ScienceDaily: Health & Medicine News

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• Muscle repair after injury helped by fat-forming cells
• Genome study suggests new strategies for understanding and treating pulmonary fibrosis
• Same protein that fires up cancer-promoting erk also blocks its activation
• New potential target for cancer therapy identified
• Scientific basis for cognitive complaints of breast cancer patients
• Insight into osteoarthritis
• Quest for edible malarial vaccine leads to other potential medical uses for algae
• Novel monoclonal antibody inhibits tumor growth in breast cancer and angiosarcoma
• Intense, specialized training in young athletes linked to serious overuse injuries
• Alternative medicine use by MS patients now mapped
• Random walks on DNA: Bacterial enzyme has evolved an energy-efficient method to move long distances along DNA
• Mammogram rate did not decline in U.S. after controversial recommendations
• Understanding and prevention of side effects caused by drugs
• Risk of dementia declined over past 20 years
• Scientists scan the human heart to create digital anatomical library
• Social gaming promotes healthy behavior, reveals new research
• Treatment for novel coronavirus shows promise in early lab tests
• Despite superbug crisis, progress in antibiotic development 'alarmingly elusive'
• Brain's 'slow waves': Scientists probe source of pulsing signal in sleeping brain
• Long-term exposure to fine particles of traffic pollution increases risk of heart disease
• Demanding physical work associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease
• Photoacoustics spares healthy lymph nodes in patients with metastasized cancer
• Half of Americans would consider donating a kidney to a stranger
• Why does smallpox vaccine shield some, not others? It's in the genes

Muscle repair after injury helped by fat-forming cells Posted: 19 Apr 2013 02:16 PM PDT Scientists have discovered that muscle repair requires the action of two types of cells better known for causing inflammation and forming fat.

Genome study suggests new strategies for understanding and treating pulmonary fibrosis Posted: 19 Apr 2013 02:16 PM PDT A new genome-wide association study of more than 6,000 people has identified seven new genetic regions associated with pulmonary fibrosis. Researchers have found a number of genes associated with host defense, cell-cell adhesion and DNA repair, which provide clues to possible mechanisms underlying this currently untreatable disease.

Same protein that fires up cancer-promoting erk also blocks its activation Posted: 19 Apr 2013 02:16 PM PDT A protein which is intimately involved in cancer-promoting cell signaling also keeps a key component of the signaling pathway tied down and inactive, scientists report. Union with Shc keeps a potential troublemaker away from bad company and out of the nucleus.

New potential target for cancer therapy identified Posted: 19 Apr 2013 01:07 PM PDT Researchers have found that alternative splicing -- a process that allows a single gene to code for multiple proteins -- appears to be a new potential target for anti-telomerase cancer therapy.

Scientific basis for cognitive complaints of breast cancer patients Posted: 19 Apr 2013 10:26 AM PDT Researchers have shown a statistically significant association between neuropsychological (NP) test performance and memory complaints in post-treatment, early stage breast cancer patients. Patient-reported memory difficulties were also associated with having received chemotherapy and radiation and depressive symptoms in one of the first studies to show patient complaints of cognitive problems after breast cancer treatment (chemo brain) associates with NP test performance.

Insight into osteoarthritis Posted: 19 Apr 2013 10:26 AM PDT To better understand the onset and progression of osteoarthritis, scientists looked at cells from articular cartilage using atomic force microscopy.

Quest for edible malarial vaccine leads to other potential medical uses for algae Posted: 19 Apr 2013 10:26 AM PDT Can scientists rid malaria from the Third World by simply feeding algae genetically engineered with a vaccine? That's the question biologists sought to answer after they demonstrated last May that algae can be engineered to produce a vaccine that blocks malaria transmission. In a follow up study, they got their answer: Not yet, although the same method may work as a vaccine against a wide variety of viral and bacterial infections.

Novel monoclonal antibody inhibits tumor growth in breast cancer and angiosarcoma Posted: 19 Apr 2013 10:25 AM PDT A monoclonal antibody targeting a protein known as SFPR2 has been shown to inhibit tumor growth in pre-clinical models of breast cancer and angiosarcoma.

Intense, specialized training in young athletes linked to serious overuse injuries Posted: 19 Apr 2013 10:25 AM PDT Young athletes who specialize in one sport and train intensively have a significantly higher risk of stress fractures and other severe overuse injuries, according to the largest clinical study of its kind.

Alternative medicine use by MS patients now mapped Posted: 19 Apr 2013 09:11 AM PDT A major Nordic research project has, for the first time ever, mapped the use of alternative treatment among multiple sclerosis patients -- knowledge which is important for patients with chronic disease and the way in which society meets them.

Random walks on DNA: Bacterial enzyme has evolved an energy-efficient method to move long distances along DNA Posted: 19 Apr 2013 07:52 AM PDT Scientists have revealed how a bacterial enzyme has evolved an energy-efficient method to move long distances along DNA. The findings present further insight into the coupling of chemical and mechanical energy by a class of enzymes called helicases, a widely-distributed group of proteins, which in human cells are implicated in some cancers.

Mammogram rate did not decline in U.S. after controversial recommendations Posted: 19 Apr 2013 05:00 AM PDT More than three years after the United States Preventive Services Task Force recommended against routine mammogram screening for women between the ages of 40 and 49, a new study finds that mammogram rates in the United States have not declined in that age group, or any other.

Understanding and prevention of side effects caused by drugs Posted: 19 Apr 2013 04:59 AM PDT Yellow vision, pseudo-pulmonary obstruction, involuntary body movements, respiratory paralysis. These are some of the 1,600 known side effects (SEs) produced by drugs. Adverse effects are one of the main causes of hospital admission in the west. These effects are difficult to predict, and in practice specific assays are required to test the safety of agents in pre-clinical phases, thus these effects are often not discovered until the drug has been launched. A new study seeks to fill this information gap.

Risk of dementia declined over past 20 years Posted: 19 Apr 2013 04:59 AM PDT The risk of developing dementia may have declined over the past 20 years, in direct contrast to what many previously assumed. The decrease in dementia risk coincides with the general reduction in cardiovascular disease over recent decades, researchers said.

Scientists scan the human heart to create digital anatomical library Posted: 18 Apr 2013 07:42 AM PDT Medical researchers have demonstrated the anatomical reconstruction of an active human heart. The research uses contrast-computed tomography (CT) to allow in-depth 3-D computer modeling of hearts that can be used for prolonged archiving.

Social gaming promotes healthy behavior, reveals new research Posted: 18 Apr 2013 07:01 AM PDT Adding social gaming elements to a behavior tracking program led people to exercise more frequently and helped them decrease their body-mass index, according to new research.

Treatment for novel coronavirus shows promise in early lab tests Posted: 18 Apr 2013 07:01 AM PDT Scientists studying an emerging coronavirus have found that a combination of two licensed antiviral drugs, ribavirin and interferon-alpha 2b, can stop the virus from replicating in laboratory-grown cells. These results suggest that the drug combination could be used to treat patients infected with the new coronavirus, but more research is needed to confirm this preliminary finding.

Despite superbug crisis, progress in antibiotic development 'alarmingly elusive' Posted: 18 Apr 2013 07:01 AM PDT Despite the desperate need for new antibiotics to combat increasingly deadly resistant bacteria, the US Food and Drug Administration has approved only one new systemic antibiotic since the Infectious Diseases Society of America launched its 10 x '20 Initiative in 2010 -- and that drug was approved two and a half years ago.

Brain's 'slow waves': Scientists probe source of pulsing signal in sleeping brain Posted: 18 Apr 2013 07:01 AM PDT New findings clarify where and how the brain's "slow waves" originate. These rhythmic signal pulses, which sweep through the brain during deep sleep, are assumed to play a role in important processes such as consolidation of memory. For the first time, researchers have shown conclusively that slow waves start in the cerebral cortex. They also found that such a wave can be set in motion by a local cluster of just 50 to 100 neurons.

Long-term exposure to fine particles of traffic pollution increases risk of heart disease Posted: 18 Apr 2013 07:01 AM PDT Long-term exposure to fine particle matter air pollution in part derived from traffic pollution is also associated with atherosclerosis independent of traffic noise.

Demanding physical work associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease Posted: 18 Apr 2013 07:01 AM PDT Demanding physical work has a detrimental effect on an individual's risk of coronary heart disease, according to new research.

Photoacoustics spares healthy lymph nodes in patients with metastasized cancer Posted: 18 Apr 2013 06:46 AM PDT If a tumor has spread through the lymph nodes, the decision is often taken to exercise caution and remove extra tissue, to prevent it from spreading further. This often involves the removal of healthy lymph nodes. Photoacoustic detection allows surgeons to see which nodes are affected and which are not, while the operation is in progress. This could cut the number of unnecessary complications following surgery, while still ensuring that all affected tissue is removed.

Half of Americans would consider donating a kidney to a stranger Posted: 18 Apr 2013 06:45 AM PDT A new survey shows that support for organ donation is increasing. Eighty-four percent of respondents said they would be very or somewhat likely to consider donating a kidney or a portion of their liver to a close friend or family member, and 49 percent said they would be very or somewhat likely to consider donating a kidney to a stranger.

Why does smallpox vaccine shield some, not others? It's in the genes Posted: 18 Apr 2013 06:45 AM PDT How well people are protected by the smallpox vaccine depends on more than the quality of the vaccination: individual genes can alter their response, research shows.

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