ScienceDaily: Health & Medicine News

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• In minutes a day, low-income families can improve their kids' health
• Wild animals may contribute to the resurgence of African sleeping sickness
• Weight loss helps to oust worms
• Men at 'high' skeletal risk prior to prostate cancer hormone therapy likely to have more fractures after treatment
• Potential to prevent, reverse disabilities in children born prematurely, study suggests
• New study challenges links between daycare and behavioral issues
• Health and law expert: NFL not alone in handling concussions as 'benign' problems
• Enzyme involved in deadly brain tumors identified
• Luminescent mice used to track cancer and aging in real-time
• Sniffing immune cells: Immune cells on the move are guided by touch and smell
• Molecular twist helps regulate the cellular message to make histone proteins
• Adolescent stress linked to severe adult mental illness, mouse study suggests
• Scientists shed light on the 'dark matter' of DNA
• Irregular heart beat elevates risk of kidney failure
• Vulnerabilities in security of personal genetic information
• Novel technique reveals dynamics of telomere DNA structure: Chromosome-capping telomeres are a potential target for anti-cancer drugs
• Hearing-loss-prevention drugs closer to reality thanks to new test
• Commonly prescribed PAH medications could have adverse effects
• Lack of key enzyme in the metabolism of folic acid leads to birth defects
• Critically ill flu patients saved with artificial lung technology treatment
• Is athleticism linked to brain size? Exercise-loving mice have larger midbrains
• Dietary shifts driving up phosphorus use
• Cancer cell metabolism study yields new insights on leukemia
• Bacteria's hidden skill could pave way for stem cell treatments
• 'Jet-lagged' fruit flies provide clues for body clock synchronization
• Learning the alphabet of gene control
• GI tract bacteria may protect against autoimmune disease
• How cells know when it's time to eat themselves
• Deodorants: Do we really need them?
• New model may help predict response to chemotherapy for colorectal cancer
• Surrogate births: How low levels of monitoring and regulation could lead to exploitation
• Social stigma of migraine headaches: Worse than epilepsy

In minutes a day, low-income families can improve their kids' health Posted: 17 Jan 2013 03:33 PM PST When low-income families devote three to four extra minutes to regular family mealtimes, their children's ability to achieve and maintain a normal weight improves measurably, according to a new study. "Children whose families engaged with each other over a 20-minute meal four times a week weighed significantly less than kids who left the table after 15 to 17 minutes," said one of the researchers.

Wild animals may contribute to the resurgence of African sleeping sickness Posted: 17 Jan 2013 03:33 PM PST Wild animals may be a key contributor to the continuing spread of African sleeping sickness, new research shows. The West African form of the disease, also known as Gambiense Human African trypanosomiasis, affects around 10,000 people in Africa every year and is deadly if left untreated.

Weight loss helps to oust worms Posted: 17 Jan 2013 03:32 PM PST Scientists have discovered that weight loss plays an important role in the body's response to fighting off intestinal worms.

Men at 'high' skeletal risk prior to prostate cancer hormone therapy likely to have more fractures after treatment Posted: 17 Jan 2013 03:31 PM PST In what is believed to be the first study to describe the impact on men with a 'high' risk of bone fracture who are receiving long-term androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) for prostate cancer, new research shows this population to have a higher fracture incidence following treatment completion.

Potential to prevent, reverse disabilities in children born prematurely, study suggests Posted: 17 Jan 2013 01:29 PM PST Researchers report for the first time that low blood and oxygen flow to the developing brain does not, as previously thought, cause an irreversible loss of brain cells, but rather disrupts the cells' ability to fully mature. This discovery opens up new avenues for potential therapies to promote regeneration and repair of the premature brain.

New study challenges links between daycare and behavioral issues Posted: 17 Jan 2013 12:20 PM PST Researchers from the US and Norway studied 75,000 Norwegian children and found no evidence that time spent in child care leads to behavioral problems.

Health and law expert: NFL not alone in handling concussions as 'benign' problems Posted: 17 Jan 2013 12:20 PM PST If a lack of speed in tackling concussions warrants criticism, the NFL isn't the only player deserving a penalty, according to a new study. Neurologists were also slow in sounding the alarm, and for decades, concussions were viewed as a "benign phenomenon," according to researchers.

Enzyme involved in deadly brain tumors identified Posted: 17 Jan 2013 12:20 PM PST One of the most common types of brain tumors in adults, glioblastoma multiforme, is one of the most devastating. Even with recent advances in surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, the aggressive and invasive tumors become resistant to treatment, and median survival of patients is only about 15 months. Researchers have now identified an important association between the naturally occurring enzyme Kallikrein 6, also known as KLK6, and the malignant tumors.

Luminescent mice used to track cancer and aging in real-time Posted: 17 Jan 2013 12:19 PM PST Researchers have developed a new method to visualize aging and tumor growth in mice using a gene closely linked to these processes.

Sniffing immune cells: Immune cells on the move are guided by touch and smell Posted: 17 Jan 2013 11:25 AM PST A new article provides new insights into how immune cells find their way through tissues. The findings provide the first evidence for directed cell migration along concentration gradients of chemical cues immobilized in tissues, a concept that has long been assumed but never experimentally proven.

Molecular twist helps regulate the cellular message to make histone proteins Posted: 17 Jan 2013 11:25 AM PST Scientists have shown for the first time how two key proteins in messenger RNA communicate via a molecular twist to help maintain the balance of histones to DNA.

Adolescent stress linked to severe adult mental illness, mouse study suggests Posted: 17 Jan 2013 11:25 AM PST Working with mice, researchers have established a link between elevated levels of a stress hormone in adolescence -- a critical time for brain development -- and genetic changes that, in young adulthood, cause severe mental illness in those predisposed to it.

Scientists shed light on the 'dark matter' of DNA Posted: 17 Jan 2013 11:24 AM PST In each cell, thousands of regulatory regions control which genes are active at any time. Scientists have now developed a method that reliably detects these regions and measures their activity.

Irregular heart beat elevates risk of kidney failure Posted: 17 Jan 2013 11:23 AM PST Many people who suffer from chronic kidney disease progressively lose their kidney function over time and eventually develop a condition called end-stage renal disease – the complete failure of the kidneys – placing them in need of lifelong dialysis or a kidney transplant. Scientists have found that the risk of kidney failure is greater for people with chronic kidney disease who also have atrial fibrillation, one of the most common forms of irregular heart rhythm in adults.

Vulnerabilities in security of personal genetic information Posted: 17 Jan 2013 11:23 AM PST Using only a computer, an Internet connection, and publicly accessible online resources, researchers have been able to identify nearly 50 individuals who had submitted personal genetic material as participants in genomic studies.

Novel technique reveals dynamics of telomere DNA structure: Chromosome-capping telomeres are a potential target for anti-cancer drugs Posted: 17 Jan 2013 10:34 AM PST Biomedical researchers studying aging and cancer are intensely interested in telomeres, the protective caps on the ends of chromosomes. In a new study, scientists used a novel technique to reveal structural and mechanical properties of telomeres that could help guide the development of new anti-cancer drugs.

Hearing-loss-prevention drugs closer to reality thanks to new test Posted: 17 Jan 2013 10:33 AM PST A new way to test anti-hearing-loss drugs in people could help land those medicines on pharmacy shelves sooner. Researchers have figured out the longstanding problem of how to safely create temporary, reversible hearing loss in order to see how well the drugs work.

Commonly prescribed PAH medications could have adverse effects Posted: 17 Jan 2013 10:33 AM PST Scientists have reported findings that significantly improve understanding of how widely used drugs in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension affect the heart health of treated patients.

Lack of key enzyme in the metabolism of folic acid leads to birth defects Posted: 17 Jan 2013 10:33 AM PST Researchers have discovered that the lack of a critical enzyme in the folic acid metabolic pathway leads to neural tube birth defects in developing embryos.

Critically ill flu patients saved with artificial lung technology treatment Posted: 17 Jan 2013 10:33 AM PST In recent weeks, the intensive critical care units at University Health Network's Toronto General Hospital have used Extra Corporeal Lung Support to support five influenza patients in their recovery from severe respiratory problems.

Is athleticism linked to brain size? Exercise-loving mice have larger midbrains Posted: 17 Jan 2013 10:33 AM PST Is athleticism linked to brain size? Researchers performed laboratory experiments on house mice and found that mice that have been bred for dozens of generations to be more exercise-loving have larger midbrains than those that have not been selectively bred this way -- the first example in which selection for a particular mammalian behavior has been shown to result in a change in size of a specific brain region.

Dietary shifts driving up phosphorus use Posted: 17 Jan 2013 10:33 AM PST Dietary changes since the early 1960s have fueled a sharp increase in the amount of mined phosphorus used to produce the food consumed by the average person over the course of a year, according to a new study. Between 1961 and 2007, rising meat consumption and total calorie intake underpinned a 38 percent increase in the world's per capita "phosphorus footprint."

Cancer cell metabolism study yields new insights on leukemia Posted: 17 Jan 2013 10:31 AM PST Scientists have proposed a new reason why acute myeloid leukemia, one of the most aggressive cancers, is so difficult to cure: A subset of cells that drive the disease appear to have a much slower metabolism than most other tumors cells.

Bacteria's hidden skill could pave way for stem cell treatments Posted: 17 Jan 2013 10:31 AM PST A discovery about the way in which bugs spread throughout the body could help to develop stem cell treatments. Researchers have found that bacteria are able to change the make-up of supporting cells within the nerve system, called Schwann cells, so that they take on the properties of stem cells.

'Jet-lagged' fruit flies provide clues for body clock synchronization Posted: 17 Jan 2013 10:31 AM PST New research has found evidence of how daily changes in temperature affect the fruit fly's internal clock.

Learning the alphabet of gene control Posted: 17 Jan 2013 10:31 AM PST Scientists have made a large step towards the understanding of how human genes are regulated. They have now identified the DNA sequences that bind to over four hundred proteins that control expression of genes. This knowledge is required to understand how differences in genomes of individuals affect their risk to develop disease.

GI tract bacteria may protect against autoimmune disease Posted: 17 Jan 2013 10:30 AM PST Early life exposure to normal bacteria of the GI tract (gut microbes) protects against autoimmune disease in mice, according to new research. The study may also have uncovered reasons why females are at greater risk of autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and lupus compared to males.

How cells know when it's time to eat themselves Posted: 17 Jan 2013 10:29 AM PST Researchers have identified a molecular mechanism regulating autophagy, a fundamental stress response used by cells to help ensure their survival in adverse conditions.

Deodorants: Do we really need them? Posted: 17 Jan 2013 05:49 AM PST More than 75 percent of people with a particular version of a gene don't produce under-arm odor but use deodorant anyway.

New model may help predict response to chemotherapy for colorectal cancer Posted: 17 Jan 2013 05:49 AM PST Scientists may be able to better predict which patients with colorectal cancer will respond to chemotherapy using a new mathematical model that measures the amount of stress required for a cancer cell to die without harming healthy tissue.

Surrogate births: How low levels of monitoring and regulation could lead to exploitation Posted: 17 Jan 2013 05:48 AM PST Researchers have sounded warnings about the international dimension to surrogacy.

Social stigma of migraine headaches: Worse than epilepsy Posted: 17 Jan 2013 05:46 AM PST A neurologist shows that patients with migraine (a combination of severe headache, nausea, light sensitivity, and other factors) suffer social stigma from their disease similar to the stigma experienced by patients with epilepsy.

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