http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. The American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy's (ASGE) Preservation and Incorporation of Valuable Endoscopic Innovations (PIVI) initiative addresses the use of endoscopy simulators for training and assessing skills in an article appearing in the September issue of GIE: Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, ASGE's monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal. This PIVI is one in a series of statements defining the diagnostic or therapeutic threshold that must be met for a technique or device to become considered appropriate for incorporation into clinical practice. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-asge-endoscopy-simulators-skill.html Other Wed, 19 Sep 2012 15:54:44 EST news267288877 The prevalence of smoking in Christchurch, New Zealand, increased following the 2010 earthquake, according to a new study. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-natural-disasters-christchurch-residents-tobacco.html Health Tue, 04 Sep 2012 10:39:30 EST news265973963 A population-based case-control study of the rare but devastating neurological disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) has shown that the risk of such disease is increased among smokers, as has been shown previously. However, surprisingly, the risk of ALS was found to be markedly lower among consumers of alcohol than among abstainers. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-alcohol-consumption-decrease-als.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Mon, 13 Aug 2012 13:18:08 EST news264082633 (HealthDay) -- In dominantly inherited Alzheimer's disease, clinical and biomarker changes occur decades before the expected onset of disease symptoms, according to a study published online July 11 in the New England Journal of Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-pathophysiology-id-rare-early-alzheimer.html Alzheimer's disease & dementia Thu, 12 Jul 2012 04:31:28 EST news261286120 Stories of athletes bravely "playing through the pain" are relatively common and support the widespread belief that they experience pain differently than non-athletes. Yet, the scientific data on pain perception in athletes has been inconsistent, and sometimes contradictory. Investigators from the University of Heidelberg have conducted a meta-analysis of available research and find that in fact, athletes can indeed tolerate a higher level of pain than normally active people. However, pain threshold, the minimum intensity at which a stimulus is perceived as painful, did not differ in athletes and normal controls. Their findings are published in the June issue of Pain. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-higher-pain-tolerance-athletes-clues.html Medical research Thu, 17 May 2012 00:00:02 EST news256407107 (HealthDay) -- During the transition to adolescence, children with type 1 diabetes monitor their blood glucose less frequently, resulting in significant increases in HbA1c levels, according to research published online April 3 in Diabetes Care. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-glucose-trends-tweens.html Diabetes Thu, 12 Apr 2012 04:20:08 EST news253423193 For the first time, the positive effects of computer games on thoughts, emotions and behaviour will be the subject of closer scrutiny by social psychologists. A total of three studies will explore how, to which extent and for how long cooperative gaming behaviour influences the personality of gamers positively. The project, funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF), will complete the current state of research on personality effects from computer games, which has previously been dominated by studies of negative consequences. The studies have the potential to offer significant ideas for analysing and reinforcing social skills in all age groups. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-video-games.html Psychology & Psychiatry Mon, 12 Dec 2011 08:11:19 EST news242899867 Someone with the condition known as grapheme-color synesthesia might experience the number 2 in turquoise or the letter S in magenta. Now, researchers reporting their findings online in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on November 17 have shown that those individuals also show heightened activity in a brain region responsible for vision. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-brain-explores-collide.html Neuroscience Thu, 17 Nov 2011 15:50:01 EST news240765263 Mobile phone positioning data can be used to monitor population movements during disasters and outbreaks, according to a study published in this week's PLoS Medicine. The study, conducted by Linus Bengtsson and colleagues from the Karolinska Institute, Sweden and Columbia University, USA, finds that reports on the location of populations affected and in need of assistance can be generated within hours of receiving data. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-mobile-track-populations-disasters.html Health Tue, 30 Aug 2011 17:51:21 EST news233945462