ScienceDaily: Health & Medicine News

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• Waiting to harvest after a rain enhances food safety
• REM sleep critical for young brain development; medication interferes
• Novel DNA repair mechanism brings new horizons
• Supercharging stem cells to create new therapies
• New test could predict arthritis drug failure in patients
• Documenting how dementia sufferers benefit from GPS
• Stretchy mesh heater for sore muscles
• Millions of children's lives saved through low-cost investments
• First trial of gene therapy for cystic fibrosis to show beneficial effect on lung function
• Bioprinted 'play dough' capable of cell and protein transfer
• Stopping Candida in its tracks
• 'Invisible' protein structure explains the power of enzymes
• Studies confirm regorafenib benefit in pre-treated metastatic colorectal cancer
• Prion trials and tribulations: Finding the right tools and experimental models
• How the stress hormone cortisol reinforces traumatic memories
• New research outlines more effective diagnosis for people with heart conditions
• Why human egg cells don't age well
• Epidemic of obesity, overweight linked to increased food energy supply
• Bisexual men, women report poorer health than gays, lesbians and heterosexuals

Waiting to harvest after a rain enhances food safety Posted: 03 Jul 2015 12:02 PM PDT To protect consumers from foodborne illness, produce farmers should wait 24 hours after a rain or irrigating their fields to harvest crops, experts say. Rain or irrigation creates soil conditions that are more hospitable to Listeria monocytogenes, which when ingested may cause the human illness Listeriosis. Waiting to harvest crops reduces the risk of exposure to the pathogen, which could land on fresh produce.

REM sleep critical for young brain development; medication interferes Posted: 03 Jul 2015 12:02 PM PDT Rapid eye movement or REM sleep actively converts waking experiences into lasting memories and abilities in young brains, reports a new study. The finding broadens the understanding of children's sleep needs and calls into question the increasing use of REM-disrupting medications such as stimulants and antidepressants.

Novel DNA repair mechanism brings new horizons Posted: 03 Jul 2015 12:02 PM PDT The DNA molecule is chemically unstable giving rise to DNA lesions of different nature. That is why DNA damage detection, signaling and repair, collectively known as the DNA damage response, are needed. A group of researchers has discovered a new mechanism of DNA repair, which opens up new perspectives for the treatment and prevention of neurodegenerative diseases.

Supercharging stem cells to create new therapies Posted: 03 Jul 2015 06:46 AM PDT A new method for culturing stem cells has been developed, which sees the highly therapeutic cells grow faster and stronger. Stem cell therapy is showing promising signs for transplant patients, and the IL-17 treated stem cells should be even more effective at preventing and treating inflammation in transplant recipients -- particularly controlling rejection in transplant patients.

New test could predict arthritis drug failure in patients Posted: 03 Jul 2015 04:27 AM PDT It may be possible to predict early which rheumatoid arthritis patients will fail to respond to the biologic drugs given to treat them, a study of 311 patients has found. These findings could help better manage patients' symptoms.

Documenting how dementia sufferers benefit from GPS Posted: 03 Jul 2015 04:27 AM PDT A brand new study of 200 dementia sufferers in Norway reveals that almost all experience greater peace of mind and increased levels of physical activity using GPS devices.

Stretchy mesh heater for sore muscles Posted: 03 Jul 2015 04:27 AM PDT If you suffer from chronic muscle pain a doctor will likely recommend for you to apply heat to the injury.  But how do you effectively wrap that heat around a joint? Now scientists have come up with an ingenious way of creating therapeutic heat in a light, flexible design.

Millions of children's lives saved through low-cost investments Posted: 03 Jul 2015 04:26 AM PDT More than 34 million children's lives have been saved since 2000 because of investments in child health programs at a cost of as little as $4,205 per child, according to a new analysis. From 2000 to 2014, low- and middle-income country governments spent $133 billion on child health. Donors spent $73.6 billion. The governments saved about 20 million children, and the donors saved an additional 14 million children.

First trial of gene therapy for cystic fibrosis to show beneficial effect on lung function Posted: 03 Jul 2015 04:26 AM PDT For the first time gene therapy for cystic fibrosis has shown a significant benefit in lung function compared with placebo, in a phase 2 randomized trial. The technique replaces the defective gene response for cystic fibrosis by using inhaled molecules of DNA to deliver a normal working copy of the gene to lung cells.

Bioprinted 'play dough' capable of cell and protein transfer Posted: 03 Jul 2015 04:26 AM PDT Scientists have developed a new technique allowing the bioprinting at ambient temperatures of a strong paste similar to 'play dough' capable of incorporating protein-releasing microspheres. The scientists demonstrated that the bioprinted material, in the form of a micro-particle paste capable of being injected via a syringe, could sustain stresses and strains similar to cancellous bone -- the 'spongy' bone tissue typically found at the end of long bones.

Stopping Candida in its tracks Posted: 03 Jul 2015 04:26 AM PDT Scientists are one step closer to understanding how a normally harmless fungus changes to become a deadly infectious agent.

'Invisible' protein structure explains the power of enzymes Posted: 03 Jul 2015 04:26 AM PDT A research group has managed to capture and describe a protein structure that, until now, has been impossible to study. The discovery lays the base for developing designed enzymes as catalysts to new chemical reactions for instance in biotechnological applications.

Studies confirm regorafenib benefit in pre-treated metastatic colorectal cancer Posted: 03 Jul 2015 04:26 AM PDT The phase IIIb CONSIGN study has confirmed the benefit of regorafenib in patients with previously treated metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC), researchers. The safety profile and progression free survival were similar to phase III trial results.

Prion trials and tribulations: Finding the right tools and experimental models Posted: 02 Jul 2015 12:12 PM PDT Prions are fascinating, enigmatic, and might teach us not only about rare prion diseases like Creutzfeld-Jakob disease, mad cow disease, or scrapie, but also about other more common neurodgenerative diseases. Two studies report progress with novel tools and paradigms to study prion disease.

How the stress hormone cortisol reinforces traumatic memories Posted: 01 Jul 2015 05:33 AM PDT The stress hormone cortisol strengthens memories of scary experiences. However, it is effective not only while the memory is being formed for the first time, but also later when people look back at an experience while the memory reconsolidates. Researchers suggest that the results might explain the persistence of strong emotional memories occurring in anxiety and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

New research outlines more effective diagnosis for people with heart conditions Posted: 01 Jul 2015 05:28 AM PDT A new algorithm provides more effective Electrocardiogram (ECG) diagnosis for people with heart conditions. The research improves ECG signal classification and improved abnormality detection and diagnosis.

Why human egg cells don't age well Posted: 01 Jul 2015 05:28 AM PDT When egg cells form with an incorrect number of chromosomes -- a problem that increases with age -- the result is usually a miscarriage or a genetic disease such as Down syndrome. Now, researchers have used a novel imaging technique to pinpoint a significant event that leads to these types of age-related chromosomal errors. The study shows that as egg cells mature in older women, paired copies of matching chromosomes often separate from each other at the wrong time, leading to early division of chromosomes and their incorrect segregation into mature egg cells.

Epidemic of obesity, overweight linked to increased food energy supply Posted: 30 Jun 2015 05:20 PM PDT This study investigates the associations between changes in national food energy supply and average population body weight in 24 high-, 27 middle- and 18 low-income countries. The authors found that the association between change in energy supply and change in weight was statistically significant overall, with findings suggesting that increases in food energy supply are sufficient to explain increases in average population weight.

Bisexual men, women report poorer health than gays, lesbians and heterosexuals Posted: 30 Jun 2015 11:17 AM PDT Bisexual men and women report poorer health than gays, lesbians and heterosexuals. In addition to recording self-rated health information, the researchers analyzed the participants' lifestyle according to a number of factors that traditionally impact health, including socio-economic status (including education level, employment status, household income and access to health insurance), health behaviors (smoker or nonsmoker, drinking habits, body mass index and access to health care) and social support and well-being.

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