ScienceDaily: Health & Medicine News

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• Women's contribution to healthcare constitutes nearly 5% of global GDP, but nearly half is unpaid and unrecognized
• Moderate exercise helps prevent gestational diabetes, reduce weight gain during pregnancy
• Black women often cope with infertility alone
• Research offers a new approach to improving HIV vaccines
• Programming DNA to reverse antibiotic resistance in bacteria
• Immune system marker for therapy-resistant prostate cancer
• Eating less during late night hours may stave off some effects of sleep deprivation
• Why are 95% of people who live to 110 women? You're as old as your stem cells
• DNA breakage underlies both learning, age-related damage
• Protein maintains double duty as key cog in body clock and metabolic control
• Your viral infection history in a single drop of blood
• Study maps types of physical activity associated with better sleep
• Withholding angiotensin receptor blockers after surgery increases risk of postoperative death
• Cancer screening increase may reflect Affordable Care Act provision
• Household items, toys key to infant motor skill development, research finds
• How salmonella synchronizes its invasion plan
• Air pollution below EPA standards linked with higher death rates
• Low-cost weight loss program has long-term results, study shows
• Thirty years of AIDS data highlight survival gains, room for improvement
• Developing delirium in ICU linked to fatal outcomes
• New tool brings standards to epigenetic studies
• Is dietary supplementation appropriate for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder?
• Cancer overtakes cardiovascular disease as UK's number one killer, but only among men
• Emphysema patient has good result from experimental one-way valve procedure
• Polycystic ovary syndrome and diabetes: Researchers find out why the two are linked
• Drug-induced tissue regeneration demonstrated by scientists
• Study pinpoints what part genes play in the age of first-time moms, family size
• Early clinical trial success for new rheumatoid arthritis treatment
• Lower birth weight associated with proximity of mother's home to gas wells
• Benefit of surgery for ductal carcinoma in-situ investigated
• Re-inflating balloon after carotid stenting appears to double risk of stroke and death
• Compensatory rehabilitation limits motor recovery after stroke
• Transplantable bioengineered forelimb developed in an animal model

Women's contribution to healthcare constitutes nearly 5% of global GDP, but nearly half is unpaid and unrecognized Posted: 04 Jun 2015 05:34 PM PDT A major new Commission on women and health has found that women are contributing around $3 trillion to global health care, but nearly half of this (2.35% of global GDP) is unpaid and unrecognized.

Moderate exercise helps prevent gestational diabetes, reduce weight gain during pregnancy Posted: 04 Jun 2015 01:26 PM PDT Women who exercise during pregnancy are less likely to have gestational diabetes, and the exercise also helps to reduce maternal weight gain, finds a study. Gestational diabetes is one of the most frequent complications of pregnancy. It is associated with an increased risk of serious disorders such as pre-eclampsia, hypertension, preterm birth, and with induced or caesarean birth.

Black women often cope with infertility alone Posted: 04 Jun 2015 01:26 PM PDT African-American women are equally, if not more, likely to experience infertility than their white counterparts, but they often cope with this traumatic issue in silence and isolation, according to a new study.

Research offers a new approach to improving HIV vaccines Posted: 04 Jun 2015 01:26 PM PDT Researchers have identified a molecule that recognizes HIV and initiates an immune response. The findings could help improve the efficacy of HIV vaccines to prevent infection, they say.

Programming DNA to reverse antibiotic resistance in bacteria Posted: 04 Jun 2015 01:26 PM PDT New research introduces a promising new tool to combat the rapid, extensive spread of antibiotic resistance around the world. It nukes antibiotic resistance in selected bacteria, and renders other bacteria more sensitive to antibiotics. The research, if ultimately applied to pathogens on hospital surfaces or medical personnel's hands, could turn the tide on untreatable, often lethal bacterial infections.

Immune system marker for therapy-resistant prostate cancer Posted: 04 Jun 2015 01:26 PM PDT A research team shows how signaling by an immune system component called interleukin-6 (IL-6) appears to play an important role in driving aggressive, therapy-resistant prostate cancer.

Eating less during late night hours may stave off some effects of sleep deprivation Posted: 04 Jun 2015 11:19 AM PDT Eating less late at night may help curb the concentration and alertness deficits that accompany sleep deprivation, according to results of a new study.

Why are 95% of people who live to 110 women? You're as old as your stem cells Posted: 04 Jun 2015 11:19 AM PDT Human supercentenarians share at least one thing in common--over 95 percent are women. Scientists have long observed differences between the sexes when it comes to aging, but there is no clear explanation for why females live longer. In a discussion of what we know about stem cell behavior and sex, researchers argue that it's time to look at differences in regenerative decline between men and women. This line of research could open up new explanations for how the sex hormones estrogen and testosterone, or other factors, modify lifespan.

DNA breakage underlies both learning, age-related damage Posted: 04 Jun 2015 11:18 AM PDT The process that allows brains to learn also leads to degeneration with age, researchers have discovered. The finding could ultimately help researchers develop new approaches to preventing cognitive decline in disorders such as Alzheimer's disease.

Protein maintains double duty as key cog in body clock and metabolic control Posted: 04 Jun 2015 11:14 AM PDT Rev-erb? is a transcription factor that regulates a cell's internal clock and a new study describes how it regulates the clock in most cells in the body and metabolic genes in the liver in distinct ways.

Your viral infection history in a single drop of blood Posted: 04 Jun 2015 11:14 AM PDT New technology makes it possible to test for current and past infections with any known human virus by analyzing a single drop of a person's blood. The method, called VirScan, is an efficient alternative to existing diagnostics that test for specific viruses one at a time.

Study maps types of physical activity associated with better sleep Posted: 04 Jun 2015 07:41 AM PDT Physical activities, such as walking, as well as aerobics/calisthenics, running, weight-lifting, and yoga/Pilates are associated with better sleep habits, compared to no activity, according to a new study. In contrast, the study shows that other types of physical activity -- such as household and childcare -- work are associated with increased cases of poor sleep habits.

Withholding angiotensin receptor blockers after surgery increases risk of postoperative death Posted: 04 Jun 2015 07:41 AM PDT Withholding angiotensin receptor blockers for longer than two days after surgery is associated with a significantly increased risk of postoperative death, according to a study of more than 30,000 patients.

Cancer screening increase may reflect Affordable Care Act provision Posted: 04 Jun 2015 07:41 AM PDT Screening for colorectal cancer increased in lower socioeconomic status individuals after 2008, perhaps reflecting the Affordable Care Act's removal of financial barriers to screening, according to a new analysis.

Household items, toys key to infant motor skill development, research finds Posted: 04 Jun 2015 07:09 AM PDT New research is helping parents and pediatricians better predict what household items and toys will help infants develop their motor skills.

How salmonella synchronizes its invasion plan Posted: 04 Jun 2015 07:08 AM PDT A new study has uncovered a mechanism by which Salmonella bacteria organize the expression of genes required for infection. Salmonella bacteria are one of the leading causes of food borne illness. Part of what makes them so successful is their ability to invade our bodies, overcoming our natural defenses. Understanding how they do this could lead to new ways of preventing their invasion, researchers say.

Air pollution below EPA standards linked with higher death rates Posted: 04 Jun 2015 07:08 AM PDT Death rates among people over 65 are higher in zip codes with more fine particulate air pollution (PM2.5) than in those with lower levels of PM2.5, researchers have found. The harmful effects from the particles were observed even in areas where concentrations were less than a third of the current standard set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Low-cost weight loss program has long-term results, study shows Posted: 04 Jun 2015 05:47 AM PDT Clinically significant weight loss is defined as losing 5 percent or more of one's body weight, because weight-related medical conditions, such as diabetes, can improve with that level of weight loss. As America's obesity epidemic continues to grow, a new study shows that a low-cost, non-profit weight loss program offers the kind of long-term results that often elude dieters.

Thirty years of AIDS data highlight survival gains, room for improvement Posted: 04 Jun 2015 05:47 AM PDT Although treatment advances have dramatically reduced deaths from opportunistic infections related to AIDS, a new study drawing on 30 years of data from more than 20,000 patients in San Francisco suggests there is still ample room to improve. About a third -- 35 percent -- of AIDS patients diagnosed with their first opportunistic infection from 1997 to 2012 in that city died within five years, according to the study.

Developing delirium in ICU linked to fatal outcomes Posted: 04 Jun 2015 05:46 AM PDT About one-third of patients admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) will develop delirium, a condition that lengthens hospital stays and substantially increases one's risk of dying in the hospital, according to a new study.

New tool brings standards to epigenetic studies Posted: 04 Jun 2015 05:46 AM PDT A new technique has been developed that calibrates a commonly-used tool in epigenetic experiments with an internal standard - dramatically improving accuracy and the development of therapeutics against diseases linked to epigenetic changes.

Is dietary supplementation appropriate for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder? Posted: 04 Jun 2015 05:44 AM PDT Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are often picky eaters, which can lead parents to suspect that their children might not be getting adequate amounts of vitamins and minerals. This sometimes leads parents of children with ASD to try nutritional supplements and dietary regimens such as gluten-free and casein-free (GFCF) diets without professional supervision. In the largest study of its kind, researchers report that these well-intentioned efforts can result in both insufficient nutrients and excessive nutrients. Despite supplementation, children with ASD still were deficient in calcium, for example, while some were consuming excessive amounts of vitamin A and other nutrients.

Cancer overtakes cardiovascular disease as UK's number one killer, but only among men Posted: 03 Jun 2015 04:19 PM PDT Cancer has overtaken cardiovascular disease, which includes heart disease and stroke, as the UK's number one killer -- but only among men, reveals research. Cardiovascular disease is still the most common cause of death among women, and kills more young women than breast cancer, the figures show.

Emphysema patient has good result from experimental one-way valve procedure Posted: 03 Jun 2015 03:17 PM PDT An experimental procedure using one-way valves to achieve lung volume reduction shows promise for an emphysema patient. Emphysema, a lung disease usually caused by smoking, damages air sacs in the lung. The sacs fill with air that the body is unable to exhale, causing the lungs to expand. This in turn flattens the diaphragm, the primary muscle used for breathing. The flattened diaphragm is unable to function properly, making it extremely difficult for the individual to breathe.

Polycystic ovary syndrome and diabetes: Researchers find out why the two are linked Posted: 03 Jun 2015 03:17 PM PDT Nearly 50 percent of women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) develop pre-diabetes or type 2 diabetes before the age of 40, but the reasons for the correlation was unclear. Researchers report in a new study that inflammation is the cause for the increased diabetes risk in women with PCOS.

Drug-induced tissue regeneration demonstrated by scientists Posted: 03 Jun 2015 11:36 AM PDT A primordial form of energy production that still exists in mammals can be harnessed to achieve spontaneous tissue regeneration in mice, without the need for added stem cells, a scientist has demonstrated.

Study pinpoints what part genes play in the age of first-time moms, family size Posted: 03 Jun 2015 11:36 AM PDT Researchers have analyzed the genomes of thousands of women in the UK and the Netherlands to measure the extent to which a woman's genes play a role for when she has her first baby and how many children she will have. Significantly, they have found that some women are genetically predisposed to have children earlier than others, and conclude that they have passed down their reproductive advantage to the next generation.

Early clinical trial success for new rheumatoid arthritis treatment Posted: 03 Jun 2015 11:36 AM PDT A world-first vaccine-style therapeutic approach to treat rheumatoid arthritis has been developed by researchers. Rheumatoid arthritis is a disease in which the immune system attacks healthy tissues, particularly in the joints, causing inflammation, pain and deformity.

Lower birth weight associated with proximity of mother's home to gas wells Posted: 03 Jun 2015 11:36 AM PDT Pregnant women living close to a high density of natural gas wells drilled with hydraulic fracturing were more likely to have babies with lower birth weights than women living farther from such wells, according to an analysis of southwestern Pennsylvania birth records.

Benefit of surgery for ductal carcinoma in-situ investigated Posted: 03 Jun 2015 09:43 AM PDT Breast surgery performed at or shortly after a diagnosis of low-grade ductal carcinoma in-situ (DCIS) did not significantly change patients' survival rate, investigators report. The team finds that the survival rate for those with intermediate- and high-grade DCIS does improve with surgery, but the work raises concerns about overtreatment and the necessity and benefit of surgery for all patients with low-grade DCIS.

Re-inflating balloon after carotid stenting appears to double risk of stroke and death Posted: 02 Jun 2015 05:04 PM PDT After reviewing outcomes from thousands of cases, researchers report that patients with blocked neck arteries who undergo carotid stenting to prop open the narrowed blood vessels fare decidedly worse if their surgeons re-inflate a tiny balloon in the vessel after the mesh stent is in place.

Compensatory rehabilitation limits motor recovery after stroke Posted: 02 Jun 2015 02:18 PM PDT Relying on the better-functioning side of the body after a stroke can cause brain changes that hinder rehabilitation of the impaired side, according to an animal study. Strokes that occur in one brain hemisphere can result in poor motor function on the opposite side of the body, leading to heavy reliance on the "good" side. This study, found that such compensation produces structural brain changes at the site of the stroke in rats, limiting recovery of the injured side.

Transplantable bioengineered forelimb developed in an animal model Posted: 02 Jun 2015 12:35 PM PDT A team of investigators has made the first steps towards development of bioartificial replacement limbs suitable for transplantation. In their report, the researchers describe using an experimental approach previously used to build bioartificial organs to engineer rat forelimbs with functioning vascular and muscle tissue.

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