ScienceDaily Health Headlines
for Thursday, August 7, 2008
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Neurobiologists Discover Individuals Who 'Hear' Movement (August 7, 2008) -- Individuals with synesthesia, or cross-activated senses, perceive the world differently from others, with some perceiving numbers or letters as having colors or days of the week as possessing personalities. Now, researchers have discovered a type of synesthesia in which individuals hear sounds when they see things move or flash. The scientists say auditory synesthesia, which had never been identified, may represent an enhanced form of how the brain normally processes visual information. ... > full story
How Bacteria Attach To Human Tissues During Infection Process: New Clues (August 7, 2008) -- Scientists have helped to reveal more about the way bacteria can attach to human tissues. The researchers studied the way a protein found on the surface of the bacteria Staphylococcus aureus binds to a human protein called fibronectin. Their discovery is an important step in understanding how bacteria attach to the surface of blood vessels during infection. ... > full story
Shape, Not Just Size, Impacts Effectiveness Of Emerging Nanomedicine Therapies (August 7, 2008) -- In the budding field of nanotechnology, scientists already know that size does matter. But now, researchers have shown that shape matters even more -- a finding that could lead to new and more effective methods for treating cancer and other diseases, from diabetes and multiple sclerosis to arthritis and obesity. ... > full story
Is There A Connection Between AIDS Epidemic In Africa And Intestinal Worms? (August 7, 2008) -- Scientists are beginning an intensive program in Ethiopia this August to eradicate intestinal worms which affect as much as 50 percent of the population in Africa. These researchers believe there is a possible connection between the AIDS epidemic in Africa and intestinal worms. ... > full story
Metabolic Insight To Illuminate Causes Of Iron Imbalance (August 7, 2008) -- New insight into key players in iron metabolism has yielded a novel tool for distinguishing among root causes of iron overload or deficiency in humans, researchers report. While the body needs iron to produce hemoglobin, a substance in red blood cells that enables them to carry oxygen, too much iron can build up and eventually damage organs. ... > full story
Context And Personality Key In Understanding Responses To Emotional Facial Expressions (August 7, 2008) -- It is well-appreciated that facial expressions play a major role in nonverbal social communication among humans and other primates, because faces provide rapid access to information about the identity and the internal states and intentions of others. New data now suggests that both the social context of a person's facial expression and certain facets of the viewer's personality could affect how our brain interprets the social meaning of someone else's smile or frown. ... > full story
Why Treatment Isn't Effective For HIV (August 7, 2008) -- Researchers have answered a key question as to why antiretroviral therapy isn't effective in restoring immunity in HIV-infected patients. Once a person is infected with the virus, fibrosis, or scarring, occurs in the lymph nodes -- the home of T cells that fight infection. And once fibrosis occurs, T cells can't repopulate the lymph nodes when HIV therapy begins, according to a professor of medicine and principal investigator on the study. ... > full story
Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy Of Similar Benefit For HIV-infected Injection Drug Users (August 7, 2008) -- Contrary to the belief that HIV-infected injection drug users receive less benefit from highly active antiretroviral therapy, new research finds little difference in the survival rate between IDUs and non-IDUs after 4-5 years of receiving HAART, according to a study in the Aug. 6 issue of JAMA, a theme issue on HIV/AIDS. ... > full story
Voluntary Exercise Does Not Appear To Alleviate Anxiety And Depression (August 7, 2008) -- Voluntary physical activity does not appear to cause a reduction in anxiety and depression, but exercise and mood may be associated through a common genetic factor, according to a new article. ... > full story
Olympic Games: Researchers Explore What Makes Better Athletes, The Physiology Of Performance, And More (August 6, 2008) -- The world-record pace for the marathon continues to improve for both men and women. For men, the record pace for the marathon is now about as fast as the record pace for the 10,000-meter run just after World War II. Today, champion athletes are running more than four times farther at speeds of well under five minutes per mile. ... > full story
'Exercise Pill' Is No Replacement For Real Exercise, Expert Cautions (August 6, 2008) -- Recent media reports have described a new substance that potentially eliminates the need for exercise. Now, an expert on the science of inactivity says the "exercise pill" study did not test all of the commonly known benefits of exercise, and taking the pill cannot be considered a replacement for exercise. ... > full story
Male Circumcision Efforts Lag In Africa Despite Evidence Of Dramatic Impact In Preventing HIV (August 6, 2008) -- With millions of lives at stake over the next two decades, researchers and advocates at the AIDS 2008 Conference today called on the global health community to ramp up male circumcision to significantly reduce risk of HIV infection in Africa, and to move quickly to integrate the life-saving procedure into other comprehensive efforts to prevent transmission of the disease in the vulnerable nations of eastern and southern Africa. ... > full story
Keeping Migrant Workers' Children Healthy (August 6, 2008) -- As Ohio and Michigan fruit and vegetable farms yield this year's harvest, they also will provide data about the eating choices of Latino migrant children for a Case Western Reserve University researcher. Information gathered this summer will help migrant families understand why their children are part of the growing national obesity epidemic and contribute to new interventions to combat this serious health issue. ... > full story
Risk Of Unintentional Injury Death Is High For Young Children Living With Unrelated Adults (August 6, 2008) -- In a new study, a University of Missouri professor found that children living in households with unrelated adults are six times more likely to die of maltreatment-related unintentional injuries, compared to children living with two biological parents. The risk of maltreatment death is double for children living with foster or step-parents, or other related adults. However, the risk is not higher for children living in households with a single biological parent and no other adults. ... > full story
Less REM Sleep Associated With Being Overweight Among Children And Teens (August 6, 2008) -- Children and teens who get less sleep, especially those who spend less time in rapid eye movement sleep, may be more likely to be overweight, according to a report in the Archives of General Psychiatry. ... > full story
Researchers Find Differences In Swallowing Mechanism Of Rett Syndrome Patients (August 6, 2008) -- Researchers at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center have found that the reflux and swallowing problems that are common symptoms in patients with Rett syndrome and other neurological impairments, may be caused by a different mechanism than they are in healthy individuals. The finding leaves researchers to wonder if these patients truly benefit from anti-reflux surgery commonly performed in these children. ... > full story
Why The Slow-Paced World Could Make It Difficult To Catch A Ball (August 6, 2008) -- Researchers have uncovered new information about how we perceive fast moving, incoming objects -- such as tennis or cricket balls. The new research studies why the human brain has difficulty perceiving fast moving objects coming from straight ahead; something that should be a key survival skill. This has implications for understanding how sportspeople make decisions about playing a shot but could also be important for improving road safety and for the development of robotic vision systems. ... > full story
US Immigrant Children May Be Less Physically Active Than US-born Children (August 6, 2008) -- Immigrant children in the United States appear to be less physically active and less likely to participate in sports than US--born children, according to a report in the August issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. ... > full story
HIV Drug Can Persist In Mothers' Milk, Increasing Risk To Them And Their Babies (August 6, 2008) -- A drug commonly used in the developing world to prevent transmission of HIV from mother to child persists in the breast milk and blood of the mothers, putting them and their babies at risk for developing drug-resistant strains of the virus, according to researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine. ... > full story
Rectal Gel Prevents Transmission Of AIDS-like Virus In Macaques (August 6, 2008) -- The HIV drug tenofovir may prevent AIDS transmission when applied rectally as a gel, according to results from a macaque study published in PLoS Medicine. ... > full story
Guiding Lasers To Their Target (August 6, 2008) -- Like most treatments, laser therapy can benefit from image guidance. A Houston-based company has developed an MRI-guided system that has been tested and is now FDA-approved. ... > full story
Students With Food Allergies Often Not Prepared (August 6, 2008) -- Many students with food allergies aren't taking the threat of a reaction seriously enough, or are regularly in environments where they could not be properly treated during an emergency. ... > full story
Novel Method To Create Personalized Immunotherapy Treatments (August 6, 2008) -- Researchers have a new process for developing dendritic cell-based immunotherapies for HIV. They have demonstrated that loading monocyte-derived dendritic cells with combinations of HIV antigen RNA stimulates the expansion of HIV-specific T cells, which attack and kill HIV-infected cells. ... > full story
Preventing Friendly Fire: A Role For The Thymic Cortex In Stopping Your Body From Attacking Itself (August 6, 2008) -- A new study investigates the inner mechanics of the thymus, the organ that creates the foot soldiers of the immune system. The study helps shed light on the timing and regulation of negative selection, a crucial developmental process. ... > full story
Physicists Provide 'Guiding Hands' For Proton Therapy (August 6, 2008) -- Proton therapy offers great benefits as a treatment modality in radiation oncology for a variety of hard to treat tumors. While physicians manage the treatment of people, behind the scenes, proton physicists play a crucial role, providing support and guidelines for treatment planning for calculation of dose distributions, measurements of radiation delivery, measurements of proton beam data, quality assurance of all measuring equipment and of the proton accelerator, and calibration of proton beams, all essential to successful treatment outcomes. ... > full story
Why Some Smokers Become Addicted With Their First Cigarette (August 6, 2008) -- New research reveals how the brain processes the "rewarding" and addictive properties of nicotine, providing a better understanding of why some people seemingly become hooked with their first smoke. The research could lead to new therapies to prevent nicotine dependence and to treat nicotine withdrawal when smokers try to quit. ... > full story
New Gene Therapy Kills Pancreatic Cancer Cells (August 6, 2008) -- Researchers report promising results for a new chemoprevention gene therapy for preventing and treating pancreatic cancer, one of the most lethal and treatment-resistant forms of cancer. ... > full story
Growth Hormone Treatment For HIV Patients Improves Abdominal Fat, But Worsens Glucose Level (August 6, 2008) -- For human immunodeficiency virus-infected patients with treatment-related abdominal obesity and growth hormone deficiency, receiving low-dose growth hormone resulted in improvement in fat and blood pressure measurements but worsened glucose levels, according to a study in the Aug. 6 issue of JAMA, a theme issue on HIV/AIDS. ... > full story
Gold Nanoshells Help Visibly Heat And Destroy Cancer (August 6, 2008) -- Most cancer tumors that have clear borders and are well defined have traditionally been treated successfully by surgical removal. But not all cancers respond to conventional surgery. More importantly, conventional surgery brings risks of complications and long recovery periods that can negatively impact a person's quality of life. ... > full story
Depression Found To Hasten Decline In Cancer Patients (August 6, 2008) -- Depression causes patients with advanced cancer to die sooner than they should, say scientists at the University of Liverpool. ... > full story
Possible Cause Of Endometriosis Identified (August 6, 2008) -- Scientists have identified an enzyme that could be responsible for a condition called endometriosis – the most common cause of pelvic pain in women. ... > full story
Certain HIV Treatment Less Effective When Used With Anti-TB Therapy (August 6, 2008) -- Patients receiving rifampicin-based anti-tuberculosis therapy are more likely to experience virological failure when starting nevirapine-based antiretroviral therapy, an HIV treatment that is widely used in developing countries because of lower cost, than when starting efavirenz-based antiretroviral therapy, according to a study in the Aug. 6 issue of JAMA, a theme issue on HIV/AIDS. ... > full story
Sesame Seed Extract And Konjac Gum May Help Ward Off Salmonella And E. Coli (August 6, 2008) -- A new study in the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture shows that konjac gum and sesame seed extract may offer protection against different strains of E. coli and Salmonella bacteria. ... > full story
One In Ten Children Using Cough, Cold Medications (August 6, 2008) -- Researchers have found that approximately one in ten US children uses one or more cough and cold medications during a given week. Pediatric cough and cold medications are widely marketed in the U.S. but surprisingly little is known about just how often they are used in children. This information is especially important in light of recent revelations that cough and cold medications are responsible for serious adverse events and even deaths among children. ... > full story
Revolutionary Technique Could Reduce Lifelong Drugs For Transplant Patients (August 6, 2008) -- Researchers have developed a ground-breaking procedure that could avoid the need for transplant patients to spend the rest of their lives taking a cocktail of drugs to stop their system from rejecting their new organ. ... > full story
Growth Hormone Reduces Abdominal Fat, Cardiovascular Risk In HIV Patients On Antiviral Therapy (August 6, 2008) -- Low-dose growth hormone treatment reduced abdominal fat deposits and improved blood pressure and triglyceride levels in a group of patients with HIV lipodystrophy -- a condition involving the redistribution of fat and other metabolic changes in patients receiving combination drug therapy for HIV infection -- but growth hormone treatment also appeared to increase blood glucose levels, particularly in those already exhibiting glucose intolerance. ... > full story
Breast Cancer Confessions: Emotional Work Of Disclosing A Diagnosis (August 6, 2008) -- Women diagnosed with breast cancer shoulder the emotional burden of disclosing their diagnosis to loved ones, managing the feelings of others at precisely the time when they need support themselves, according to new research. ... > full story
Testosterone And Body Fat Are Controlled By The Same Genes (August 6, 2008) -- Genes that control percentage of body fat are also responsible for circulating levels of testosterone in men, new research shows. The research shows a 23% overlap between the genes that control testosterone and those that regulate body fat composition, suggesting that these two variables are partly controlled by the same set of genes. ... > full story
A Mechanism For The Development Of Obesity-associated Conditions (August 6, 2008) -- Substances known as endocannabinoids have been implicated in the development of many effects of a high-fat diet, including risk factors for type 2 diabetes. New data have now indicated that these effects of endocannabinoids occur via activation of the protein CB1 in the liver and not the brain. Therefore, targeting liver CB1 might provide an effective way to treat obesity-related medical conditions without the side effects of targeting CB1 in the brain, anxiety and depression. ... > full story
Bulging Prison System Called Massive Intervention In American Family Life (August 6, 2008) -- The mammoth increase in the United States' prison population since the 1970s is having profound demographic consequences that disproportionately affect black males. ... > full story
Eating Fish May Prevent Memory Loss And Stroke In Old Age (August 5, 2008) -- Eating tuna and other types of fish may help lower the risk of cognitive decline and stroke in healthy older adults, according to a study in the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. ... > full story
Overcoming Inhibitors Of Cell Death Improves Cancer Therapy Efficacy (August 5, 2008) -- Individuals with one of the most aggressive types of brain tumor have an extremely poor prognosis. Although some patients with GBM respond to treatment with drugs known as RTK inhibitors, most subsequently relapse after only a short time. New data, have now provided insight into the mechanism by which GBM cells become resistant to RTK inhibitors and suggest a way to improve the efficacy of RTK inhibitors as a treatment for GBM. ... > full story
The School Bully: Does It Run In The Family? (August 5, 2008) -- New research links family relationships to childhood bullying. A shove, a taunt or name-calling on the playground or in the hall, away from the eyesight, earshot and authority of the teacher -- childhood bullying can involve physical contact, spreading rumors and other negative behaviors committed over and over again to intimidate, humiliate and isolate the receiver of the behavior. ... > full story
Lowering Cholesterol Early In Life Could Save Lives (August 5, 2008) -- With heart disease maintaining top billing as the leading cause of death in the United States, physician-researchers are proposing that aggressive intervention to lower cholesterol levels as early as childhood is the best approach available today to reducing the incidence of coronary heart disease. ... > full story
Long-term HIV Treatment May Reduce Risk For Atherosclerosis (August 5, 2008) -- Antiretroviral drugs for HIV do not increase risk of coronary atherosclerosis says a University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health study. The results, based on nearly 950 HIV-positive and HIV-negative men, suggest that antiretroviral therapy may, in fact, offer men with HIV some protection against atherosclerosis. Coronary artery calcification scores were almost 60 percent lower in HIV-positive men who received highly active antiretroviral therapy for more than eight years compared to HIV-negative men. ... > full story
Estrogen Relieves Psychotic Symptoms In Women With Schizophrenia (August 5, 2008) -- When combined with antipsychotic medications, the estrogen estradiol appears to be a useful treatment in women with schizophrenia, according to a new report. ... > full story
Vitamin C Injections Slow Tumor Growth In Mice (August 5, 2008) -- High-dose injections of vitamin C, also known as ascorbate or ascorbic acid, reduced tumor weight and growth rate by about 50 percent in mouse models of brain, ovarian and pancreatic cancers, researchers report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The researchers traced ascorbate's anti-cancer effect to the formation of hydrogen peroxide in the extracellular fluid surrounding the tumors. Normal cells were unaffected. ... > full story
Research Exposes New Target For Malaria Drugs (August 5, 2008) -- The malaria parasite has waged a successful guerrilla war against the human immune system for eons, but a study in this week's Journal of Biological Chemistry has exposed one of the tricks malaria uses to hide from the immune proteins, which may aid in future drug development. ... > full story
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