancers diagnosed in the UK every year and 11,400 deaths from the disease annually.