ScienceDaily Health Headlines -- for Saturday, March 3, 2012

ScienceDaily Health Headlines

for Saturday, March 3, 2012

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New computers respond to students' emotions, boredom (March 2, 2012) -- Emotion-sensing computer software that models and responds to students' cognitive and emotional states -- including frustration and boredom -- has now been developed. ... > full story

Lifestyle choices made in your 20s can impact your heart health in your 40s (March 2, 2012) -- Maintaining a healthy lifestyle from young adulthood into your 40s is strongly associated with low cardiovascular disease risk in middle age, according to a new study. ... > full story

Holding a mirror to brain changes in autism (March 2, 2012) -- Impaired social function is a cardinal symptom of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs).  One of the brain circuits that enable us to relate to other people is the “mirror neuron” system. This brain circuit is activated when we watch other people, and allows our brains to represent the actions of others, influencing our ability to learn new tasks and to understand the intentions and experiences of other people. This mirror neuron system is impaired in individuals with ASD and better understanding the neurobiology of this system could help in the development of new treatments. ... > full story

Cocoa may enhance skeletal muscle function (March 2, 2012) -- A small clinical trial found that patients with advanced heart failure and type 2 diabetes showed improved mitochondrial structure after three months of treatment with epicatechin-enriched cocoa. Epicatechin is a flavonoid found in dark chocolate. ... > full story

Effects of environmental toxicants reach down through generations (March 2, 2012) -- Scientists have now demonstrated that a variety of environmental toxicants can have negative effects on not just an exposed animal but the next three generations of its offspring. The animal's DNA sequence remains unchanged, but the compounds change the way genes turn on and off -- the epigenetic effect, according to molecular biologists. The researchers saw females reaching puberty earlier, increased rates in the decay and death of sperm cells and lower numbers of ovarian follicles that later become eggs. ... > full story

Tortoise and the hare: New drug stops rushing cancer cells, slow and steady healthy cells unharmed (March 2, 2012) -- The American Cancer Society estimates that 44,000 new cases of pancreatic cancer will be diagnosed this year and that 37,000 people will die from the disease. These are not strong odds. A new drug, rigosertib, allows pancreatic cancer cells to rush through replication -- and then stops them cold, killing them in in the middle of a step called M phase. Healthy cells that don't rush are unharmed. ... > full story

R-loops break down gene silencing (March 2, 2012) -- Researchers have figured out how the human body keeps essential genes switched "on" and silences the vast stretches of genetic repeats and "junk" DNA. ... > full story

Artificial 'womb' unlocks secrets of early embryo development (March 2, 2012) -- Pioneering work has helped reveal for the first time a vital process in the development of the early mammalian embryo. ... > full story

When one side does not know about the other one: Specialization and cooperation of the brain hemispheres (March 2, 2012) -- Whenever we are doing something, one of our brain hemispheres is more active than the other one. However, some tasks are only solvable with both sides working together. Researchers are investigating, how such specializations and co-operations arise. Based on a pigeon-model, they are showing for the first time in an experimental way, that the ability to combine complex impressions from both hemispheres, depends on environmental factors in the embryonic stage. ... > full story

Drugs: 'New' does not always mean 'better' (March 2, 2012) -- Cases in which a newly approved drug is more effective than the cheaper alternatives already available are the exceptions rather than the rule. ... > full story

Parkinson's disease stopped in animal model: Molecular 'tweezers' break up toxic aggregations of proteins (March 2, 2012) -- Researchers have used specific molecular “tweezers” they developed to break-up aggregates of toxic proteins that are thought to cause Parkinson’s disease. For the first time, they stopped progression of the disease in a living animal model. ... > full story

New high definition fiber tracking reveals damage caused by traumatic brain injury (March 2, 2012) -- A powerful new imaging technique called High Definition Fiber Tracking will allow doctors to clearly see for the first time neural connections broken by traumatic brain injury and other disorders, much like X-rays show a fractured bone, according to researchers. HDFT could provide an objective way of identifying brain injury, predicting outcome and planning rehabilitation. ... > full story