ScienceDaily: Health & Medicine News

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• Virus epidemic within our genome revealed
• Environment key to preventing childhood disabilities
• Large-scale analysis finds majority of clinical trials don't provide meaningful evidence
• Treating childhood obesity: A family affair
• 'Drivers' of sarcoma growth and survival identified
• Vitamin D blood level for reducing major medical risks in older adults identified, study suggests
• Potential 'dark side' to diets high in beta-carotene
• Sports and energy drinks responsible for irreversible damage to teeth
• Simple way to remove mud from drinking water
• Geneticist develops tool to identify genes important in disease, tailoring individual treatment
• Resveratrol: Study resolves controversy on life-extending red wine ingredient, restores hope for anti-aging pill
• Important mechanism that affects the aging process identified
• Garlic compound fights source of food-borne illness better than antibiotics
• Computer use and exercise combo may reduce the odds of having memory loss
• Risks of mixing drugs and herbal supplements: What doctors and patients need to know
• Greater numbers of highly educated women are having children, bucking recent history
• When cells hit the wall: Engineers put the squeeze on cells to diagnose disease
• Inexpensive, abundant starch fibers could lead to ouchless bandages
• Stun guns not safe for citizens, but benefit police, study finds
• Longer sleep times may counteract genetic factors related to weight gain
• Excessive sleepiness may be cause of learning, attention and school problems
• Secondhand smoke continues to vex children with asthma
• Children with juvenile arthritis have higher rates of bacterial infection
• Next-generation 'epigenetic' cancer pill shown to be safe in phase I trial
• Genetic systems disrupted in autistic brain
• Gene involved in sperm-to-egg binding is key to fertility in mammals
• Keep your fruit close and your vegetables closer

Virus epidemic within our genome revealed Posted: 01 May 2012 06:05 PM PDT Scientists have uncovered clues as to how mammal genomes became riddled with viruses. The research reveals important information about the so-called 'dark matter' of the human genome.

Environment key to preventing childhood disabilities Posted: 01 May 2012 01:27 PM PDT The United States government would get a better bang for its health-care buck in managing the country's most prevalent childhood disabilities if it invested more in eliminating socioenvironmental risk factors than in developing medicines. That's the key conclusion of a new article.

Large-scale analysis finds majority of clinical trials don't provide meaningful evidence Posted: 01 May 2012 01:27 PM PDT The largest comprehensive analysis of ClinicalTrials.gov finds that clinical trials are falling short of producing high-quality evidence needed to guide medical decision-making. The analysis found the majority of clinical trials is small, and there are significant differences among methodical approaches, including randomizing, blinding and the use of data monitoring committees.

Treating childhood obesity: A family affair Posted: 01 May 2012 01:25 PM PDT With nearly one-third of American children being overweight or obese, doctors agree that there is an acute need for more effective treatments. In many weight management programs, the dropout rate can be as high as 73 percent, and even in successful programs, the benefits are usually short term.

'Drivers' of sarcoma growth and survival identified Posted: 01 May 2012 01:25 PM PDT To better understand the signaling pathways active in sarcomas, researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center used state-of-the-art mass spectrometry-based proteomics to characterize a family of protein enzymes that act as "on" or "off" switches important in the biology of cancer. The tyrosine kinases they identified, the researchers said, could act as "drivers" for the growth and survival of sarcomas.

Vitamin D blood level for reducing major medical risks in older adults identified, study suggests Posted: 01 May 2012 11:50 AM PDT To resolve controversy over how much vitamin D is enough to protect older adults' health, researchers tested Cardiovascular Health Study blood samples. They sought links between each person's 25 (OH) D and first heart attack, cancer diagnosis, hip fracture or death. Risks rose when levels fell below 20ng/mL or 50 nmol/L. Results match the low threshold level set by the Institute of Medicine. Association with risk varied seasonally. Levels were lower, and disease event risk higher, in winter.

Potential 'dark side' to diets high in beta-carotene Posted: 01 May 2012 10:44 AM PDT New research suggests that there could be health hazards associated with consuming excessive amounts of beta-carotene.

Sports and energy drinks responsible for irreversible damage to teeth Posted: 01 May 2012 10:43 AM PDT A recent study found that an alarming increase in the consumption of sports and energy drinks, especially among adolescents, is causing irreversible damage to teeth -- specifically, the high acidity levels in the drinks erode tooth enamel, the glossy outer layer of the tooth.

Simple way to remove mud from drinking water Posted: 01 May 2012 10:43 AM PDT It's easy to purify clear water: just put it in transparent bottles for a few hours in the sun. Muddy water -- like that found in the developing world -- is another issue. Now researchers have devised a simple way to get the mud out.

Geneticist develops tool to identify genes important in disease, tailoring individual treatment Posted: 01 May 2012 10:42 AM PDT Medical researchers have devised a technique for testing the consequence of variant human gene alleles (alternative sequences of a single gene) by moving them into yeast cells. Once swapped into yeast, colony growth can be compared to reveal functional differences.

Resveratrol: Study resolves controversy on life-extending red wine ingredient, restores hope for anti-aging pill Posted: 01 May 2012 10:42 AM PDT A new study appears to offer vindication for an approach to anti-aging drugs that has been at the center of heated scientific debate in recent years. The new findings show for the first time that the metabolic benefits of the red wine ingredient known as resveratrol evaporate in mice that lack the famed longevity gene SIRT1.

Important mechanism that affects the aging process identified Posted: 01 May 2012 10:42 AM PDT Scientists have identified a key mechanism of action for the TOR (target of rapamycin) protein kinase, a critical regulator of cell growth which plays a major role in illness and aging. This finding not only illuminates the physiology of aging but could lead to new treatments to increase lifespan and control age-related conditions, such as cancer, type 2 diabetes, and neurodegeneration.

Garlic compound fights source of food-borne illness better than antibiotics Posted: 01 May 2012 10:42 AM PDT A compound in garlic is 100 times more effective than two popular antibiotics at fighting the Campylobacter bacterium, one of the most common causes of intestinal illness. The discovery opens the door to new treatments for raw and processed meats and food preparation surfaces.

Computer use and exercise combo may reduce the odds of having memory loss Posted: 01 May 2012 10:42 AM PDT You think your computer has a lot of memory … if you keep using your computer you may, too. Combining mentally stimulating activities, such as using a computer, with moderate exercise decreases your odds of having memory loss more than computer use or exercise alone, a new study shows.

Risks of mixing drugs and herbal supplements: What doctors and patients need to know Posted: 01 May 2012 10:41 AM PDT Herbal, dietary, and energy or nutritional supplements may offer specific health benefits, but they can also have harmful and even life-threatening effects when combined with commonly used medications. Clinicians need to be aware of and educate their patients about the potential risks of mixing supplements and therapeutic agents, since their interaction can diminish or increase drug levels.

Greater numbers of highly educated women are having children, bucking recent history Posted: 01 May 2012 10:35 AM PDT A U.S. national study suggests that a significantly greater number of highly educated women in their late 30s and 40s are deciding to have children - a dramatic turnaround from recent history.

When cells hit the wall: Engineers put the squeeze on cells to diagnose disease Posted: 01 May 2012 07:01 AM PDT Bioengineering researchers have taken advantage of cell physical properties for the development of a new instrument that slams cells against a wall of fluid and quickly analyzes the physical response, allowing identification of cancer and other cell states without chemical tags. The deformability cytometer consists of a miniaturized microfluidic chip that sequentially aligns cells so that they hit a wall of fluid at rates of thousands per second.

Inexpensive, abundant starch fibers could lead to ouchless bandages Posted: 01 May 2012 07:00 AM PDT A process that spins starch into fine strands could take the sting out of removing bandages, as well as produce less expensive and more environmentally friendly toilet paper, napkins and other products, according to food scientists.

Stun guns not safe for citizens, but benefit police, study finds Posted: 01 May 2012 07:00 AM PDT The use of stun guns by police significantly increases the chances of citizen injury, yet also protects the officers more than other restraint methods, according to the most comprehensive research to date into the safety of stun guns in a law enforcement setting.

Longer sleep times may counteract genetic factors related to weight gain Posted: 01 May 2012 05:57 AM PDT Toss out another old wives' tale: Sleeping too much does not make you fat. Sleeping more than nine hours a night may actually suppress genetic influences on body weight, says a new study examining sleep and body mass index (BMI) in 1,088 pairs of twins.

Excessive sleepiness may be cause of learning, attention and school problems Posted: 01 May 2012 05:57 AM PDT Children who have learning, attention and behavior problems may be suffering from excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS), even though clinical tests show them sleeping long enough at night. Researchers studied 508 children and found that those whose parents reported EDS -- despite little indication of short sleep from clinical measurements -- were more likely to experience learning, attention/hyperactivity and conduct problems than children without EDS. Obesity, symptoms of inattention, depression and anxiety, asthma were among the culprits.

Secondhand smoke continues to vex children with asthma Posted: 01 May 2012 05:56 AM PDT Despite longstanding recommendations for children with asthma to avoid tobacco smoke, many youths are still exposed to secondhand smoke and their health suffers because of it, according to a newstudy.

Children with juvenile arthritis have higher rates of bacterial infection Posted: 01 May 2012 05:55 AM PDT Children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) have higher rates of hospitalized bacterial infection than children without JIA according to an observational study.

Next-generation 'epigenetic' cancer pill shown to be safe in phase I trial Posted: 01 May 2012 05:55 AM PDT Scientists have shown that a brand new type of cancer pill that exploits the emerging field of epigenetics is safe for human use, according to Phase I trial results.

Genetic systems disrupted in autistic brain Posted: 01 May 2012 05:55 AM PDT Autism has a strong genetic basis, but so far efforts to identify the responsible genes have had mixed results. The reason for this is that autism is influenced by many different genes, and different genes are involved in different individuals, making it hard to find the common genetic ground between patients.

Gene involved in sperm-to-egg binding is key to fertility in mammals Posted: 30 Apr 2012 07:39 PM PDT Scientists looking at fertility in mice, have discovered for the first time that the gene, which makes a protein called PDILT, enables sperm to bind to an egg, a process essential to fertilization.

Keep your fruit close and your vegetables closer Posted: 30 Apr 2012 11:00 AM PDT College students wishing to eat healthier may want to invest in a clear fruit bowl says a recent article. The new study found that when fruits and vegetables are within arm's reach, students are more likely to eat them. Furthermore, making fruit and vegetables more visible increases the intake of fruit, but the same does not hold true for vegetables.

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