ScienceDaily: Health & Medicine News

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• Exposure to common toxic substances could increase asthma symptoms
• Legislated to health? If people don't take their health into their own hands, governments may use policies to do it for them
• A millimeter-scale, wirelessly powered cardiac device
• No pain provides big gains
• Potential drug for treatement of Alzheimer's disease investigated
• Intervention helps children with sickle cell disease complete MRI tests without sedation
• Danish scientists solve old blood mystery: New intriguing knowledge on blood hemoglobin
• Breathable treatment to help prevent asthma attacks
• First simultaneous robotic kidney transplant, sleeve gastrectomy performed
• The beat goes on: Research yields two 'firsts' regarding protein crucial to human cardiac function
• Traumatic childhood may increase the risk of drug addiction
• How gene profiling in emphysema is helping to find a cure
• No more sneezing: Allergen-free house plants
• Too much protein HUWE1 causes intellectual disability
• Immune system protein could explain pancreatitis
• First implantation of prototype bionic eye with 24 electrodes: 'All of a sudden I could see a little flash of light'
• More heart problems with two chemo drugs for breast cancer, study suggests
• Study gives new insight on inflammation
• Possible therapy for tamoxifen resistant breast cancer identified
• State tax incentives do not appear to increase the rate of living organ donation, U.S. study finds
• Cancer 'turns off' important immune cells, complicating experimental vaccine therapies
• Many U.S. schools are unprepared for another pandemic

Exposure to common toxic substances could increase asthma symptoms Posted: 31 Aug 2012 05:34 PM PDT Children who are exposed to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), which were commonly used in a range of industrial products, could be at risk of an increase in asthma symptoms, according to new research.

Legislated to health? If people don't take their health into their own hands, governments may use policies to do it for them Posted: 31 Aug 2012 11:08 AM PDT Obesity rates in North America are a growing concern for legislators. Expanded waistlines mean rising health-care costs for maladies such as diabetes, heart disease and some cancers. One researcher says that if people do not take measures to get healthy, they may find that governments will throw their weight into administrative measures designed to help us trim the fat.

A millimeter-scale, wirelessly powered cardiac device Posted: 31 Aug 2012 11:08 AM PDT Electrical engineers overturn existing models to demonstrate the feasibility of a millimeter-sized, wirelessly powered cardiac device. The findings, say the researchers, could dramatically alter the scale of medical devices implanted in the human body.

No pain provides big gains Posted: 31 Aug 2012 10:06 AM PDT Five recent Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing DNP graduates have taken different and unique approaches in working to improve the implementation of pain management in hospitals and clinical practices.

Potential drug for treatement of Alzheimer's disease investigated Posted: 31 Aug 2012 09:37 AM PDT A compound developed to treat neuropathic pain has shown potential as an innovative treatment for Alzheimer's disease, according to a new study.

Intervention helps children with sickle cell disease complete MRI tests without sedation Posted: 31 Aug 2012 09:36 AM PDT Researchers report success using a targeted educational approach to teach young sickle cell disease patients to remain motionless during MRI scans, making the process safer.

Danish scientists solve old blood mystery: New intriguing knowledge on blood hemoglobin Posted: 31 Aug 2012 07:41 AM PDT Scientists in Denmark have solved an old puzzle, which since the 1960s from many sides has been regarded as impossible to complete. The challenge was to solve the structure of the protecting protein complex that forms when hemoglobin is released from red cells and becomes toxic. This toxic release of hemoglobin occurs in many diseases affecting red cell stability, e.g. malaria.

Breathable treatment to help prevent asthma attacks Posted: 31 Aug 2012 07:41 AM PDT Researchers in the UK are presenting details of a treatment that could help asthmatics fight infections that trigger 80 percent of asthma attacks.

First simultaneous robotic kidney transplant, sleeve gastrectomy performed Posted: 31 Aug 2012 07:38 AM PDT A 35-year-old Chicago woman is the first patient in the world to have a combined procedure that offers new hope for obese kidney patients.

The beat goes on: Research yields two 'firsts' regarding protein crucial to human cardiac function Posted: 31 Aug 2012 07:38 AM PDT Researchers have achieved significant benchmarks in a study of the human cardiac protein alpha-tropomyosin, which is an essential, molecular-level component that controls the heart's contraction on every beat. Using an imaging method called atomic force microscopy, scientists have achieved two 'firsts': the first direct imaging of individual alpha-tropomyosin molecules and the first demonstrated examples of a measure of the human cardiac protein's flexibility.

Traumatic childhood may increase the risk of drug addiction Posted: 31 Aug 2012 05:34 AM PDT Previous research has shown that personality traits such as impulsivity or compulsiveness are indicators of an increased risk of addiction. Now, new research suggests that these impulsive and compulsive personality traits are also associated with a traumatic upbringing during childhood.

How gene profiling in emphysema is helping to find a cure Posted: 31 Aug 2012 05:33 AM PDT Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the third leading cause of death in the United States and is thought to affect almost three million people in the UK. New research has identified genes whose activity is altered with increasing lung damage and, using a database of drug effects on gene activity (the Connectivity Map), finds that the compound Gly-His-Lys (GHK) affects the activity of these genes.

No more sneezing: Allergen-free house plants Posted: 31 Aug 2012 05:33 AM PDT New research shows how targeting two bacterial genes into an ornamental plant Pelargonium, can produce long-lived and pollen-free plants. Pelargoniums ('Geraniums' and 'Storkbills') have been cultivated in Europe since the17th century and are now one of the most popular garden and house plants around the world.

Too much protein HUWE1 causes intellectual disability Posted: 31 Aug 2012 05:33 AM PDT Two to three percent of children are born with an intellectual disability. Possibly by a genetic defect, but in 80 percent of these cases, we do not know -- yet -- which genes are responsible. Increased production of the HUWE1 protein is the cause in some patients, new research shows.

Immune system protein could explain pancreatitis Posted: 31 Aug 2012 05:33 AM PDT There is now a clear target for the treatment of acute pancreatitis, according to researchers in Sweden, who have discovered that a well-known protein plays a central role in the development of the disease. It is likely that the protein is also highly significant for other inflammatory diseases.

First implantation of prototype bionic eye with 24 electrodes: 'All of a sudden I could see a little flash of light' Posted: 31 Aug 2012 03:50 AM PDT In a major development, researchers in Australia have successfully performed the first implantation of an early prototype bionic eye with 24 electrodes. A patient with profound vision loss due to retinitis pigmentosa, an inherited condition, has now received the implant that enables her to experience some vision.

More heart problems with two chemo drugs for breast cancer, study suggests Posted: 30 Aug 2012 01:11 PM PDT Women who have breast cancer and are treated with two chemotherapy drugs may experience more cardiac problems like heart failure than shown in previous studies, according to a new study.

Study gives new insight on inflammation Posted: 30 Aug 2012 09:59 AM PDT Scientists' discovery of an important step in the body's process for healing wounds may lead to a new way of treating inflammation.

Possible therapy for tamoxifen resistant breast cancer identified Posted: 30 Aug 2012 07:54 AM PDT A study has discovered how tamoxifen-resistant breast-cancer grows and proliferates. It also identifies an experimental agent that might offer a novel targeted therapy for tamoxifen-resistant breast cancer.

State tax incentives do not appear to increase the rate of living organ donation, U.S. study finds Posted: 30 Aug 2012 07:54 AM PDT The policies that several U.S. states have adopted giving tax deductions or credits to living organ donors do not appear to have increased donation rates. A new study has found little difference in the annual number of living organ donations per 100,000 population between the 15 states that had enacted some sort of tax benefit as of 2009 and states having no such policy at that time.

Cancer 'turns off' important immune cells, complicating experimental vaccine therapies Posted: 30 Aug 2012 07:54 AM PDT New research examines why some cancer vaccines are not effective, while identifying a new therapeutic strategy for treating autoimmune problems. Scientists suggest that even early stage cancer produces a negative immune response from dendritic cells. Although problematic for cancer treatment, these cells could be valuable tools for preventing the immune system from attacking what it should not, as is the case with autoimmune disorders and organ transplants.

Many U.S. schools are unprepared for another pandemic Posted: 30 Aug 2012 07:53 AM PDT Less than half of U.S. schools address pandemic preparedness in their school plan, and only 40 percent have updated their school plan since the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, according to a new study.

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