ScienceDaily: Health & Medicine News

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• New MRI method may help diagnose dementia
• Ability to metabolize tamoxifen affects breast cancer outcomes
• New technique catalogs lymphoma-linked genetic variations
• Immune system changes may drive aggressiveness of recurrent tumors
• Eating asparagus may prevent a hangover, study suggests
• Children with chronic conditions increasingly use available resources in children's hospitals
• Study examines overuse of ambulatory health care services in United States
• Elevated levels of C-reactive protein appear associated with psychological distress, depression
• Transfusions add risk in some heart attacks, finds study of patients with anemia
• Scientists sequence genome of pathogen responsible for pneumocystis pneumonia
• Enzyme accelerates malignant stem cell cloning in chronic myeloid leukemia
• Biologists identify proteins vital to chromosome segregation
• Eyes may provide a look into multiple sclerosis progression
• Obesity may be declining among preschool-aged children living in low-income families
• Sustained virological response linked with improved survival for HCV patients
• Autopsy-based study examines prevalence of atherosclerosis among U.S. service members

New MRI method may help diagnose dementia Posted: 26 Dec 2012 01:41 PM PST A new way to use MRI scans may help determine whether dementia is Alzheimer's disease or another type of dementia, according to new research.

Ability to metabolize tamoxifen affects breast cancer outcomes Posted: 26 Dec 2012 12:30 PM PST For nearly a decade, breast cancer researchers studying the hormone therapy tamoxifen have been divided as to whether genetic differences in a liver enzyme affect the drug's effectiveness and the likelihood breast cancer will recur. A new study provides evidence that genetic differences in the enzyme CYP2D6 play a key role in how well tamoxifen works.

New technique catalogs lymphoma-linked genetic variations Posted: 26 Dec 2012 12:30 PM PST As anyone familiar with the X-Men knows, mutants can be either very good or very bad — or somewhere in between. The same appears true within cancer cells, which may harbor hundreds of mutations that set them apart from other cells in the body; the scientific challenge has been to figure out which mutations are culprits and which are innocent bystanders. Now, researchers have devised a novel approach to sorting them out: they generated random mutations in a gene associated with lymphoma, tested the proteins produced by the genes to see how they performed, and generated a catalog of mutants with cancer-causing potential.

Immune system changes may drive aggressiveness of recurrent tumors Posted: 26 Dec 2012 12:30 PM PST The traditional view of recurrent tumors is that they are resistant to therapy because they've acquired additional genetic mutations that make them more aggressive and impervious to drugs. Now, however, researchers show in an animal model that the enhanced aggressiveness of recurrent tumors may be due to changes in the body's immune response.

Eating asparagus may prevent a hangover, study suggests Posted: 26 Dec 2012 07:12 AM PST With New Year's Eve just around the corner, there is always plenty of good food and cheer. If you are drinking alcohol you may want to reach for some asparagus, according to a study that found asparagus may aid the body in accelerating the metabolism of alcohol.

Children with chronic conditions increasingly use available resources in children's hospitals Posted: 26 Dec 2012 05:10 AM PST Children with chronic conditions increasingly used more resources in a group of children's hospitals compared with patients without a chronic condition, according to a report that analyzed data from 28 U.S. children's hospitals between 2004 and 2009.

Study examines overuse of ambulatory health care services in United States Posted: 26 Dec 2012 05:10 AM PST An analysis of nationally representative survey data found significant improvement in the delivery of underused care, but more limited changes in the reduction of inappropriate care in ambulatory health care settings between 1998 and 2009.

Elevated levels of C-reactive protein appear associated with psychological distress, depression Posted: 26 Dec 2012 05:10 AM PST Elevated levels of C-reactive protein, a marker of inflammatory disease, appear to be associated with increased risk of psychological distress and depression in the general population of adults in Denmark, according to a new study.

Transfusions add risk in some heart attacks, finds study of patients with anemia Posted: 26 Dec 2012 05:09 AM PST A new study finds that while blood transfusions for heart attack patients with anemia are commonly performed in emergency rooms, the practice can increase the risk of death when the transfusions are too extensive. The authors, led by Saurav Chatterjee, a cardiology fellow at Brown University, compared evidence from 10 prior studies of more than 203,000 patients.

Scientists sequence genome of pathogen responsible for pneumocystis pneumonia Posted: 26 Dec 2012 05:09 AM PST Scientists have sequenced the genome of the fungus Pneumocystis jirovecii, an advancement that could help identify new targets for drugs to treat and prevent Pneumocystis pneumonia, a common and often deadly infection in immunocompromised patients.

Enzyme accelerates malignant stem cell cloning in chronic myeloid leukemia Posted: 26 Dec 2012 05:03 AM PST An international team has identified a key enzyme in the reprogramming process that promotes malignant stem cell cloning and the growth of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), a cancer of the blood and marrow that experts say is increasing in prevalence.

Biologists identify proteins vital to chromosome segregation Posted: 26 Dec 2012 05:03 AM PST Biologists have identified how a vital protein is loaded by others into the centromere, the part of the chromosome that plays a significant role in cell division. Their findings shed new light on genome replication and may offer insights into the factors behind the production of abnormal numbers of chromosomes.

Eyes may provide a look into multiple sclerosis progression Posted: 26 Dec 2012 05:03 AM PST New research suggests that thinning of a layer of the retina in the eyes may show how fast multiple sclerosis (MS) is progressing in people with the disease.

Obesity may be declining among preschool-aged children living in low-income families Posted: 26 Dec 2012 05:03 AM PST A new study finds that obesity may be declining among preschool-aged children living in low-income families in the United States.

Sustained virological response linked with improved survival for HCV patients Posted: 26 Dec 2012 05:03 AM PST Among patients with chronic hepatitis C virus infection and advanced hepatic fibrosis (development of excess fibrous connective tissue), sustained virological response (SVR) to interferon-based treatment was associated with a lower risk of all-cause mortality compared with patients without SVR, according to a new study.

Autopsy-based study examines prevalence of atherosclerosis among U.S. service members Posted: 26 Dec 2012 05:03 AM PST Among deployed U.S. service members who died of combat or unintentional injuries between 2001-2011 and underwent autopsies, the prevalence of coronary atherosclerosis was 8.5 percent, with factors associated with a higher prevalence of the disease including older age, lower educational level and prior diagnoses of dyslipidemia, hypertension, and obesity, according to a new study.

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