ScienceDaily Health Headlines -- for Sunday, May 15, 2011

ScienceDaily Health Headlines

for Sunday, May 15, 2011

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Sense of smell: Single giant interneuron in locusts controls activity in 50,000 neurons, enabling sparse codes for odours (May 14, 2011) -- The brain is a coding machine: it translates physical inputs from the world into visual, olfactory, auditory, tactile perceptions via the mysterious language of its nerve cells and the networks which they form. Neural codes could in principle take many forms, but in regions forming bottlenecks for information flow (e.g., the optic nerve) or in areas important for memory, sparse codes are highly desirable. Scientists have now discovered a single neuron in the brain of locusts that enables the adaptive regulation of sparseness in olfactory codes. ... > full story

Two defective proteins conspire to impair nerve cell's 'powerhouse' in Alzheimer's disease (May 14, 2011) -- Two proteins that are abnormally modified in the brains of patients with Alzheimer disease collude, resulting in ill effects on the crucial energy centers of brain cells, according to new findings. ... > full story

Protein responsible for the detection of extreme heat and pain discovered (May 14, 2011) -- The protein responsible for the detection of extreme heat and pain resulting from infections has been identified. The protein is a promising target for the development of new analgesic medications. ... > full story

Teens use peers as gauge in search for autonomy, and consistently assume others have more freedoms than they do (May 14, 2011) -- Two new studies find that teens' perceptions of peer freedom predicted their own desired levels of autonomy, and that teens consistently overestimated the actual levels of their peers' autonomy, assuming that others had more freedoms than they did. The first study looked at 500 youths in 6th through 9th grades and in 12th grade; the second followed up on the 6th and 7th graders a year later, when they were in 7th and 8th grades. ... > full story

New pathway affecting lifespan identified: Discovery advances study of diet and longevity (May 14, 2011) -- A research team has identified a new role for a biological pathway that not only signals the body's metabolic response to nutritional changes, but also affects lifespan. ... > full story

Scientists design new anti-flu virus proteins using computational methods (May 14, 2011) -- Scientists have demonstrated the use of computational methods to design new antiviral proteins not found in nature, but capable of targeting specific surfaces of flu virus molecules. Such designer proteins may have diagnostic and therapeutic potential in identifying and fighting viral infections. The researchers created a protein that disabled the part of the 1918 pandemic flu virus involved in invading respiratory tract cells. It did so by preventing segment from reconfiguring. This same protein also disabled a similar section of an avian flu virus. ... > full story

Increase in Internet access parallels growth in prescription drug abuse (May 14, 2011) -- Increasing access to rogue online pharmacies that dispense medications without a doctor's prescription may be an important factor behind the rapid increase in the abuse of prescription drugs. U.S. states with the greatest expansion in high-speed Internet access from 2000 to 2007 also had the largest increase in admissions for treatment of prescription drug abuse. ... > full story

Artificial grammar reveals inborn language sense, study shows (May 13, 2011) -- How human children acquire language remains largely a mystery. A groundbreaking study by cognitive scientists confirms that human beings are born with knowledge of certain syntactical rules that make learning human languages easier. ... > full story

Disruption of nerve cell supply chain may contribute to Parkinson's (May 13, 2011) -- New data offer hints to why Parkinson's disease so selectively harms brain cells that produce the chemical dopamine, say researchers. ... > full story

Stem cells from bone marrow may help treat acute lung injury (May 13, 2011) -- New research investigates the therapeutic use of human stem cells from bone marrow against acute lung injury and identifies TNF-alpha-induced protein 6 as a major molecular component of stem cell action. ... > full story

Do you fear ... now that Friday the 13th is here? (May 13, 2011) -- If you are one of those who carries around a rabbit's foot and strokes it all day long for good luck or makes a wish after blowing away a fallen eyelash -- then you are probably in the midst of bolting your doors, turning on all the lights and hiding under the comforting warmth of your comforter. Today just so happens to be Friday the 13th and if you have friggatriskaidekaphobia -- it's simply not a day to be trifled with. ... > full story

Vulnerability to nicotine addiction appears to have a genetic basis, study suggests (May 13, 2011) -- A person's vulnerability to nicotine addiction appears to have a genetic basis, at least in part. A region in the midbrain called the habenula (from Latin: small reins) plays a key role in this process. Researchers have also shed light on the mechanism that underlies addiction to nicotine. ... > full story