الخميس، 8 أكتوبر 2015

ScienceDaily: Health & Medicine News

ScienceDaily: Health & Medicine News

New research shedding light on stem cells

Posted: 07 Oct 2015 03:50 PM PDT

A research team reports progress in understanding the mysterious shape-shifting ways of stem cells, which have vast potential for medical research and disease treatment.

Soda tax boosts retail prices of sugary drinks, study confirms

Posted: 07 Oct 2015 03:50 PM PDT

A new study addresses questions about the efficacy of a voter-approved soda tax passed in 2014. Voters in Berkeley approved the first excise tax in the country on sugar-sweetened beverages, but questions soon arose about whether the move would have its desired effect by increasing the retail price of soda. The latest signs say yes.

Everyone has their own daily rhythm of digital activity, shows study

Posted: 07 Oct 2015 03:50 PM PDT

People tend to have distinctive, personal rhythms of digital communication that persist in time, research shows. Selective monitoring of these daily rhythms for at-risk patients could have applications in health care, their reports outlines.

Staying healthy: Experiment finds key to natural detoxifier’s reactivity

Posted: 07 Oct 2015 11:52 AM PDT

Researchers have discovered that a mere 9-trillionths-of-a-meter reduction in the length of a chemical bond dramatically boosts the reactivity of a family of molecules that helps keep humans and many other organisms healthy.

'Chromosomal chaos:' Complex array of mutations found in rare, aggressive leukemia

Posted: 07 Oct 2015 11:48 AM PDT

Sezary syndrome (SS), an aggressive leukemia of mature T cells, is more complicated at a molecular level than ever suspected. With a poor prognosis and limited options for targeted therapies, this cancer needs new treatment approaches. The team's results uncover a previously unknown, complex genomic landscape, which can be used to design new personalized drug regimens for SS patients based on their unique genetic makeup.

Sex is more likely on days college students use marijuana or binge drink

Posted: 07 Oct 2015 11:48 AM PDT

Undergraduate college students were more likely to have sex on days they used marijuana or binged on alcohol than on days they didn't, new research has found.

Metabolic syndrome leads one in three Americans to need more vitamin E

Posted: 07 Oct 2015 11:48 AM PDT

New research shows that the estimated one-third of Americans who have a cluster of health problems that add up to metabolic syndrome don't absorb dietary vitamin E as effectively as healthy people.

Just 30 minutes a day: Regular exercise relieves asthma symptoms

Posted: 07 Oct 2015 11:06 AM PDT

Millions of people suffer from asthma. Many report having poor control of their symptoms. Fortunately, new research shows there is a simple antidote: 30 minutes of exercise a day, year-round.

Two-hit therapy for breast tumors using approved drugs looks promising in animal study

Posted: 07 Oct 2015 10:57 AM PDT

Disabling a cancer-causing pathway and administering an immune-molecule-based mop-up therapy eradicated a specific type of breast tumor in mice, report investigators. This therapy, when translated for use in people humans, would be beneficial in reducing toxicity because the amount of antibody could be decreased by two-thirds and the amount of chemotherapy by at least half, they say.

Exposure to common flame retardants may contribute to attention problems in children

Posted: 07 Oct 2015 10:57 AM PDT

Prenatal exposure to some flame retardants that have been widely-used in consumer products is associated with attention problems in young children. A new study is the first to show the effects of prenatal exposure to polybrominated diphenyl ethers on children's development at ages 3, 4, and 7 years. Children with the highest exposure to certain PBDEs had approximately twice the number of maternally-reported attention problems compared to the other children in the study. PBDEs are found in textiles, plastics, wiring, and furniture containing polyurethane foam to reduce flammability.

Preventive care drops when government cuts close women's health clinics, research says

Posted: 07 Oct 2015 10:57 AM PDT

When women's health clinics close because of government funding cuts aimed at abortion providers, fewer women seek lifesaving preventive care that can identify health threats such as cancer, research shows. The findings also suggest that a clinic's closure affected less-educated women the most.

Speed-reading your microbiome

Posted: 07 Oct 2015 09:57 AM PDT

Researchers have built a microbiome analysis platform called QIIME (pronounced "chime" and short for "Quantitative Insights Into Microbial Ecology"). This software will now be more readily accessible to hundreds of thousands of researchers around the world through BaseSpace, a cloud-based app store.

Cleaning hospital rooms with chemicals, UV rays cuts superbug transmissions

Posted: 07 Oct 2015 09:57 AM PDT

In a hospital, what you can't see could hurt you. Healthcare facilities continue to battle drug-resistant organisms such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) that loiter on surfaces even after patient rooms have been cleaned and can cause new, sometimes-deadly infections. But a new study has found that using a combination of chemicals and UV light to clean patient rooms cut transmission of four major superbugs by a cumulative 30 percent among a specific group of patients -- those who stay overnight in a room where someone with a known positive culture or infection of a drug-resistant organism had previously been treated.

Bioengineers work to head-off dangerous blood clots in patients with ventricular assist devices

Posted: 07 Oct 2015 09:57 AM PDT

A team of bioengineers is working to reduce blood clots caused by platelet activation in ventricular assist devices (VADs) implanted in advanced heart failure patients. Previously, the team re-engineered the VAD's high-speed rotors to eliminate more than 90% of platelet activation and clotting. The current study examines the role of platelet stiffness in activation with the goal of developing treatments that would increase platelet pliability and further reduce platelet activation and clotting.

Medical diagnosis: Will brain palpation soon be possible?

Posted: 07 Oct 2015 09:50 AM PDT

By drawing on seismology, researchers have just developed a noninvasive brain imaging method using MRI that provides the same information as physical palpation. They say that it may be possible to use this procedure in medical diagnosis.

Experts recommend assessing individual benefits, risks of menopausal therapies

Posted: 07 Oct 2015 09:50 AM PDT

A Clinical Practice Guideline has been released on identifying women who are candidates for treatment of menopausal symptoms and selecting the best treatment options for each individual.

Predicting change in the Alzheimer's brain

Posted: 07 Oct 2015 09:50 AM PDT

Researchers are developing a computer system that uses genetic, demographic, and clinical data to help predict the effects of disease on brain anatomy.

Review addresses value, waste in biomedical research

Posted: 07 Oct 2015 09:50 AM PDT

Some studies suggest that as much as 85 per cent of investment in biomedical research is wasted. Examples of waste include the non-publication of research, failure to share data and instances where the results of research are untranslatable to the benefit of patients or the efficiency of health care delivery. A new review now addresses the issues.

Over half of workers with depression do not recognize need for treatment

Posted: 07 Oct 2015 09:48 AM PDT

More than half of workers who reported symptoms of depression did not perceive a need for treatment, according to a study that investigated barriers to mental health care experienced by workers and the resulting impact on productivity.

Online advertising can deliver targeted cancer prevention messages

Posted: 07 Oct 2015 09:48 AM PDT

Online advertising based on Google search terms is a potentially effective way to deliver targeted cancer prevention education, according to a new study.

Advanced device improves health, saves costs for patients with lymphedema

Posted: 07 Oct 2015 09:48 AM PDT

Lymphedema patients saw a nearly 80 percent reduction in their cellulitis episodes just by using an advanced pneumatic compression device at home, according to a new study.

Many use prescription painkillers, most see abuse as major health concern

Posted: 07 Oct 2015 08:14 AM PDT

More than one in four Americans has taken prescription painkillers in the past year, even as a majority say that abuse of these medications is a very serious public health concern, according to new research.

New microscopy technology augments surgeon's view for greater accuracy

Posted: 07 Oct 2015 08:10 AM PDT

A prototype of a new microscope technology has been developed that could help surgeons work with a greater degree of accuracy in diagnosing cancer or performing brain surgery or other procedures. The new technology is called augmented microscopy.

New player found in tumor suppression, aging

Posted: 07 Oct 2015 08:09 AM PDT

The protective role played by a little-known protein complex, SMC 5/6, in cancer and aging has been revealed by new research. These results emphasize, once more, the relationship between these two pathological processes.

Satiety hormone leptin plays a direct role in cardiovascular disease in obesity

Posted: 07 Oct 2015 08:09 AM PDT

While high levels of the satiety hormone leptin don't help obese individuals lose weight, they do appear to directly contribute to their cardiovascular disease, researchers report.

Social networks can motivate people to exercise more

Posted: 07 Oct 2015 08:07 AM PDT

The influence of our social networks can be a powerful motivator to encourage more physical activity, say researchers in a new report. What this new study reveals is that these same positive behavior signals are also powerful in our online networks, and can be harnessed for the social good. This approach could be applied not only to encourage exercise, but also to promote vaccinations, medication compliance, and preventative care.

Brain cooling lessens chances of head injury recovery, study finds

Posted: 07 Oct 2015 08:07 AM PDT

Head injury patients do not benefit from a therapy that involves cooling their bodies to reduce brain swelling, research has found. Doctors say the therapy may increase patients' risk of death and disability and should not be used to treat traumatic brain injuries.

Blood cancers: Half-matched donor bone marrow transplant may be as good as full match

Posted: 07 Oct 2015 05:45 AM PDT

When it comes to treating blood cancers like leukemia and lymphomas, new research shows that a half-matched donor bone marrow transplant may be just as good as a full match, in the first apples to apples type comparison of its kind.

Groundbreaking computer program diagnoses cancer in two days

Posted: 07 Oct 2015 05:42 AM PDT

In about one in 20 cancer cases, the doctor can confirm that the patient has cancer -- but cannot find the source. These patients then face the prospect of a long wait with numerous diagnostic tests and attempts to locate the origin of the cancer before starting any treatment. Now, researchers have combined genetics with computer science and created a new diagnostic technology based on advanced self-learning computer algorithms which can, with 85 per cent certainty, identify the source of the disease and thus target treatment and, ultimately, improve the prognosis for the patient.

New protein found in immune cells

Posted: 07 Oct 2015 05:42 AM PDT

Immunobiologists have discovered Kidins220/ARMS in B cells, and demonstrate its functions. B lymphocytes, also known as B cells, are the only cells to produce antibodies, which the immune system needs to fight off foreign intruders like pathogens in order to protect the human body.

Developing a gel that mimics human breast for cancer research to reduce the need for animal models

Posted: 07 Oct 2015 05:42 AM PDT

British scientists have been funded to develop a gel that will match many of the biological structures of human breast tissue, to advance cancer research and reduce animal testing.

Wastewater treatment plants not responsible for spreading antimicrobial resistance

Posted: 07 Oct 2015 05:42 AM PDT

Wastewater contains remnants of antimicrobial agents and a variety of pathogenic bacteria. It has therefore been generally assumed that wastewater treatment plants are the ideal location for pathogenic bacteria to develop new resistance genes. New research challenges the common perception that bacteria develop antimicrobial resistance in wastewater treatment plants.

Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2015

Posted: 07 Oct 2015 05:36 AM PDT

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2015 to Tomas Lindahl Francis Crick Institute and Clare Hall Laboratory, Hertfordshire, UK, Paul Modrich Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA, and Aziz Sancar University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA, "for mechanistic studies of DNA repair."

When 8-year olds look like 80: Researchers describe mechanism behind premature aging disease

Posted: 07 Oct 2015 12:33 AM PDT

Progeria is a premature aging disease. Children suffering from progeria die at an average age of 14 to 15 years, often from heart attacks and strokes. So far, there is no cure for the disease, and though researchers identified the abnormal protein behind the disease – progerin – the exact way in which it causes the accelerated aging remains elusive. In their latest publication, researchers describe a yet unknown mechanism behind progeria that may provide new approaches for therapy.

Smoking cessation drug proves initially more effective for women

Posted: 07 Oct 2015 12:32 AM PDT

The most effective prescription drug used to quit smoking initially helps women more than men, according to a study, which found that varenicline, marketed as Chantix, was more effective earlier in women, and equally effective in women and men after one year.

Single mastectomy is a more cost-effective treatment for nonhereditary cancer in one breast than removing both breasts

Posted: 06 Oct 2015 04:26 PM PDT

For younger women with early-stage, noninherited breast cancer on one side, a unilateral, or single, mastectomy leads to a slightly higher quality of life and lower costs over the next 20 years compared with contralateral prophylactic mastectomy (CPM), according to new study results.

Bowel screening kit with extras could help save more lives

Posted: 06 Oct 2015 04:25 PM PDT

Thousands more people would take part in bowel cancer screening if the kit included extras, such as gloves and "poo catchers", according to a UK study.

Burnout impacts transplant nurses, study shows

Posted: 06 Oct 2015 08:16 AM PDT

More than half of nurses who work with organ transplant patients in the United States experience high levels of emotional exhaustion, a primary sign of burnout, according to a study.
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