ScienceDaily: Health & Medicine News

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• Regular family meals together boost kids' fruit and vegetable intake
• Better stroke care, everywhere: Study boosts local hospitals' clotbuster use
• Discovery could eventually help diagnose and treat chronic pain
• Genetic defect causing fragile X-related disorders more common than thought
• Brain imaging insight into cannabis as a pain killer
• Scientists create new approach to destroy disease-associated RNAs in cells
• Lifestyle changes linked to better outcomes after peripheral intervention
• Heart calcium scan predictive of diabetes-related death from cardiovascular disease
• Chromosome 'anchors' organize DNA during cell division: New role for telomeres in cellular growth may shed light on aging and age-related diseases
• Serendipity points to new potential target and therapy for melanoma
• Stroke drug kills bacteria that cause ulcers and tuberculosis
• First ever 'atlas' of T cells in human body
• Genomic 'hotspots' offer clues to causes of autism, other disorders
• Steering stem cells to become two different building blocks for new blood vessels
• Key gene for regenerating cells after heart attack
• Removing protein 'garbage' in nerve cells may help control 2 neurodegenerative diseases
• Using novel genetic labs for faster detection of E. coli
• Supportive role models, coping lead to better health in poor teens
• Gene expression improves the definition of a breast cancer subtype
• Sync to grow: Oscillation of gene activity may underlie how embryos grow in proportion
• Around two queries a week to UK poisons service concern . . . snakebites
• Successful solo rock/pop stars twice as likely to die early as those in a band, study finds
• Fighting shaped human hands
• Asthmatics at increased risk of pulmonary embolism
• MicroRNAs present exciting opportunities for cancer therapy and diagnosis
• Small easy changes can lead to sustainable weight loss and healthier eating habits
• Discovery provides therapeutic target for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
• Impaired melatonin secretion may play a role in premenstrual syndrome
• Impact of caring for adult child with disability studied
• Super-fine sound beam could one day be an invisible scalpel
• People without spouses under-represented in Alzheimer's clinical trials
• New study better explains racial disparities in strokes
• Violent crime doesn’t fit in the autism puzzle
• Alzheimer's disease: Cutting off immune response promises new approach to therapy
• Auto-immune disease: The viral route is confirmed
• How innate immune cells are involved in the development of type 1 diabetes
• Cholesterol helps regulate key signaling proteins in the cell
• Mayo Clinic, USA Hockey to youth hockey players: 'Heads up, don't duck'
• Men with fibromyalgia often go undiagnosed

Regular family meals together boost kids' fruit and vegetable intake Posted: 20 Dec 2012 05:29 PM PST Regular family meals round a table boosts kids' fruit and vegetable intake, and make it easier for them to reach the recommended five portions a day, a new study indicates.

Better stroke care, everywhere: Study boosts local hospitals' clotbuster use Posted: 20 Dec 2012 04:57 PM PST From the moment a stroke occurs, patients must race against the clock to get treatment that can prevent lasting damage. Now, a new study shows the promise -- and the challenges -- of getting them state-of-the-art treatment safely at their local hospital, saving precious minutes.

Discovery could eventually help diagnose and treat chronic pain Posted: 20 Dec 2012 04:57 PM PST More than 100 million Americans suffer from chronic pain. But treating and studying chronic pain is complex and presents many challenges. Scientists have long searched for a method to objectively measure pain and a new study advances that effort.

Genetic defect causing fragile X-related disorders more common than thought Posted: 20 Dec 2012 04:57 PM PST A single genetic defect on the X chromosome that can result in a wide array of conditions -- from learning and emotional difficulties to primary ovarian insufficiency in women and tremors in middle-aged men -- occurs at a much greater frequency than previously thought, new research has found.

Brain imaging insight into cannabis as a pain killer Posted: 20 Dec 2012 04:57 PM PST The pain relief offered by cannabis varies greatly between individuals, a brain imaging study suggests. The researchers found that an oral tablet of THC, the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis, tended to make the experience of pain more bearable, rather than actually reduce the intensity of the pain.

Scientists create new approach to destroy disease-associated RNAs in cells Posted: 20 Dec 2012 12:46 PM PST Scientists have developed a new approach to alter the function of RNA in living cells by designing molecules that recognize and disable RNA targets. As a proof of principle, in the new study the team designed a molecule that disabled the RNA causing myotonic dystrophy.

Lifestyle changes linked to better outcomes after peripheral intervention Posted: 20 Dec 2012 12:46 PM PST Heart-healthy habits help patients with PAD, but lifestyle changes and medical therapy are dramatically underused by patients and their doctors.

Heart calcium scan predictive of diabetes-related death from cardiovascular disease Posted: 20 Dec 2012 12:35 PM PST People with Type 2 diabetes have two to four times the risk of cardiovascular disease compared to people without the disease. The best way for doctors to predict which diabetes patients are at the greatest risk for heart disease is to use a coronary artery calcium (CAC) test in addition to the most commonly used assessment tool, according to researchers.

Chromosome 'anchors' organize DNA during cell division: New role for telomeres in cellular growth may shed light on aging and age-related diseases Posted: 20 Dec 2012 11:41 AM PST For humans to grow and to replace and heal damaged tissues, the body's cells must continually reproduce, a process known as "cell division," by which one cell becomes two, two become four, and so on. A key question of biomedical research is how chromosomes, which are duplicated during cell division so that each daughter cell receives an exact copy of a person's genome, are arranged during this process.

Serendipity points to new potential target and therapy for melanoma Posted: 20 Dec 2012 11:39 AM PST A new study describes a new target and potential treatment for melanoma, the most dangerous form of skin cancer. MicroRNA can decide which genes in a cell's DNA are expressed and which stay silent. Melanoma tends to lack microRNA-26a, which makes the gene SODD go silent.

Stroke drug kills bacteria that cause ulcers and tuberculosis Posted: 20 Dec 2012 11:37 AM PST A drug for ischemic strokes may also treat tuberculosis and ulcers. New research shows the compound, ebselen, to inhibit the thioredoxin reductase system in bacteria, including Helicobacter pylori and Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

First ever 'atlas' of T cells in human body Posted: 20 Dec 2012 11:36 AM PST By analyzing tissues harvested from organ donors, researchers have created the first ever "atlas" of immune cells in the human body. Their results provide a unique view of the distribution and function of T lymphocytes in healthy individuals. In addition, the findings represent a major step toward development of new strategies for creating vaccines and immunotherapies.

Genomic 'hotspots' offer clues to causes of autism, other disorders Posted: 20 Dec 2012 11:35 AM PST Scientists have discovered that "random" mutations in the genome are not quite so random after all. Their study shows that the DNA sequence in some regions of the human genome is quite volatile and can mutate ten times more frequently than the rest of the genome.

Steering stem cells to become two different building blocks for new blood vessels Posted: 20 Dec 2012 11:31 AM PST Growing new blood vessels in the lab is a tough challenge, but an engineering team has solved a major stumbling block: how to prod stem cells to become two different types of tissue that are needed to build tiny networks of veins and arteries.

Key gene for regenerating cells after heart attack Posted: 20 Dec 2012 07:19 AM PST Researchers have pinpointed a molecular mechanism needed to unleash the heart's ability to regenerate, a critical step toward developing eventual therapies for damage suffered following a heart attack.

Removing protein 'garbage' in nerve cells may help control 2 neurodegenerative diseases Posted: 20 Dec 2012 05:04 AM PST A group of neuroscientists say they have new evidence that challenges scientific dogma involving two fatal neurodegenerative diseases -- amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and frontotemporal dementia -- and, in the process, have uncovered a possible therapeutic target as a novel strategy to treat both disorders.

Using novel genetic labs for faster detection of E. coli Posted: 20 Dec 2012 05:04 AM PST Pina Fratamico is on the quest to find the easiest and fastest way to test for harmful Escherichia coli in ground beef. In a new article, she explores using a next-generation real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) system to discover specific gene targets that indicate the presence of dangerous foodborne pathogens. The results show that assays performed using this PCR system are rapid, sensitive, and reliable.

Supportive role models, coping lead to better health in poor teens Posted: 20 Dec 2012 05:04 AM PST While low socioeconomic status is often a strong determinant of chronic disease, new research shows that low-income teenagers who have supportive role models and who use adaptive coping strategies have lower levels of interleukin-6, a marker for cardiovascular risk. The researchers collected data on 163 socioeconomically diverse, healthy Canadian adolescents using interviews, questionnaires, and blood samples. Coping strategies and role models were found to be associated with inflammatory marker interleukin-6 only in low-income teenagers.

Gene expression improves the definition of a breast cancer subtype Posted: 20 Dec 2012 05:03 AM PST Gene expression in breast cancer provides valuable biological information for better determining the diagnosis, treatment, risk of relapse and survival rate. However, the most common form of characterizing breast cancer is by histopathological techniques. A new study focused on hormone-sensitive breast tumours known as luminals. The study compared data on tumours obtained by gene expression with histopathological data and proposes a new definition which improves the current classification of these tumours in routine clinical practice.

Sync to grow: Oscillation of gene activity may underlie how embryos grow in proportion Posted: 20 Dec 2012 05:01 AM PST Researchers are one step closer to understanding how embryos develop and grow while always keeping the same proportions between their various parts. Their findings, published today in Nature, reveal that scaling of the future vertebrae in a mouse embryo is controlled by how the expression of some specific genes oscillates, in a coordinated way, between neighboring cells.

Around two queries a week to UK poisons service concern . . . snakebites Posted: 19 Dec 2012 07:34 PM PST Snakebite injuries account for around two phone queries every week to the UK National Poisons Information Service, a newly published audit finds.

Successful solo rock/pop stars twice as likely to die early as those in a band, study finds Posted: 19 Dec 2012 07:34 PM PST Successful solo rock/pop stars are around twice as likely to die early as those in equally famous bands, new research indicates.

Fighting shaped human hands Posted: 19 Dec 2012 07:34 PM PST We're all used to the idea that humans evolved their distinctive hand proportions for enhanced dexterity, but now researchers have come up with an alternative theory: that human hands evolved for combat. The duo provide evidence that the long thumb that wraps across the fingers in a fist packs the curled digits tightly together to make a compact club for use in combat.

Asthmatics at increased risk of pulmonary embolism Posted: 19 Dec 2012 07:32 PM PST People with asthma have an increased risk of pulmonary embolism, according to new research.

MicroRNAs present exciting opportunities for cancer therapy and diagnosis Posted: 19 Dec 2012 02:43 PM PST As many as 50 percent of all human protein-coding genes are regulated by microRNA (miRNA) molecules. While some miRNAs impact onset and progression of cancer, others can actually suppress the development of malignant tumors and are useful in cancer therapy. They can also serve as potential biomarkers for early cancer detection. In a new study, researchers report on non-coding miRNAs as appealing biomarkers for malignancy.

Small easy changes can lead to sustainable weight loss and healthier eating habits Posted: 19 Dec 2012 02:43 PM PST Making small easy changes to our eating habits on a consistent basis -- 25 days or more per month -- can lead to sustainable weight loss, according to researchers. The challenge is to figure out which changes work for specific individuals and how to stick with changes long enough to make them second nature.

Discovery provides therapeutic target for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis Posted: 19 Dec 2012 02:43 PM PST Researchers have found that the ability of a protein made by a gene called FUS to bind to RNA is essential to the development of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). This discovery identifies a possible therapeutic target for the fatal neurological disease.

Impaired melatonin secretion may play a role in premenstrual syndrome Posted: 19 Dec 2012 02:41 PM PST Researchers shows altered body rhythms of the hormone melatonin in premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) women with insomnia. This finding may help explain some of the sleep disruptions experienced by women with PMDD, also known as premenstrual syndrome.

Impact of caring for adult child with disability studied Posted: 19 Dec 2012 02:39 PM PST Caring for an adult child with developmental disabilities or mental illness increased by 38 percent the chances that an aging parent would develop disabilities of their own, according to findings of a new study.

Super-fine sound beam could one day be an invisible scalpel Posted: 19 Dec 2012 02:39 PM PST A carbon-nanotube-coated lens that converts light to sound can focus high-pressure sound waves to finer points than ever before. The engineering researchers who developed the new therapeutic ultrasound approach say it could lead to an invisible knife for noninvasive surgery.

People without spouses under-represented in Alzheimer's clinical trials Posted: 19 Dec 2012 02:39 PM PST A new study suggests that people without a spouse are represented less in Alzheimer's disease clinical trials compared to people with spouses.

New study better explains racial disparities in strokes Posted: 19 Dec 2012 02:39 PM PST Researchers say a 10-millimeter difference in blood pressure is associated with an 8 percent increase in stroke risk for white people, but a 24 percent increase in stroke risk for black people.

Violent crime doesn’t fit in the autism puzzle Posted: 19 Dec 2012 02:39 PM PST As investigators begin to piece together a profile of Connecticut school massacre gunman Adam Lanza, much is being speculated about his possible Asperger's Syndrome diagnosis. But to suggest a tie between autism and violent, sociopathic tendencies is to undermine the large body of research and progress that's been made in understanding the disorder, says a leading autism expert.

Alzheimer's disease: Cutting off immune response promises new approach to therapy Posted: 19 Dec 2012 12:27 PM PST Researchers have identified a protein as a potential target for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. The molecular complex is part of the immune system and a driving force for inflammatory responses of the brain. Blocking its activity may pave the way for new possibilities for therapy, the researchers report.

Auto-immune disease: The viral route is confirmed Posted: 19 Dec 2012 10:35 AM PST Why would our immune system turn against our own cells? This is the question that researchers in France have attempted to answer in a new study concentrating in particular on the auto-immune disease known as myasthenia gravis.

How innate immune cells are involved in the development of type 1 diabetes Posted: 19 Dec 2012 10:34 AM PST A new study by researchers in France sheds light on type 1 diabetes -- a disease characterized by the self-destruction of the pancreatic cells that produce insulin. The research reveals the role of the innate immune cells, especially the dendritic cells, that cause the activation of the killer T-lymphocytes whose action is directed against the p pancreatic cells. The results obtained in mice make it possible to consider new ways of regulating the auto-immune reaction generated by the innate immune cells.

Cholesterol helps regulate key signaling proteins in the cell Posted: 19 Dec 2012 10:28 AM PST Cholesterol plays a key role in regulating proteins involved in cell signaling and may be important to many other cell processes, an international team of researchers has found.

Mayo Clinic, USA Hockey to youth hockey players: 'Heads up, don't duck' Posted: 19 Dec 2012 10:27 AM PST USA Hockey, the national governing body for the sport, worked with Mayo Clinic to release a video with animation demonstrating the dangers of players ducking their heads as they crash into the boards during play. A training program called "Heads Up, Don't Duck" teaches players to automatically choose the safest posture for impact.

Men with fibromyalgia often go undiagnosed Posted: 19 Dec 2012 10:27 AM PST Fibromyalgia is a complex illness to diagnose and to treat. There is not yet a diagnostic test to establish that someone has it, there is no cure and many fibromyalgia symptoms -- pain, fatigue, problems sleeping and memory and mood issues -- can overlap with or get mistaken for other conditions. A new study suggests that many people who have fibromyalgia, especially men, are going undiagnosed.

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