ScienceDaily: Health & Medicine News

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• New test for consciousness in 'comatose' patients
• California making headway in battle against childhood obesity but successes are uneven
• Diagnoses of autism spectrum disorders vary widely across clinics
• People with Parkinson's disease more likely to have leg restlessness than restless leg syndrome
• Computer trained to evaluate breast cancer
• Obese monkeys lose weight on drug that attacks blood supply of fat cells
• Lipid blocks influenza infection
• Neurological disorder impacts brain cells differently
• Former football players prone to late-life health problems, study finds
• Researchers develop eButton, an easier way to monitor food intake, exercise, and lifestyle
• Biochemical factor important in tumor metastasis unraveled
• First proof of principle for treating rare bone disease
• Young woman with amnesia unable to hold a single face in short-term memory ... unless it's Paris Hilton!
• Lose the fat and improve the gums, dental researchers find
• Fast new test for terrible form of food poisoning
• Tear drops may rival blood drops in testing blood sugar in diabetes
• Breakthrough in understanding the genetics of high blood pressure
• Extreme antisocial personality predicts gang membership, finds study based on survey of male prisoners
• Biologists slow the aging process in fruit flies: Study has implications for humans
• Dairy foods may improve bone health during diet and exercise in overweight premenopausal women
• Prior vaccination is the decisive factor to be revaccinated
• Depression and chronic stress accelerates aging
• New research calls for lower limit to be set for South Asian obesity level

New test for consciousness in 'comatose' patients Posted: 09 Nov 2011 04:36 PM PST Researchers have developed a portable test which will permit a simpler and less expensive diagnosis of 'vegetative' patients who still have consciousness, despite the fact that they do not have the means to express it.

California making headway in battle against childhood obesity but successes are uneven Posted: 09 Nov 2011 01:13 PM PST A new study offers hope that California may finally be getting a handle on its 30-year battle with childhood obesity, but also showcases a patchwork of progress that leaves the majority of counties in the state still registering increases in obesity rates among California's school-age children.

Diagnoses of autism spectrum disorders vary widely across clinics Posted: 09 Nov 2011 01:13 PM PST To diagnose autism spectrum disorders, clinicians typically administer a variety of tests or scales and use information from observations and parent interviews to classify individuals into subcategories listed in standard psychiatric diagnostic manuals. This process of forming "best-estimate clinical diagnoses" has long been considered the gold standard, but a new study demonstrates that these diagnoses are widely variable across centers, suggesting that this may not be the best method for making diagnoses.

People with Parkinson's disease more likely to have leg restlessness than restless leg syndrome Posted: 09 Nov 2011 01:12 PM PST People with Parkinson's disease may be more likely to have a movement disorder called leg motor restlessness, but not true restless legs syndrome as previous studies have suggested, according to a new study.

Computer trained to evaluate breast cancer Posted: 09 Nov 2011 11:30 AM PST Computer scientists and pathologists are training computers to analyze breast cancer microscopic images. The computer analysis were more accurate than those conducted by humans.

Obese monkeys lose weight on drug that attacks blood supply of fat cells Posted: 09 Nov 2011 11:30 AM PST Obese rhesus monkeys given an experimental anti-obesity drug lost on average 11 percent of their body weight over four weeks. The targeted combination drug selectively attacks blood vessels that support white fat.

Lipid blocks influenza infection Posted: 09 Nov 2011 10:18 AM PST A natural lipid in the fluid lining the lungs inhibits influenza infections in both cell cultures and mouse models, according to researchers. These findings, combined with previous studies demonstrating effectiveness against respiratory syncytial virus, suggest that the molecule, known as POPG, may have broad antiviral activity. Supplemental POPG could be an important, inexpensive and novel approach for the prevention and treatment of influenza and other respiratory virus infections.

Neurological disorder impacts brain cells differently Posted: 09 Nov 2011 10:18 AM PST In a new paper, researchers describe in deeper detail the pathology of a devastating neurological disorder, but also reveal new cellular targets for possibly slowing its development.

Former football players prone to late-life health problems, study finds Posted: 09 Nov 2011 09:57 AM PST Football players experience repeated head trauma throughout their careers, which results in short and long-term effects to their cognitive function, physical and mental health. Researchers are investigating how other lifestyle factors, including diet and exercise, impact the late-life health of former collision-sport athletes.

Researchers develop eButton, an easier way to monitor food intake, exercise, and lifestyle Posted: 09 Nov 2011 09:57 AM PST People attempting to lose weight won't need to track their daily food intake anymore, thanks to a wearable, picture-taking device. eButton -- a device worn on the chest (like a pin) that contains a miniature camera, accelerometer, GPS, and other sensors -- captures data and information of health activities, eliminating the need for daily self-reporting.

Biochemical factor important in tumor metastasis unraveled Posted: 09 Nov 2011 09:57 AM PST A protein called "fascin" appears to play a critical transformation role in TGF beta mediated tumor metastasis, say researchers.

First proof of principle for treating rare bone disease Posted: 09 Nov 2011 09:57 AM PST Scientists have developed a new genetic approach to specifically block the damaged copy of the gene for a rare bone disease, while leaving the normal copy untouched.

Young woman with amnesia unable to hold a single face in short-term memory ... unless it's Paris Hilton! Posted: 09 Nov 2011 08:15 AM PST A 22-year-old woman known as "HC" with amnesia since birth as a result of developing only half the normal volume of the hippocampus in her brain, has demonstrated to scientists that the ability to hold a single face or word in short-term memory is impaired. But there's a catch -- only if the information is unfamiliar. When presented with a face such as Hollywood celebrity Paris Hilton and asked to recognize the face a few seconds later, the woman could remember A-list party girl Hilton, but she was unable to remember novel, unfamiliar faces as well as healthy age, education and IQ matched control participants. Moreover, HC's short-term memory was even impaired for faces that were famous, but whom HC did not know, such as former U.S. first lady Hillary Clinton.

Lose the fat and improve the gums, dental researchers find Posted: 09 Nov 2011 08:15 AM PST Researchers found the human body is better at fighting gum disease when fat cells, which trigger inflammation, disappear.

Fast new test for terrible form of food poisoning Posted: 09 Nov 2011 08:15 AM PST Scientists are reporting development of a fast, reliable new test that could help people avoid a terrible type of food poisoning that comes from eating fish tainted with a difficult-to-detect toxin from marine algae growing in warm waters.

Tear drops may rival blood drops in testing blood sugar in diabetes Posted: 09 Nov 2011 08:15 AM PST Scientists are reporting development and successful laboratory testing of an electrochemical sensor device that has the potential to measure blood sugar levels from tears instead of blood -- an advance that could save the world's 350 million diabetes patients the discomfort of pricking their fingers for droplets of blood used in traditional blood sugar tests.

Breakthrough in understanding the genetics of high blood pressure Posted: 09 Nov 2011 07:42 AM PST A ground-breaking study into the causes of high blood pressure analyzed genetic material in human kidneys in a search for genes that might contribute to high blood pressure. The findings open up new avenues for future investigation into the causes of high blood pressure in humans.

Extreme antisocial personality predicts gang membership, finds study based on survey of male prisoners Posted: 09 Nov 2011 07:42 AM PST Research into the 2011 London riots found they were mostly committed by antisocial persons, less than 20 percent of whom were explicitly gang members. This is because gang membership is primarily for the most antisocial of such persons. New research has identified extreme antisocial personality as a key reason why some criminals join gangs.

Biologists slow the aging process in fruit flies: Study has implications for humans Posted: 09 Nov 2011 06:39 AM PST Biologists have identified a gene that slows the aging process. The biologists, working with fruit flies, activated a gene called PGC-1, which increases the activity of mitochondria, the tiny power generators in cells that control cell growth and tell cells when to live and die.

Dairy foods may improve bone health during diet and exercise in overweight premenopausal women Posted: 09 Nov 2011 06:38 AM PST A recent study found that consumption of dairy foods and higher protein resulted in improvements in markers of bone formation and reductions in markers of bone degradation in overweight and obese young women over 16 weeks of diet- and exercise-induced weight loss.

Prior vaccination is the decisive factor to be revaccinated Posted: 09 Nov 2011 06:37 AM PST The rate of vaccination in the previous year is the factor that best predicts the number of people to be vaccinated in a new campaign, new research shows. The study also concludes that a significant percentage of people who should be vaccinated against this disease do not get vaccinated, and that a reminding letter post is effective for improving vaccination but only in a limited way.

Depression and chronic stress accelerates aging Posted: 09 Nov 2011 06:37 AM PST People with recurrent depressions or those exposed to chronic stress exhibits shorter telomeres in white blood cells.

New research calls for lower limit to be set for South Asian obesity level Posted: 08 Nov 2011 08:59 AM PST A major study calling for levels of obesity among South Asians to be recalculated has been just been published by researchers in the UK. South Asians around the world are at increased risk of developing diabetes and heart disease. They also get these chronic diseases at an earlier age. The study concludes that significantly lower BMI and waist circumference cut points for defining obesity are needed for migrant South Asians.

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