ScienceDaily: Health & Medicine News

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• New way to dramatically raise RNA treatment potency: Proof-of-principle drug candidate powerfully neutralizes myotonic dystrophy defect
• Scientists add new bond to protein engineering toolbox
• Alzheimer disease and Parkinson disease do not appear to share common genetic risk
• Long-term use of some high blood pressure drugs associated with increased risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women
• Celiac disease patients with ongoing intestine damage at lymphoma risk
• Genes that drive brain cancer revealed
• Could discovery lead to end of sunburn pain?
• Insulin pills? More intestinal cells than thought can absorb larger particles
• Stem cells found in gum tissue can fight inflammatory disease
• How switch proteins are extracted from the membrane: Proteins hoist the anchor
• Close-up view of water pores needed in the eye's lens: Aquaporins could hold clues to cataract
• Great-grandmother's cigarette habit could be the cause of child's asthma
• Questions answered with the pupils of your eyes
• Putting the brakes on pain: Researchers protect GABA neurons from oxidative stress
• Feelings for fetus may vary smoking amount
• Breastfeeding may reduce Alzheimer's risk
• Depressed fish could help in the search for new drug treatments
• Working-life training and maternity leave are related to slower cognitive decline in later life
• Moss beats human: Simple moss plants outperform us by gene number
• Obesity more likely in preschoolers drinking sugar-sweetened beverages
• Immune system molecule promotes tumor resistance to anti-angiogenic therapy
• Not only bone density, but also quality of bone predicts fracture risk
• Do antioxidants improve a woman's chances of conceiving?
• Origin of inflammation-driven pancreatic cancer decoded
• Mechanism that allows bacteria to infect plants may inspire cure for eye disease
• Practice makes the brain's motor cortex more efficient
• Researchers dismantle bacteria's war machinery
• Distinct brain disorders biologically linked: Disruption to the gene TOP3B increases susceptibility to schizophrenia and a learning disorder

New way to dramatically raise RNA treatment potency: Proof-of-principle drug candidate powerfully neutralizes myotonic dystrophy defect Posted: 05 Aug 2013 07:31 PM PDT Scientists have shown a novel way to dramatically raise the potency of drug candidates targeting RNA, resulting in a 2,500-fold improvement in potency and significantly increasing their potential as therapeutic agents.

Scientists add new bond to protein engineering toolbox Posted: 05 Aug 2013 07:30 PM PDT Proteins are the workhorses of cells, adopting conformations that allow them to set off chemical reactions, send signals and transport materials. But when a scientist is designing a new drug, trying to visualize the processes inside cells, or probe how molecules interact with each other, they can't always find a protein that will do the job they want. Instead, they often engineer their own novel proteins to use in experiments, either from scratch or by altering existing molecules.

Alzheimer disease and Parkinson disease do not appear to share common genetic risk Posted: 05 Aug 2013 07:26 PM PDT Scientists have examined the genetic overlap between Parkinson disease (PD) and Alzheimer disease (AD).

Long-term use of some high blood pressure drugs associated with increased risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women Posted: 05 Aug 2013 07:26 PM PDT Older women who take certain types of medication to combat high blood pressure may be putting themselves at greater risk for developing breast cancer, according to a new study.

Celiac disease patients with ongoing intestine damage at lymphoma risk Posted: 05 Aug 2013 07:26 PM PDT Celiac disease patients with ongoing intestine damage have a greater than 2-fold increased risk of lymphoma vs. celiac patients whose intestines healed.

Genes that drive brain cancer revealed Posted: 05 Aug 2013 12:24 PM PDT Medical researchers have identified 18 new genes responsible for driving glioblastoma multiforme, the most common -- and most aggressive -- form of brain cancer in adults.

Could discovery lead to end of sunburn pain? Posted: 05 Aug 2013 12:24 PM PDT The painful, red skin that comes from too much time in the sun is caused by a molecule abundant in the skin's epidermis, a new study shows. Blocking this molecule, called TRPV4, greatly protects against the painful effects of sunburn. The research, which was conducted in mouse models and human skin samples, could yield a way to combat sunburn and possibly several other causes of pain.

Insulin pills? More intestinal cells than thought can absorb larger particles Posted: 05 Aug 2013 12:24 PM PDT A new study reports that the small intestine uses more cells than scientists had realized to absorb microspheres large enough to contain therapeutic protein drugs, such as insulin. The finding in rats is potentially good news for developing a means for oral delivery of such drugs.

Stem cells found in gum tissue can fight inflammatory disease Posted: 05 Aug 2013 11:33 AM PDT Stem cells found in mouth tissue can not only become other types of cells but can also relieve inflammatory disease, according to a new study. The study indicates that the stem cells in the gingiva -- obtained via a simple biopsy of the gums -- may have important medical applications in the future.

How switch proteins are extracted from the membrane: Proteins hoist the anchor Posted: 05 Aug 2013 10:36 AM PDT Researchers have for the first time successfully reproduced the recycling process of proteins regulating cellular transport in a biophysical experiment. In doing so, they traced in detail the way the central switch protein Rab is being extracted from the lipid membrane.

Close-up view of water pores needed in the eye's lens: Aquaporins could hold clues to cataract Posted: 05 Aug 2013 10:11 AM PDT Researchers have achieved dynamic, atomic-scale views of a protein needed to maintain the transparency of the lens in the human eye. The work could lead to new insights and drugs for treating cataract and a variety of other health conditions.

Great-grandmother's cigarette habit could be the cause of child's asthma Posted: 05 Aug 2013 10:10 AM PDT A study finds for the first time that the third generation's asthma may be linked to maternal smoking.

Questions answered with the pupils of your eyes Posted: 05 Aug 2013 10:10 AM PDT Patients who are otherwise completely unable to communicate can answer yes or no questions within seconds with the help of a simple system -- consisting of just a laptop and camera -- that measures nothing but the size of their pupils. The tool takes advantage of changes in pupil size that naturally occur when people do mental arithmetic. It requires no specialized equipment or training at all.

Putting the brakes on pain: Researchers protect GABA neurons from oxidative stress Posted: 05 Aug 2013 08:34 AM PDT In a mouse model of neuropathic pain, researchers used antioxidants to preserve GABA neurons post-injury. The result: Less pain behavior.

Feelings for fetus may vary smoking amount Posted: 05 Aug 2013 08:34 AM PDT In a small new study, researchers report that pregnant smokers who felt less emotional attachment to their fetuses may have smoked more than women with greater feelings of attachment.

Breastfeeding may reduce Alzheimer's risk Posted: 05 Aug 2013 08:34 AM PDT Mothers who breastfeed their children may have a lower risk of developing Alzheimer's Disease, with longer periods of breastfeeding also lowering the overall risk, a new study suggests.

Depressed fish could help in the search for new drug treatments Posted: 05 Aug 2013 08:29 AM PDT Antidepressant normalizes the behavior of zebrafish with a defective stress hormone receptor.

Working-life training and maternity leave are related to slower cognitive decline in later life Posted: 05 Aug 2013 08:29 AM PDT Employment gaps may promote but also reduce cognitive function in older age, as new research has shown. In particular, some of the findings suggest that leaves reported as unemployment and sickness are associated with higher risk of cognitive impairment indicating that these kinds of employment gaps may decrease cognitive reserve in the long run. Strongest evidence was found for training and maternity leave being related to slower cognitive decline, suggesting beneficial associations of these kinds of leaves on cognitive function.

Moss beats human: Simple moss plants outperform us by gene number Posted: 05 Aug 2013 08:29 AM PDT At the genetic level, mosses are more complex than humans: Scientists have now describe 32,275 protein-encoding genes from the moss Physcomitrella patens. This is about 10,000 genes more than the human genome contains. Mosses are tiny plants with a simple body plan: They have no roots, no flowers and do not produce seeds. Therefore, they were for a long time they were considered to be simple organisms also at the genetic level.

Obesity more likely in preschoolers drinking sugar-sweetened beverages Posted: 05 Aug 2013 08:28 AM PDT Young children who regularly drink sugary beverages are more likely to gain excessive weight and become obese, according to new research.

Immune system molecule promotes tumor resistance to anti-angiogenic therapy Posted: 05 Aug 2013 08:28 AM PDT Scientists have shown for the first time that a signaling protein involved in inflammation also promotes tumor resistance to anti-angiogenic therapy.

Not only bone density, but also quality of bone predicts fracture risk Posted: 05 Aug 2013 06:26 AM PDT In a new study, bone histomorphometry and infrared spectroscopy revealed abnormal bone properties in children with vertebral fractures and in children after solid organ transplantation. Bone compositional changes in children with vertebral fractures and after different types of organ transplantation have not been reported previously.

Do antioxidants improve a woman's chances of conceiving? Posted: 05 Aug 2013 06:23 AM PDT There is no high quality evidence that antioxidant supplements help to increase a woman's chances of having a baby, according to the results of a new systematic review. The review found women were no more likely to conceive when taking oral antioxidants and that there was limited information about potential harms.

Origin of inflammation-driven pancreatic cancer decoded Posted: 05 Aug 2013 06:23 AM PDT Researchers have revealed the process by which chronic inflammation of the pancreas, pancreatitis, morphs into pancreatic cancer. They say their findings point to ways to identify pancreatitis patients at risk of pancreatic cancer and to potential drug therapies that might reverse the process.

Mechanism that allows bacteria to infect plants may inspire cure for eye disease Posted: 04 Aug 2013 11:45 AM PDT By borrowing a tool from bacteria that infect plants, scientists have developed a new approach to eliminate mutated DNA inside mitochondria -- the energy factories within cells. Doctors might someday use the approach to treat a variety of mitochondrial diseases, including the degenerative eye disease Leber hereditary optic neuropathy.

Practice makes the brain's motor cortex more efficient Posted: 04 Aug 2013 11:45 AM PDT Not only does practice make perfect, it also makes for more efficient generation of neuronal activity in the brain's primary motor cortex, say researchers. New findings have shown that practice leads to decreased metabolic activity for internally generated movements, but not for visually guided motor tasks, and suggest the motor cortex is "plastic" and a potential site for the storage of motor skills.

Researchers dismantle bacteria's war machinery Posted: 04 Aug 2013 11:44 AM PDT This is a veritable mechanics of aggression on the nanoscale. Certain bacteria, including Staphylococcus aureus, have the ability to deploy tiny darts. This biological weapon kills the host cell by piercing the membrane. Researchers at EPFL have dismantled, piece by piece, this intriguing little machine. This discovery offers new insight into the fight against pathogens that are increasingly resistant to antibiotics.

Distinct brain disorders biologically linked: Disruption to the gene TOP3B increases susceptibility to schizophrenia and a learning disorder Posted: 04 Aug 2013 11:44 AM PDT Scientists have shown that schizophrenia and a disorder associated with autism and learning difficulties share a common biological pathway. This is one of the first times that researchers have uncovered genetic evidence for the underlying causes of schizophrenia.

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