ScienceDaily: Health & Medicine News

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• New gene repair technique promises advances in regenerative medicine
• Brain's flexible hub network helps humans adapt
• 'Grammar' plays key role in activating genes
• Tumor suppressor is needed for stem cells to mature into neurons
• ADHD and texting found to significantly impair teenage driving
• At 75, would Popeye still be able to take on Bluto?
• If you were a preemie, take heed for your heart
• Your eyes may hold clues to stroke risk
• Vitamin D supplementation does not appear to reduce blood pressure in patients with hypertension
• Inducing and augmenting labor may be associated with increased risk of autism
• 'Molecular flashlight' illuminates brain tumors in mice
• Irrigation in arid regions can increase malaria risk for a decade
• Electrical signatures of consciousness in the dying brain
• Scientists develop method that ensures safe research on deadly flu viruses: Strategy turns molecules in human lung cells into viral scissors that cut H5N1 bird flu and similar bugs into pieces
• Protein that delays cell division in bacteria may lead to identification of new antibiotics
• New insights into neuroblastoma tumor suppressor may provide clues for improved treatment
• Rules for gene-therapy vectors developed
• Sense of smell: The nose and the brain make quite a team... in disconnection
• School lunch and TV time linked with childhood obesity
• Largest study of epilepsy patients ever conducted reveals new and surprising genetic risk factors
• New clue on the origin of Huntington's disease
• A cautionary note on oxytocin as a treatment for psychiatric disorders
• Disease gene discovered for frequent epilepsy in childhood
• Genetic mutations linked to Parkinson's disease

New gene repair technique promises advances in regenerative medicine Posted: 12 Aug 2013 05:25 PM PDT Using human pluripotent stem cells and DNA-cutting protein from meningitis bacteria, researchers have created an efficient way to target and repair defective genes.

Brain's flexible hub network helps humans adapt Posted: 12 Aug 2013 02:04 PM PDT New research offers compelling evidence that a well-connected core brain network based in the lateral prefrontal cortex and the posterior parietal cortex -- parts of the brain most changed evolutionarily since our common ancestor with chimpanzees -- contains "flexible hubs" that coordinate the brain's responses to novel cognitive challenges.

'Grammar' plays key role in activating genes Posted: 12 Aug 2013 02:03 PM PDT Researchers have probed deep into the cell's genome, beyond the basic genetic code, to begin learning the "grammar" that helps determine whether or not a gene gets switched on to make the protein it encodes.

Tumor suppressor is needed for stem cells to mature into neurons Posted: 12 Aug 2013 02:03 PM PDT The previously proposed tumor suppressor CHD5 is essential for making nervous system stem cells mature into neurons, according to a new study. The finding provides valuable information about how neurons mature and shows why the loss of CHD5 can make tumors of the nerve system more malignant.

ADHD and texting found to significantly impair teenage driving Posted: 12 Aug 2013 02:02 PM PDT ADHD and texting both significantly impair driving performance among teenagers, according to a new study. Researchers used a driving simulator to test the driving performance of 16- and 17-year-old drivers; approximately half of the study's 61 participants had been diagnosed with ADHD, the other half had not.

At 75, would Popeye still be able to take on Bluto? Posted: 12 Aug 2013 02:02 PM PDT If Popeye were to age naturally like the rest of us, he would need more than just big muscles to stay independent during his senior years. When it comes to muscles and aging, the important thing is quality, not quantity, as shown by the findings of a new study.

If you were a preemie, take heed for your heart Posted: 12 Aug 2013 02:02 PM PDT Being born prematurely may be linked to important changes in how your heart forms and works as an adult.

Your eyes may hold clues to stroke risk Posted: 12 Aug 2013 02:02 PM PDT Photographing the retina may help detect which high blood pressure patients are more likely to have a stroke. Retinal imaging may be an inexpensive and non-invasive way to assess risk.

Vitamin D supplementation does not appear to reduce blood pressure in patients with hypertension Posted: 12 Aug 2013 01:59 PM PDT Vitamin D supplementation does not appear to improve blood pressure or markers of vascular health in older patients with isolated systolic hypertension (a common type of high blood pressure), according to a new study.

Inducing and augmenting labor may be associated with increased risk of autism Posted: 12 Aug 2013 01:59 PM PDT Pregnant women whose labors are induced or augmented may have an increased risk of bearing children with autism, especially if the baby is male, according to a large, retrospective analysis.

'Molecular flashlight' illuminates brain tumors in mice Posted: 12 Aug 2013 12:44 PM PDT In a breakthrough that could have wide-ranging applications in molecular medicine, researchers have created a bioengineered peptide that enables imaging of medulloblastomas, among the most devastating of malignant childhood brain tumors, in lab mice.

Irrigation in arid regions can increase malaria risk for a decade Posted: 12 Aug 2013 12:35 PM PDT New irrigation systems in arid regions benefit farmers but can increase the local malaria risk for more than a decade — which is longer than previously believed — despite intensive and costly use of insecticides, a new study in northwest India concludes.

Electrical signatures of consciousness in the dying brain Posted: 12 Aug 2013 12:35 PM PDT About 20 percent of cardiac arrest survivors report having a near death experience with visions and perceptions, but are the experiences real? A new study suggests the dying brain is capable of well-organized electrical activity during the early stages of clinical death. The study provides the first scientific framework for the near-death experience.

Scientists develop method that ensures safe research on deadly flu viruses: Strategy turns molecules in human lung cells into viral scissors that cut H5N1 bird flu and similar bugs into pieces Posted: 12 Aug 2013 09:53 AM PDT The strategy will enable healthy molecules in human lung cells to latch on to these viruses and cut the bugs up before they have a chance to infect the human host.

Protein that delays cell division in bacteria may lead to identification of new antibiotics Posted: 12 Aug 2013 09:53 AM PDT Bacteria adjust to wide fluctuations in food supply by controlling how big they get and how often they divide. Scientists have just worked out the control system E. coli use to delay division so they can bulk up when food suddenly becomes abundant. What can be delayed can also be stopped, so the control system may provide an opportunity to design a new class of antibiotics.

New insights into neuroblastoma tumor suppressor may provide clues for improved treatment Posted: 12 Aug 2013 09:15 AM PDT Loss of a gene required for stem cells in the brain to turn into neurons may underlie the most severe forms of neuroblastoma, a deadly childhood cancer of the nervous system, according to a new study. The findings also provide clues about how to improve the treatment of this often-incurable tumor.

Rules for gene-therapy vectors developed Posted: 12 Aug 2013 09:15 AM PDT Researchers are making strides toward a set of rules to custom-design viral vectors for gene therapy. They have adapted a computer algorithm to find the parts of two distantly related adeno-associated viruses that could be recombined into new and useful viruses for gene therapy. They intend to determine the rules by which custom viruses can easily be designed for therapies.

Sense of smell: The nose and the brain make quite a team... in disconnection Posted: 12 Aug 2013 07:30 AM PDT Scientists have just shown that the representation of an odor evolves after the first breath, and that an olfactory retentivity persists at the central level.

School lunch and TV time linked with childhood obesity Posted: 12 Aug 2013 07:30 AM PDT Among middle-school children, the behaviors most often linked with obesity are school lunch consumption and two hours or more of daily TV viewing.

Largest study of epilepsy patients ever conducted reveals new and surprising genetic risk factors Posted: 12 Aug 2013 07:30 AM PDT Neurologists and epilepsy researchers have discovered 329 random genetic mutations associated with two of the most severe forms of epilepsy, according to a new article.

New clue on the origin of Huntington's disease Posted: 12 Aug 2013 07:27 AM PDT The synapses in the brain act as key communication points between approximately one hundred billion neurons. They form a complex network connecting various centres in the brain through electrical impulses. New research suggests that it is precisely here, in the synapses, that Huntington's disease might begin.

A cautionary note on oxytocin as a treatment for psychiatric disorders Posted: 12 Aug 2013 07:27 AM PDT The hormone oxytocin is known for its widespread effects on social and reproductive processes, and recent data from intranasal administration in humans has produced hope for its use as a therapeutic in autism, schizophrenia, and other disorders. However, this leap to human use is happening without previous animal studies of long-term oxytocin administration, and without knowledge of the neurobiological mechanisms involved in the behavioral findings. A new study indicates that the promising short-term effects often observed after a single dose of oxytocin may not translate to positive effects after long-term administration.

Disease gene discovered for frequent epilepsy in childhood Posted: 12 Aug 2013 07:26 AM PDT More than 50 million people worldwide have epilepsy, with a third of these being children. The most common forms of epilepsy in children occur without any apparent trigger and only affect certain regions of the brain. This condition is known as idiopathic focal epilepsy (IFE). Researchers have successfully identified the first disease gene for IFE.

Genetic mutations linked to Parkinson's disease Posted: 11 Aug 2013 12:06 PM PDT Researchers have discovered how genetic mutations linked to Parkinson's disease might play a key role in the death of brain cells, potentially paving the way for the development of more effective drug treatments.

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