People

Cancer :: Onions, garlic linked to lower cancer risks

A new analysis, in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, revealed that people who ate onions and garlic regularly were far less likely to get the cancer disease.

Obesity :: NHS dance classes to combat obesity

The UK Government is so concerned about the growing divide between a fat, depressed underclass and a slim-line elite that it is urging doctors to send the overweight to dance classes. Dance classes are to be provided on the National Health Service.

HIV :: India the new epicenter of global AIDS pandemic

Bill Clinton, former President of USA, says India is the new epicenter of the global pandemic of HIV. He commented this with British interviewers on the World AIDS Day.

Psychology :: Efforts for whites to appear colorblind may backfire

New research shows that whites often avoid using race to describe other people, particularly in interactions with blacks. However further research reveals that such efforts to appear colorblind and unprejudiced are associated with less-friendly nonverbal behaviors. “By their nonverbal behavior alone, the whites who are trying to appear colorblind to impress their black partners ironically come across as distant and unfriendly,” said Samuel R. Sommers, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychology at Tufts University.

Heartburn :: Better screening for people with chronic heartburn, precancer of the esophagus

Researchers in the Oregon Health & Science University Digestive Health Center are first to report that screening people with chronic heartburn or pre-cancer of the esophagus in an office setting using a “skinny scope” is as accurate, less expensive and less risky than a traditional sedated screening in a procedure room — and patients prefer it. The findings are published online and in print in this month’s issue of the American Journal of Gastroenterology.

Disability :: Disability among older Americans continues significant decline

Chronic disability among older Americans has dropped dramatically, and the rate of decline has accelerated during the past two decades, according to a new analysis of data from the National Long-Term Care Survey (NLTCS). The study, published in this week?s Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that the prevalence of chronic disability among people 65 and older fell from 26.5 percent in 1982 to 19 percent in 2004/2005.

Vaccine :: Super enzyme may lead way to better tumor vaccines

A “super” form of the enzyme Akt1 could provide the key to boosting the effect of tumor vaccines by extending the lives of dendritic cells, the immune-system master switches that promote the response of T-cells, which attack tumors, said researchers at Baylor College of Medicine in a report that appears in the “advance online publication” section of the current issue of the journal Nature Biotechnology.