ScienceDaily: Health & Medicine News

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• The eyes have it: How organic mercury can interfere with vision
• Aerobic fitness boosts learning, memory in 9-10-year-old children
• AIDS vaccine candidate appears to completely clear virus from the body in monkeys
• First proteomic analysis of birth defect demonstrates power of a new technique
• Test could identify which prostate cancers require treatment
• New hope for women suffering from recurrent miscarriage
• Crucial pathway discovered to fight gut infection
• Embryonic stem cells produced in living adult organisms
• 'Love hormone' may play wider role in social interaction than previously thought
• Faulty stem cell regulation may contribute to cognitive deficits associated with Down syndrome
• Pumping draws arsenic toward a big-city aquifer
• Unusual mechanism of DNA synthesis could explain genetic mutations
• Century old chemistry problem solved: Foundational reaction on stubborn chemicals may improve drug synthesis
• New antibiotic shows promise for treating MRSA pneumonia
• Ophthalmology: Automated method to detect glaucoma in its early stages
• Despite higher survival, brachytherapy to treat cervical cancer declines in US
• Low dose antibiotic treatment of C-difficile is as effective as high dose
• Radiotherapy in girls and the risk of breast cancer later in life
• Mechanisms for cholera toxin's deadly effects uncovered
• New technology transforms research in viral biology
• Trauma centers serving mostly white patients have lower death rates for patients of all races
• New genetic clue to anorexia
• Obesity combined with exposure to cigarette smoke may pose new health concerns
• 'Merlin' is a matchmaker, not a magician
• Transplanting fat may be effective treatment for metabolic disease
• T-rays offer potential for earlier diagnosis of melanoma
• Development of a new program that simulates protein movements
• Companies with a 'culture of health' may outperform others
• Stress may lead to false confessions
• Versatile microRNAs choke off cancer blood supply, suppress metastasis
• How Schizophrenia affects the brain
• Autistic children with better motor skills more adept at socializing
• Influenza virus in wild birds in Norway
• Mosquito bites deliver potential new malaria vaccine
• How chromosome ends influence cellular aging
• Tiny diamonds to boost treatment of chemoresistant leukemia
• Breakthrough discerns normal memory loss from disease
• Improved adherence to preventive antiretroviral therapy may reduce transmission of HIV
• Obstructive lung disease linked with decline in memory and information processing
• Fungal sex can generate new drug resistant, virulent strains
• Scientists discover a novel opiate addiction switch in the brain
• Tobacco companies' interests in smokeless tobacco products in Europe are driven by profit not health
• High adherence to HIV prophylaxis may raise efficacy for couples where one partner has HIV
• Tingling sensation caused by Asian spice could help patients with chronic pain
• Improving the lives of allergy sufferers
• Mesothelioma: A targeted approach to asbestos-related cancer
• Multiple sclerosis originates in different part of brain than long believed
• Alzheimer's: Newly identified protein pathology impairs RNA splicing
• Shingles symptoms may be caused by neuronal short circuit
• DNA repair could lead to improved cancer treatments
• Immune system kills healthy cells
• Heart disease patients with positive attitudes likely to exercise, live longer
• Stepping closer to personalized medicine
• Patient embraces personalized approach to lung cancer diagnosis

The eyes have it: How organic mercury can interfere with vision Posted: 11 Sep 2013 03:48 PM PDT Methylmercury compounds specifically target the central nervous system, and among the many effects of their exposure are visual disturbances, which were previously thought to be solely due to methylmercury-induced damage to the brain visual cortex. However, after combining powerful synchrotron X-rays and methylmercury-poisoned zebrafish larvae, scientists have found that methylmercury may also directly affect vision by accumulating in the retinal photoreceptors, i.e., the cells that respond to light in our eyes.

Aerobic fitness boosts learning, memory in 9-10-year-old children Posted: 11 Sep 2013 03:47 PM PDT Physical fitness can boost learning and memory in children, particularly when initial learning on a task is more challenging.

AIDS vaccine candidate appears to completely clear virus from the body in monkeys Posted: 11 Sep 2013 11:17 AM PDT An HIV/AIDS vaccine candidate appears to have the ability to completely clear an AIDS-causing virus from the body. It is being tested through the use of a non-human primate form of HIV, called simian immunodeficiency virus, or SIV, which causes AIDS in monkeys. Following further development, it is hoped an HIV-form of the vaccine candidate can soon be tested in humans.

First proteomic analysis of birth defect demonstrates power of a new technique Posted: 11 Sep 2013 11:17 AM PDT The first proteomic analysis of an animal model of a rare, sometimes deadly birth defect, Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome, has revealed that the molecular mechanisms that cause it are more complex than previously understood.

Test could identify which prostate cancers require treatment Posted: 11 Sep 2013 11:17 AM PDT The level of expression of three genes associated with aging can be used to predict whether seemingly low-risk prostate cancer will remain slow-growing, according to researchers. Use of this three-gene biomarker, in conjunction with existing cancer-staging tests, could help physicians better determine which men with early prostate cancer can be safely followed with "active surveillance" and spared the risks of prostate removal or other invasive treatment.

New hope for women suffering from recurrent miscarriage Posted: 11 Sep 2013 10:20 AM PDT A team of researchers has published new data that could prove vital for advances in care for women who suffer from recurrent miscarriage.

Crucial pathway discovered to fight gut infection Posted: 11 Sep 2013 10:20 AM PDT An international team of researchers has found a crucial pathway for defending the human gut against infection.

Embryonic stem cells produced in living adult organisms Posted: 11 Sep 2013 10:19 AM PDT Scientists have produced embryonic stem cells within a living adult mammal. Researchers have also discovered that these embryonic stem cells, obtained directly from the inside of the organism, have a broader capacity for differentiation than those obtained via in vitro culture. Specifically, they have the characteristics of totipotent cells: a primitive state never before obtained in a laboratory.

'Love hormone' may play wider role in social interaction than previously thought Posted: 11 Sep 2013 10:19 AM PDT Oxytocin -- often referred to as "the love hormone" because of its importance in the formation and maintenance of strong mother-child and sexual attachments -- is involved in a broader range of social interactions than previously understood.

Faulty stem cell regulation may contribute to cognitive deficits associated with Down syndrome Posted: 11 Sep 2013 10:19 AM PDT The learning and physical disabilities that affect people with Down syndrome may be due at least in part to defective stem cell regulation throughout the body, according to researchers.

Pumping draws arsenic toward a big-city aquifer Posted: 11 Sep 2013 10:19 AM PDT Naturally occurring arsenic pollutes wells across the world, especially in south and southeast Asia, where an estimated 100 million people are exposed to dangerous levels. Now, scientists working in Vietnam have shown that massive pumping of groundwater from a clean aquifer is slowly but surely drawing the poison into the water fro a nearby polluted one. The study, done near Hanoi, confirms suspicions that booming water usage could eventually threaten millions more people across Asia.

Unusual mechanism of DNA synthesis could explain genetic mutations Posted: 11 Sep 2013 10:17 AM PDT Researchers have discovered the details of how cells repair breaks in both strands of DNA, a potentially devastating kind of DNA damage.

Century old chemistry problem solved: Foundational reaction on stubborn chemicals may improve drug synthesis Posted: 11 Sep 2013 10:17 AM PDT Chemists have found a way to apply a "foundational reaction" of organic chemistry to a stubborn class of chemicals, in a transformation that has been thought impossible for a century.

New antibiotic shows promise for treating MRSA pneumonia Posted: 11 Sep 2013 10:17 AM PDT A drug approved just two years ago for treating bacterial infections may hold promise for treating the potentially fatal MRSA pneumonia, according to a new study. Researchers found that patients treated with the antibiotic ceftaroline fosamil, or CPT-F, had a lower mortality rate after 28 days than the mortality rate seen in patients treated with vancomycin, the most common drug therapy for MRSA pneumonia.

Ophthalmology: Automated method to detect glaucoma in its early stages Posted: 11 Sep 2013 09:53 AM PDT Scientists have developed a novel automated technology that screens for glaucoma more accurately and quickly than existing methods.

Despite higher survival, brachytherapy to treat cervical cancer declines in US Posted: 11 Sep 2013 09:50 AM PDT A study by researchers has found that brachytherapy treatment was associated with better cause-specific survival and overall survival in women with cervical cancer. The population-based analysis also revealed geographic disparities and decline in brachytherapy treatment in the United States.

Low dose antibiotic treatment of C-difficile is as effective as high dose Posted: 11 Sep 2013 09:50 AM PDT Researchers have found that using lower doses of vancomycin effectively treats C. difficile in a hospital setting.

Radiotherapy in girls and the risk of breast cancer later in life Posted: 11 Sep 2013 09:50 AM PDT Rsearchers have helped determine why exposing young women and girls under the age of 20 to ionizing radiation can substantially raise the risk of their developing breast cancer later in life.

Mechanisms for cholera toxin's deadly effects uncovered Posted: 11 Sep 2013 09:50 AM PDT Biologists have identified an underlying biochemical mechanism that helps make cholera toxin so deadly, often resulting in life-threating diarrhea that causes people to lose as much as half of their body fluids in a single day.

New technology transforms research in viral biology Posted: 11 Sep 2013 09:50 AM PDT Researchers have developed an innovative system to test how a virus interacts with cells in the body — to see, for example, what happens in lung cells when a deadly respiratory virus attacks them.

Trauma centers serving mostly white patients have lower death rates for patients of all races Posted: 11 Sep 2013 09:50 AM PDT Nearly 80 percent of trauma centers in the United States that serve predominantly minority patients have higher-than-expected death rates. Moreover, trauma patients of all races are 40 percent less likely to die — regardless of the severity of their injuries — if they are treated at hospitals with lower-than-expected mortality rates, the vast majority of which serve predominantly white patients.

New genetic clue to anorexia Posted: 11 Sep 2013 09:07 AM PDT The largest DNA-sequencing study of anorexia nervosa has linked the eating disorder to variants in a gene coding for an enzyme that regulates cholesterol metabolism. The finding suggests that anorexia could be caused in part by a disruption in the normal processing of cholesterol, which may disrupt mood and eating behavior.

Obesity combined with exposure to cigarette smoke may pose new health concerns Posted: 11 Sep 2013 09:07 AM PDT Millions of people who are obese and smoke tobacco may face additional health problems — including their responses to common prescription medicines — that extend beyond the well-known links with cancer, heart attacks and stroke, according to a new. The risks may extend to non-smokers who inhale smoke from cigarettes smouldering nearby.

'Merlin' is a matchmaker, not a magician Posted: 11 Sep 2013 08:47 AM PDT Researchers have figured out the specific job of a protein long implicated in tumors of the nervous system. Reporting on a new study, they detail what they call the "matchmaking" activities of a fruit fly protein called Merlin, whose human counterpart, NF2, is a tumor suppressor protein known to cause neurofibromatosis type II when mutated.

Transplanting fat may be effective treatment for metabolic disease Posted: 11 Sep 2013 08:47 AM PDT Transplanting fat may treat such inherited metabolic diseases as maple syrup urine disease by helping the body process the essential amino acids that these patients cannot, according to researchers.

T-rays offer potential for earlier diagnosis of melanoma Posted: 11 Sep 2013 08:46 AM PDT The technology that peeks underneath clothing at airport security screening check points has great potential for looking underneath human skin to diagnose cancer at its earliest and most treatable stages, scientists say.

Development of a new program that simulates protein movements Posted: 11 Sep 2013 07:34 AM PDT By taking advantage of the fact that our body proteins and robot arms both move in a similar way, scientists have developed a program to simulate these movements.

Companies with a 'culture of health' may outperform others Posted: 11 Sep 2013 07:33 AM PDT Companies that build a culture of health by focusing on the well-being and safety of their workforce may yield greater value for their investors.

Stress may lead to false confessions Posted: 11 Sep 2013 07:33 AM PDT Imagine if you were wrongly accused of a crime. Would you be stressed? Researchers have found the innocent are often less stressed than the guilty. And that could put them at greater risk to admit to a crime they didn't commit.

Versatile microRNAs choke off cancer blood supply, suppress metastasis Posted: 11 Sep 2013 07:33 AM PDT A family of microRNAs blocks cancer progression and metastasis by stifling a tumor's ability to weave new blood vessels to support itself, researchers have reported.

How Schizophrenia affects the brain Posted: 11 Sep 2013 07:33 AM PDT A study has been published using brain scans to document the effects of schizophrenia on brain tissue. The findings may help doctors better understand the origin of the illness and the best ways to treat it.

Autistic children with better motor skills more adept at socializing Posted: 11 Sep 2013 06:31 AM PDT In a new study looking at toddlers and preschoolers with autism, researchers found that children with better motor skills were more adept at socializing and communicating.

Influenza virus in wild birds in Norway Posted: 11 Sep 2013 06:30 AM PDT Ducks and gulls are the natural hosts of influenza A virus. Research has characterised influenza A viruses in gulls and ducks in Norway. This discovery may lead to a better understanding of the epidemiology and host adaptation of influenza A virus.

Mosquito bites deliver potential new malaria vaccine Posted: 11 Sep 2013 06:30 AM PDT There is hope for new live-attenuated malaria vaccine according to a new study. This work has genetically engineered malaria parasites that are stunted through precise gene deletions, and these could be used as a vaccine that protects against malaria infection.

How chromosome ends influence cellular aging Posted: 11 Sep 2013 06:29 AM PDT By studying processes that occur at the ends of chromosomes, a team researchers has unravelled an important mechanism towards a better understanding of cellular aging.

Tiny diamonds to boost treatment of chemoresistant leukemia Posted: 11 Sep 2013 06:29 AM PDT By binding multiple molecules of a common leukemia drug with nanodiamonds, scientists have managed to boost the delivery of the drug to leukemic cells and retain the drug within the cells to combat the cancer.

Breakthrough discerns normal memory loss from disease Posted: 11 Sep 2013 06:27 AM PDT Researchers have developed a reliable method to distinguish memory declines associated with healthy aging from the more-serious memory disorders years before obvious symptoms emerge. The method also allows research to accurately predict who is more likely to develop cognitive impairment without expensive tests or invasive procedures.

Improved adherence to preventive antiretroviral therapy may reduce transmission of HIV Posted: 10 Sep 2013 05:54 PM PDT A recently completed study found that pre-exposure prophylaxis -- a new strategy to prevent HIV infection by prescribing a daily antiretroviral drug to at-risk individuals -- can be a powerful tool when participants take their medications.

Obstructive lung disease linked with decline in memory and information processing Posted: 10 Sep 2013 05:54 PM PDT Obstructive lung disease has been linked with a decline in cognitive functioning, including memory and information processing.

Fungal sex can generate new drug resistant, virulent strains Posted: 10 Sep 2013 05:54 PM PDT Sex between genetically identical organisms has been found to create genetic changes and diversity where it did not previously exist. Studies of a fungus called Cryptococcus showed the process of sexual reproduction can result in extra copies of chromosomes that can be beneficial to the organism's survival. The discovery contributes to the understanding of sex, and lends insight into how pathogenic microbes can evolve to cause and spread diseases.

Scientists discover a novel opiate addiction switch in the brain Posted: 10 Sep 2013 05:54 PM PDT Neuroscientists have made a remarkable new discovery revealing the underlying molecular process by which opiate addiction develops in the brain. Opiate addiction is largely controlled by the formation of powerful reward memories that link the pleasurable effects of opiate-class drugs to environmental triggers that induce drug craving in individuals addicted to opiates.

Tobacco companies' interests in smokeless tobacco products in Europe are driven by profit not health Posted: 10 Sep 2013 05:54 PM PDT Transnational tobacco companies' investments in smokeless tobacco products, such as snus (a moist tobacco product that is placed under the upper lip), in Europe are not due to a concern for the health impacts of smoking but are instead driven purely by business interests according to new research.

High adherence to HIV prophylaxis may raise efficacy for couples where one partner has HIV Posted: 10 Sep 2013 05:54 PM PDT High adherence to antiretroviral pre-exposure prophylaxis is associated with a high level of protection from HIV acquisition by HIV-uninfected partners in heterosexual couples where only one of the partners is HIV positive, according to a new study.

Tingling sensation caused by Asian spice could help patients with chronic pain Posted: 10 Sep 2013 05:53 PM PDT The science behind the tingling sensation caused by eating a popular Asian spice has been explained by researchers.

Improving the lives of allergy sufferers Posted: 10 Sep 2013 05:53 PM PDT Allergen immunotherapy improves the quality of life of people who are allergic to grass pollen and house dust mites, reveals a new study. With less time taken off work, the therapy yields economic as well as patient benefits.

Mesothelioma: A targeted approach to asbestos-related cancer Posted: 10 Sep 2013 05:53 PM PDT A new targeted therapy for asbestos-related tumors has shown promise in an animal model. The results raise hopes of a new therapy for this currently incurable cancer. Malignant mesothelioma (MMs) is a rare form of cancer, most commonly caused by exposure to asbestos. It tends to be diagnosed decades after exposure occurs, so is rarely caught early. Current treatments, including surgery and chemotherapy, have limited efficacy and unpleasant side effects.

Multiple sclerosis originates in different part of brain than long believed Posted: 10 Sep 2013 05:52 PM PDT There is important new physical evidence that most research on the origins of multiple sclerosis has focused on the wrong part of the brain. Until now, most investigation has focused on the brain's white matter, where degradation of myelin that coats nerves occurs. But advanced analysis points to gray matter as a critical initial target as MS develops.

Alzheimer's: Newly identified protein pathology impairs RNA splicing Posted: 10 Sep 2013 02:14 PM PDT Researchers have identified a previously unrecognized type of pathology in the brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease. These tangle-like structures appear at early stages of Alzheimer's and are not found in other neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's disease. The appearance of these tangles, which sequester proteins involved in RNA splicing, is linked to widespread changes in Alzheimer's brains compared to healthy brains.

Shingles symptoms may be caused by neuronal short circuit Posted: 10 Sep 2013 02:14 PM PDT The pain and itching associated with shingles and herpes may be due to the virus causing a "short circuit" in the nerve cells that reach the skin.

DNA repair could lead to improved cancer treatments Posted: 10 Sep 2013 02:14 PM PDT Medical researchers made a basic science discovery that advances the understanding of how DNA repairs itself. When DNA becomes too damaged it ultimately leads to cancer.

Immune system kills healthy cells Posted: 10 Sep 2013 02:14 PM PDT Medical scientists have made a key discovery about how the immune system kills healthy cells while attacking infections. This finding could one day lead to better solutions for cancer and anti-viral treatments.

Heart disease patients with positive attitudes likely to exercise, live longer Posted: 10 Sep 2013 01:54 PM PDT Heart disease patients with positive attitudes are more likely to exercise and live longer, says a new study. Patients may have better health outcomes when doctors' treatments are aimed at increasing positive attitude and promoting regular exercise.

Stepping closer to personalized medicine Posted: 10 Sep 2013 01:53 PM PDT What we think of today as a "complete" genome is not truly complete. But, with the new technology, scientists can finally sequence an entire "complete" genome from an individual. The new technology gives unprecedented access to the genome and uncovers many genetic variations that may cause disease. This research will allow scientists to study the genetics of complex diseases like cancer. It could also lead to better tools for personalizing medicine for many complex diseases, not just for cancer.

Patient embraces personalized approach to lung cancer diagnosis Posted: 10 Sep 2013 01:53 PM PDT As a woman in her mid-forties who didn't smoke, Elizabeth Lacasia never expected to be diagnosed with lung cancer. But in 2006, after she developed a persistent and serious cough, a chest X-ray and CT scan revealed several tumors in her lower left lung. With the assistance of personalized medicine, her cancer is now in remission.

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