ScienceDaily Health Headlines
for Monday, December 1, 2008
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A Surgeon You Can Swallow (December 1, 2008) -- In the future, tablet-shaped robots could perform some surgical operations without injuring the body. A new publication shows how such surgical bio-microrobots might function. ... > full story
New Way Epigenetic Information is Inherited: Small RNAs Inherited From Mother Determines Offspring’s Fertility Trait (December 1, 2008) -- Scientists report that small RNA molecules called piRNAs can be passed directly from one generation to the next in fruit flies, thereby passing the trait of fertility from the mother to progeny. This process occurs independently of genomic DNA via direct deposits of maternal piRNAs into developing oocytes. The piRNAs suppress the expression of DNA sequences called "transposons" that would otherwise lead to infertility in the progeny fruit flies. ... > full story
Memory Mission Explores New Territory In Neuroscience (December 1, 2008) -- Astrophysicists peer into the far corners of deep space for dark matter, but for neuroscientists are exploring the unknown is much closer to home. ... > full story
Potassium Loss From Blood Pressure Drugs May Explain Higher Risk Of Adult Diabetes (December 1, 2008) -- Researchers have discovered that a drop in blood potassium levels caused by diuretics commonly prescribed for high blood pressure could be the reason why people on those drugs are at risk for developing type 2 diabetes. The drugs helpfully accelerate loss of fluids, but also deplete important chemicals, including potassium, so that those who take them are generally advised to eat bananas and other potassium-rich foods to counteract the effect. ... > full story
Life Is A Highway: Study Confirms Cars Have Personality (December 1, 2008) -- No one needs to tell Disney, which brought the likes of Herbie the Love Bug and Lightning McQueen to the big screen, that cars have personality. "Cars seem to have consistent personality traits associated with them, and ... this is similar to the way people perceive facial expressions," said one of the researchers. ... > full story
Genomic Causes Of Certain Type Of Leukemia Relapse Identified (December 1, 2008) -- Scientists have identified distinctive genetic changes in the cancer cells of children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia that cause relapse. ... > full story
Diabetes Medications In Same Class Carry Different Risks Of Heart Failure, Death (December 1, 2008) -- Older adults who take the diabetes medication rosiglitazone appear to have a higher risk of death and heart failure than those taking the related medication pioglitazone, according to a new report. ... > full story
Children With Sickle Cell Disease Receiving Inadequate Care, Study Finds (December 1, 2008) -- A new study finds that youth populations with sickle cell disease are receiving inadequate health care, and thus may fail to benefit from scientific advances. The study finds that the patients, mostly African-Americans, often lack insurance or access to specialized sickle cell centers for treatment. ... > full story
Does Hormone Treatment Predispose Patients To Breast Cancer? (November 30, 2008) -- Breast cancer, the leading cause of death among women in France, is the most commonly occurring cancer in women. Sporadic breast cancer, which is non-hereditary, turns out to be the most widespread, representing 85 to 90% of all cases, but remains the least well-known. Researchers have just discovered the cause of 50% of sporadic breast cancers. ... > full story
Portuguese Scientists Discover New Mechanism That Regulates Formation Of Blood Vessels (November 30, 2008) -- Researchers have discovered a novel mechanism which regulates the process whereby new blood vessels are formed and wounds heal, including chronic wounds, such as those found in diabetic patients and those suffering from morbid obesity. These findings have implications for the development of new therapeutic approaches to healing damaged blood vessels and building new ones. ... > full story
How Binge Drinking May Drive Heart Disease (November 30, 2008) -- As the holidays arrive, a group of researchers has identified the precise mechanisms by which binge drinking contributes to clogs in arteries that lead to heart attack and stroke. The works adds to a growing body of evidence that drinking patterns matter as much, if not more, to risk for cardiovascular disease than the total amount consumed. Irregular, heavy drinking pattern clogs blood vessels. ... > full story
Common Cold Virus Came From Birds About 200 Years Ago, Study Suggests (November 30, 2008) -- A virus that causes cold-like symptoms in humans originated in birds and may have crossed the species barrier around 200 years ago, according to an article in the Journal of General Virology. Scientists hope their findings will help us understand how potentially deadly viruses emerge in humans. ... > full story
Ultrasound Waves Aid In Rapid Treatment Of Deep Vein Thrombosis (November 30, 2008) -- The use of ultrasound waves for deep vein thrombosis may help dissolve blood clots in less time than using clot-busting drugs alone, according to researchers. ... > full story
Exercise And Rest Reduce Cancer Risk (November 30, 2008) -- Exercise is good for more than just your waistline. A recent study suggests that regular physical activity can lower a woman's overall risk of cancer -- but only if she gets a good night's sleep. Otherwise, lack of sleep can undermine exercise's cancer prevention benefits. ... > full story
Science Professors Know Science, But Who Is Teaching Them How To Teach? (November 30, 2008) -- U.S. science and engineering students emerge from graduate school exquisitely trained to carry out research. Yet when it comes to the other major activity they'll engage in as professors -- teaching -- they're usually left to their own devices. That's now beginning to change. ... > full story
Fast Food A Potential Risk Factor For Alzheimer’s (November 30, 2008) -- Mice that were fed a diet rich in fat, sugar and cholesterol for nine months developed a preliminary stage of the morbid irregularities that form in the brains of Alzheimer's patients. The study gives some indications of how this difficult to treat disease might one day be preventable. ... > full story
Three Esophageal, Stomach Cancer Subtypes Linked To Smoking; One Associated With Alcohol Use (November 30, 2008) -- Researchers who have been following the health of more than 120,000 residents of the Netherlands for more than two decades have found that smoking is associated with two forms of esophageal cancer as well as a form of stomach cancer, and that drinking alcohol is strongly linked to one form of esophageal cancer. ... > full story
Specific DNA Variations Of The Serotonin Transporter Gene Can Influence Drinking Intensity (November 30, 2008) -- The brain's serotonergic system plays an important role in alcohol preference and consumption. New findings show that specific DNA sequence variations of the serotonin transporter gene can influence drinking intensity among alcohol-dependent individuals. ... > full story
Virtual Ears And The Cocktail Party Effect (November 29, 2008) -- New research has helped understanding of the so-called 'cocktail party effect' -- how our brains develop the ability to pinpoint and focus on particular sounds among a background of noise. ... > full story
Selenium May Slow March Of AIDS (November 29, 2008) -- Increasing the production of naturally occurring proteins that contain selenium in human blood cells slows down multiplication of the AIDS virus, according to biochemists. ... > full story
Bad Cholesterol Inhibits The Breakdown Of Peripheral Fat (November 29, 2008) -- The so called bad cholesterol (LDL) inhibits the breakdown of fat in cells of peripheral deposits, according to a new study. The discovery reveals a novel function of LDL as a regulator of fat turnover besides its well-established detrimental effects in promoting atherosclerosis. ... > full story
Ban On Fast Food TV Advertising Would Reverse Childhood Obesity Trends, Study Shows (November 29, 2008) -- A ban on fast-food advertisements in the United States could reduce the number of overweight children by as much as 18 percent, according to a new study. The study also reports that eliminating the tax deductibility associated with television advertising would result in a reduction of childhood obesity, though in smaller numbers. ... > full story
New Screening Halves Number Of Children Born With Down Syndrome (November 29, 2008) -- A new national screening strategy in Denmark has halved the number of infants born with Down's syndrome and increased the number of infants diagnosed before birth by 30 percent, according to a new study. ... > full story
Study Documents What May Be First Cases Of Certain Tick-borne Disease In China (November 29, 2008) -- It appears that for the first time human granulocytic anaplasmosis, an emerging tick-borne infectious disease found in the US and Europe, has been identified in China and apparently was transmitted from person to person, according to a new study. ... > full story
Stomach Ulcer Bug Causes Bad Breath (November 29, 2008) -- Bacteria that cause stomach ulcers and cancer could also be giving us bad breath, according to research published in the Journal of Medical Microbiology. For the first time, scientists have found Helicobacter pylori living in the mouths of people who are not showing signs of stomach disease. ... > full story
Risk Of Maternal And Newborn Complications May Be Lower After Bariatric Surgery (November 29, 2008) -- A review of previously published studies suggests that rates of adverse outcomes for mothers or pregnant women and newborn babies, such as gestational diabetes and low birth weight, may be lower after bariatric surgery compared with pregnant women who are obese, according to a new study. ... > full story
Toward Healthier Bread And Other Whole Grain Foods (November 29, 2008) -- Bread, pasta, and other foods made from whole grains -- known to help protect against heart disease, cancer and diabetes -- may get even healthier in the future. ... > full story
Asthma Over-Diagnosed In One Third Of Canadian Adults, Study Suggests (November 29, 2008) -- Asthma may be overdiagnosed in countries like Canada, suggests a longitudinal study of 540 obese and non-obese adults that found approximately one third of Canadians with physician-diagnosed asthma do not have asthma when objectively tested. ... > full story
Mouse Model Of Prion Disease Mimics Diverse Symptoms Of Human Disorder (November 28, 2008) -- A comprehensive mouse model of inherited prion disease exhibits cognitive, motor and neurophysiological deficits that bear a striking resemblance to the symptoms experienced by patients with the human version of "mad cow disease," Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. The research, published in the journal Neuron, provides exciting insight into the mechanism of disease and may lead to the development of new therapeutic strategies for this devastating neurodegenerative disorder. ... > full story
Drink Brewed Tea To Avoid Tooth Erosion, Study Suggests (November 28, 2008) -- Researchers compared green and black tea to soda and orange juice in terms of their short- and long-term erosive effect on human teeth. The study found that the erosive effect of tea was similar to that of water, which has no erosive effect. ... > full story
Resistance to TB Vaccine May Be Uncommon, Protects Against Nine Strains in Mice (November 28, 2008) -- A new study shows that the current tuberculosis vaccine induces protective immunity against nine strains of the bacteria in mice indicating that strain-specific resistance may be uncommon. ... > full story
Expressing Emotions In E-mail So As Not To Be Misinterpreted (November 28, 2008) -- How do people use emoticons, subject lines, and signatures to define how they want to be interpreted in email? The authors find that "a shift to email interaction requires a new set of interactional skills to be developed." Unlike face-to-face conversations, email interactions leave out tone of voice, body-language and context, which can lead to misunderstandings. ... > full story
Route To Obesity Passes Through Tongue (November 28, 2008) -- Obesity gradually numbs the taste sensation of rats to sweet foods and drives them to consume larger and ever-sweeter meals, according to neuroscientists. New findings could uncover a critical link between taste and body weight, and reveal how flab hooks the brain on sugary food. ... > full story
Master Gene Plays Key Role In Blood Sugar Levels (November 28, 2008) -- When mice that lack steroid receptor-2, a master regulator gene called a coactivator, fast for a day, their blood sugar levels plummet. If they go another day without food, they will die. The severity of the hypoglycemia was unexpected, according to an article in Science. ... > full story
Estrogen Therapy Could Be Dangerous For Women With Existing Heart Risk (November 28, 2008) -- Hormone therapy could accentuate certain pre-existing heart disease risk factors and a heart health evaluation should become the norm when considering estrogen replacement, new research suggests. ... > full story
Explanation For 'Face Blindness' Offered (November 28, 2008) -- For the first time, scientists have been able to map the disruption in neural circuitry of people suffering from congenital prosopagnosia, sometimes known as face blindness, and have been able to offer a biological explanation for this intriguing disorder. Currently thought to affect roughly two percent of the population, congenital prosopagnosia manifests as the lifelong failure to recognize faces in the absence of obvious neurological damage, and in individuals with intact vision and intelligence. ... > full story
Experimental TB Drug Explodes Bacteria From The Inside Out (November 28, 2008) -- Biochemists have discovered how an experimental drug unleashes its destructive force inside the bacteria that cause tuberculosis. The finding could help scientists develop ways to treat dormant TB infections, and suggests a strategy for drug development against other bacteria as well. ... > full story
Inhaled Corticosteroids Raise Pneumonia Risk For Lung Disease Sufferers (November 28, 2008) -- Lung disease experts are calling for physicians to show much greater caution in prescribing inhaled corticosteroid drugs for people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease after finding evidence that the widely used anti-inflammatory medications increase the risk of pneumonia by a full third. ... > full story
Protein Fibers Can Become Electrical Wiring (November 28, 2008) -- Researchers have succeeded in creating electrical wires consisting of protein fibers encased in plastic. The 10 nanometer thin fibers are self-organizing and compatible with biological systems. ... > full story
New Research Sheds Light On Fly Sleep Circuit (November 28, 2008) -- Researchers have identified a specific set of wake-promoting neurons in fruit flies that are analogous to cells in the much more complex sleep circuit in humans. The study demonstrates that in flies, as in mammals, the sleep circuit is intimately linked to the circadian clock and that the brain's strategies to govern sleep are evolutionarily ancient. ... > full story
Insight Into 'Dancing' Atoms: To Make Better MRI Images, Let The Atoms Spin Out Of Control (November 28, 2008) -- Scientists have made a new theoretical advance in atomic behavior that could lead to sharper magnetic resonance imaging pictures. The discovery could one day help enable the development of portable MRI machines. ... > full story
Surgeons Perform World's First Pediatric Robotic Bladder Reconstruction (November 28, 2008) -- A 10-year-old Chicago girl born with an abnormally small bladder that made her incontinent has become the first patient to benefit from a new robotic-assisted bladder-reconstruction procedure. The surgeons have now performed the operation six times, with good results and no significant complications. ... > full story
Hormones: The Reason Why Females With Cystic Fibrosis Have A Worse Outlook Than Males With The Disease (November 28, 2008) -- Females with cystic fibrosis have more severe disease than males with cystic fibrosis and have a shorter lifespan. Although many suggestions have been put forward to explain this sex-related difference, a concrete mechanism to explain it has remained elusive. ... > full story
Eye Divergence In Children Triples Risk Of Mental Illness (November 28, 2008) -- Children whose eyes are misaligned and point outward are at significantly increased risk of developing mental illness by early adulthood, according to findings published in Pediatrics. ... > full story
New Leprosy Bacterium: Scientists Use Genetic Fingerprint To Nail 'Killing Organism' (November 28, 2008) -- A new species of bacterium that causes leprosy has been identified through intensive genetic analysis of a pair of lethal infections, a research team reports. ... > full story
Helping The Embryo Implant: A New Role For One Type Of Immune Cell (November 28, 2008) -- One of the most critical stages in establishing a pregnancy is the implantation of the embryo in the wall of the uterus. Although the accumulation of immune cells known as DCs has been observed in the uterus after fertilization and prior to implantation, their function was not known. ... > full story
Childhood Constipation Just As Serious As Asthma (November 28, 2008) -- Family life gets crazy around the holidays, and kids can get out of their bathroom routine. A new study finds childhood constipation is much more than an inconvenience - it's a common, sometimes serious medical problem that costs nearly billion each year to treat. That's equal to major chronic illnesses like asthma and ADHD. We have some important tips for parents to help treat or prevent the problem before it gets serious. ... > full story
Increased Calcium Sensitivity In The Heart Can Make For An Irregular Heartbeat (November 28, 2008) -- New mouse studies, by Björn C. Knollmann and colleagues, at Vanderbilt Medical Center, Nashville, have uncovered a potential new molecular mechanism to explain why some individuals suffer irregular heartbeats that can cause sudden death. The results suggest a potential new target for drugs that would be beneficial to those at risk. ... > full story
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