ScienceDaily: Health & Medicine News

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• Xistential crisis: Discovery shows there's more to the story in silencing X chromosomes
• Global medical experience
• Gene editing technique improves vision in rats with inherited blindness
• Saliva test to detect GHB and alcohol poisonings
• New potential treatment for colorectal cancer discovered
• Study tracks migration of chronically homeless mentally ill adults to Vancouver's Downtown Eastside
• Scientist identifies energy sensor as potential target for cancer drugs
• Low-income communities more likely to face childhood obesity
• Current malaria treatment fails in Cambodia due to drug-resistant parasites
• Using skin to save the heart
• Roman toilets gave no clear health benefit, and Romanization actually spread parasites
• In defense of pathogenic proteins
• Long-term ozone exposure increases acute respiratory disease syndrome risks in critically ill
• Ancient protein flexibility can drive 'new' functions

Xistential crisis: Discovery shows there's more to the story in silencing X chromosomes Posted: 08 Jan 2016 05:09 PM PST Nearly every girl and woman on Earth carries two X chromosomes in nearly every one of her cells -- but one of them does (mostly) nothing. That's because it's been silenced, keeping most of its DNA locked up and unread like a book in a cage. Scientists thought they had figured out how cells do this, but a new piece of research shows the answer isn't quite that clear.

Global medical experience Posted: 08 Jan 2016 10:49 AM PST Despite good intentions, short-term international training programs for medical students may create problems for local health care.

Gene editing technique improves vision in rats with inherited blindness Posted: 08 Jan 2016 10:45 AM PST A new technique that has the potential to treat inherited diseases by removing genetic defects has been shown for the first time to hinder retinal degeneration in rats with a type of inherited blindness, according to a new study.

Saliva test to detect GHB and alcohol poisonings Posted: 08 Jan 2016 05:45 AM PST Scientists have developed a new method for the rapid diagnosis of poisoning in apparently drunk patients.

New potential treatment for colorectal cancer discovered Posted: 08 Jan 2016 05:39 AM PST A small molecule drug combined with chemotherapy may deliver a synergistic benefit for colorectal cancer patients, new research suggests. has demonstrated the efficiency of a small molecule drug, PRIMA-1met, in inhibiting the growth of colorectal cancer cells. Colorectal cancer is the cancer of the large intestine (colon and rectum).

Study tracks migration of chronically homeless mentally ill adults to Vancouver's Downtown Eastside Posted: 08 Jan 2016 05:37 AM PST A growing number of those experiencing longstanding homelessness and mental disorders in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside (DTES) have migrated from elsewhere, new research shows. Over the past 10 years, the number of those coming from outside Vancouver into the DTES rose from 17 to 52 percent.

Scientist identifies energy sensor as potential target for cancer drugs Posted: 08 Jan 2016 05:37 AM PST For the first time, scientists have shown that a specific enzyme is responsible for sensing the available supply of GTP, an energy source that fuels the uncontrolled growth of cancer cells. The research underscores the enzyme's potential to become a therapeutic target for future cancer drugs.

Low-income communities more likely to face childhood obesity Posted: 08 Jan 2016 05:37 AM PST Race matters less than expected in study showing relationship between poverty and obesity. Although obesity rates were higher among African-American and Hispanic kids, the relationship disappeared when factoring in family income, according to the study.

Current malaria treatment fails in Cambodia due to drug-resistant parasites Posted: 08 Jan 2016 05:37 AM PST New findings confirm dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine, the first-line treatment for Plasmodium falciparum malaria infection in Cambodia, has failed in certain provinces due to parasite resistance to artemisinin and piperaquine. Additional study findings suggest that artesunate, a form of artemisinin, plus mefloquine, a different long-acting partner drug, should be the first-line ACT in areas where dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine treatment has failed, the study authors note.

Using skin to save the heart Posted: 08 Jan 2016 05:37 AM PST Cell therapies for heart ailments involve transplanting over a billion heart cells to the patient's heart. Many of these cells fail to engraft, however, compromising the benefits. One reason for the poor engraftment is that normally the heart cell population is a mixture of cells with different maturation. Researchers have now identified an ideal maturation stage that enhances engraftment and may reduce the number of cells required for therapy.

Roman toilets gave no clear health benefit, and Romanization actually spread parasites Posted: 08 Jan 2016 05:34 AM PST Intestinal parasites such as whipworm became increasingly common across Europe during the Roman Period, despite the apparent improvements the empire brought in sanitation technologies, archaeological evidence shows.

In defense of pathogenic proteins Posted: 08 Jan 2016 05:34 AM PST Protein deposits in cells, such as those associated with diseases like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, can also be beneficial -- at least for yeast cells, as biochemists have discovered. The researchers found a new form of age-associated deposits in these cells, and they are now asking us to rethink our views on aging and dementia.

Long-term ozone exposure increases acute respiratory disease syndrome risks in critically ill Posted: 07 Jan 2016 06:44 AM PST Critically ill patients who are exposed to higher daily levels of ozone are more likely to develop acute respiratory disease syndrome, according to a new study.

Ancient protein flexibility can drive 'new' functions Posted: 06 Jan 2016 06:55 PM PST Scientists reveal how evolutionary fine-tuning has obscured the origin of the glucocorticoid receptor's ability to adopt different shapes. It highlights how proteins that evolve 'new' functions may have had those capacities -- in some cases, for millions of years -- because of their flexibility.

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