ScienceDaily: Health & Medicine News

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• Math model predicts effects of diet, physical activity on childhood weight
• Decision aids reduce men's conflict about PSA screening, but don't change their decisions
• Breastfeeding duration appears associated with intelligence later in life
• Worsening trends in back pain management
• Be happy: Your genes may thank you for it
• Monogamy evolved as a mating strategy: New research indicates that social monogamy evolved as a result of competition
• Human cells respond in healthy, unhealthy ways to different kinds of happiness
• Hot flashes? Thank evolution
• Could sleeping stem cells hold key to treatment of aggressive blood cancer?
• New modular vaccine design combines best of existing vaccine technologies
• Therapy may curb kidney deterioration in patients with rare disorder
• Aberrant splicing saps the strength of 'slow' muscle fibers
• 'Cowcatcher' enzyme fixes single-strand DNA
• Evolution of monogamy in humans the result of infanticide risk, new study suggests
• Essential clue to Huntington's disease solution found
• Plant-based compound may inhibit HIV
• Heavy cell phone use linked to oxidative stress
• Parents don't fully understand biobank research, study finds
• Diets lacking omega-3s lead to anxiety, hyperactivity in teens: Generational omega-3 deficiencies have worsening effects over time
• Premature aging of immune cells in joints of kids with chronic arthritis
• PTSD after traumatic events: Which teens are at risk?
• Antibiotic reduction campaigns do not necessarily reduce resistance
• Cells move as concentration shifts
• Therapeutic fecal transplant: Hope for cure of childhood diarrhea comes straight from the gut
• Statins suppress Rett syndrome symptoms in mice
• Impaired visual signals might contribute to schizophrenia symptoms
• Intent to harm: Willful acts seem more damaging
• Living longer, living healthier: People are remaining healthier later in life
• Higher cancer incidences found in regions near refineries and plants that release benzene
• Young cannabis-smokers aware of the health risks
• New study finds increase in nonfatal food-related choking among children in the U. S.
• Possible blood test for Alzheimer's disease?
• Novel mechanism that helps stomach bug cause illness identified
• Molecular robots can help researchers build more targeted therapeutics

Math model predicts effects of diet, physical activity on childhood weight Posted: 29 Jul 2013 08:30 PM PDT Researchers have created and confirmed the accuracy of a mathematical model that predicts how weight and body fat in children respond to adjustments in diet and physical activity.

Decision aids reduce men's conflict about PSA screening, but don't change their decisions Posted: 29 Jul 2013 08:18 PM PDT Men who decide to be screened for prostate cancer and those who forgo PSA screening stick with their decisions after receiving materials explaining the risks and benefits of the test. The decision aids greatly increased their knowledge about screening and reduced their conflict about what to do, but did not have an impact on their screening decision when measured a year later.

Breastfeeding duration appears associated with intelligence later in life Posted: 29 Jul 2013 08:16 PM PDT Breastfeeding longer is associated with better receptive language at 3 years of age and verbal and nonverbal intelligence at age 7 years, according to a new study.

Worsening trends in back pain management Posted: 29 Jul 2013 08:15 PM PDT Patient care could be enhanced and the health care system could see significant cost savings if health care professionals followed published clinical guidelines to manage and treat back pain.

Be happy: Your genes may thank you for it Posted: 29 Jul 2013 04:25 PM PDT Your state of mind -- that is, your happiness -- affects your genes, say scientists. In the first study of its kind, the researchers examined how positive psychology impacts human gene expression. What they found is that different types of happiness have surprisingly different effects on the human genome.

Monogamy evolved as a mating strategy: New research indicates that social monogamy evolved as a result of competition Posted: 29 Jul 2013 02:22 PM PDT Social monogamy, where one breeding female and one breeding male are closely associated with each other over several breeding seasons, appears to have evolved as a mating strategy, new research reveals. It was previously suspected that social monogamy resulted from a need for extra parental care by the father.

Human cells respond in healthy, unhealthy ways to different kinds of happiness Posted: 29 Jul 2013 01:19 PM PDT Human bodies recognize at the molecular level that not all happiness is created equal, responding in ways that can help or hinder physical health, according to new research.

Hot flashes? Thank evolution Posted: 29 Jul 2013 01:19 PM PDT A study of mortality and fertility patterns among seven species of wild apes and monkeys and their relatives, compared with similar data from hunter-gatherer humans, shows that menopause sets humans apart from other primates.

Could sleeping stem cells hold key to treatment of aggressive blood cancer? Posted: 29 Jul 2013 01:19 PM PDT Scientists studying an aggressive form of leukemia have discovered that rather than displacing healthy stem cells in the bone marrow as previously believed, the cancer is putting them to sleep to prevent them forming new blood cells.

New modular vaccine design combines best of existing vaccine technologies Posted: 29 Jul 2013 01:18 PM PDT Researchers have developed a new method of vaccine design -- Multiple Antigen Presentation System. It could speed new vaccine development for range of globally serious pathogens, infectious agents. Method permits rapid construction of new vaccines that bring together benefits of whole-cell and acellular or defined subunit vaccination and activate multiple arms of the immune system simultaneously against one or more pathogens, generating robust immune protection with lower risk of adverse effects.

Therapy may curb kidney deterioration in patients with rare disorder Posted: 29 Jul 2013 01:17 PM PDT Researchers have overcome a biological hurdle to find improved treatments for patients with methylmalonic acidemia. Using genetically engineered mice created for their studies, the team identified a set of biomarkers of kidney damage -- a hallmark of the disorder -- and demonstrated that antioxidant therapy protected kidney function in the mice.

Aberrant splicing saps the strength of 'slow' muscle fibers Posted: 29 Jul 2013 01:17 PM PDT In people with myotonic dystrophy, the second most common form of muscular dystrophy, type 1 fibers do not work well, wasting away as the genetic disorder takes over. Researchers have shown how an aberrant alternative splicing program changes the form of an enzyme involved in the fundamental metabolism of these muscle cells, leaving them unable to sustain exercise.

'Cowcatcher' enzyme fixes single-strand DNA Posted: 29 Jul 2013 01:17 PM PDT Single-stranded DNA repair is a critical process whose mechanism has never been determined. Now, researchers have figured out how this process works, focusing on an enzyme associated with the replication complex that detects DNA damage, stops replication and repairs the damage.

Evolution of monogamy in humans the result of infanticide risk, new study suggests Posted: 29 Jul 2013 01:15 PM PDT The threat of infants being killed by unrelated males is the key driver of monogamy in humans and other primates, a new study suggests.

Essential clue to Huntington's disease solution found Posted: 29 Jul 2013 01:15 PM PDT Researchers have discovered a solution to a long-standing medical mystery in Huntington's disease (HD).

Plant-based compound may inhibit HIV Posted: 29 Jul 2013 10:36 AM PDT A compound found in soybeans may become an effective HIV treatment without the drug resistance issues faced by current therapies.

Heavy cell phone use linked to oxidative stress Posted: 29 Jul 2013 10:35 AM PDT A new study finds a strong link between heavy cell phone users and higher oxidative stress to all aspects of a human cell, including DNA. Uniquely based on examinations of the saliva of cell phone users, the research provides evidence of a connection between cell phone use and cancer risk.

Parents don't fully understand biobank research, study finds Posted: 29 Jul 2013 10:35 AM PDT Researchers who collect genetic samples from children for medical research need to explain the process more clearly to parents, according to a new study that suggests many parents don't fully understand the finer details about how these samples will be used and stored.

Diets lacking omega-3s lead to anxiety, hyperactivity in teens: Generational omega-3 deficiencies have worsening effects over time Posted: 29 Jul 2013 10:35 AM PDT Diets lacking omega-3 fatty acids -- found in foods like wild fish, some eggs, and grass-fed livestock -- can have worsened effects over consecutive generations, especially affecting teens, according to a new study.

Premature aging of immune cells in joints of kids with chronic arthritis Posted: 29 Jul 2013 10:35 AM PDT The joints of children with the most common form of chronic inflammatory arthritis contain immune cells that resemble those of 90-year-olds, according to a new study. The findings suggest that innovative treatment approaches could aim to prevent premature aging of immune cells.

PTSD after traumatic events: Which teens are at risk? Posted: 29 Jul 2013 10:35 AM PDT Researchers have identified risk factors for children exposed to trauma in developing PTSD from analyzing 6,483 teen–parent pairs from the National Comorbidity Survey Replication, a survey of the prevalence and correlates of mental disorders in the United States. 61 percent of the teens (ages 13 to 17) had been exposed to at least one potentially traumatic event in their lifetime. Nineteen percent had experienced three or more such events.

Antibiotic reduction campaigns do not necessarily reduce resistance Posted: 29 Jul 2013 10:34 AM PDT Antibiotic use -- and misuse -- is the main driver for selection of antibiotic resistant bacteria. This has led many countries to implement interventions designed to reduce overall antibiotic consumption. Now, using methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus as an example, scientists warn that simply reducing antibiotics consumption does not necessarily reduce resistance.

Cells move as concentration shifts Posted: 29 Jul 2013 10:30 AM PDT Sheets of biological cells move along the organs they cover by altering the external concentrations of specific molecules. What do wound healing, cancer metastasis, and bacteria colonies have in common? They all involve the collective displacement of biological cells. New research sheds some new light on the physical mechanisms provoking the displacement of a sheet of cell, known as an epithelium. It typically covers our organs including the stomach and intestine, as well as our epidermis. In a new article scientists explain the importance of understanding the displacement of the epithelium as a means of influencing the biological process involved in healing.

Therapeutic fecal transplant: Hope for cure of childhood diarrhea comes straight from the gut Posted: 29 Jul 2013 10:30 AM PDT Call it therapeutic poop, if you will, but the best hope yet for an effective treatment of childhood infections with the drug-resistant bacterium C. difficile may come straight from the gut, according to recent research. This is why pediatric gastroenterologists are launching a fecal transplantation program for patients with recurrent diarrhea caused by what they say is a wily pathogen that is increasingly impervious to drugs and a rapidly growing problem among children and adults.

Statins suppress Rett syndrome symptoms in mice Posted: 29 Jul 2013 08:20 AM PDT Statins, a class of cholesterol-lowering drugs found in millions of medicine cabinets, may help treat Rett Syndrome, according to a new study.

Impaired visual signals might contribute to schizophrenia symptoms Posted: 29 Jul 2013 05:33 AM PDT By observing the eye movements of schizophrenia patients while playing a simple video game, a researcher has discovered a potential explanation for some of their symptoms, including difficulty with everyday tasks.

Intent to harm: Willful acts seem more damaging Posted: 29 Jul 2013 05:33 AM PDT How harmful we perceive an act to be depends on whether we see the act as intentional, reveals new research.

Living longer, living healthier: People are remaining healthier later in life Posted: 29 Jul 2013 05:33 AM PDT Based on data collected between 1991 and 2009 from almost 90,000 individuals who responded to the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey, scientists say that, even as life expectancy has increased over the past two decades, people have become increasingly healthier later in life.

Higher cancer incidences found in regions near refineries and plants that release benzene Posted: 29 Jul 2013 05:33 AM PDT The incidence of a particular type of blood cancer is significantly higher in regions near facilities that release the chemical benzene into the environment.

Young cannabis-smokers aware of the health risks Posted: 29 Jul 2013 05:32 AM PDT 91 percent of on average 20-year-old Swiss men drink alcohol, almost half of whom drink six beverages or more in a row and are thus at-risk consumers. 44 percent of Swiss men smoke tobacco, the majority of whom are at-risk consumers – they smoke at least once a day. 36 percent of young adults smoke cannabis, whereby over half are at-risk consumers, using the drug at least twice a week. Researchers investigated whether these young Swiss men read up on addictive substances such as alcohol, tobacco, cannabis or other drugs and are aware and understand the risks of their consumption by conducting a survey of 12,000 men under a national cohort study as they were recruited for national service.

New study finds increase in nonfatal food-related choking among children in the U. S. Posted: 29 Jul 2013 05:27 AM PDT Choking is a leading cause of injury among children, especially for children 4 years of age and younger. A new study examined nonfatal food-related choking among children 14 years of age or younger from 2001 through 2009.

Possible blood test for Alzheimer's disease? Posted: 28 Jul 2013 07:15 PM PDT A new blood test can be used to discriminate between people with Alzheimer's disease and healthy controls. It's hoped the test could one day be used to help diagnose the disease and other degenerative disorders. Alzheimer's disease, the most common form of dementia, can only be diagnosed with certainty at autopsy, so the hunt is on to find reliable, non-invasive biomarkers for diagnosis in the living.

Novel mechanism that helps stomach bug cause illness identified Posted: 28 Jul 2013 10:39 AM PDT A seafood contaminant that thrives in brackish water during the summer works like a spy to infiltrate cells and quickly open communication channels to sicken the host, researchers report.

Molecular robots can help researchers build more targeted therapeutics Posted: 28 Jul 2013 10:39 AM PDT Many drugs such as agents for cancer or autoimmune diseases have nasty side effects because while they kill disease-causing cells, they also affect healthy cells. Now a new study has demonstrated a technique for developing more targeted drugs, by using molecular "robots" to hone in on more specific populations of cells.

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