ScienceDaily: Health & Medicine News

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• Intermittent, low-carbohydrate diets more successful than standard dieting, study finds
• Premature babies harbor fewer, but more dangerous microbe types
• Nighttime images help track disease from the sky
• Breakthrough in regulating fat metabolism
• Scientists capture single cancer molecules at work
• Neuroscientists boost memory in mice using genetics and a new memory-enhancing drug
• How Salmonella forms evil twins to evade the body's defenses
• Women advised to avoid ZEN bust-enhancing supplements because of possible cancer risk
• Combination of everolimus and exemestane improves survival for women with metastatic breast cancer, results show
• Cellular automaton model predicts how hair follicle stem cells regenerate
• New fluorescent imaging sorts microbiome in human mouth
• 'Brain tsunamis' are clue to helping victims of major head injuries
• Lipid-modifying enzyme: New target for pan-viral therapeutics
• Mother's touch may protect against drug cravings later
• Addressing pain and disease on the fly: How fruit flies can teach us about curing chronic pain and halting mosquito-borne diseases
• Advanced age should not deter women from breast reconstruction after cancer, study indicates
• Vasodilator hormone improved kidney function & blood flow in PKD model
• Devastating 'founder effect' genetic disorder raced to defective mitochondria in cerebellar neurons
• Is obesity a ciliopathy, triggered by malfunctioning primary cilia?
• Aging human bodies and aging human oocytes run on different clocks

Intermittent, low-carbohydrate diets more successful than standard dieting, study finds Posted: 08 Dec 2011 03:46 PM PST An intermittent, low-carbohydrate diet was superior to a standard, daily calorie-restricted diet for reducing weight and lowering blood levels of insulin, a cancer-promoting hormone, according to recent findings.

Premature babies harbor fewer, but more dangerous microbe types Posted: 08 Dec 2011 02:36 PM PST One of the most comprehensive studies to date of the microbes that are found in extremely low-birthweight infants found that hard-to-treat Candida fungus is often present, as well as some harmful bacteria and parasites.

Nighttime images help track disease from the sky Posted: 08 Dec 2011 11:53 AM PST Satellite images of nighttime lights normally used to spot where people live can help keep tabs on the diseases festering among them, too.

Breakthrough in regulating fat metabolism Posted: 08 Dec 2011 09:57 AM PST Scientists have made an important discovery about the mechanism controlling the body's 'fat switch', shedding new light on our understanding of how proteins regulate appetite control and insulin secretion.

Scientists capture single cancer molecules at work Posted: 08 Dec 2011 09:57 AM PST Researchers have revealed how a molecule called telomerase contributes to the control of the integrity of our genetic code, and when it is involved in the deregulation of the code, its important role in the development of cancer. Scientists explained how they were able to achieve their discovery by using cutting edge microscopy techniques to visualize telomerase molecules in real time in living cells.

Neuroscientists boost memory in mice using genetics and a new memory-enhancing drug Posted: 08 Dec 2011 09:57 AM PST When the activity of a molecule that is normally elevated during viral infections is inhibited in the brain, mice learn and remember better, researchers report.

How Salmonella forms evil twins to evade the body's defenses Posted: 08 Dec 2011 06:27 AM PST To swim or not? The same biological control that determines which capability genetically identical Salmonella will have impacts the virulence of the food pathogen. Swimmers do better in the gut, but non-motile Salmonella avoid triggering killer cells. An unusual protein turns on or off the manufacture of swimming apparatus in each new bacterium.

Women advised to avoid ZEN bust-enhancing supplements because of possible cancer risk Posted: 08 Dec 2011 06:22 AM PST Women who use bust-enhancing dietary supplements containing the mycoestrogen zearalenone (ZEN), a naturally occurring toxin that widely contaminates agricultural products, could be increasing their risk of breast cancer. No clinical trials have been published on the use of potent oestrogens like ZEN in bust-enhancing products and their use should be discouraged because of the lack of evidence of their long-term safety, says a breast cancer expert.

Combination of everolimus and exemestane improves survival for women with metastatic breast cancer, results show Posted: 07 Dec 2011 05:17 PM PST In an international Phase III randomized study, everolimus, when combined with the hormonal therapy exemestane, has been shown to dramatically improve progression-free survival, according to research.

Cellular automaton model predicts how hair follicle stem cells regenerate Posted: 07 Dec 2011 10:26 AM PST Your hair -- or lack of hair -- is the result of a lifelong tug-of-war between activators that wake up, and inhibitors that calm, stem cells in every hair follicle on your body.

New fluorescent imaging sorts microbiome in human mouth Posted: 07 Dec 2011 10:26 AM PST New fluorescent labeling technology that distinguishes in a single image the population size and spatial distribution of 15 different taxa has uncovered new taxon pairings that indicate unsuspected cooperation -- and standoffishness -- between members of the microbe biofilm that covers teeth.

'Brain tsunamis' are clue to helping victims of major head injuries Posted: 07 Dec 2011 08:35 AM PST Treating 'brain tsunamis' or 'killer waves' could stop many victims of major head injury from suffering additional brain damage, a study has found. Scientists have been investigating this phenomenon for decades, with the topic of spreading depolarizations now of keen interest to the U.S. military because head injuries have emerged as the signature wound of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Lipid-modifying enzyme: New target for pan-viral therapeutics Posted: 07 Dec 2011 07:53 AM PST Three different disease-causing viruses -- poliovirus, coxsackievirus, and hepatitis C -- rely on their unwilling host for the membrane platforms enriched in a specific lipid, phosphatidylinositol 4 phosphate (PI4P) on which they can replicate, researchers report.

Mother's touch may protect against drug cravings later Posted: 06 Dec 2011 09:08 PM PST An attentive, nurturing mother may be able to help her children better resist the temptations of drug use later in life, according to a study in rats conducted by researchers in the United States and Australia.

Addressing pain and disease on the fly: How fruit flies can teach us about curing chronic pain and halting mosquito-borne diseases Posted: 06 Dec 2011 12:15 PM PST Studies of a protein that fruit flies use to sense heat and chemicals may someday provide solutions to human pain and the control of disease-spreading mosquitoes. Researchers have discovered how fruit flies distinguish the warmth of a summer day from the pungency of wasabi by using TRPA1, a protein whose human relative is critical for pain and inflammation.

Advanced age should not deter women from breast reconstruction after cancer, study indicates Posted: 06 Dec 2011 10:19 AM PST A new study sought to determine if breast reconstruction after mastectomy is safe for older women. The answer is yes.

Vasodilator hormone improved kidney function & blood flow in PKD model Posted: 06 Dec 2011 10:14 AM PST After a four-week course of the vasodilator hormone relaxin, kidney function and blood flow immediately improved in lab rats genetically altered to model polycystic kidney disease (PKD), a life-threatening genetic disorder.

Devastating 'founder effect' genetic disorder raced to defective mitochondria in cerebellar neurons Posted: 06 Dec 2011 10:14 AM PST Defective mitochondria, the energy-producing powerhouses of the cell, trigger an inherited neurodegenerative disorder that first shows itself in toddlers just as they are beginning to walk, Canadian scientists report.

Is obesity a ciliopathy, triggered by malfunctioning primary cilia? Posted: 06 Dec 2011 10:14 AM PST Is obesity a ciliopathy, a disorder such as polycystic kidney disease (PKD), which is triggered by a defect in the microscopic hair-like cilia that protrude from virtually every cell of humans and other vertebrates? Researchers report that mutations in primary cilia may scramble signaling pathways in the hypothalamus, the appetite-regulating region of the brain, and trigger chronic obesity.

Aging human bodies and aging human oocytes run on different clocks Posted: 06 Dec 2011 10:14 AM PST Reproductive and somatic aging use different molecular mechanisms that show little overlap between the types of genes required to keep oocytes healthy and the genes that generally extend life span, according to new research.

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