ScienceDaily: Health & Medicine News

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• Small family size increases wealth of descendants but reduces evolutionary success
• Adverse effects of mining industry provoke hard questions for medical humanitarian organizations
• More research needed on the best treatment options for multidrug-resistant TB
• There are reasons – but not good ones – to avoid a flu vaccine this year
• Aspirin may help men with prostate cancer live longer, study suggests
• Protein found to regulate red blood cell size and number
• Evaluate children's stress after natural disasters
• Metabolism in the brain fluctuates with circadian rhythm
• Study of tribe could help find East Asian skin color genes
• Unforeseen regulation of the anti-bacterial immune response discovered
• Better vaccines for tuberculosis could save millions of lives
• Strong candidate for possible single-dose malaria cure discovered
• Tropical Storm Isaac can damage your health
• Antibiotic residues in sausage meat may promote pathogen survival
• Is long-term weight loss possible after menopause?
• Advanced CT scans accurately assess coronary blockages
• Mechanism provides clues for research into pancreatic diabetes
• Capturing movements of actors and athletes in real time with conventional video cameras
• Ten year decline in ischemic stroke after acute myocardial infarction
• Method to simplify production of proteins used in many types of drugs developed
• Deep brain stimulation changes rhythms to treat Parkinson's disease and tremor
• 30-day mortality after acute myocardial infarction drops with improved treatment
• Enlisting the AIDS virus to fight cancer
• Pregnancy duration predicts stress response in the first months of life
• How 'beige' fat makes the pounds melt away
• Zebrafish study explains why the circadian rhythm affects your health
• Catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation

Small family size increases wealth of descendants but reduces evolutionary success Posted: 28 Aug 2012 04:09 PM PDT Evolutionary biologists have long puzzled over this because natural selection is expected to have selected for organisms that try to maximize their reproduction. But in industrialized societies around the world, increasing wealth coincides with people deliberately limiting their family size -- the so-called 'demographic transition'. In a new study, researchers reject a popular theory put forward to explain the phenomenon. This 'adaptive' hypothesis proposes that low fertility may boost evolutionary success in the long term by increasing offspring wealth, which in turn eventually increases the number of long-term descendants because richer offspring end up having more children.

Adverse effects of mining industry provoke hard questions for medical humanitarian organizations Posted: 28 Aug 2012 02:17 PM PDT Increasingly humanitarian organizations will find themselves responding to health emergencies provoked by the adverse effects of mining and other extractive industries, setting up a potential clash to do with the core principles and values at the heart of humanitarian medicine, according to an expert.

More research needed on the best treatment options for multidrug-resistant TB Posted: 28 Aug 2012 02:17 PM PDT The use of newer drugs, a greater number of effective drugs, and a longer treatment regimen may be associated with improved survival of patients with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, according to a large study.

There are reasons – but not good ones – to avoid a flu vaccine this year Posted: 28 Aug 2012 02:07 PM PDT It can fly through the air or hitch a ride on a handshake, hug or kiss. "It" is seasonal flu. There are many reasons to get an annual flu vaccine, but a physician offers a tongue-in-cheek "Top 10 Reasons Not to get a Flu Shot."

Aspirin may help men with prostate cancer live longer, study suggests Posted: 28 Aug 2012 02:07 PM PDT Men who have been treated for prostate cancer, either with surgery or radiation, could benefit from taking aspirin regularly, says a new study.

Protein found to regulate red blood cell size and number Posted: 28 Aug 2012 01:30 PM PDT By examining the results of genome-wide association studies in conjunction with experiments on mouse and human red blood cells, researchers have identified the protein cyclin D3 as regulating the number of cell divisions RBC progenitors undergo, which ultimately affects the resulting size and quantity of RBCs.

Evaluate children's stress after natural disasters Posted: 28 Aug 2012 11:33 AM PDT Some children, depending on other stressors, may have a harder time recovering from natural disasters.

Metabolism in the brain fluctuates with circadian rhythm Posted: 28 Aug 2012 11:33 AM PDT The rhythm of life is driven by the cycles of day and night, and most organisms carry in their cells a common, (roughly) 24-hour beat. In animals, this rhythm emerges from the suprachiasmatic nucleus in the hypothalamus. Take it out of the brain and keep it alive in a lab dish and this "brain clock" will keep on ticking for days. A new study reveals that the brain clock itself is driven, in part, by metabolism.

Study of tribe could help find East Asian skin color genes Posted: 28 Aug 2012 10:50 AM PDT Genetic investigation of a Malaysian tribe may tell scientists why East Asians have light skin but lower skin cancer rates than Europeans, according to a team of international researchers. Understanding the differences could lead to a better way to protect people from skin cancer.

Unforeseen regulation of the anti-bacterial immune response discovered Posted: 28 Aug 2012 10:50 AM PDT New research holds promise for the improved prevention and treatment of bacterial infections and the life-threatening complications of chronic inflammation that can result from them.

Better vaccines for tuberculosis could save millions of lives Posted: 28 Aug 2012 10:49 AM PDT Cases of one of the world's deadliest diseases -- tuberculosis -- are rising at an alarming rate, despite widespread vaccination. Reasons for the ineffectiveness of the vaccine, especially in regions where this infectious disease is endemic, as well as arguments for replacing the existing vaccine with novel synthetic vaccines, are now being presented.

Strong candidate for possible single-dose malaria cure discovered Posted: 28 Aug 2012 08:11 AM PDT A recently discovered compound from the aminopyridine class not only has the potential to become part of a single-dose cure for all strains of malaria, but might also be able to block transmission of the parasite from person to person, according to a new research.

Tropical Storm Isaac can damage your health Posted: 28 Aug 2012 08:10 AM PDT Drastic climate changes brought on by severe storms can spur allergy and asthma symptoms for sufferers across the country.

Antibiotic residues in sausage meat may promote pathogen survival Posted: 28 Aug 2012 06:32 AM PDT Antibiotic residues in uncured pepperoni or salami meat are potent enough to weaken helpful bacteria that processors add to acidify the sausage to make it safe for consumption, according to a new study.

Is long-term weight loss possible after menopause? Posted: 28 Aug 2012 06:32 AM PDT Studies have found that it is difficult to keep weight off in the long term. For post-menopausal women, natural declines in energy expenditure could make long-term weight loss even more challenging. A new study finds that in post-menopausal women, some behaviors related to weight loss in the short term are not effective or sustainable for the long term. Interventions targeting these behaviors could improve long-term obesity treatment outcomes.

Advanced CT scans accurately assess coronary blockages Posted: 28 Aug 2012 06:32 AM PDT An ultra-fast, 320-detector computed tomography scanner can accurately sort out which people with chest pain need -- or don't need -- an invasive procedure such as cardiac angioplasty or bypass surgery to restore blood flow to the heart, according to an international study.

Mechanism provides clues for research into pancreatic diabetes Posted: 28 Aug 2012 06:32 AM PDT Mice develop pancreatic diabetes when they lack certain genes in the E2F group, and to understand how this happens, scientists have focused on the molecular mechanism behind it.

Capturing movements of actors and athletes in real time with conventional video cameras Posted: 28 Aug 2012 06:31 AM PDT Within milliseconds, and just with the help of mathematics, computing power and conventional  video cameras, computer scientists can automatically capture the movements of several people. The new approach helps not only animation specialists in Hollywood movies but also medical scientists and athletes.

Ten year decline in ischemic stroke after acute myocardial infarction Posted: 28 Aug 2012 06:31 AM PDT The risk of ischemic stroke one year after acute myocardial infarction (AMI) dropped by 21% over a ten year period, according to new research.

Method to simplify production of proteins used in many types of drugs developed Posted: 28 Aug 2012 06:30 AM PDT Engineering researchers have developed a method to simplify the pharmaceutical production of proteins used in drugs that treat a variety of diseases and health conditions, including diabetes, cancer, arthritis and macular degeneration.

Deep brain stimulation changes rhythms to treat Parkinson's disease and tremor Posted: 28 Aug 2012 06:30 AM PDT Deep brain stimulation may stop uncontrollable shaking in patients with Parkinson's disease and essential tremor by imposing its own rhythm on the brain, according to two recent studies.

30-day mortality after acute myocardial infarction drops with improved treatment Posted: 28 Aug 2012 04:33 AM PDT Improved treatment after acute myocardial infarction and less severe patient profile have reduced 30-day mortality over the past 15 years, according to new research.

Enlisting the AIDS virus to fight cancer Posted: 28 Aug 2012 04:33 AM PDT Can HIV be transformed into a biotechnological tool for improving human health? According to a team of scientists, the answer is yes. Taking advantage of the HIV replication machinery, the researchers have been able to select a specific mutant protein. Added to a culture of tumor cells in combination with an anticancer drug, this protein improves the effectiveness of the treatment at 1/300 the normal dosage levels.

Pregnancy duration predicts stress response in the first months of life Posted: 28 Aug 2012 04:33 AM PDT After waking up, the concentration of the stress hormone cortisol in saliva rises considerably; this is true not only for grown-ups but for babies as well.

How 'beige' fat makes the pounds melt away Posted: 28 Aug 2012 04:30 AM PDT Researchers have decoded a signal path that could boost the burning of body fat. Mice that are missing a signal switch called VASP are clearly leaner and have more of the coveted brown and beige-colored fat cells that convert energy into heat. This might point the way to a new method for fighting obesity.

Zebrafish study explains why the circadian rhythm affects your health Posted: 28 Aug 2012 04:30 AM PDT Disruptions to the circadian rhythm can affect the growth of blood vessels in the body, thus causing illnesses such as diabetes, obesity, and cancer, according to a new study.

Catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation Posted: 28 Aug 2012 04:30 AM PDT Catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation (Afib) is safe and suppresses arrhythmia recurrences in 74% of patients after a single procedure, according to new results. The survey also showed that arrhythmia-related symptoms such as palpitations, shortness of breath, fatigue or dizziness - present in 86% of patients before the ablation - were significantly reduced.

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