ScienceDaily Health Headlines -- for Friday, October 7, 2011

ScienceDaily Health Headlines

for Friday, October 7, 2011

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Dioxin-like chemical messenger makes brain tumors more aggressive (October 7, 2011) -- Researchers have discovered a new metabolic pathway which makes malignant brain tumors more aggressive and weakens patients' immune systems. Using drugs to inhibit this metabolic pathway is a new approach in cancer treatment. ... > full story

Biochemists identify how tissue cells detect and perfect (October 7, 2011) -- Scientists have discovered how cells detect tissue damage and modify their repair properties accordingly. The findings could open up new opportunities for improving tissue repair in patients following illness or surgery. ... > full story

Hold the phone for vital signs: Researchers turn a smart phone into a medical monitor (October 7, 2011) -- Researchers are turning smartphones into sophisticated medical monitors able to capture and transmit vital physiological data. The team has already developed an app that measures heart rate, heart rhythm, respiration rate, and blood oxygen saturation using the phone's built-in video camera. ... > full story

Ability to ride a bike can aid differential diagnosis of Parkinson's disease in any setting (October 7, 2011) -- Researchers report that the ability to ride a bike can differentiate between atypical parkinsonism and Parkinson's disease, regardless of the environment or situations for bicycling. ... > full story

New oral drug found to reduce relapses in multiple sclerosis patients (October 7, 2011) -- A new oral drug has been shown in a large international clinical trial to significantly reduce the relapse rate of people with multiple sclerosis and to slow the progression of the disease. ... > full story

Technology to make old-age safer (October 7, 2011) -- A fall alarm. Automatic nightlight. Oven reminder. Refrigerator alarm. These are just a few of the new welfare technology solutions that may become a normal part of the lives of the elderly in the future. A Norwegian technology company has developed a complete electronic safety package for the elderly. ... > full story

Scientists find stem cell reprogramming technique is safer than previously thought (October 7, 2011) -- Stem cells made by reprogramming patients' own cells might one day be used as therapies for a host of diseases, but scientists have feared that dangerous mutations within these cells might be caused by current reprogramming techniques. A sophisticated new analysis of stem cells' DNA finds that such fears may be unwarranted. ... > full story

People without cars, financial assets less likely to marry: study (October 7, 2011) -- A new study finds that people who lack personal wealth in the form of a car or financial assets are significantly less likely to enter into a first marriage. The results, according to the study's author, shed light on recent changes in marriage patterns in the U.S. ... > full story

Decade of effort yields diabetes susceptibility gene (October 6, 2011) -- Ten years of meticulous mouse breeding, screening, and record-keeping have finally paid off for researchers who have identified a diabetes susceptibility gene. ... > full story

New tool helps identify prostate cancer patients with highest risk of death (October 6, 2011) -- After a prostate cancer patient receives radiation treatment, his doctor carefully monitors the amount of prostate-specific antigen, or PSA, in his blood. An increase in PSA, called biochemical failure, is the first detectable sign of the cancer's return to the prostate. A researcher have found that the time between the last radiation treatment and biochemical failure can accurately predict a patient's risk of death of prostate cancer. ... > full story

How fair sanctions are orchestrated in the brain (October 6, 2011) -- Scientists reveal that two frontal regions of the brain need to interact with one another when people punish unfair partners at their own expense. Neuroscientists and economists combined a brain stimulation method with a method for measuring brain activity in order to explore this neuronal network. The new findings could also be significant for therapeutic use in psychiatric and forensic patients. ... > full story

'Genetic biopsy' of human eggs might help pick the best for IVF (October 6, 2011) -- Researchers have developed a way to extract information about gene expression from fertile human egg cells without hurting them. Expendable "polar bodies" in the cells reflect much the same information as the eggs themselves, researchers have determined. ... > full story

Earlier tracheostomies result in better patient outcomes, study finds (October 6, 2011) -- A tracheostomy performed within the first seven days after a severe head injury results in better overall patient outcome, according to new research. This is especially true for patients who have a greater chance of surviving when admitted to the hospital. ... > full story

Everest expedition suggests nitric oxide benefits for intensive care patients (October 6, 2011) -- New shows how research from an Everest expedition looking at the affect of altitude on the body could herald a change in emergency treatment for patients suffering from hypoxia. ... > full story

Monkeys 'move and feel' virtual objects using only their brains (October 6, 2011) -- In a first ever demonstration of a two-way interaction between a primate brain and a virtual body, two trained monkeys learned to employ brain activity alone to move an avatar hand and identify the texture of virtual objects. ... > full story

Scientists identify cause of severe hypoglycemia (October 6, 2011) -- Scientists have identified the cause of a rare, life-threatening form of hypoglycemia. Their findings have the potential to lead to pharmaceutical treatments for the disorder. ... > full story

Changes in brain function in early HIV infection: A reliable indicator of disease prognosis? (October 6, 2011) -- Measurable changes in brain function and communication between brain regions may be a consequence of virus-induced injury during the early stages of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. These abnormalities and their implications in disease prognosis are detailed in a new article. ... > full story

Marijuana component could ease pain from chemotherapy drugs, study suggests (October 6, 2011) -- A chemical component of the marijuana plant could prevent the onset of pain associated with drugs used in chemotherapy, particularly in breast cancer patients. ... > full story

Patient-specific stem cells: Major step toward cell-based therapies for life-threatening diseases (October 6, 2011) -- A team of scientists has made an important advance in the development of patient-specific stem cells that could impact the study and treatment of diseases such as diabetes, Parkinson's, and Alzheimer's. For the first time, the scientists have derived embryonic stem cells from individual patients by adding the nuclei of adult skin cells from patients with type 1 diabetes to unfertilized donor oocytes. ... > full story

Baby formula: Inflammatory food toxins found in high levels in infants (October 6, 2011) -- Researchers have found high levels of food toxins called advanced glycation end products in infants. Excessive food AGEs, through both maternal blood transmission and baby formula, could together significantly increase childrens' risk for diseases such as diabetes from a very young age. ... > full story

Invasive melanoma may be more likely in children than adults (October 6, 2011) -- A new study of young people with melanoma, a deadly form of skin cancer, has found that some children have a higher risk of invasive disease than adults. ... > full story

Think you’re in poor health? It could increase your odds of dementia (October 6, 2011) -- People who rate their health as poor or fair appear to be significantly more likely to develop dementia later in life, according to a new study. ... > full story

Antisense therapy delivers long-term correction of severe spinal muscular atrophy in mice (October 6, 2011) -- Scientists have discovered that the devastating neuromuscular disease, spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), might not exclusively affect the motor neurons in the spinal cord as has long been thought. Their study suggests that defects in peripheral tissues such as liver, heart, etc., might also contribute to SMA pathology in severely affected patients. The new findings also pave the way for a potential SMA drug to enter human trials by the end of the year. ... > full story

New regimen frees kidney-transplant patients from dependency on immunosuppresant drugs (October 6, 2011) -- Researchers have developed a novel protocol that allows kidney-transplant recipients to jettison their indispensable immune-suppressing drugs. The protocol could also spell substantial savings to the health-care system. ... > full story

Novel math formula can predict success of certain cancer therapies (October 6, 2011) -- Carefully tracking the rate of response of human lung tumors during the first weeks of treatment can predict which cancers will undergo sustained regression, suggests a new study. ... > full story

You can wash away your troubles, with soap (October 6, 2011) -- "Wash away my troubles, wash away my pain," goes the song. Is there such a thing as soap and water for the psyche? Yes: Metaphor is that powerful, say authors of a new review. ... > full story

Evidence found for the genetic basis of autism: Models of autism show that gene copy number controls brain structure and behavior (October 6, 2011) -- Scientists have discovered that one of the most common genetic alterations in autism -- deletion of a 27-gene cluster on chromosome 16 -- causes autism-like features. By generating mouse models of autism using a technique known as chromosome engineering, researchers provide the first functional evidence that inheriting fewer copies of these genes leads to features resembling those used to diagnose children with autism. ... > full story

Survival increases in early stage breast cancer after treatment with herceptin and chemo, study finds (October 6, 2011) -- Treating women with early stage breast cancer with a combination of chemotherapy and the molecularly targeted drug Herceptin significantly increases survival in patients with a specific genetic mutation that results in very aggressive disease, a new study finds. ... > full story

Illusory memories can have salutary effects (October 6, 2011) -- “False memories tend to get a bad rap,” says developmental psychologist Mark L. Howe in a new article. Indeed, remembering events incorrectly or remembering events that didn’t happen can have grave consequences, such as the criminal conviction of an innocent person. “But false memories are a natural outcropping of memory in general. They must have some positive effect, too.” ... > full story

Biologists find 'surprising' number of unknown viruses in sewage (October 6, 2011) -- Though viruses are the most abundant life form on Earth, our knowledge of the viral universe is limited to a tiny fraction of the viruses that likely exist. In a new paper, researchers found that raw sewage is home to thousands of novel, undiscovered viruses, some of which could relate to human health. ... > full story

Women exposed to synthetic estrogen diethylstilbestrol (DES) in the womb face increased cancer risk, study finds (October 6, 2011) -- A study of daughters of women given diethylstilbestrol, synthetic estrogen, during pregnancy has found that exposure to the drug while in the womb is associated with many reproductive problems and an increased risk of certain cancers. Beginning in 1940, DES was used to prevent certain pregnancy complications, but was later found to be ineffective in the 1950s. In the 1960s, a rare cancer of the vagina in young women was linked to DES exposure. ... > full story

Dietary supplements for patients after lung injury do not appear to improve outcomes; may be harmful, study suggests (October 6, 2011) -- In contrast to findings of previous studies, patients who experienced an acute lung injury, such as from pneumonia or sepsis, and received dietary supplements including omega-3 fatty acids and antioxidants had more days on a ventilator, more days in the intensive care unit, and a non-statistically significant increase in the rate of death, according to a new study. ... > full story

Research sheds light on origins of greatness (October 6, 2011) -- In a provocative new paper, an expert suggests working memory capacity -- which is closely related to general intelligence -- may sometimes be the deciding factor between being good and being great. ... > full story

Progression of lung fibrosis blocked in mouse model (October 6, 2011) -- A new study may lead to a way to prevent the progression, or induce the regression, of lung injury that results from use of the anti-cancer chemotherapy drug bleomycin. Pulmonary fibrosis caused by this drug, as well as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis from unknown causes, affect nearly five million people worldwide. No therapy is known to improve the health or survival of patients. ... > full story

MVA-B Spanish HIV vaccine shows 90 percent immune response in humans (October 6, 2011) -- Phase I clinical trials developed by Spanish researchers reveals MVA-B preventive vaccine's immune efficiency against human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). 90% of the volunteers who went through the tests developed an immunological response against the virus and 85% has kept this response for at least one year, according to researchers. ... > full story

Lift weights, eat mustard, build muscles? (October 6, 2011) -- If you want to lean out, add muscle and get ripped, new research suggests to look to your garden for help. Scientists have found that when a specific plant steroid was ingested by rats, it triggered a response similar to anabolic steroids with minimal side effects. The stimulatory effect of homobrassinolide on protein synthesis in muscle cells led to increases in lean body mass, muscle mass, and physical performance. ... > full story

Athletes' winning streaks may not be all in our -- or their -- heads (October 6, 2011) -- When an athlete consistently does well, sports commentators may describe them as being "hot" or "on fire." Scientists have debunked these streaks as being in the eye of the beholder, but a new study supports the "hot hand" phenomenon: that a streak of positive outcomes is likely to continue. ... > full story

Study finds liver cancer increasing in low risk countries, decreasing in high risk countries (October 6, 2011) -- A new study finds liver cancer incidence rates continue to increase in some low-risk parts of the world such as North America, and are decreasing in some of the highest risk countries of Asia. ... > full story

Seeds of destruction in Parkinson's disease: Spread of diseased proteins kills neurons (October 5, 2011) -- New research suggests that small "seed" amounts of diseased brain proteins can be taken up by healthy neurons and propagated within them to cause neurodegeneration. The research sheds light on the mechanisms associated with Parkinson's disease (PD) and provides a model for discovering early intervention therapeutics that can prevent or slow the devastating loss of neurons that underlies PD. ... > full story

HIV: Cell-penetrating peptides for drug delivery act like a Swiss Army Knife (October 5, 2011) -- Scientists have identified how HIV TAT peptides can have multiple interactions with the membrane, the actin cytoskeleton, and specific cell-surface receptors to produce multiple pathways of translocation under different conditions. Moreover, because they now know how cell penetrating peptides work, it is possible to have a general recipe for reprogramming normal peptides into cell penetrating peptides. ... > full story

Does MRI pose more than minimal risk in pediatric research? (October 5, 2011) -- Shedding light on a question that has baffled research ethics review boards, a new analysis of the use of magnetic resonance imaging in pediatric clinical trials finds that the risks of physical and psychological harm associated with this procedure are no greater than the risks that healthy children face from everyday activities. However, adding an intravenous contrast dye or sedation to an MRI increases the odds of harm to unacceptable levels. ... > full story

People as 'sensors': Twitter messages reveal NFL's big plays and fans (October 5, 2011) -- Using millions of Twitter subscribers as living "sensors," engineers have found a way to monitor fans' levels of excitement and to keep track of the action in National Football League games -- without ever switching on a TV. SportSense is a computer program the engineers created to analyze NFL fan tweets in real time. ... > full story

Sociability may depend upon brain cells generated in adolescence (October 5, 2011) -- Mice become profoundly anti-social when the creation of new brain cells is interrupted in adolescence, a surprising finding that may help researchers understand schizophrenia and other mental disorders, researchers report. ... > full story

Rebooting the system: Immune cells repair damaged lung tissues after flu infection (October 5, 2011) -- There's more than one way to mop up after a flu infection. Now, researchers report that a previously unrecognized population of lung immune cells orchestrate the body's repair response following flu infection. ... > full story

Remitting multiple sclerosis: Natalizumab reduces relapses and disability, review suggests (October 5, 2011) -- Taking the new generation anti-inflammatory drug natalizumab for two years lowers the number of remitting multiple sclerosis patients who experience relapses and progression of disability. ... > full story

Keeping track of reality: Why some people are better at it (October 5, 2011) -- A structural variation in a part of the brain may explain why some people are better than others at distinguishing real events from those they might have imagined or been told about, researchers have found. ... > full story

Immune mechanism blocks inflammation generated by oxidative stress (October 5, 2011) -- Researchers have identified a key protein that binds to a molecule generated by oxidative stress, blocking any subsequent inflammatory immune response. The scientists say their findings reveal important insights into how the innate immune system responds to oxidative stress and might be exploited to prevent and treat AMD and other chronic inflammatory diseases. ... > full story

One quarter of seniors over 70 have had silent strokes (October 5, 2011) -- A new study found a quarter of seniors over 70 have had silent strokes. Recent imaging studies on the brains of people aged 65 and older show that 95 percent have brain small vessel disease and a quarter of healthy senior volunteers have evidence of small silent strokes. ... > full story