ScienceDaily: Health & Medicine News

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• Potential flu pandemic lurks: Influenza viruses circulating in pigs, birds could pose risk to humans
• Possible reason for cholesterol-drug side effects such as memory loss
• Cocaine vaccine passes key testing hurdle
• New test for H7N9 bird flu in China may help slow outbreak, prevent pandemic
• Background noise in the operating room can impair surgical team communication
• Study supports alternative model for personality disorders in upcoming DSM-5
• New discovery may lead the way to improved whooping cough vaccine
• Discovery pinpoints cause of two types of leukemia
• Link between tumor suppressors and starvation survival suggested
• A cautionary tale on genome-sequencing diagnostics for rare diseases
• Cancer drug prevents build-up of toxic brain protein
• Mosquito survey identifies reservoir of disease
• Brain diseases affecting more people and starting earlier than ever before
• Individual efficacy of chemotherapies
• Would you ‘Like’ a drink? Youth drinking cultures, social networking and alcohol marketing
• Super-sized citizens: The relationship between a country's fast-food outlets and its obesity rates
• Justinianic Plague was caused by bacterium Yersinia pestis, DNA of skeletal remains shows
• Lyme disease vaccine shows promise in clinical trial
• Future hospitalization and increased health service use may be linked to insomnia
• Allergic disease worsens COPD symptoms and exacerbations

Potential flu pandemic lurks: Influenza viruses circulating in pigs, birds could pose risk to humans Posted: 10 May 2013 03:02 PM PDT In the summer of 1968, a new strain of influenza appeared in Hong Kong. This strain, known as H3N2, spread around the globe and eventually killed an estimated 1 million people. A new study reveals that there are many strains of H3N2 circulating in birds and pigs that are genetically similar to the 1968 strain and have the potential to generate a pandemic if they leap to humans. The researchers also found that current flu vaccines might not offer protection against these strains.

Possible reason for cholesterol-drug side effects such as memory loss Posted: 10 May 2013 12:01 PM PDT Researchers have identified a clue to explain the reversible memory loss sometimes caused by the use of statins, one of the most widely prescribed medications. Unusual swellings within neurons, which the team has termed the "beads-on-a-string" effect, may be linked to the cognitive decline some patients experience while taking the cholesterol-lowering drugs.

Cocaine vaccine passes key testing hurdle Posted: 10 May 2013 12:01 PM PDT Researchers have successfully tested their novel anti-cocaine vaccine in primates, bringing them closer to launching human clinical trials.

New test for H7N9 bird flu in China may help slow outbreak, prevent pandemic Posted: 10 May 2013 10:43 AM PDT Breaking research demonstrates that a recently developed diagnostic test can detect the new strain of influenza (H7N9) currently causing an outbreak in China.

Background noise in the operating room can impair surgical team communication Posted: 10 May 2013 09:45 AM PDT To assess the effects of ambient noise on communication in the operating room, investigators created a noise environment similar to that of an OR and tested 15 surgeons.

Study supports alternative model for personality disorders in upcoming DSM-5 Posted: 10 May 2013 09:45 AM PDT A new "alternative model" included in the upcoming Fifth Edition of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders lines up well with the current approach to diagnosis of personality disorder, according to a new study.

New discovery may lead the way to improved whooping cough vaccine Posted: 10 May 2013 09:44 AM PDT Scientists have made novel discoveries concerning the current vaccine against whooping cough that may lead to the development of an improved future vaccine.

Discovery pinpoints cause of two types of leukemia Posted: 10 May 2013 07:21 AM PDT Patients with two forms of leukemia, who currently have no viable treatment options, may benefit from existing drugs developed for different types of cancer, according to a new study.

Link between tumor suppressors and starvation survival suggested Posted: 10 May 2013 07:21 AM PDT A particular tumor suppressor gene that fights cancer cells does more than clamp down on unabated cell division -- the hallmark of the disease -- it also can help make cells more fit by allowing them to fend off stress, says a new study.

A cautionary tale on genome-sequencing diagnostics for rare diseases Posted: 10 May 2013 04:56 AM PDT Researchers have discover that several children born with rare diseases called congenital disorders of glycosylation don't contain the mutation in every cell type -- raising new questions about inheritance, genomic sequencing, and diagnostics.

Cancer drug prevents build-up of toxic brain protein Posted: 10 May 2013 04:56 AM PDT Researchers have used tiny doses of a leukemia drug to halt accumulation of toxic proteins in the brains of mice. They say their study offers a unique and exciting strategy to treat neurodegenerative diseases that feature abnormal buildup of proteins in Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, frontotemporal dementia, Huntington's disease and Lewy body dementia, among others.

Mosquito survey identifies reservoir of disease Posted: 10 May 2013 04:55 AM PDT A large scale, five year study of mosquitoes from different ecological regions in Kenya, including savannah grassland, semi-arid Acacia thorn bushes, and mangrove swamps, found a reservoir of viruses carried by mosquitoes (arboviruses) that are responsible for human and animal diseases. This research highlights the need for continued surveillance in order to monitor the risk of disease outbreaks.

Brain diseases affecting more people and starting earlier than ever before Posted: 10 May 2013 04:55 AM PDT Scientists have found that the sharp rise of dementia and other neurological deaths in people under 74 cannot be put down to the fact that we are living longer. The rise is because a higher proportion of old people are being affected by such conditions -- and what is really alarming, it is starting earlier and affecting people under 55 years.

Individual efficacy of chemotherapies Posted: 10 May 2013 04:54 AM PDT The function of the mitochondria – also defined as "power plants" within the cells – is essential as to whether, and how, some chemotherapeutic agents take effect in tissue. Scientists have thus discovered a significant cell characteristic that could possibly predict the success of therapy.

Would you ‘Like’ a drink? Youth drinking cultures, social networking and alcohol marketing Posted: 10 May 2013 04:54 AM PDT Preventing alcohol abuse, especially among young people, has long been a focus of public-health campaigns. But despite the well-publicized social and medical consequences of drinking too much it's clear that for many, heavy drinking has become a normal part of life.

Super-sized citizens: The relationship between a country's fast-food outlets and its obesity rates Posted: 10 May 2013 04:54 AM PDT Many studies have linked the meals served at fast-food outlets to obesity, but is there a relationship between the number of restaurants in a country and the girth of its population?

Justinianic Plague was caused by bacterium Yersinia pestis, DNA of skeletal remains shows Posted: 10 May 2013 04:54 AM PDT Ancient DNA analyses of skeletal remains of plague victims from the 6th century AD provide information about the phylogeny and the place of origin of this pandemic.

Lyme disease vaccine shows promise in clinical trial Posted: 10 May 2013 04:53 AM PDT The results of a phase 1/2 clinical trial in Europe of an investigational Lyme disease vaccine revealed it to be promising and well tolerated. The vaccine was shown to produce substantial antibodies against all targeted species of Borrelia, the causative agent of Lyme disease in Europe and the United States.

Future hospitalization and increased health service use may be linked to insomnia Posted: 10 May 2013 04:53 AM PDT New study finds insomnia may be an important indicator of future hospitalization among middle-aged and older adults.

Allergic disease worsens COPD symptoms and exacerbations Posted: 10 May 2013 04:53 AM PDT Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) who also have allergic disease have higher levels of respiratory symptoms and are at higher risk for COPD exacerbations, according to a new study.

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