ScienceDaily: Health & Medicine News

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• Toxicologists outline key health and environmental concerns associated with hydraulic fracturing
• Longevity gene may boost brain power: Researchers discover the gene may enhance cognitive abilities
• Conducting polymer films decorated with biomolecules for cell research use
• Study validates air sampling techniques to fight bioterrorism
• The promise of purple for enhanced bioimaging
• Intestinal enzyme maintains microbial balance: Study shows how
• Epigenetic mechanisms distinguishing stem cell function, blood cancer decoded
• Larger percentage of Texas Hispanics have enrolled in Health Insurance Marketplace plans
• Sneaking drugs into cancer cells before triggering release
• Tracking the Source of 'Selective Attention' Problems in Brain-Injured Vets
• Hurricanes Katrina, Rita may have caused up to half of recorded stillbirths in worst hit areas
• From age 30 onwards, inactivity has greatest impact on women's lifetime heart disease risk
• Exact outline of melanoma could lead to new diagnostic tools, therapies

Toxicologists outline key health and environmental concerns associated with hydraulic fracturing Posted: 09 May 2014 02:25 PM PDT Since the rise in the use of hydraulic fracturing of shale to produce natural gas and oil, many have debated the merits and detractions of the practice. Scientists outline how toxicological sciences can be used to determine what risks may or may not be associated with fracking.

Longevity gene may boost brain power: Researchers discover the gene may enhance cognitive abilities Posted: 09 May 2014 12:08 PM PDT Scientists showed that people who have a variant of a longevity gene, called KLOTHO, have improved brain skills such as thinking, learning and memory regardless of their age, sex, or whether they have a genetic risk factor for Alzheimer's disease. Increasing KLOTHO gene levels in mice made them smarter, possibly by increasing the strength of connections between nerve cells in the brain.

Conducting polymer films decorated with biomolecules for cell research use Posted: 09 May 2014 11:03 AM PDT The ability to create conducting polymer films in a variety of shapes, thicknesses and surface properties rapidly and inexpensively will make growing and testing cells easier and more flexible, according to a team of bioengineers. The researchers create their hydrogel stamps from agarose -- a sugar extracted from seaweed -- poured into molds.

Study validates air sampling techniques to fight bioterrorism Posted: 09 May 2014 10:16 AM PDT Air and surface sampling techniques currently used by the US government are effective in fighting bioterrorism and potentially saving lives, a former Department of Homeland Security medical officer finds. Air sampling has been readily accepted for similar uses such as measuring for particulate matter, however using it to detect bacteria in biological terrorism was a new concept instituted after the 9/11 attacks.

The promise of purple for enhanced bioimaging Posted: 09 May 2014 10:16 AM PDT Newly detected 'energy-clustering' structures inside rare-earth nanoparticles generate intense violet light, which is ideal for studying photon-induced transformations. Labeling biomolecules with light-emitting nanoparticles is a powerful technique for observing cell movement and signaling under realistic, in vivo conditions. The small size of these probes, however, often limits their optical capabilities. In particular, many nanoparticles have trouble producing high-energy light with wavelengths in the violet to ultraviolet range, which can trigger critical biological reactions.

Intestinal enzyme maintains microbial balance: Study shows how Posted: 09 May 2014 10:00 AM PDT The mechanism by which an enzyme produced in the intestinal lining helps to maintain a healthy population of gastrointestinal microbes has been identified by researchers. The research team describes finding that intestinal alkaline phosphatase promotes the growth of beneficial bacteria by blocking the growth-inhibiting action of adenosine triphosphate -- an action first described in this paper -- within the intestine.

Epigenetic mechanisms distinguishing stem cell function, blood cancer decoded Posted: 09 May 2014 10:00 AM PDT A new mechanism that distinguishes normal blood stem cells from blood cancers has been developed by researchers. "These findings constitute a significant advance toward the goal of killing leukemia cells without harming the body's normal blood stem cells which are often damaged by chemotherapy," said a principle investigator.

Larger percentage of Texas Hispanics have enrolled in Health Insurance Marketplace plans Posted: 09 May 2014 10:00 AM PDT Texas Hispanics were more than twice as likely as whites to have enrolled in health insurance plans offered through the Affordable Care Act's Health Insurance Marketplace between September 2013 and March 2014, according to a report. The report also found that Hispanic adults in Texas experience more difficulty in affording health services than white adults and are three times as likely to be uninsured.

Sneaking drugs into cancer cells before triggering release Posted: 09 May 2014 08:07 AM PDT Biomedical engineering researchers have developed an anti-cancer drug delivery method that essentially smuggles the drug into a cancer cell before triggering its release. The method can be likened to keeping a cancer-killing bomb and its detonator separate until they are inside a cancer cell, where they then combine to destroy the cell.

Tracking the Source of 'Selective Attention' Problems in Brain-Injured Vets Posted: 09 May 2014 08:01 AM PDT The obvious cognitive symptoms of minor traumatic brain injury can dissipate within a few days, but blast-exposed veterans may continue to have problems focusing attention on one sound source and ignoring others, an ability known as "selective auditory attention." According to a new study, such apparent "hearing" problems actually may be caused by diffuse injury to the brain's prefrontal lobe.

Hurricanes Katrina, Rita may have caused up to half of recorded stillbirths in worst hit areas Posted: 08 May 2014 04:25 PM PDT Hurricanes Katrina and Rita may have been responsible for up to half of all recorded stillbirths in the worst hit areas, suggests research. Calculations indicate that the risk of a pregnancy ending in a stillbirth was 40% higher in parishes where 10-50% of housing stock had been damaged, and more than twice as high in areas where over 50% of the housing stock had taken a hit. After taking account of known risk factors, every 1% increase in the extent of damage to housing stock was associated with a corresponding 7% rise in the number of stillbirths.

From age 30 onwards, inactivity has greatest impact on women's lifetime heart disease risk Posted: 08 May 2014 04:25 PM PDT From the age of 30 onwards, physical inactivity exerts a greater impact on a woman's lifetime risk of developing heart disease than the other well-known risk factors, suggests research. This includes overweight, the finding show, prompting the researchers to suggest that greater effort needs to be made to promote exercise.

Exact outline of melanoma could lead to new diagnostic tools, therapies Posted: 08 May 2014 02:22 PM PDT A specific biochemical process that can cause normal and healthy skin cells to transform into cancerous melanoma cells has been found by researchers, which should help predict melanoma vulnerability and could also lead to future therapies. They discovered in this situation that the immune system is getting thrown into reverse, helping to cause cancer instead of preventing it.

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