ScienceDaily Health Headlines
for Monday, August 11, 2008
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New Bacterial Species Found In Human Mouth (August 11, 2008) -- Scientists have discovered a new species of bacteria in the mouth. The finding could help scientists to understand tooth decay and gum disease and may lead to better treatments, according to research published in the August issue of the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology. ... > full story
Pathogen That Causes Disease In Cattle Also Associated With Crohn's Disease (August 11, 2008) -- People with Crohn's disease are seven-fold more likely to have in their gut tissues the bacterium that causes a digestive-tract disease in cattle called Johne's disease. The role this bacterium may or may not play in causing CD is a top research priority, according to a new report released by the American Academy of Microbiology. ... > full story
Stress Hormone Found To Regulate Brain Neurotransmission (August 11, 2008) -- Researchers have just shown how one of the stress hormones regulates brain neurotransmission on the short and long term and enables neuronal connections to adapt. ... > full story
Eat Oily Fish At Least Once A Week To Protect Your Eyesight In Old Age (August 11, 2008) -- Eating oily fish once a week may reduce age-related macular degeneration which is the major cause of blindness and poor vision in adults in western countries and the third cause of global blindness, according to a study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. ... > full story
Arrival Method, Slow Response Often Delay Stroke Care (August 11, 2008) -- Most stroke patients can't recall when their symptoms started or do not arrive at the hospital in a timely manner, so they cannot be considered for time-dependent therapies such as the clot-busting drug tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), researchers reported in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association. ... > full story
Early Treatment Is Key To Combating Hepatitis C Virus (August 11, 2008) -- Patients who receive early treatment for hepatitis C virus within the first months following an infection, develop a rapid poly-functional immune response against HCV similar to when infection is erradicted spontaneously, according to a new study published in the Journal of Virology. Therefore, early treatment can restore immune response against HCV and help eliminate the virus rapidly. This new discovery of the mechanisms of viral eradication could contribute to the development of new treatments. ... > full story
New Insight On HIV Transmission Risk Of Men Who Have Sex With Men (August 11, 2008) -- Approximately half of all new HIV infections in the United States result from the sexual risk behaviors of men who have sex with men. Now, a new study provides additional insight into which of these men are most likely to transmit HIV to others, potentially paving the way for the development of more targeted prevention programs. ... > full story
Psychiatrists Shift Away From Providing Psychotherapy (August 11, 2008) -- A declining number of office-based psychiatrists appear to be providing psychotherapy to their patients, according to a new report. Psychotherapy has been part of the practice of psychiatry for generations. Various forms of psychotherapy, either alone or in combination with medications, are recommended for the treatment of major depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, bipolar disorder and other psychiatric illnesses. ... > full story
Mutation Found In Dachshund Gene May Help Develop Therapies For Humans With Blindness (August 10, 2008) -- Cone-rod dystrophies are a group of eye diseases caused by progressive loss of the photoreceptor cells in the retina. In a study published online in Genome Research, researchers have identified a novel mutation in a gene associated with CRD in dogs, raising hopes that potential therapies can be developed for people suffering from these eye disorders. ... > full story
Cancer-inhibiting Compound Found Under The Sea (August 10, 2008) -- Researchers have discovered a marine compound off the coast of Key Largo that inhibits cancer cell growth in laboratory tests. Largazole, named for its Florida location and structural features, seeks out a family of enzymes called histone deacetylase. Overactivity of certain HDACs has been associated with several cancers such as prostate and colon tumors, and inhibiting HDACs may activate tumor-suppressor genes that have been silenced in these cancers. ... > full story
Why Gene Therapy Caused Leukemia In Some 'Boy In The Bubble Syndrome' Patients (August 10, 2008) -- Severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID), sometimes called 'Boy in the bubble syndrome', is a genetic disorder in which the patient lacks most types of immune cell. Almost 10 years ago, two independent groups used gene therapy to treat a few infants with the most common form of SCID, SCID-X1, which is caused by mutations in the IL2RG gene. ... > full story
Red All Over: How The Color Red Affects A Referee's Judgment (August 10, 2008) -- A new study has found that choosing the color red for a uniform in competitive sports can actually affect the referee's split-second decision-making ability and even promote a scoring bias. ... > full story
Testosterone Key To Disease Transmission (August 10, 2008) -- High levels of testosterone may be a key factor in spreading disease among mice, according to biologists. The findings could help explain why males in a population are often more likely to get infected, and transmit disease. ... > full story
PSA Screening May Be Biased Against Obese Men, Leading To More Aggressive Cancers (August 10, 2008) -- Testing men for elevated levels of prostate-specific antigen in the blood -- the gold standard screening test for prostate cancer -- may be biased against obese men, whose PSA levels tend to be deceptively low. And this bias may be creating more aggressive cancers in this population by delaying diagnosis, according to a new study. ... > full story
Hope: An Overlooked Tool In The Battle Against HIV/AIDS (August 10, 2008) -- The links between HIV transmission and the degree to which people are able to adopt realistic plans to achieve future projects, in other words, hope, have been overlooked in policies to tackle HIV/AIDS. New research argues that hope is a powerful tool in the battle to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS. ... > full story
U.S. Swimmers Trim Times At Beijing Olympics Using 'Top Secret' Technology (August 10, 2008) -- Milliseconds can mean the difference between triumph and defeat in the world of Olympic sports, leading more trainers and athletes to look toward technology as a tool to get an edge on the competition. A fluids mechanics professor is using experimental flow measurement techniques to help American swimmers sharpen their strokes, shave seconds from their lap times, and race toward a gold medal in Beijing. ... > full story
Common Infertility Treatments Are Unlikely To Improve Fertility (August 10, 2008) -- Long-established medical interventions to help couples with infertility problems do not seem to improve fertility, according to a study published. ... > full story
Standardized Evaluation Of Antibody Response To HIV-1 Needed, According to Study (August 10, 2008) -- Researchers have released findings on a study of cross-clade neutralization patterns among HIV-1 strains from six major clades in the journal Virology. Broadly neutralizing antibodies are likely to play a key role in any successful global vaccine for HIV. ... > full story
Asthma, Outdoor Air Quality And The Olympic Games (August 10, 2008) -- Coinciding with the opening of the Beijing Olympic Games, a review article reminds us that the heat and humidity in the Beijing region will present a formidable challenge to all athletes. Moreover, poor quality of air can also affect all athletes, especially those with asthma. ... > full story
Organic Food Has No More Nutritional Value Than Food Grown With Pesticides, Study Shows (August 9, 2008) -- New research in the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture shows there is no evidence to support the argument that organic food is better than food grown with the use of pesticides and chemicals. The study looked at the following crops – carrots, kale, mature peas, apples and potatoes – staple ingredients that can be found in most families’ shopping list. ... > full story
People With Heart Disease Still Have Trouble Controlling Blood Lipid Levels (August 9, 2008) -- Despite some improvements to lower "bad" cholesterol levels, people with cardiovascular diseases still need to do a better job controlling overall blood lipid levels. ... > full story
Diet And Autism Research Focuses On Which Foods May Affect Autistic Behavior (August 9, 2008) -- Can autism be "cured" with diet? Researchers at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston embark on a double-blind study to find out if wheat and dairy products can affect autistic behavior, as some parents believe. ... > full story
If Your First Cigarette Gave You A Buzz And You Now Smoke, A Gene May Be To Blame (August 9, 2008) -- Anyone who has ever tried smoking probably remembers that first cigarette vividly. Now, a new study links those first experiences with smoking, and the likelihood that a person is currently a smoker, to a particular genetic variation. The finding may help explain the path that leads from that first cigarette to lifelong smoking. ... > full story
Trigger For Brain Plasticity Identified: Signal Comes, Surprisingly, From Outside The Brain (August 9, 2008) -- Researchers have long sought a factor that can trigger the brain's ability to learn -- recapturing the "sponge-like" quality of childhood. Called Otx2, it causes a key type of cell in the cortex to mature, initiating a critical period -- a window of heightened brain plasticity, when the brain can readily make new connections ... > full story
Putting MicroRNAs On The Stem Cell Map (August 9, 2008) -- Short snippets of RNA called microRNAs help to keep embryonic stem cells in their stem cell state. Researchers now have discovered the gene circuitry that controls microRNAs in embryonic stem cells. Mapping the control circuitry of stem cells reveals how they maintain themselves or decide to differentiate, providing key clues for regenerative medicine and reprogramming of adult cells to a stem cell state. These maps also aid our understanding of human development and diseases such as cancer. ... > full story
Robotics Research: Enhancing The Lives Of People With Disabilities (August 9, 2008) -- Robots may be the solution for people with disabilities who are struggling to regain the use of their limbs. ... > full story
Tuning In To A New Language On The Fly: Effects Of Context And Seasonality On Songbird Brain (August 9, 2008) -- New research has shown that exposure to a changed acoustic and social environment can rewire the way the brain processes sounds. Study of the responses of individual brain cells has shown that they respond best to a particular frequency (pitch) of sound, less well to nearby frequencies, and poorly to distant sound frequencies. ... > full story
Beyond PTEN: Alternate Genes Linked To Breast, Thyroid And Kidney Cancer Predisposition (August 9, 2008) -- A new discovery may lead to more effective screening and treatment for patients with a difficult to recognize syndrome characterized by tumor-like growths and a high risk of developing specific cancers. The research is the first in over thirteen years to identify an alternate susceptibility gene for Cowden syndrome and related disorders. ... > full story
New Approach To Ad Hoc Networks For First Responders Debuts (August 9, 2008) -- Researchers successfully demonstrated a prototype approach to maintain two-way communications with first responders as they make their way in building fires, and mine and tunnel collapses. ... > full story
82 Percent Of Americans Think Health Care System Needs Major Overhaul (August 9, 2008) -- Americans are dissatisfied with the US health care system and 82 percent think it should be fundamentally changed or completely rebuilt, according to a new survey. ... > full story
Multi-tasking Molecule Holds Key To Allergic Reactions (August 8, 2008) -- As the summer approaches most of us rejoice, reach for the sunscreen and head outdoors. But an ever-growing number of people reach for tissue instead as pollen leaves eyes watering, noses running and spirits dwindling. Hay fever is just one of a host of hypersensitivity allergic diseases that cause suffering worldwide and others, such as severe reactions to bee stings or eating peanuts, can be more serious and even fatal. ... > full story
Back To The Future: Psychologists Examine Children's Mental Time Traveling Abilities (August 8, 2008) -- Planning and anticipating occur so frequently in our everyday lives that it is hard to imagine a time when we didn’t have this capability. But just as many other capacities develop, so does this mental time traveling ability. Researchers have recently explored how children comprehend the future and ways that this understanding can be affected by, for example, their current physiological state. ... > full story
Twenty Disease-specific Stem Cell Lines Created (August 8, 2008) -- A set of new stem cell lines will make it possible for researchers to explore ten different genetic disorders—including muscular dystrophy, juvenile diabetes, and Parkinson's disease—in a variety of cell and tissue types as they develop in laboratory cultures. Researchers have produced a robust new collection of disease-specific stem cell lines, all of which were developed using the new induced pluripotent stem cell (iPS) technique. The new iPS lines, developed from the cells of patients ranging in age from one month to 57-years-old, will be deposited in a new HSCI "core" facility being established at Massachusetts General Hospital. ... > full story
Attention Grabbers Snatch Lion's Share Of Visual Memory (August 8, 2008) -- Our visual memory is not as good as we may think, according to new research -- but it can be used more flexibly than scientists previously thought. In a study in the journal Science, researchers have shown how we remember what we see and why we can recall visually important or striking images most clearly, using a topical example of a relay race to illustrate the concept. ... > full story
New Biochemical Pathway That Triggers Critical Repairs In DNA Replication Process Discovered (August 8, 2008) -- Scientists have unraveled a new biochemical pathway that triggers a critical repair response to correct errors in the DNA replication process that could otherwise lead to harmful or fatal mutations in cells. Though the work focused on yeast cells, the team expects to find an analogous system in human cells that could be exploited as a target for potential therapies for cancers, which are often caused by such repair mechanisms going off course. ... > full story
Fingerprints Provide Clues To More Than Just Identity (August 8, 2008) -- Fingerprints can reveal critical evidence, as well as an identity, with the use of a new technology that detects trace amounts of explosives, drugs or other materials left behind in the prints. The new technology also can distinguish between overlapping fingerprints left by different individuals -- a difficult task for current optical forensic methods. ... > full story
B Cells Can Act Alone In Autoimmune Disease (August 8, 2008) -- B cells, the source of damaging autoantibodies, have long been thought to depend upon T cells for their activation and were not considered important in the initiation of autoimmune diseases like lupus or rheumatoid arthritis. An article in the journal Immunity turns this paradigm on its head by showing that in systemic autoimmune diseases B cells can be activated the absence of T cells. ... > full story
Extreme Appeal: Voters Trust Extreme Positions More Than Moderate Ones, Study Finds (August 8, 2008) -- Trying to appear moderate is not always the best strategy for capturing votes during an election, reveals a new study. Extreme positions can build trust among an electorate, who value ideological commitment in times of uncertainty. "A rational electorate is reluctant to support someone who does not exhibit commitment to some ideology," says USC economist Juan Carrillo. "Voters rightly perceive that someone without ideological commitment cannot have developed a valuable political program." ... > full story
Embryonic-like Stem Cells Can Be Created Without Cancer-causing Gene (August 8, 2008) -- Embryonic-like stem cells can be efficiently generated using a natural signaling molecule instead of the virally delivered cancer-causing gene c-Myc. The results represent progress in overcoming hurdles to the potential use of reprogrammed cells for stem-cell-based therapies in humans. ... > full story
Beijing Olympics Air Pollution Control Efforts Being Assessed (August 8, 2008) -- Flying downwind from Chinese mainland, unmanned aerial vehicles will measure emissions of soot and other forms of black carbon during China's "great shutdown." ... > full story
Tumor Suppressor Inhibits Cell Growth (August 8, 2008) -- Researchers have described the mechanism by which p53 regulates cells and protects them against DNA damage that might lead to cancer. The study shows that two p53 target genes -- called Sestrin1 and Sestrin2 -- provide an important link between p53 and a protein kinase called mTOR, a central regulator of cell growth. ... > full story
Healthy Diet Study Will Take Place Entirely In Virtual World Of Second Life (August 8, 2008) -- The University of Houston department of health and human performance is launching an international effort to recruit 500 participants for a study promoting healthy dietary habits and physical activity. The study will take place entirely in the virtual world of Second Life. ... > full story
New Implant Device Remotely Monitors Heart Failure Patients (August 8, 2008) -- Chest pain and shortness of breath are common symptoms that send tens of thousands of heart failure (HF) patients into US hospitals each month. Cardiologists may now be able to curb such visits for some of their HF patients with the use of new wireless pressure sensor technology that allows physicians to track the pulmonary artery pressure of patients while these patients remain at home. ... > full story
Hormone Level May Reflect Mortality Risk Among Dialysis Patients (August 8, 2008) -- A new study suggests that monitoring levels of a hormone called fibroblast growth factor 23 may provide information crucial to the treatment of patients with kidney failure. ... > full story
No-nose Bicycle Saddles Improve Penile Sensation And Erectile Function In Bicycling Police Officers (August 8, 2008) -- A new study examines if no-nose bike seats would be effective in alleviating the harm caused by using a traditional seat. ... > full story
Connections Between Genetics, Brain Activity And Preference Discovered (August 8, 2008) -- Researchers have used brain imaging, genetics and experimental psychology techniques to identify a connection between brain reward circuitry, a behavioral measurement of preference and a gene variant that appears to influence both. ... > full story
Gastrointestinal Bleeding After Stroke May Increase Risk Of Death (August 8, 2008) -- People who have gastrointestinal bleeding after a stroke are more likely to die or become severely disabled than stroke sufferers with no GI bleeding, according to a new study. ... > full story
I Can, Automatically, Become Just Like You (August 8, 2008) -- No one likes to be excluded from a group: exclusion can decrease mood, reduce self-esteem and feelings of belonging, and even ultimately lead to negative behavior (e.g., the shootings at Virginia Tech). As a result, we often try to fit in with others in both conscious and automatic ways. Psychologists studied people's tendency to copy automatically the behaviors of others in order to find out how this mimicry can be used as an affiliation strategy. ... > full story
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