ScienceDaily: Health & Medicine News

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• Why women wiggling in high heels could help improve prosthetic limbs and robots
• Future treatment for nearsightedness — compact fluorescent light bulbs?
• African designer and scientist fashion anti-malaria garment that wards off bugs
• Scientists tuning in to how you tune out noise
• 'Blindness’ may rapidly enhance other senses
• Gestures fulfill a big role in language
• Acoustic diode, providing one-way transmission of sound, promises to improve ultrasound imaging
• Prepregnancy obesity linked to child test scores
• Female and younger athletes take longer to overcome concussions
• Flavonoid compound found in foods and supplements may prevent the formation of blood clots, study suggests
• How cannabis use during adolescence affects brain regions associated with schizophrenia
• New way to stop cancer? Block their recycling system, and tumor cells die
• Fewer suicides after antidepressive treatment for schizophrenia
• Psychiatric medications' effect on brain structure varies
• Psychopathy linked to specific structural abnormalities in the brain
• Sperm crawl and collide on way to egg, say scientists

Why women wiggling in high heels could help improve prosthetic limbs and robots Posted: 08 May 2012 07:01 PM PDT People walking normally, women tottering in high heels and ostriches strutting all exert the same forces on the ground despite very differently-shaped feet, according to new research. The finding suggests that prosthetic lower limbs and robots' legs could be made more efficient by making them less human-like and more like the prosthetics used by 'Blade Runner' Oscar Pistorius.

Future treatment for nearsightedness — compact fluorescent light bulbs? Posted: 08 May 2012 01:32 PM PDT Researchers hope to use fluorescent light bulbs to slow nearsightedness, which affects 40 percent of American adults and can cause blindness.

African designer and scientist fashion anti-malaria garment that wards off bugs Posted: 08 May 2012 12:20 PM PDT A scientist and designer from Africa have together created a fashionable hooded bodysuit embedded at the molecular level with insecticides for warding off mosquitoes infected with malaria. The outfit debuted on the runway at the Cornell Fashion Collective spring fashion show, April 28.

Scientists tuning in to how you tune out noise Posted: 08 May 2012 12:20 PM PDT Although we have little awareness that we are doing it, we spend most of our lives filtering out many of the sounds that permeate our lives and acutely focusing on others – a phenomenon known as auditory selective attention. Hearing scientists are attempting to tease apart the process.

'Blindness’ may rapidly enhance other senses Posted: 08 May 2012 12:20 PM PDT Not only is there a real connection between vision and other senses, but that connection is important to better understand the underlying mechanisms that can quickly trigger sensory changes, according to new research.

Gestures fulfill a big role in language Posted: 08 May 2012 12:20 PM PDT People of all ages and cultures gesture while speaking, some much more noticeably than others. But is gesturing uniquely tied to speech, or is it, rather, processed by the brain like any other manual action? Scientists have discovered that actual actions on objects, such as physically stirring a spoon in a cup, have less of an impact on the brain's understanding of speech than simply gesturing as if stirring a spoon in a cup.

Acoustic diode, providing one-way transmission of sound, promises to improve ultrasound imaging Posted: 08 May 2012 12:19 PM PDT An acoustic diode, enabling the one-way transmission of sound waves, could dramatically improve the quality of medical ultrasound imaging and lead to better sound dampening materials. Such a device has now been created.

Prepregnancy obesity linked to child test scores Posted: 08 May 2012 11:25 AM PDT Women who are obese before they become pregnant are at higher risk of having children with lower cognitive function - as measured by math and reading tests taken between ages 5 to 7 years - than are mothers with a healthy prepregnancy weight, new research suggests.

Female and younger athletes take longer to overcome concussions Posted: 08 May 2012 09:45 AM PDT Female athletes and younger athletes take longer to recover from concussions, findings that call for physicians and athletic trainers to take sex and age into account when dealing with the injury.

Flavonoid compound found in foods and supplements may prevent the formation of blood clots, study suggests Posted: 08 May 2012 09:45 AM PDT A compound called rutin, commonly found in fruits and vegetables and sold over the counter as a dietary supplement, has been shown to inhibit the formation of blood clots in an animal model of thrombosis.

How cannabis use during adolescence affects brain regions associated with schizophrenia Posted: 08 May 2012 08:27 AM PDT New research has shown physical changes to exist in specific brain areas implicated in schizophrenia following the use of cannabis during adolescence. The research has shown how cannabis use during adolescence can interact with a gene, called the COMT gene, to cause physical changes in the brain.

New way to stop cancer? Block their recycling system, and tumor cells die Posted: 08 May 2012 08:27 AM PDT All cells have the ability to recycle unwanted or damaged proteins and reuse the building blocks as food. But cancer cells have ramped up the system, called autophagy, and rely on it to escape damage in the face of chemotherapy and other treatments. Now, researchers have developed a potent new drug that clogs up the recycling machinery and kills tumor cells in mouse models.

Fewer suicides after antidepressive treatment for schizophrenia Posted: 08 May 2012 07:39 AM PDT Antidepressive drugs reduce the mortality rate of schizophrenic patients, while treatment with bensodiazepines greatly increases it, especially as regards suicide. Giving several antipsychotics simultaneously, however, seems to have no effect at all. This according to a new study examining different drug combinations administered to patients with schizophrenia.

Psychiatric medications' effect on brain structure varies Posted: 08 May 2012 07:39 AM PDT It is increasingly recognized that chronic psychotropic drug treatment may lead to structural remodeling of the brain. Indeed, clinical studies in humans present an intriguing picture: Antipsychotics, used for the treatment of schizophrenia and psychosis, may contribute to cortical gray matter loss in patients, whereas lithium, used for the treatment of bipolar disorder and mania, may preserve gray matter in patients.

Psychopathy linked to specific structural abnormalities in the brain Posted: 07 May 2012 01:46 PM PDT New research provides the strongest evidence to date that psychopathy is linked to specific structural abnormalities in the brain. The study is the first to confirm that psychopathy is a distinct neurodevelopmental subgroup of anti-social personality disorder.

Sperm crawl and collide on way to egg, say scientists Posted: 07 May 2012 12:41 PM PDT Scientists have shed new light on how sperm navigate the female reproductive tract, "crawling" along the channel walls and swimming around corners -- with frequent collisions.

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