ScienceDaily: Health & Medicine News

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• Making weak TB drugs strong again
• Human sounds convey emotions clearer and faster than words
• New findings may enhance PARP inhibitors therapy in breast cancer
• Mapping out cell conversion
• Light-activated nanoparticles prove effective against antibiotic-resistant 'superbugs'
• Scientists solve 3D structure of protein that guides the immune system
• Tiny electronic implants monitor brain injury, then melt away
• Cardiac arrests in high-rise buildings: Low survival rates above 3rd floor
• Laws of nature predict cancer evolution
• Broken UV light leads to key heart muscle cell discovery
• No more needles at the dentist: Just a tiny electric current instead
• Cranberry extract confirmed to help fighting urinary tract infections in breastfed babies under age one
• New biomarkers for improved treatment of severe heart- and lung disease
• Ticks that transmit Lyme disease reported in nearly half of all US counties
• An image is worth a thousand kilos?
• Increased childbirth at Indian health facilities led to no matching reduction in maternal deaths
• Harmful mutations have accumulated during early human migrations out of Africa
• Ads for candy-flavored e-cigarettes could encourage vaping among school children
• Report identifies positive news on kidney disease in the US, yet challenges remain
• Thwarting abnormal neural development with a new mutation
• Frequent contact between parents, adult children is beneficial to both
• Zika virus has potential to spread rapidly through Americas

Making weak TB drugs strong again Posted: 18 Jan 2016 03:44 PM PST Biophysicists have discovered why the bacteria that cause tuberculosis (TB) are naturally somewhat resistant to antibiotics known as fluoroquinolones. Their findings, based on mapping the detailed three-dimensional structure of the drugs interacting with an essential enzyme in the TB germ, also reveal why some TB drugs are more potent than others and suggest how drug developers can make fluoroquinolones more efficacious against mutations that make the lung disease drug resistant.

Human sounds convey emotions clearer and faster than words Posted: 18 Jan 2016 10:49 AM PST It takes just one-tenth of a second for our brains to begin to recognize emotions conveyed by vocalizations. It doesn't matter whether the non-verbal sounds are growls of anger, the laughter of happiness or cries of sadness. More importantly, the researchers have also discovered that we pay more attention when an emotion (such as happiness, sadness or anger) is expressed through vocalizations than we do when the same emotion is expressed in speech.

New findings may enhance PARP inhibitors therapy in breast cancer Posted: 18 Jan 2016 10:45 AM PST PARP inhibitors, an emerging class of drugs being studied in cancer clinical trials, may be enhanced by combining them with inhibitors targeting an oncogene known as c-MET which is overexpressed in many cancers, new research shows.

Mapping out cell conversion Posted: 18 Jan 2016 10:44 AM PST An algorithm that can predict the factors required to convert one human cell type to another has been developed by researchers. These game-changing findings have significant implications for regenerative medicine and lay the groundwork for further research into cell reprogramming.

Light-activated nanoparticles prove effective against antibiotic-resistant 'superbugs' Posted: 18 Jan 2016 10:44 AM PST In the ever-escalating evolutionary battle with drug-resistant bacteria, humans may soon have a leg up thanks to adaptive, light-activated nanotherapy recently developed by researchers.

Scientists solve 3D structure of protein that guides the immune system Posted: 18 Jan 2016 10:44 AM PST The three-dimensional structure of a crucial ion channel has been revealed by researchers, whose findings shed light on the channel's possible role in immune functions such as detecting infection and inflammation.

Tiny electronic implants monitor brain injury, then melt away Posted: 18 Jan 2016 10:44 AM PST A new class of small, thin electronic sensors can monitor temperature and pressure within the skull - crucial health parameters after a brain injury or surgery - then melt away when they are no longer needed, eliminating the need for additional surgery to remove the monitors and reducing the risk of infection and hemorrhage.

Cardiac arrests in high-rise buildings: Low survival rates above 3rd floor Posted: 18 Jan 2016 10:44 AM PST Residents of high-rise buildings had better survival rates from cardiac arrests if they lived on the first few floors, and survival was negligible for people living above the 16th floor, according to a study.

Laws of nature predict cancer evolution Posted: 18 Jan 2016 10:44 AM PST The spread of mutations through a cancer follows natural laws -- and is therefore theoretically predictable, just as we can predict the movement of celestial bodies or the weather, a study shows. This intriguing research raises the possibility that doctors could take clinical decisions on how an individual patient's cancer will change, and what treatments should be used, by applying mathematical formulas to tumor biopsies.

Broken UV light leads to key heart muscle cell discovery Posted: 18 Jan 2016 07:31 AM PST For a team of investigators trying to generate heart muscle cells from stem cells, a piece of broken equipment turned out to be a good thing. The faulty equipment pushed the researchers to try a different approach. Their new method uses a "Matrigel mattress" to rapidly generate cardiac cells suitable for heart disease studies and drug discovery.

No more needles at the dentist: Just a tiny electric current instead Posted: 18 Jan 2016 07:27 AM PST If you're scared of the dentist's needles you're not alone -- but new research means you might not have to put off that appointment again. A study reveals how the dentist could give you anesthetic using a tiny electric current instead of a needle.

Cranberry extract confirmed to help fighting urinary tract infections in breastfed babies under age one Posted: 18 Jan 2016 07:26 AM PST Cranberry extract helps fighting urinary tract infections (UTIs) in breastfed babies under one year of age, new research confirms. This work has proven that this compound prevents the prescription of antibiotics in the prophylaxis for recurrent urinary tract infections in infants with vesicoureteral reflux (VUR), so preventing the risk of increasing the bacterial antibiotic resistance.

New biomarkers for improved treatment of severe heart- and lung disease Posted: 18 Jan 2016 07:26 AM PST New blood biomarkers reflecting vasoreactivity in lung blood vessels of patients with heart- and lung disease, can lead to simplified diagnostics and better evaluation of treatment for patients with the condition pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), a new dissertation suggests.

Ticks that transmit Lyme disease reported in nearly half of all US counties Posted: 18 Jan 2016 07:25 AM PST Lyme disease is transmitted by the blacklegged tick (Ixodes scapularis) and the western blacklegged tick (Ixodes pacificus), and the range of these ticks is spreading, according to new research.

An image is worth a thousand kilos? Posted: 18 Jan 2016 05:44 AM PST Okay, so maybe not a thousand kilos, exactly, but a new study shows how a photo diary can keep dieters motivated, making them more likely to achieve their target weight.

Increased childbirth at Indian health facilities led to no matching reduction in maternal deaths Posted: 18 Jan 2016 05:44 AM PST To reduce maternal and neo-natal deaths, India launched a cash transfer program in 2005 that provides monetary incentives for women to give birth in health facilities instead of at home. While the program successfully increased the use of health facilities for child birth, it did not reduce maternal deaths as much, especially in poor areas, a new paper reports.

Harmful mutations have accumulated during early human migrations out of Africa Posted: 18 Jan 2016 05:43 AM PST Modern humans (Homo sapiens) are thought to have first emerged in Africa about 150,000 years ago. 100,000 years later, a few of them left their homeland traveling first to Asia and then further east, crossing the Bering Strait, and colonizing the Americas. Experts have developed theoretical models predicting that if modern humans migrated as small bands, then the populations that broke off from their original African family should progressively accumulate slightly harmful mutations - a mutation load. Moreover, the mutational load of a population should then represent a way of measuring the distance it has covered since it left Africa. In a nutshell: an individual from Mexico should be carrying more harmful genetic variants than an individual from Africa.

Ads for candy-flavored e-cigarettes could encourage vaping among school children Posted: 18 Jan 2016 05:41 AM PST Advertisements featuring e-cigarettes with flavors such as chocolate and bubble gum are more likely to attract school children to buy and try e-cigarettes than those featuring non-flavored e-cigarettes, according to new research.

Report identifies positive news on kidney disease in the US, yet challenges remain Posted: 18 Jan 2016 05:41 AM PST The annual data report from the United States Renal Data System reveals both positive and negative trends in kidney disease in the US. Medicare spending for patients with chronic kidney disease aged 65 and older exceeded $50 billion in 2013 and represented 20 percent of all Medicare spending in that age group. In addition, the total cost to Medicare for end-stage kidney disease grew to $30.9 billion and accounted for 7.1 percent of the overall paid Medicare claims costs.

Thwarting abnormal neural development with a new mutation Posted: 18 Jan 2016 05:41 AM PST Researchers have discovered how to reverse the abnormal axonal development characteristic of CFEOM3, a congenital disease that affects the muscles that control eye movements. The work shows how creating a specific mutation rescued abnormal axonal growth in the developing mouse brain.

Frequent contact between parents, adult children is beneficial to both Posted: 16 Jan 2016 06:50 PM PST Though parents may worry that they are more involved with grown children than in the past, frequent contact between parents and their grown children can be beneficial to both parties, suggests a new paper.

Zika virus has potential to spread rapidly through Americas Posted: 14 Jan 2016 06:24 PM PST The Zika virus, possibly linked to serious birth defects in Brazil, has the potential to spread within the Americas, including parts of the US, according to an international team of researchers who track the spread of infectious diseases.

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