ScienceDaily: Health & Medicine News

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• Study in teens & young adults may help predict if health insurance expansion will cut ER use
• Statin, osteoporosis drug combo may help treat parasitic infections
• 'Traffic-light' labeling increases attention to nutritional quality of food choices
• Prescription drug use among Medicare patients highly inconsistent
• Death from drugs like oxycodone linked to disadvantaged neighborhoods, fragmented families
• Psychologists report new insights on human brain, consciousness
• Five-year-old children as likely to suffer from bilharzia as their mothers
• Pioneering use of oral cholera vaccine during outbreak
• Human neutrophil peptide-1: A new anti-leishmanial drug candidate
• Use of false ID by youth to buy alcohol is slippery slope toward alcohol use disorders
• Adolescence: When drinking, genes may collide
• Making sense of conflicting advice on calcium intake
• Infertility problems? Eating tips to boost fertility
• Costly cigarettes and smoke-free homes
• Vitamin D does not contribute to kidney stones
• Men-only hepatitis B mutation explains higher cancer rates
• Mutation in NFKB2 gene causes hard-to-diagnose immunodeficiency disorder CVID
• Brain may flush out toxins during sleep
• Gene regulation differences between humans, chimpanzees very complex
• FDA must find regulatory balance for probiotics
• Researchers advance toward engineering 'wildly new genome'
• Mysterious ancient human crossed Wallace's Line
• Nanotech system, cellular heating may improve treatment of ovarian cancer
• Stem cell transplant repairs damaged gut of inflammatory bowel disease
• Complex diseases traced to gene copy numbers
• Yoga accessible for the blind with new kinect-based program
• Brain scans may aid in diagnosis of autism
• Depression twice as likely in migraine sufferers
• A lost generation of young scientists? Grad student voices concern about research funding crunch
• Female doctors better than male doctors, but males are more productive
• Brain scans show unusual activity in retired American football players
• Activating proteins in brain by shining LED light on them
• Physical activity in parks can been boosted by modest marketing
• Increase seen in donor eggs for in vitro fertilization, improved outcomes
• Blood pressure drugs decrease risk of Alzheimer's disease
• Bariatric surgery patients not being prioritized correctly
• Separating the good from the bad in bacteria
• Rapid blood test to diagnose sepsis at the bedside could save thousands of lives
• Elusive secret of HIV long-term immunity
• New way to treat chronic kidney disease and heart failure
• Bacteria-eating viruses 'magic bullets in the war on superbugs'

Study in teens & young adults may help predict if health insurance expansion will cut ER use Posted: 17 Oct 2013 02:39 PM PDT As the nation prepares for more uninsured Americans to gain health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, a question hangs over crowded emergency rooms: Will the newly insured make fewer ER visits than they do today? A new study suggests that while the number of ER visits will likely stay about the same, clinic visits will likely go up.

Statin, osteoporosis drug combo may help treat parasitic infections Posted: 17 Oct 2013 02:39 PM PDT Researchers have discovered that a combination of two commonly prescribed drugs used to treat high cholesterol and osteoporosis may serve as the foundation of a new treatment for toxoplasmosis, a parasitic infection caused by the protozoan Toxoplasma gondii.

'Traffic-light' labeling increases attention to nutritional quality of food choices Posted: 17 Oct 2013 02:39 PM PDT A simple, color-coded system for labeling food items in a hospital cafeteria appears to have increased customer's attention to the healthiness of their food choices, along with encouraging purchases of the most healthy items.

Prescription drug use among Medicare patients highly inconsistent Posted: 17 Oct 2013 02:39 PM PDT A new report shows that the use of both effective and risky drug therapies by Medicare patients varies widely across US regions, offering further evidence that location is a key determinant in the quality and cost of the medical care that patients receive.

Death from drugs like oxycodone linked to disadvantaged neighborhoods, fragmented families Posted: 17 Oct 2013 02:36 PM PDT Death from analgesic overdose, including the painkillers oxycodone and codeine, is more concentrated in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods with a prevalence of high divorce, single-parent homes than deaths from unintentional causes. Yet, compared to heroin overdose deaths, analgesic overdoses were found to occur in higher-income neighborhoods.

Psychologists report new insights on human brain, consciousness Posted: 17 Oct 2013 02:36 PM PDT A study by psychologists is a step toward neuroscience research on consciousness. "The difference between being conscious and unconscious is a bit like the difference between driving from Los Angeles to New York in a straight line versus having to cover the same route hopping on and off several buses that force you to take a 'zig-zag' route and stop in several places," said lead author of the study.

Five-year-old children as likely to suffer from bilharzia as their mothers Posted: 17 Oct 2013 02:36 PM PDT Children of women harboring the bilharzia (schistosomiasis) worm during pregnancy are more likely to suffer the infection by the age of five years, a new study has found.

Pioneering use of oral cholera vaccine during outbreak Posted: 17 Oct 2013 02:36 PM PDT A Medecins Sans Frontieres vaccination campaign of more than 300,000 people in Guinea shows feasibility of oral cholera vaccine for control of future epidemics.

Human neutrophil peptide-1: A new anti-leishmanial drug candidate Posted: 17 Oct 2013 02:36 PM PDT As drug-resistant strains of Leishmaniasis spread, new non-toxic therapy could open a new front in the battle against this deadly parasite.

Use of false ID by youth to buy alcohol is slippery slope toward alcohol use disorders Posted: 17 Oct 2013 02:36 PM PDT Many underage youth use false identification to buy alcohol. A new study has found that almost two-thirds of a college student sample used false IDs. False ID use might contribute to the development of alcohol use disorders by facilitating more frequent drinking.

Adolescence: When drinking, genes may collide Posted: 17 Oct 2013 02:36 PM PDT Many negative effects of drinking, such as transitioning into heavy alcohol use, often take place during adolescence and can contribute to long-term negative health outcomes as well as the development of alcohol use disorders. A new study of adolescent drinking and its genetic and environmental influences has found that different trajectories of adolescent drinking are preceded by discernible gene-parenting interactions, specifically, the mu-opioid receptor genotype and parental rule-setting.

Making sense of conflicting advice on calcium intake Posted: 17 Oct 2013 02:34 PM PDT In recent years, studies have reported inconsistent findings regarding whether calcium supplements used to prevent fractures increase the risk of heart attack. Now, in an assessment of the scientific literature, a researcher says patients and health care practitioners should focus on getting calcium from the diet, rather than supplements, when possible.

Infertility problems? Eating tips to boost fertility Posted: 17 Oct 2013 02:33 PM PDT Women who watch their weight and closely follow a Mediterranean-style diet high in vegetables, vegetable oils, fish and beans may increase their chance of becoming pregnant.

Costly cigarettes and smoke-free homes Posted: 17 Oct 2013 02:33 PM PDT Researchers say high-priced cigarettes and smoke-free homes effectively reduce smoking behaviors among low-income individuals – a demographic in which tobacco use has remained comparatively high.

Vitamin D does not contribute to kidney stones Posted: 17 Oct 2013 02:33 PM PDT Increased vitamin D levels may prevent a wide range of diseases, according to recent studies. However, some previous studies led to a concern that vitamin D supplementation could increase an individual's risk of developing kidney stones.

Men-only hepatitis B mutation explains higher cancer rates Posted: 17 Oct 2013 11:47 AM PDT A team of researchers has identified a novel mutation in the hepatitis B virus (HBV) in Korea that appears only in men and could help explain why HBV-infected men are roughly five times more likely than HBV-infected women to develop liver cancer. Although some women do progress to cirrhosis and liver cancer, the mutation is absent in HBV in women.

Mutation in NFKB2 gene causes hard-to-diagnose immunodeficiency disorder CVID Posted: 17 Oct 2013 11:46 AM PDT Researchers discovered that a mutation in the NFKB2 gene impairs a protein from functioning properly, which interferes with the body's ability to make antibodies and fight infection.

Brain may flush out toxins during sleep Posted: 17 Oct 2013 11:46 AM PDT Using mice, researchers showed for the first time that the space between brain cells may increase during sleep, allowing the brain to flush out toxins that build up during waking hours. These results suggest a new role for sleep in health and disease.

Gene regulation differences between humans, chimpanzees very complex Posted: 17 Oct 2013 11:46 AM PDT Changes in gene regulation have been used to study the evolutionary chasm that exists between humans and chimpanzees despite their largely identical DNA. However, scientists have discovered that mRNA expression levels, long considered a barometer for differences in gene regulation, often do not reflect differences in protein expression -- and, therefore, biological function -- between humans and chimpanzees.

FDA must find regulatory balance for probiotics Posted: 17 Oct 2013 11:46 AM PDT The US Food and Drug Administration should consider the unique features of probiotics -- bacteria that help maintain the natural balance of organisms in the intestines -- in regulating their use and marketing, says a lead author of the a newly released article on the topic.

Researchers advance toward engineering 'wildly new genome' Posted: 17 Oct 2013 11:46 AM PDT In two parallel projects, researchers have rewritten the genetic code of the bacterium E. coli. In the first study they created a genetically and biochemically novel organism by erasing every example of a single codon from the entire genome. In the second, they tested whether all codons could be swapped to a synonymous codon in 42 separate genes, while eliminating every instance of 13 codons throughout each of those genes.

Mysterious ancient human crossed Wallace's Line Posted: 17 Oct 2013 11:44 AM PDT Scientists have proposed that the most recently discovered ancient human relatives – the Denisovans – somehow managed to cross one of the world's most prominent marine barriers in Indonesia, and later interbred with modern humans moving through the area on the way to Australia and New Guinea.

Nanotech system, cellular heating may improve treatment of ovarian cancer Posted: 17 Oct 2013 10:52 AM PDT The combination of heat, chemotherapeutic drugs and an innovative delivery system based on nanotechnology may significantly improve the treatment of ovarian cancer while reducing side effects from toxic drugs, researchers report in a new study.

Stem cell transplant repairs damaged gut of inflammatory bowel disease Posted: 17 Oct 2013 10:52 AM PDT A source of gut stem cells that can repair a type of inflammatory bowel disease when transplanted into mice has been identified by researchers.

Complex diseases traced to gene copy numbers Posted: 17 Oct 2013 10:52 AM PDT Researchers have connected very rare and precise duplications and deletions in the human genome to their complex disease consequences by duplicating them in zebrafish.

Yoga accessible for the blind with new kinect-based program Posted: 17 Oct 2013 10:50 AM PDT A team of computer scientists has created a software program that watches a user's movements and gives spoken feedback on what to change to accurately complete a yoga pose. Researchers hope this will allow people who are blind or low-vision to participate more fully in yoga exercises.

Brain scans may aid in diagnosis of autism Posted: 17 Oct 2013 08:42 AM PDT The investigators found that brain connectivity data from 19 paths in brain scans predicted whether the participants had autism, with an accuracy rate of 95.9 percent.

Depression twice as likely in migraine sufferers Posted: 17 Oct 2013 08:42 AM PDT The prevalence of depression among those with migraine is approximately twice as high as for those without the disease (men: 8.4% vs. 3.4%; women 12.4% vs. 5.7%), according to a new study.

A lost generation of young scientists? Grad student voices concern about research funding crunch Posted: 17 Oct 2013 08:15 AM PDT Alexis Carulli wants to make a difference in fighting human disease. So do the thousands of bright graduate students like her. But with federal scientific research funding flat, eroded by inflation and cut by budget sequestration, Carulli worries for her generation of aspiring biomedical scientists.

Female doctors better than male doctors, but males are more productive Posted: 17 Oct 2013 07:06 AM PDT The quality of care provided by female doctors is higher than that of their male counterparts while the productivity of males is greater, new research shows. The research team reached this conclusion by studying the billing information of over 870 Quebec practitioners (half of whom were women) relating to their procedures with elderly diabetic patients.

Brain scans show unusual activity in retired American football players Posted: 17 Oct 2013 06:38 AM PDT A new study has discovered profound abnormalities in brain activity in a group of retired American football players. Although the former players in the study were not diagnosed with any neurological condition, brain imaging tests revealed unusual activity that correlated with how many times they had left the field with a head injury during their careers.

Activating proteins in brain by shining LED light on them Posted: 17 Oct 2013 06:35 AM PDT With the flick of a light switch, researchers can change the shape of a protein in the brain of a mouse, turning on the protein at the precise moment they want. This allows the scientists to observe the exact effect of the protein's activation. The new method relies on specially engineered amino acids -- the molecules that make up proteins -- and light from an LED. Now that it has been shown to work, the technique can be adapted to give researchers control of a wide variety of other proteins in the brain to study their functions.

Physical activity in parks can been boosted by modest marketing Posted: 17 Oct 2013 05:06 AM PDT A new study finds that physical activity in parks can be increased significantly by making modest investments in marketing, such as improve signage. The strategy included working with park users and neighbors to develop a coherent plan.

Increase seen in donor eggs for in vitro fertilization, improved outcomes Posted: 17 Oct 2013 04:59 AM PDT Between 2000 and 2010 in the United States the number of donor eggs used for in vitro fertilization increased, and outcomes for births from those donor eggs improved.

Blood pressure drugs decrease risk of Alzheimer's disease Posted: 16 Oct 2013 06:33 PM PDT An analysis of data previously gathered on more than 3,000 elderly Americans strongly suggests that taking certain blood pressure medications to control blood pressure may reduce the risk of dementia due to Alzheimer's disease.

Bariatric surgery patients not being prioritized correctly Posted: 16 Oct 2013 06:33 PM PDT Most people who receive bariatric surgery in Canada, and around the world, are obese women, even though their male counterparts are more at risk, especially if those men are smokers and have diabetes.

Separating the good from the bad in bacteria Posted: 16 Oct 2013 06:33 PM PDT New microfluidic technique quickly distinguishes bacteria within the same strain; could improve monitoring of cystic fibrosis and other diseases.

Rapid blood test to diagnose sepsis at the bedside could save thousands of lives Posted: 16 Oct 2013 06:33 PM PDT Researchers have identified a biomarker -- a biological 'fingerprint' -- for sepsis in the blood, and showed it could be possible to diagnose the condition within two hours by screening for this biomarker at a patient's bedside.

Elusive secret of HIV long-term immunity Posted: 16 Oct 2013 06:32 PM PDT Scientists have discovered a long sought, critical new clue about why some people are able to control the HIV virus long term without taking antiviral drugs. The finding may be useful in shortening drug treatment for everyone else with HIV. These rare individuals have an extra helping of an immune protein that blocks HIV from spreading within the body by turning it into an impotent wimp. Earlier treatment could protect reserves of the critical protein for everyone.

New way to treat chronic kidney disease and heart failure Posted: 16 Oct 2013 06:32 PM PDT Researchers are using adult bone marrow stem cells as they investigate a completely new way of treating chronic kidney disease and heart failure in rats.

Bacteria-eating viruses 'magic bullets in the war on superbugs' Posted: 16 Oct 2013 06:25 PM PDT A team of scientists has isolated viruses that eat bacteria -- called phages -- to specifically target the highly infectious hospital superbug Clostridium difficile (C. diff.).

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