ScienceDaily: Health & Medicine News

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• Functional human liver cells grown in the lab
• Oxytocin increases social altruism
• Recommended levels of activity rarely achieved by obese children and those with liver disease
• Stem cell study paves the way for patient therapies
• How a genetic locus protects adult blood-forming stem cells
• New gene map reveals cancer's Achilles heel
• Closing the loop on an HIV escape mechanism
• Researchers assess use of drug-susceptible parasites to fight drug resistance
• Heart disease patients who sit a lot have worse health even if they exercise
• No benefit found for use of probiotic Bifidobacterium breve in preemies
• Progesterone supplements do not improve outcomes for recurrent miscarriages, study shows
• New technology promises fast, accurate stroke diagnosis
• Overweight, obesity early in life increase risk of cardiac death
• Data scientists create world's first therapeutic venom database
• Risk of developing leishmaniasis multiplies a hundredfold in transplant patients

Functional human liver cells grown in the lab Posted: 26 Nov 2015 07:43 AM PST A new technique for growing human hepatocytes in the laboratory has now been described by a team of researchers. This groundbreaking development could help advance a variety of liver-related research and applications, from studying drug toxicity to creating bio-artificial liver support for patients awaiting transplantations.

Oxytocin increases social altruism Posted: 26 Nov 2015 07:42 AM PST Nowadays, much emphasis is placed on sustainability. The degree to which people are willing to donate their own money for this depends on their level of oxytocin. Scientists have discovered that the willingness to donate increases with the quantity of this bonding hormone. However, oxytocin only has an effect with regard to social sustainability projects. The hormone does not increase the ability to participate in the case of purely environmentally oriented projects.

Recommended levels of activity rarely achieved by obese children and those with liver disease Posted: 26 Nov 2015 07:40 AM PST Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is most common form of chronic liver disease in children and adolescents in western countries, and yet new research indicates that obese children rarely achieve recommended levels of activity.

Stem cell study paves the way for patient therapies Posted: 26 Nov 2015 07:38 AM PST Stem cells that have been specifically developed for use as clinical therapies are fit for use in patients, an independent study of their genetic makeup suggests. The research -- which focused on human embryonic stem cells -- paves the way for clinical trials of cell therapies to treat conditions such as Parkinson's disease, age-related degeneration of the eyes and spinal cord injury.

How a genetic locus protects adult blood-forming stem cells Posted: 25 Nov 2015 08:31 PM PST A particular location in DNA, called the Dlk1-Gtl2 locus, plays a critical role in protecting hematopoietic, or blood-forming, stem cells -- a discovery revealing a critical role of metabolic control in adult stem cells, and providing insight for potentially diagnosing and treating cancer, according to researchers from the Stowers Institute for Medical Research.

New gene map reveals cancer's Achilles heel Posted: 25 Nov 2015 08:31 PM PST Scientists have mapped out the genes that keep our cells alive, creating a long-awaited foothold for understanding how our genome works and which genes are crucial in disease like cancer.

Closing the loop on an HIV escape mechanism Posted: 25 Nov 2015 08:31 PM PST The motion of a specific protein in a human cell regulates whether HIV will infect other cells, a collaborative six-university research team has found. The finding may lead to promising new ways to thwart the virus that causes AIDS.

Researchers assess use of drug-susceptible parasites to fight drug resistance Posted: 25 Nov 2015 08:30 PM PST A new model for evaluating a potential new strategy in the fight against drug-resistant diseases has been developed by experts. The strategy would take advantage of parasite refugia--host populations not treated with drugs, thereby serving as 'safe zones' where parasites don't develop drug resistance. When parasites from refugia mix with their drug-resistant counterparts in the general population, they could reduce the incidence of drug-resistance overall, which may help prolong a drug's effectiveness, say the researchers.

Heart disease patients who sit a lot have worse health even if they exercise Posted: 25 Nov 2015 08:30 PM PST Patients with heart disease who sit a lot have worse health even if they exercise, reveals research. Patients in the study wore an activity monitor during their waking hours for nine days. The monitors allowed the researchers to measure how long patients spent being sedentary, or doing light, moderate or vigorous levels of physical activity. The researchers also assessed various markers of health including body mass index (BMI, in kg/m2) and cardiorespiratory fitness.

No benefit found for use of probiotic Bifidobacterium breve in preemies Posted: 25 Nov 2015 08:30 PM PST Despite being safe to administer, there is no benefit in using the probiotic Bifidobacterium breve (BBG-001) to prevent late-onset sepsis or necrotising enterocolitis in very preterm children, the results of a phase 3 randomised controlled trial shows.

Progesterone supplements do not improve outcomes for recurrent miscarriages, study shows Posted: 25 Nov 2015 08:30 PM PST Progesterone supplements in the first trimester of pregnancy do not improve outcomes in women with a history of unexplained recurrent miscarriages, new research shows. The findings mark the end of a five year trial and provide a definitive answer to 60 years of uncertainty on the use of progesterone treatment for women with unexplained recurrent losses.

New technology promises fast, accurate stroke diagnosis Posted: 25 Nov 2015 11:37 AM PST A new approach to identifying biomarkers in blood has proven successful in helping diagnose stroke, and the technology could be expanded to diagnose such conditions as concussion, some forms of dementia, and some types of cancer and heart disease.

Overweight, obesity early in life increase risk of cardiac death Posted: 25 Nov 2015 11:36 AM PST Overweight and obesity throughout adulthood, and especially elevated weight in early adulthood, were associated with increased risk of sudden cardiac death in a 32-year study of more than 72,000 women, new research concludes.

Data scientists create world's first therapeutic venom database Posted: 25 Nov 2015 09:51 AM PST What doesn't kill you could cure you. A growing interest in the therapeutic value of animal venom has led data scientists to create the first catalog of known animal toxins and their physiological effects on humans.

Risk of developing leishmaniasis multiplies a hundredfold in transplant patients Posted: 24 Nov 2015 09:25 AM PST The prevalence of leishmaniasis among the population of organ transplant recipients has been analyzed by a research team, whose work confirms that the risk of developing visceral leishmaniasis, the most severe form of the disease which can pose life-threatening complications, is more than one hundred times greater in transplant patients living in areas of disease outbreak.

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