Copyright 2012 Medical News TodayLatest Health News and Medical News posted throughout the day, every day.http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/sections/gastrointestinal/admin@medicalnewstoday.com (MNT Admin)editors@medicalnewstoday.com (MNT Editors)en-us Thu, 23 Feb 2012 02:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/242043.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/242043.phpFunctional foods containing bacteria with beneficial health effects, or probiotics, have long been consumed in Northern Europe and are becoming increasingly popular elsewhere. To be of benefit, however, the bacteria have to survive in the very hostile environment of the digestive tract...Nutrition / Diet Thu, 23 Feb 2012 01:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/242033.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/242033.phpWhen aortic walls buckle, the body's main blood pipe forms an ever-growing bulge. To thwart a deadly rupture, a team of Stanford University School of Medicine researchers has found two tiny molecules that may be able to orchestrate an aortic defense...Cardiovascular / Cardiology Thu, 23 Feb 2012 01:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/242038.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/242038.phpCARDIOLOGY: Popeye proteins: providing strength to the beat of the heart The rhythm of the heart beat is dictated by electrical impulses initiated by a small number of specialized heart muscle cells (pacemaker cells) that are located together in a small area of the wall of the heart called the sinus node...Cardiovascular / Cardiology Wed, 22 Feb 2012 02:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241981.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241981.phpA leaky gut may be the root of some cancers forming in the rest of the body, a new study published online Feb. 21 in PLoS ONE by Thomas Jefferson University researchers suggests...Cancer / Oncology Tue, 21 Feb 2012 00:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241927.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241927.phpA study of mothers and their young babies by neurologists at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) has shown that mothers who suffer migraine headaches are more than twice as likely to have babies with colic than mothers without a history of migraines...Headache / Migraine Mon, 20 Feb 2012 01:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241880.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241880.phpNoroviruses are believed to make up half of all food-borne disease outbreaks in the United States, causing incapacitating (and often violent) stomach flu. These notorious human pathogens are responsible for 90 percent of epidemic nonbacterial outbreaks of gastroenteritis around the world...Infectious Diseases / Bacteria / Viruses Fri, 17 Feb 2012 01:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241750.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241750.phpScientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have made a surprising discovery about the origin of diabetes. Their research suggests that problems controlling blood sugar - the hallmark of diabetes - may begin in the intestines. The new study, in mice, may upend long-held theories about the causes of the disease...Diabetes Thu, 16 Feb 2012 00:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/241725.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/241725.phpA new animal study published in this month's issue of the Journal of Proteome Research suggests that bacteria living in the large intestine may play a role in obesity by slowing down the activity of energy-burning brown fat...Obesity / Weight Loss / Fitness Sat, 11 Feb 2012 00:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241421.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241421.phpScientists have developed a new kind of tiny motor - which they term a "microrocket" - that can propel itself through acidic environments, such as the human stomach, without any external energy source, opening the way to a variety of medical and industrial applications...Medical Devices / Diagnostics Thu, 09 Feb 2012 09:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/241425.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/241425.phpAfter an evaluation of 800,000 doses of pentavalent rotavirus vaccinations in U.S. infants, researchers reported in the February 8 issue of JAMA that there is no increased risk of intussusception after vaccination, despite some previous data indicating that those infants who received the vaccine were at potential increased risk...Pediatrics / Children's Health Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/241375.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/241375.phpStomach acid drugs, known as PPIs (proton pump inhibitors), are linked to a higher risk of diarrhea caused by Clostridium difficile, a type of bacterium. Patients on PPIs who develop persistent diarrhea should be tested for CDAD (Clostridium difficile associated diarrhea), says the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)...GastroIntestinal / Gastroenterology Wed, 08 Feb 2012 01:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241281.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241281.phpUsing whole-genome sequencing, a team led by researchers from Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and the Broad Institute has traced the path of the E. coli outbreak that sickened thousands and killed over 50 people in Germany in summer 2011 and also caused a smaller outbreak in France...Infectious Diseases / Bacteria / Viruses Wed, 08 Feb 2012 01:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241282.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241282.phpA team of scientists studying the effects of electron-beam irradiation on iceberg lettuce and spinach has had its research published in the February issue of the leading microbiology journal, Applied and Environmental Microbiology, said the study's lead investigator...Infectious Diseases / Bacteria / Viruses Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241179.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241179.phpA new study by food safety researchers at Drexel University demonstrates that plasma can be an effective method for killing pathogens on uncooked poultry. The proof-of-concept study was published in the Journal of Food Protection...Nutrition / Diet Mon, 06 Feb 2012 00:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241170.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241170.phpSalmonella remains a serious cause of food poisoning in the UK and throughout the EU, in part due to its ability to thrive and quickly adapt to the different environments in which it can grow...Infectious Diseases / Bacteria / Viruses Thu, 02 Feb 2012 10:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/241116.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/241116.phpAccording to an investigation published on bmj.com, hip fractures are 35% more likely to occur in post-menopausal women if they take indigestion medications, known as proton pump inhibitors (PPIs). This figure rises to 50% if the women are former or current smokers. Globally, PPIs are one of the most prevalent drugs used, and are often used to treat acid reflex and heartburn...Bones / Orthopedics Thu, 02 Feb 2012 01:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241033.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241033.phpNorovirus, a pathogen that often causes food poisoning and gastroenteritis, was responsible for 18.2 percent of all infection outbreaks and 65 percent of ward closures in U.S...Infectious Diseases / Bacteria / Viruses Thu, 02 Feb 2012 01:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241035.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241035.phpToday, about one in five children in the United States are obese. That means that in just one generation alone the number of obese kids in this country has quadrupled...Obesity / Weight Loss / Fitness Wed, 01 Feb 2012 12:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/241048.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/241048.phpPPIs (proton pump inhibitors), medications taken for indigestion, can raise the risk of hip fractures by 35% in post-menopausal women, researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital reported in the BMJ (British Medical Journal). The authors added that women who smoke or used to smoke have a 50% higher risk of hip fractures when taking PPIs...Menopause Wed, 01 Feb 2012 00:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/240959.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/240959.php Barrett's esophagus (BE) patients who smoke tobacco are at a two-fold increased risk of developing esophageal cancer, according to a new study in Gastroenterology, the official journal of the American Gastroenterological Association. BE patients who smoke also double their risk for developing advanced precancerous cells...Smoking / Quit Smoking Tue, 31 Jan 2012 00:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/240898.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/240898.phpA team of biologists at the University of York has made an important advance in our understanding of the way cholera attacks the body. The discovery could help scientists target treatments for the globally significant intestinal disease which kills more than 100,000 people every year...Tropical Diseases Tue, 31 Jan 2012 00:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/240920.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/240920.phpBedwetting isn't always due to problems with the bladder, according to new research by Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. Constipation is often the culprit; and if it isn't diagnosed, children and their parents must endure an unnecessarily long, costly and difficult quest to cure nighttime wetting...Urology / Nephrology Fri, 27 Jan 2012 09:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/240876.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/240876.phpAccording to Johns Hopkins researchers, individuals who donate a portion of their liver for live transplantation usually recover safely from the procedure and can expect to live long, healthy lives. The study is published in the February issue of the journal Gastroenterology. Dorry L. Segev, M.D., Ph.D...Transplants / Organ Donations Wed, 25 Jan 2012 00:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/240689.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/240689.phpFor more than 40 years, scientists and physicians have thought eating a high-fiber diet lowered a person's risk of diverticulosis, a disease of the large intestine in which pouches develop in the colon wall. A new study of more than 2,000 people reveals the opposite may be true...GastroIntestinal / Gastroenterology Sun, 22 Jan 2012 00:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/240563.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/240563.phpNew research from Queen Mary, University of London has uncovered a gene which plays a key role in the development of oesophageal cancer (cancer of the gullet). The researchers studied families who suffer a rare inherited condition making them highly susceptible to the disease and found that a fault in a single gene was responsible...Cancer / Oncology