ScienceDaily: Health & Medicine News

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• Young women most at risk least likely to be offered HPV vaccine
• Health gap between adult survivors of childhood cancer, siblings widens with age
• U.S. headache sufferers get $1 billion worth of brain scans each year
• Nearly half of pregnant low-income women do not want to be sent home from hospital after diagnosis of false or early labor
• Improving quality, safety for PCIs performed without on-site backup
• Scientists track evolution of a superbug
• Bacterial reporters that get the scoop: Engineered gut bacteria 'remembers' what it saw
• New therapeutic target discovered for Alzheimer's disease
• Chronic sleep disturbance could trigger onset of Alzheimer's
• Protein common in cancers jumps anti-tumor mechanisms
• Development of Alzheimer's trademark cell-killing plaques slowed by researchers
• Younger men receive faster care for heart attacks, angina compared with women of same age, study shows
• Pathways that direct immune system to turn 'on' or 'off' found
• Fighting antibiotic resistance with 'molecular drill bits'
• Baby's life saved after 3-D printed devices were implanted restore his breathing
• Risk factors for little-known lung infection identified
• How the science of deer hunting can help patients with diabetes
• Fast-moving cells in human immune system walk in stepwise manner
• How diabetes drugs may work against cancer
• Early detection of stomach cancer: New hope from new research
• Positive memories of exercise spur future workouts
• Primary androgen deprivation therapy ineffective for most men with early prostate cancer
• Colon cancer incidence rates decreasing steeply in older Americans, study shows
• Improved mass spectrometric method for proteomic analyses presented by Immunologists
• Eat more, die young: Why eating a diet very low in nutrients can extend lifespan
• Body clocks, chronic lung diseases linked, new research suggests
• Designing future vaccinations against HIV could depend on research on the protein gp41
• New system to aid cardiovascular risk diagnosis developed
• Many parents have infant-feeding, TV, activity practices which may increase obesity risk
• Study identifies most common, costly reasons for mental health hospitalizations for kids
• New treatment for binge eating disorder
• Cancer therapy may be too targeted: Genetic landscape of rare cancer acts as guide for future clinical trials
• Better-tasting reduced-fat desserts, dressings, sauces: Coming soon?
• Honey offers new approach to fighting antibiotic resistance

Young women most at risk least likely to be offered HPV vaccine Posted: 17 Mar 2014 05:37 PM PDT Young women who are most at risk of developing cervical cancer are the least likely to be offered the protective HPV jab and to complete the full course when they are, reveals research. These women need to be better targeted to boost the overall uptake of the vaccination program, which was well below the 80% required to make a significant difference to cervical cancer rates during its first three years of operation, say the authors.

Health gap between adult survivors of childhood cancer, siblings widens with age Posted: 17 Mar 2014 02:06 PM PDT Adult survivors of childhood cancer face significant health problems as they age and are five times more likely than their siblings to develop new cancers, heart and other serious health conditions beyond the age of 35, according to the latest findings from the world's largest study of childhood cancer survivors.

U.S. headache sufferers get $1 billion worth of brain scans each year Posted: 17 Mar 2014 02:06 PM PDT One in eight visits to a a doctor for a headache or migraine end up with the patient going for a brain scan, at a total cost of about $1 billion a year, a new study finds. And many of those MRI and CT scans -- and costs -- are probably unnecessary, given the very low odds that serious issues lurk in the patients' brains.

Nearly half of pregnant low-income women do not want to be sent home from hospital after diagnosis of false or early labor Posted: 17 Mar 2014 02:06 PM PDT More than 40 percent of pregnant low-income women discharged from the hospital after a diagnosis of false or early labor did not want to be sent home, with the most common reasons being that they were in too much pain or lived too far away, according to a study. Many of the women dissatisfied with being sent home stated that receiving specific written instructions about when to return to the hospital may have made them happier about going home.

Improving quality, safety for PCIs performed without on-site backup Posted: 17 Mar 2014 12:56 PM PDT The increasing number of percutaneous coronary interventions (PCIs) being performed at low-volume centers without on-site cardiac surgery backup has driven the need for new safety and quality protocols, according to an expert consensus document. A new document outlining new guidelines has been released.

Scientists track evolution of a superbug Posted: 17 Mar 2014 12:56 PM PDT Using genome sequencing, scientists have tracked the evolution of the antibiotic-resistant bacterium Klebsiella pneumoniae sequence type 258 (ST258), an important agent of hospital-acquired infections. While researchers had previously thought that ST258 K. pneumoniae strains spread from a single ancestor, the team showed that the strains arose from at least two different lineages.

Bacterial reporters that get the scoop: Engineered gut bacteria 'remembers' what it saw Posted: 17 Mar 2014 12:56 PM PDT A new engineered strain of E. coli bacteria non-destructively detected and recorded an environmental signal in the mouse gut, and remembered what it 'saw.' The advance could lead to a radically new screening tool for human gut health. "Our increasing appreciation of the role of the microbiome in health and disease is transforming the entire medical field," stated one scientist.

New therapeutic target discovered for Alzheimer's disease Posted: 17 Mar 2014 12:52 PM PDT A team of scientists report that cathepsin B gene knockout or its reduction by an enzyme inhibitor blocks creation of key neurotoxic pGlu-Abeta peptides linked to Alzheimer's disease (AD). Moreover, the candidate inhibitor drug has been shown to be safe in humans.

Chronic sleep disturbance could trigger onset of Alzheimer's Posted: 17 Mar 2014 12:52 PM PDT People who experience chronic sleep disturbance could face an earlier onset of dementia and Alzheimer's, results from a new pre-clinical study indicate. "We can conclude from this study that chronic sleep disturbance is an environmental risk factor for Alzheimer's disease," a co-author said. "But the good news is that sleep disturbances can be easily treated, which would hopefully reduce the Alzheimer's risk."

Protein common in cancers jumps anti-tumor mechanisms Posted: 17 Mar 2014 12:52 PM PDT A cellular protein, STAT3, which is overactive in a majority of cancers, interferes with an antitumor mechanism in cells and therefore promotes the growth of cancer, an international research team has discovered. The researchers made their discovery by using the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) as a tool to probe fundamental cancer development-related questions. EBV, which causes infectious mononucleosis, is carried by approximately 95 percent of the world's population, is implicated in several types of lymphoma and other cancers, and was the first virus identified to cause cancer in humans.

Development of Alzheimer's trademark cell-killing plaques slowed by researchers Posted: 17 Mar 2014 12:51 PM PDT Researchers have learned how to fix a cellular structure called the Golgi that mysteriously becomes fragmented in all Alzheimer's patients and appears to be a major cause of the disease. They say that understanding this mechanism helps decode amyloid plaque formation in the brains of Alzheimer's patients -- plaques that kills cells and contributes to memory loss and other Alzheimer's symptoms.

Younger men receive faster care for heart attacks, angina compared with women of same age, study shows Posted: 17 Mar 2014 09:50 AM PDT In younger adults experiencing heart attacks and angina, men are more likely to receive faster care compared with women, new research shows. In the study, men received faster access to electrocardiograms (ECGs) and fibrinolysis than women, with door-to-ECG and door-to-needle times of 15 and 21 minutes and 28 and 36 minutes, respectively. The study also found that gender-related factors affected access to care for both men and women.

Pathways that direct immune system to turn 'on' or 'off' found Posted: 17 Mar 2014 09:49 AM PDT Manipulating the CD80/CD86 pathway may yield new strategies for treating multiple myeloma, new research on dendritic cells suggests. This research focused on the immune system's dendritic cells (DCs), crucial cells that initiate and regulate immune responses. For example, the dendritic cells activate T lymphocytes to fight an infection or cancer. Curiously, they are also known to suppress the immune response. Determining when DCs turn the immune response "on" or "off" is a major question in immunology.

Fighting antibiotic resistance with 'molecular drill bits' Posted: 17 Mar 2014 09:49 AM PDT In response to drug-resistant "superbugs" that send millions of people to hospitals around the world, scientists are building tiny, "molecular drill bits" that kill bacteria by bursting through their protective cell walls. Researchers have presented some of the latest developments on these drill bits, better known to scientists as antimicrobial peptides (AMPs).

Baby's life saved after 3-D printed devices were implanted restore his breathing Posted: 17 Mar 2014 09:49 AM PDT Garrett is just the second person whose life was saved with a new, bioresorbable device. He needed to be on a ventilator at pressure levels that had reached the maximum, and he was not improving. Often on strong medication, and even at times in a medically-induced coma because he would work against the ventilator if he was awake, Garrett's family learned about a procedure that might just change his life.

Risk factors for little-known lung infection identified Posted: 17 Mar 2014 07:35 AM PDT Severe and sometimes fatal lung disease caused by a group of bacteria in the same family as those that cause tuberculosis is much more common than previously thought, with Caucasians 55 and older at greatest risk, report researchers. Nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) include more than 150 types of bacteria that can infect the lungs when inhaled. Unlike tuberculosis, NTM is not contagious and cannot spread from person to person. The infection is treatable, but antibiotic therapy is expensive and can take up to two years. Rates of infection have climbed significantly since the 1980s.

How the science of deer hunting can help patients with diabetes Posted: 17 Mar 2014 07:35 AM PDT Body odor is a deer hunter's worst enemy, an alert to animals that an ominous presence is lurking, but the science behind suppressing it to give hunters an edge oddly enough could help researchers develop a life-saving device for diabetes patients. Scientists have now presented the latest advances that tie together these two seemingly unrelated fronts.

Fast-moving cells in human immune system walk in stepwise manner Posted: 17 Mar 2014 06:59 AM PDT Advanced mathematical tools were applied to answer a basic question in cell biology about how cells move and discovered that the mechanism looks very similar to walking, a team of biologists and engineers reports. Their discovery is an important advance toward developing new pharmacological strategies to treat chronic inflammatory diseases.

How diabetes drugs may work against cancer Posted: 17 Mar 2014 06:58 AM PDT A major mitochondrial pathway that imbues cancer cells with the ability to survive in low-glucose environments has been pinpointed by researchers. By identifying cancer cells with defects in this pathway or with impaired glucose utilization, the scientists can predict which tumors will be sensitive to these anti-diabetic drugs known to inhibit this pathway.

Early detection of stomach cancer: New hope from new research Posted: 17 Mar 2014 06:58 AM PDT New hope for the early detection of stomach cancer has been revealed with the identification of four new biomarkers in the blood of human cancer patients. Stomach or gastric cancer is the fourth most common cancer in the world and the second leading cause of death due to cancer. It is typically without symptoms, so is rarely caught in its early stages.

Positive memories of exercise spur future workouts Posted: 17 Mar 2014 06:58 AM PDT Getting motivated to exercise can be a challenge, but new research shows that simply remembering a positive memory about exercise may be just what it takes to get on the treadmill. This is the first study to explore how positive memories can influence future workouts, and underscores the power of memory's directive influence in a new domain with practical applications: exercise behaviors.

Primary androgen deprivation therapy ineffective for most men with early prostate cancer Posted: 17 Mar 2014 05:48 AM PDT A study of more than 15,000 men with early stage prostate cancer finds that those who received androgen deprivation as their primary treatment instead of surgery or radiation did not live any longer than those who received no treatment.

Colon cancer incidence rates decreasing steeply in older Americans, study shows Posted: 17 Mar 2014 05:48 AM PDT Colon cancer incidence rates have dropped 30 percent in the US in the last 10 years among adults 50 and older due to the widespread uptake of colonoscopy, with the largest decrease in people over age 65. Like incidence, mortality rates have also declined most rapidly within the past decade. From 2001 to 2010, rates decreased by approximately 3 percent per year in both men and women, compared with declines of approximately 2 percent per year during the 1990s.

Improved mass spectrometric method for proteomic analyses presented by Immunologists Posted: 17 Mar 2014 05:47 AM PDT When it comes to analyzing cell components or body fluids or developing new medications, there is no way around mass spectrometry. Mass spectrometry is a highly sensitive method of measurement that has been used for many years for the analysis of chemical and biological materials. A new breakthrough discovery offers new perspectives for research on the immune and nervous system.

Eat more, die young: Why eating a diet very low in nutrients can extend lifespan Posted: 17 Mar 2014 05:47 AM PDT A new evolutionary theory claims that consuming a diet very low in nutrients can extend lifespan in laboratory animals, a finding which could hold clues to promoting healthier aging in humans. Scientists have known for decades that severely restricted food intake reduces the incidence of diseases of old age, such as cancer, and increases lifespan. The most widely accepted theory is that this effect evolved to improve survival during times of famine.

Body clocks, chronic lung diseases linked, new research suggests Posted: 17 Mar 2014 05:46 AM PDT The body clock's natural rhythm could be utilized to improve current therapies to delay the onset of chronic lung diseases. "This research is the first to show that a functioning clock in the lung is essential to maintain the protective tissue function against oxidative stress and fibrotic challenges. We envisage a scenario whereby chronic rhythm disruption (e.g., during aging or shift work) may compromise the temporal coordination of the antioxidant pathway, contributing to human disease," authors explain.

Designing future vaccinations against HIV could depend on research on the protein gp41 Posted: 17 Mar 2014 05:46 AM PDT For the first time, an allosteric interaction (that is, a regulation mechanism whereby enzymes can be activated or de-activated) between a protein, which forms part of the sheath of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and the antibody 2F5 (FAB), a potent virus neutralizer has been discovered. This important scientific breakthrough could help specialists to understand the mechanisms behind generating immune responses and help towards the design of future vaccines against the HIV  virus.

New system to aid cardiovascular risk diagnosis developed Posted: 17 Mar 2014 05:46 AM PDT A new software to aid cardiovascular risk diagnosis based on fundus image processing has been developed by researchers. The application makes it easier to measure the vessels and it allows clinical staff to have more uniform information. At the same time, it is capable of determining characteristics that could imply a higher cardiovascular risk when the child reaches adulthood.

Many parents have infant-feeding, TV, activity practices which may increase obesity risk Posted: 17 Mar 2014 05:45 AM PDT A majority of parents in a new study reported infant feeding and activity behaviors believed to increase the child's risk for later obesity. In addition, these behaviors varied according to the self-reported race and ethnicity of the parents. "What this study taught us is that we can do better. While we don't know the exact causes of obesity, families of all races and ethnicities need early counseling to lead healthier lives. That counseling should be culturally-tailored, and we are hoping our research sheds light on the best ways to do that," remarked a practicing pediatrician.

Study identifies most common, costly reasons for mental health hospitalizations for kids Posted: 17 Mar 2014 05:45 AM PDT Nearly one in 10 hospitalized children have a primary diagnosis of a mental health condition, and depression alone accounts for $1.33 billion in hospital charges annually, according to a new analysis. The study is the first to examine frequency and costs associated with specific inpatient mental health diagnoses for children, and is a step towards creating meaningful measures of the quality of pediatric hospital care.

New treatment for binge eating disorder Posted: 17 Mar 2014 05:45 AM PDT A grant to study a new treatment for binge eating disorder has been awarded, and research will cover a three-year period. The new treatment helps patients to identify specific patterns which trigger their binge eating and relies on several strategies to change eating in high risk moments.

Cancer therapy may be too targeted: Genetic landscape of rare cancer acts as guide for future clinical trials Posted: 16 Mar 2014 12:30 PM PDT Targeted therapies seem to be the future of cancer treatment, but can they be too narrowly focused? In a new study, scientists have found that for a rare cancer of the blood vessel where several mutations can underlie the disease, many different parts of the pathway can be disrupted. For patients with multiple underlying mutations, previously developed therapies that focus on targeting a single component in the pathway will be ineffective.

Better-tasting reduced-fat desserts, dressings, sauces: Coming soon? Posted: 16 Mar 2014 12:29 PM PDT Adjusting the calcium level and acidity could be the key to developing new better tasting, more eye-appealing and creamier reduced-fat sauces, desserts and salad dressings, researchers report.

Honey offers new approach to fighting antibiotic resistance Posted: 16 Mar 2014 10:28 AM PDT Honey, that delectable condiment for breads and fruits, could be one sweet solution to the serious, ever-growing problem of bacterial resistance to antibiotics, researchers say. In addition, several studies have shown that honey inhibits the formation of biofilms, or communities of slimy disease-causing bacteria.

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