ScienceDaily Health Headlines
for Wednesday, August 13, 2008
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Signs Of Alzheimer's Disease May Be Present Decades Before Diagnosis (August 13, 2008) -- People who develop Alzheimer's disease may show signs of this illness many decades earlier in life, including compromised educational achievement. Adult head size can be used to estimate the size of the fully-developed brain. ... > full story
Single MicroRNA That Controls Blood Vessel Development Identified (August 13, 2008) -- Scientists have identified a key regulatory factor that controls development of the human vascular system, the extensive network of arteries, veins and capillaries that allow blood to reach all tissues and organs. ... > full story
Parents Shape Whether Their Children Learn To Eat Fruits And Vegetables (August 13, 2008) -- To combat the increasing problem of childhood obesity, researchers are studying how to get preschoolers to eat more fruits and vegetables. One way is early home interventions -- teaching parents how to create an environment where children reach for a banana instead of potato chips. ... > full story
Losing Weight Soon After Type 2 Diabetes Diagnosis Doubles Positive Outcomes (August 13, 2008) -- A four-year study looked at 2,574 adults and found that people who lost weight in the 18 months after a type 2 diabetes diagnosis were up to twice as likely to have better control of their blood pressure and blood sugar, and were more likely to maintain that control even if they later regained their weight. ... > full story
Widely Prescribed Anti-parasite Drug Targets Cancer-causing Protein (August 13, 2008) -- Researchers have identified mebendazole, a drug used globally to treat parasitic infections, as a novel investigational agent for the treatment of chemotherapy-resistant malignant melanoma. ... > full story
Levels Of C-reactive Protein In The Blood Do Not Cause Diabetes (August 13, 2008) -- Researchers have examined the association between levels of C-reactive protein, a marker for inflammation in the blood, and the risk of type 2 diabetes. ... > full story
Caregivers Of Spouses With Dementia Enjoy Life Less (August 13, 2008) -- Spouses of husbands and wives with dementia pay an emotional toll as they care for their ailing spouse. This has prompted a call for new interventions and strategies to assist caregivers in coping with the demands of this difficult time, according to a new study. ... > full story
Childhood Brain Tumor Traced To Normal Stem Cells Gone Bad (August 12, 2008) -- An aggressive childhood brain tumor known as medulloblastoma originates in normal brain "stem" cells that turn malignant when acted on by a known mutant, cancer-causing oncogene, say researchers. The findings hint at potential new treatment approaches for medulloblastoma by targeting the origins of the tumors, and further suggest that not all patients' tumors may be born from the same cells. ... > full story
For The Birds Or For Me? Why Do Conservationists Really Help Wildlife? (August 12, 2008) -- Volunteers who take part in conservation efforts may do it more for themselves than the wildlife they are trying to protect. ... > full story
Alternate Pathway That Leads To Palate Development Identified (August 12, 2008) -- Researchers have uncovered another clue behind the causes of cleft palate and the process that leads to palate formation. ... > full story
Anything But Modest: The Mouse Continues To Contribute To Humankind (August 12, 2008) -- "Big things come in small packages," the saying goes, and it couldn't be more true when discussing the mouse. This little creature has become a crucial part of human history through its contributions in understanding human genetics and disease. In a review published in Disease Models & Mechanisms, genetics researchers from Yale University School of Medicine and Fudan University School of Life Sciences discuss the history and future of mice as a model organism. ... > full story
How Babies Understand The World Around Them And Their Place In It (August 12, 2008) -- New research could provide an insight into the way that babies understand the world around them and their place within it. A new study suggests that babies as young as six or seven months are able to actively respond to stimuli and understand them in relation to their own bodies. ... > full story
New Evidence On Benefits Of Breast Feeding (August 12, 2008) -- Researchers have identified proteins in human breast-milk -- not present in cow's milk -- that may fight disease by helping remove bacteria, viruses and other dangerous pathogen's from an infant's gastrointestinal tract. ... > full story
Key To Treating Cancer May Be Finding Its Original Cell (August 12, 2008) -- Cancer biologists are turning their attention to the normal cells that give rise to cancers, to learn more about how tumor growth might be stopped at the earliest opportunity. ... > full story
New Breastfeeding Study Shows Most Moms Quit Early (August 12, 2008) -- While the CDC recently reported that more moms than ever give breastfeeding a try, a new national study shows most moms do not stick with it as long as they should. Although 77 percent of moms nationally start to breastfeed, the new study found that only 36 percent of babies are breastfed through 6 months, well short of the federal government's goal to hit 50 percent by 2010. ... > full story
Sound Adds Speed To Visual Perception (August 12, 2008) -- The traditional view of individual brain areas involved in perception of different sensory stimuli -- i.e., one brain region involved in hearing and another involved in seeing -- has been thrown into doubt in recent years. A new study shows that, in monkeys, the region involved in hearing can directly improve perception in the visual region, without the involvement of other structures to integrate the senses. ... > full story
Proton Pump Inhibitors Increase Risk Of Bone Fractures, Study Finds (August 12, 2008) -- Patients who use proton pump inhibitors for seven or more years to treat reflux, peptic ulcers and other conditions are at greater risk of osteoporosis-related fractures, according to this large observational study published in CMAJ. ... > full story
Anemia Of Chronic Disease: An Adaptive Response? (August 12, 2008) -- The anemia of chronic disease may be a beneficial, adaptive response to the underlying disease, rather than a negative effect of the illness, postulates an analysis article in CMAJ. ... > full story
Large Reservoir Of Mitochondrial DNA Mutations Identified In Humans (August 12, 2008) -- Clinical analysis of blood samples from almost 3,000 infants showed that at least 1 in 200 individuals in the general public harbor mitochondrial DNA mutations that may lead to disease. ... > full story
Greater Response To Placebo In Children Than In Adults (August 12, 2008) -- In a systematic review of antiepileptic drugs, researchers show that children with drug-resistant partial epilepsy enrolled in trials seem to have a greater response to placebo than adults enrolled in such trials. This finding is an important factor to consider when designing drug trials to be carried out in children with epilepsy. ... > full story
Some Obese Individuals Appear 'Metabolically Healthy,' Without Increased Cardiovascular Risk (August 12, 2008) -- Some obese individuals do not appear to have an increased risk for heart disease, while some normal-weight individuals experience a cluster of heart risks, according to two reports in the August 11/25 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. ... > full story
Molecular Switch Helps Decide Cell Type In Early Embryo Development (August 12, 2008) -- Researchers have discovered a central molecular switch in fruit fly embryos that opens new avenues for studying the causes of birth defects and cancer in humans. Scientists have determined the switch to be a main tuning mechanism for instructing cells whether to form sensory nerves or blood cells in different parts of the body. ... > full story
Risks of Cheerleading: Two-thirds Of Severe Sports Injuries To Female Students Due To Cheerleading (August 12, 2008) -- A new report on severe sporting injuries among high school and college athletes shows cheerleading appears to account for a larger proportion of all such injuries than previously thought. ... > full story
Low Vitamin D Levels Pose Large Threat To Health; Overall 26 Percent Increased Risk Of Death (August 12, 2008) -- Researchers at Johns Hopkins are reporting what is believed to be the most conclusive evidence to date that inadequate levels of vitamin D, obtained from milk, fortified cereals and exposure to sunlight, lead to substantially increased risk of death. ... > full story
Olympic Athlete Study Shows That Pride And Shame Are Universal And Innate Expressions (August 12, 2008) -- The victory stance of a gold medalist and the slumped shoulders of a nonfinalist are innate and biological rather than learned responses to success and failure, according to a University of British Columbia study using cross-cultural data gathered at the 2004 Olympic and Paralympic Games. ... > full story
PET Scans May Help Assess Presence Of Brain Plaques Related To Alzheimer's Disease (August 12, 2008) -- A type of positron emission tomography scanning may be useful in a noninvasive assessment of the formation of Alzheimer's disease-related plaques in the brain, according to small study posted online today that will appear in the October 2008 print issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. ... > full story
Neuroscientists Glimpse How The Brain Decides What To Believe (August 12, 2008) -- Research by neuroscientists suggests that the estimation of confidence that underlies decisions may be the product of a very basic kind of information processing in the brain, shared widely across species and not strictly confined to those, like humans, that are self-aware. ... > full story
Test To Protect Food Chain From Human Form Of Mad Cow Disease (August 12, 2008) -- Scientists are reporting development of the first test for instantly detecting beef that has been contaminated with tissue from a cow's brain or spinal cord during slaughter -- an advance in protecting against possible spread of the human form of Mad Cow Disease. ... > full story
Cancer Survival Secrets Uncovered (August 12, 2008) -- Researchers have uncovered the role of a family of enzymes in the mutation of benign or less aggressive tumors into more aggressive, potentially fatal, cancers in the human body. ... > full story
Birth During A Recession Raises Risk Of Fatal Cardiovascular Disease At Advanced Age (August 12, 2008) -- People who suffer from cardiovascular diseases at advanced ages may have reason to suspect that the cause of their illness lies far away ... around the date of their birth. A team of European researchers reports that if economic conditions at the time of birth were bad, then this leads to a higher risk of cardiovascular mortality much later in life. ... > full story
Physical Frailty May Be Linked To Alzheimer's Disease (August 12, 2008) -- Physical frailty, which is common in older persons, may be related to Alzheimer's disease pathology, according to a study published in the Aug. 12, 2008, issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. ... > full story
Refractive Errors Affect Vision For Half Of American Adults (August 12, 2008) -- About half of US adults age 20 and older have refractive errors, or eye problems that result in less than 20/20 vision, according to a report in the August issue of Archives of Ophthalmology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. ... > full story
New Insight Into Most Common Forebrain Malformation (August 12, 2008) -- Scientists have identified one of the molecular mechanisms underlying the genetic brain malformation called holoprosencephaly. The findings not only yield insights into the most common developmental malformation of the anterior brain and face in newborns, but also help in understanding the intricate process by which the brain forms in the developing fetus. ... > full story
Cognitive Problems Associated With Diabetes Duration And Severity (August 12, 2008) -- Individuals with mild cognitive impairment appear more likely to have earlier onset, longer duration and greater severity of diabetes, according to a report in the August issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. ... > full story
Running Slows The Aging Clock, Researchers Find (August 11, 2008) -- Regular running slows the effects of aging, according to a new study from Stanford University School of Medicine that has tracked 500 older runners for more than 20 years. Elderly runners have fewer disabilities, a longer span of active life and are half as likely as aging nonrunners to die early deaths, the research found. ... > full story
Designer RNA Fights High Cholesterol, Researchers Find (August 11, 2008) -- Small, specially designed bits of ribonucleic acid (RNA) can interfere with cholesterol metabolism, reducing harmful cholesterol by two-thirds in pre-clinical tests, according to a new study by researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center in collaboration with Alnylam Pharmaceuticals and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. ... > full story
Investigation Of Prion Folding On Cell Membranes (August 11, 2008) -- Abnormally folded proteins cause a number of illnesses such as the Creutzfeldt-Jacob Disease, BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) and Alzheimer’s. It is still unknown why this misfolding occurs. The first stages of folding and the onset of the aggregation of the proteins, the so-called oligomerisation, appear to be decisive for pathogenesis. ... > full story
'Lost Tribe' Of Clinician-scientists: Medical Doctors Who Do Research Could Be A Dying Breed (August 11, 2008) -- The road from disease research to disease cure isn't usually a smooth one. One role which bridges the laboratory and the clinic is that of the "clinician-scientist" -- a doctor who understands disease both in the patient and in the Petri dish. Yet an editorial published in Disease Models & Mechanisms, contends that clinician-scientists in the UK and elsewhere are not prospering, but rather are "under threat in a hostile environment". ... > full story
Better Bandage: Microscopic Scaffolding Offers 'Simple' Solution To Treating Skin Injuries (August 11, 2008) -- A revolutionary dissolvable scaffold for growing new areas of skin could provide a safer, more effective way of treating burns, diabetic ulcers and similar injuries. This ultra-fine, 3-dimensional scaffold, which is made from specially developed polymers, looks similar to tissue paper but has fibres 100 times finer. Before it is placed over a wound, the patient's skin cells (obtained via a biopsy) are introduced and attach themselves to the scaffold, multiplying until they eventually grow over it. ... > full story
Pre-cancerous Condition Linked To Chronic Acid Reflux Faces Several Hurdles (August 11, 2008) -- UK researchers address challenges in treating Barrett's esophagus, a precancerous condition found in some sufferers of chronic acid reflux disease, and call for better disease models and diagnostic markers. ... > full story
Health And Marriage: The Times They Are A Changin' (August 11, 2008) -- The health of people who never marry is improving, narrowing the gap with their wedded counterparts, according to new research that suggests the practice of encouraging marriage to promote health may be misguided. ... > full story
'Edible Optics' Could Make Food Safer (August 11, 2008) -- Scientists have demonstrated that it is possible to design biologically active, biodegradable optical devices -- made from silk and requiring no refrigeration -- with many applications in medicine, health, the environment and communications. For example, edible optical sensors could detect harmful bacteria in a bag of produce, and be consumed right along with the food if it were safe. ... > full story
More PSA Screening Awareness Needed Among High-risk Groups, Study Suggests (August 11, 2008) -- In one of the first examinations of PSA screening in younger men, a new study finds that one-fifth of men under age 50 reported undergoing a prostate specific antigen test to detect prostate cancer in the previous year, yet only one in three young black men reported ever having a PSA test in the previous year. ... > full story
Complex Decision? Don't Sleep On It (August 11, 2008) -- Neither snap judgements nor sleeping on a problem are any better than conscious thinking for making complex decisions, according to new research. The finding debunks a controversial 2006 research result asserting that unconscious thought is superior for complex decisions, such as buying a house or car. If anything, the new study suggests that conscious thought leads to better choices. ... > full story
Damage To Fetal Brain Blocked Following Maternal Alcohol Consumption (August 11, 2008) -- In a study on fetal alcohol syndrome, researchers were able to prevent the damage that alcohol causes to cells in a key area of the fetal brain by blocking acid sensitive potassium channels and preventing the acidic environment that alcohol produces. The cerebellum, the portion of the brain that is responsible for balance and muscle coordination, is particularly vulnerable to injury from alcohol during development. ... > full story
Eroded Telomeres Are Behind A Rare Premature Aging Syndrome (August 11, 2008) -- Each time a cell divides, the protective caps at the ends of chromosomes shorten -- and when these caps are gone, so are we. Now, by using an unconventional strategy to shorten telomeres in mice, researchers have not only created the first faithful mouse model for studying a rare yet fatal premature aging syndrome, but they have revealed the molecular defect behind the disease. ... > full story
Another Piece Of The Weight-control Puzzle Identified (August 11, 2008) -- As scientists investigate the brain's intricate neurocircuitry, they are forming a clearer picture of the myriad events that lead to weight loss and weight gain. ... > full story
Technological Crystal Ball Boosts AIDS Survival (August 11, 2008) -- A cure for the virus that causes AIDS may still be beyond our grasp, but researchers have developed a predictive software system for HIV that could help extend the lives of victims of the killer disease. ... > full story
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