ScienceDaily: Health & Medicine News

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• DNA barcoding can ID natural health products
• Ancient tooth may provide evidence of early human dentistry
• Blind people develop accurate mental map by playing 'video' game
• Dyslexia cause may be different than previously thought
• Climate change to fuel northern spread of avian malaria: Malaria already found in birds in Alaska
• Yogurt consumption, blood pressure, and incident hypertension
• Sesame and rice bran oil lowers blood pressure, improves cholesterol
• Promise of cell therapy for bowel disease
• Possible key to slow progression toward AIDS found
• Emotional neglect in children linked to increased stroke risk later in life
• Test can help make diagnosis of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
• Tissue around tumor holds key to fighting triple negative breast cancer
• New cranial neural crest cell line developed
• Medication effective in treating social withdrawal in Fragile X and potentially autism patients
• Reading food labels helps shoppers stay thinner
• Many parents believe that letting young children taste alcohol discourages later use
• Video games help patients and health care providers
• Efficacy of drugs boosted by using nanoparticles to target 'powerhouse of cells'
• Odorant shape and vibration likely lead to olfaction satisfaction
• Explosions are the main cause of spine injuries to wounded military personnel
• Genetically-engineered preclinical models predict pharmacodynamic response
• Diseases of aging map to a few 'hotspots' on the human genome
• Weight gain worry for stressed black girls
• Children with autism experience interrelated health issues
• Toward a better material for hip replacement and other joint implants
• Fighting melanoma's attraction to the brain
• Preemies' brains reap long-term benefits from Kangaroo Mother Care
• Autistic adults have unreliable neural responses, research team finds
• Scientists show biological mechanism can trigger epileptic seizures
• Improved brain tumor diagnosis
• Clenching left hand could help athletes avoid choking under pressure
• Rx guide for high blood pressure
• Neuroscientists find promise in addressing Fragile X afflictions
• Nanomaterials appearing in water run-off from surface treatments
• New study on relapse risk in alcoholics
• Nanomaterials in a heart beat: Nanomaterial may allow regeneration of cardiac cells
• Self-forming biological scaffolding: A model system that can interpret the role of cross-linking proteins
• Birth is no reason to go to hospital, review suggests
• Blood pressure diet works, but adherence drops among African-Americans
• Stop diabetes with insulin tablets?
• Average 25% pay gap between men and women doctors largely 'inexplicable'
• Tackling 'frequent flyers' won't solve the rising emergency hospital admissions problem

DNA barcoding can ID natural health products Posted: 19 Sep 2012 04:09 PM PDT DNA barcoding has proven up to 88 percent effective in authenticating natural health products, according to a new study.

Ancient tooth may provide evidence of early human dentistry Posted: 19 Sep 2012 04:09 PM PDT Researchers may have uncovered new evidence of ancient dentistry in the form of a 6,500-year-old human jaw bone with a tooth showing traces of beeswax filling.

Blind people develop accurate mental map by playing 'video' game Posted: 19 Sep 2012 04:06 PM PDT Researchers have developed a new "video" game for blind people that can help them learn about a new space using only audio cues.

Dyslexia cause may be different than previously thought Posted: 19 Sep 2012 04:06 PM PDT Dyslexia may result from impairment of a different linguistic system than previously thought, according to new research.

Climate change to fuel northern spread of avian malaria: Malaria already found in birds in Alaska Posted: 19 Sep 2012 04:06 PM PDT Malaria has been found in birds in parts of Alaska, and global climate change will drive it even farther north, according to a new study. The spread could prove devastating to arctic bird species that have no resistance to the disease, and may also help scientists understand the effects of climate change on the spread of human malaria.

Yogurt consumption, blood pressure, and incident hypertension Posted: 19 Sep 2012 04:06 PM PDT Adding more yogurt to your diet without increasing the number of calories you eat may help lower your risk of high blood pressure, according to new research.

Sesame and rice bran oil lowers blood pressure, improves cholesterol Posted: 19 Sep 2012 04:01 PM PDT People who cooked with a blend of sesame and rice bran oils saw a significant drop in blood pressure and improved cholesterol levels, according to new research.

Promise of cell therapy for bowel disease Posted: 19 Sep 2012 04:01 PM PDT New research shows that a special population of stem cells found in cord blood has the innate ability to migrate to the intestine and contribute to the cell population there, suggesting the cells' potential to treat inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

Possible key to slow progression toward AIDS found Posted: 19 Sep 2012 04:01 PM PDT Although the average time between HIV infection and AIDS in the absence of antiretroviral treatment is about 10 years, some individuals succumb within two years, while so-called slow progressors can stay healthy for 20 years or longer. Researchers already know that many slow progressors carry a gene called HLA-B*57 (B57), an immune gene variant that is found in less than 5 percent of the general population but in 40 to 85 percent of slow progressors. Yet even among those with the B57 gene, the speed of disease progression can vary considerably. Now, scientists may have uncovered the key to this variation.

Emotional neglect in children linked to increased stroke risk later in life Posted: 19 Sep 2012 04:01 PM PDT Neurological researchers have found that people who were emotionally neglected as children may have a higher risk of stroke in later adulthood.

Test can help make diagnosis of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease Posted: 19 Sep 2012 04:01 PM PDT A new guideline may help doctors in making the diagnosis of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

Tissue around tumor holds key to fighting triple negative breast cancer Posted: 19 Sep 2012 04:00 PM PDT A preclinical study found that decorin, a well-studied protein known to help halt tumor growth, induces a series of tumor suppressor genes in the surrounding tissue in triple negative breast cancer tumors to help stop metastasis.

New cranial neural crest cell line developed Posted: 19 Sep 2012 11:21 AM PDT Researchers have successfully developed a stable population of neural crest cells derived from mice that can be grown in large quantities in the laboratory and that demonstrates the potential to develop into many different cell types needed throughout the body.

Medication effective in treating social withdrawal in Fragile X and potentially autism patients Posted: 19 Sep 2012 11:21 AM PDT An investigational compound that targets the core symptoms of fragile X syndrome is effective for addressing the social withdrawal and challenging behaviors characteristic of the condition, making it the first such discovery for fragile X syndrome and, potentially, the first for autism spectrum disorder, a study has found.

Reading food labels helps shoppers stay thinner Posted: 19 Sep 2012 11:20 AM PDT Shoppers —- particularly women —- who take the time to read food labels are thinner than those who don't.

Many parents believe that letting young children taste alcohol discourages later use Posted: 19 Sep 2012 11:20 AM PDT One in four mothers believe that letting young children taste alcohol may discourage them from drinking in adolescence and 40 percent believe that not allowing children to taste alcohol will only make it more appealing, according to a new study. The finding is noteworthy, the study's authors say, because early introduction to alcohol is a primary risk factor for problem drinking during adolescence.

Video games help patients and health care providers Posted: 19 Sep 2012 11:20 AM PDT Video games can be therapeutic and are already beginning to show health-related benefits, new research shows.

Efficacy of drugs boosted by using nanoparticles to target 'powerhouse of cells' Posted: 19 Sep 2012 10:54 AM PDT Nanoparticles have shown great promise in the targeted delivery of drugs to cells, but researchers have refined the drug delivery process further by using nanoparticles to deliver drugs to a specific organelle within cells.

Odorant shape and vibration likely lead to olfaction satisfaction Posted: 19 Sep 2012 10:53 AM PDT A new study lends support to a controversial theory of olfaction: Our noses can distinguish both the shape and the vibrational characteristics of odorant molecules. The study demonstrates the feasibility of the theory – first proposed decades ago – that the vibration of an odorant molecule's chemical bonds – the wagging, stretching and rocking of the links between atoms – contributes to our ability to distinguish one smelly thing from another.

Explosions are the main cause of spine injuries to wounded military personnel Posted: 19 Sep 2012 10:53 AM PDT Spinal injuries are among the most disabling conditions affecting wounded members of the US military. Yet until recently, the nature of those injuries had not been adequately explored.

Genetically-engineered preclinical models predict pharmacodynamic response Posted: 19 Sep 2012 09:57 AM PDT A new comparison of four different methodologies for pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic testing of the anti-melanoma agent carboplatin, demonstrates that genetically-engineered mouse models provide tumor delivery of drug most comparable to the response seen in melanoma patients.

Diseases of aging map to a few 'hotspots' on the human genome Posted: 19 Sep 2012 09:57 AM PDT Researchers have long known that individual diseases are associated with genes in specific locations of the genome. Genetics researchers have now have shown definitively that a small number of places in the human genome are associated with a large number and variety of diseases. In particular, several diseases of aging are associated with a locus which is more famous for its role in preventing cancer.

Weight gain worry for stressed black girls Posted: 19 Sep 2012 09:57 AM PDT Could the impact of chronic stress explain why American black girls are more likely to be overweight than white girls? Higher levels of stress over 10 years predict greater increases in body weight over time in both black and white girls. However, the experience of chronic stress appears to have a greater negative effect on black girls' weight.

Children with autism experience interrelated health issues Posted: 19 Sep 2012 09:56 AM PDT A new study found that many children with ASD also experience anxiety, chronic gastrointestinal problems and atypical sensory responses, which are heightened reactions to light, sound or particular textures. These problems appear to be highly related and can have significant effects on children's daily lives, including their functioning at home and in school.

Toward a better material for hip replacement and other joint implants Posted: 19 Sep 2012 09:56 AM PDT In an advance toward a new generation of improved hip and other joint replacements, scientists are describing development of a potential implant material that flexes more like natural bone, fosters the growth of bone that keeps implants firmly in place and is less likely to fail and require repeat surgery.

Fighting melanoma's attraction to the brain Posted: 19 Sep 2012 09:56 AM PDT A researcher is delving deeper into the way the brain attracts cancer cells, and his breakthrough is giving scientists new hope for better therapies.

Preemies' brains reap long-term benefits from Kangaroo Mother Care Posted: 19 Sep 2012 09:56 AM PDT Kangaroo Mother Care -- a technique in which a breastfed premature infant remains in skin-to-skin contact with the parent's chest rather than being placed in an incubator -- has lasting positive impact on brain development. Very premature infants who benefited from this technique had better brain functioning in adolescence -- comparable to that of adolescents born at term -- than did premature infants placed in incubators.

Autistic adults have unreliable neural responses, research team finds Posted: 19 Sep 2012 09:53 AM PDT New research by neuroscientists takes the first step toward deciphering the connection between general brain function and the emergent behavioral patterns in autism. The study shows that autistic adults have unreliable neural sensory responses to visual, auditory and somatosensory, or touch, stimuli. This poor response reliability appears to be a fundamental neural characteristic of autism.

Scientists show biological mechanism can trigger epileptic seizures Posted: 19 Sep 2012 09:53 AM PDT Scientists have discovered the first direct evidence that a biological mechanism long suspected in epilepsy is capable of triggering the brain seizures – opening the door for studies to seek improved treatments or even preventative therapies. The researchers report that molecular disruptions in small neurons called granule cells – located in the dentate gyrus region of the brain – caused brain seizures in mice similar to those seen in human temporal lobe epilepsy.

Improved brain tumor diagnosis Posted: 19 Sep 2012 09:49 AM PDT New method of brain tumor diagnosis offers hope to tens of thousands of people.

Clenching left hand could help athletes avoid choking under pressure Posted: 19 Sep 2012 09:49 AM PDT Some athletes may improve their performance under pressure simply by squeezing a ball or clenching their left hand before competition to activate certain parts of the brain, according to new research.

Rx guide for high blood pressure Posted: 19 Sep 2012 09:48 AM PDT Blood pressure medications are currently failing millions of Americans, who continue to battle hypertension and remain at increased risk for heart attack and stroke.

Neuroscientists find promise in addressing Fragile X afflictions Posted: 19 Sep 2012 09:48 AM PDT Neuroscientists have devised a method that has reduced several afflictions associated with Fragile X syndrome (FXS) in laboratory mice. Their findings offer new possibilities for addressing FXS, the leading inherited cause of autism and intellectual disability.

Nanomaterials appearing in water run-off from surface treatments Posted: 19 Sep 2012 07:33 AM PDT Researchers reveal the emission of nanomaterials caused by water runoff on surfaces containing nanomaterials. These surface treatments are employed in numerous consumption and construction products, so evidences of the presence of engineered nanomaterials are beginning to appear in the environment. Concerns about their toxicity for human or the environment rose in the last years, so further studies are required. The results indicate that all the surface treatments analyzed in this work suffered from a loss of nanomaterials and properties in the surface treatments.

New study on relapse risk in alcoholics Posted: 19 Sep 2012 07:33 AM PDT Scientists have succeeded in coming closer to determining the risk of relapse in detoxified alcohol-dependent patients. Using an imaging process (magnetic resonance tomography) it was shown that particular regions in the brain demonstrate structural as well as functional abnormalities in relapsed alcohol-dependent patients.

Nanomaterials in a heart beat: Nanomaterial may allow regeneration of cardiac cells Posted: 19 Sep 2012 07:33 AM PDT Stem cell scientists have capitalized on the electrical properties of a widely used nanomaterial to develop cells which may allow the regeneration of cardiac cells.

Self-forming biological scaffolding: A model system that can interpret the role of cross-linking proteins Posted: 19 Sep 2012 07:33 AM PDT A new model system of the cellular skeletons of living cells is akin to a mini-laboratory designed to explore how the cells' functional structures assemble. A new article presents one hypothesis concerning self-organization. It hinges on the findings that a homogeneous protein network, once subjected to stresses generated by molecular motors, compacts into highly condensed fibers.

Birth is no reason to go to hospital, review suggests Posted: 19 Sep 2012 05:34 AM PDT A new Cochrane Review concludes that all countries should consider establishing proper home birth services. They should also provide low-risk pregnant women with information enabling them to make an informed choice.

Blood pressure diet works, but adherence drops among African-Americans Posted: 19 Sep 2012 05:34 AM PDT Better adherence to the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension diet is associated with significant reductions in blood pressure. However, African-Americans may be less likely than whites to adopt the diet, according to researchers.

Stop diabetes with insulin tablets? Posted: 19 Sep 2012 05:34 AM PDT Could a capsule of insulin crystals a day stop the development of type 1 diabetes? There are indications that this could be the case. Researchers are now investigating whether oral insulin could prevent or delay the disease.

Average 25% pay gap between men and women doctors largely 'inexplicable' Posted: 18 Sep 2012 03:56 PM PDT According to the latest survey of UK hourly pay by the Office of National Statistics (ONS), female doctors' pay lags behind their male colleagues by 28.6%.

Tackling 'frequent flyers' won't solve the rising emergency hospital admissions problem Posted: 18 Sep 2012 03:56 PM PDT Patients who are regularly admitted to hospital as emergencies (known as "frequent flyers") make up a large proportion of admissions, but focusing just on them won't solve the problem of rising admissions, say experts.

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