ScienceDaily: Health & Medicine News

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• Two biomarkers linked to severe heart disease found
• Heart attack treatment hypothesis 'busted'
• How dengue virus adapts as it travels, increasing chances for outbreaks
• New blood pressure guidelines may lead to under treatment of older adults
• Reducing stroke damage may be next for optical coherence tomography technology widely used in vision healthcare
• Killer sea snail a target for new drugs
• New insights into the genetics of drug-resistant fungal infections
• Restraint, confinement still an everyday practice in mental health settings
• Stress-fighting proteins could be key to new treatments for asthma
• Link found between autoimmune diseases, medications, dangerous heartbeat condition
• Protein implicated in osteosarcoma's spread acts as air traffic controller
• How to rule a gene 'galaxy': A lesson from developing neurons
• Uncovering the mechanism of our oldest anesthetic
• Therapeutic nitric oxide generated from air with an electric spark
• Ion channel mechanics yield insights into optogenetics experiments
• Crowd computing to improve water filtration
• Researchers develop world's most sensitive test to detect infectious disease, superbugs
• Fundamental beliefs about atherosclerosis overturned
• Older patients with traumatic spinal cord injuries less likely to get surgery
• Research breakthrough to treat girls-only epilepsy
• People over 65 with traumatic brain injuries hospitalized four times as often as younger people
• Potential treatment option for children with Ewing's sarcoma
• New study again shows: More strokes with intracranial stents
• Pazopanib improves progression-free survival without impairing quality of life
• tRNAs are segmented into fragments in a manner that depends on race, gender and population
• Age-related cognitive decline tied to immune-system molecule
• Midlife changes in Alzheimer's biomarkers may predict dementia
• Protein suggests a new strategy to thwart infection
• Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia with psychiatric, medical conditions
• Increased risk of complications, death during delivery for women with epilepsy
• Many physicians, clinicians work sick despite risk to patients, survey finds
• Detecting more small cancers in screening mammography suggests overdiagnosis
• Extra DNA acts as a 'spare tire' for our genomes
• Nanomedicine in the fight against thrombotic diseases
• Fingolimod in relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis: Indication of added benefit in certain patients
• Rope-chewing technique an easy way to screen monkeys for disease
• Visualizing RNAi at work
• Drug inhibits infection that causes watery diarrhea
• Transcriptional mechanisms governing cartilage formation
• New genomic aberrations of gastric cancer could pave the way for precision medicine
• How cancer cells avoid shutdown
• Emotion knowledge fosters attentiveness
• Safer, with more benefits: Parents' vaccine views shifting

Two biomarkers linked to severe heart disease found Posted: 06 Jul 2015 01:38 PM PDT A first-of-its-kind animal model to pinpoint two biomarkers that are elevated in the most severe form of coronary disease has been developed by scientists.

Heart attack treatment hypothesis 'busted' Posted: 06 Jul 2015 01:38 PM PDT Researchers have long had reason to hope that blocking the flow of calcium into the mitochondria of heart and brain cells could be one way to prevent damage caused by heart attacks and strokes. But in a study of mice engineered to lack a key calcium channel in their heart cells, scientists appear to have cast a shadow of doubt on that theory.

How dengue virus adapts as it travels, increasing chances for outbreaks Posted: 06 Jul 2015 01:37 PM PDT A research group is the first to explain the mechanisms that the Dengue virus has developed to optimize its ability to cause outbreaks as it travels across the globe to new places and revisits old ones.

New blood pressure guidelines may lead to under treatment of older adults Posted: 06 Jul 2015 01:37 PM PDT In 2014, the Joint National Committee released the eighth update to the blood pressure guidelines (JNC8P). These guidelines included a controversial decision to change the blood pressure goal that may lead to under treatment of adults 60 years of age or older. The JNC8P guidelines set a less stringent goal blood pressure of < 150/90 mmHg for individuals 60 years of age or older compared to the previous <140/90 mmHg goal.

Reducing stroke damage may be next for optical coherence tomography technology widely used in vision healthcare Posted: 06 Jul 2015 01:16 PM PDT A new article reports on use of optical coherence tomography to obtain high-resolution images showing blood-flow dynamics in the brain before, during, and after stroke-like states. The information may ultimately enable clinicians to reduce stroke damage.

Killer sea snail a target for new drugs Posted: 06 Jul 2015 01:16 PM PDT Pain treatment researchers have discovered thousands of new peptide toxins hidden deep within the venom of just one type of Queensland cone snail. Researchers hope the new molecules will be promising leads for new drugs to treat pain and cancer.

New insights into the genetics of drug-resistant fungal infections Posted: 06 Jul 2015 12:49 PM PDT A study offers new insights into how virulent fungi adapt through genetic modifications to fight back against the effects of medication designed to block their spread, and how that battle leaves them temporarily weakened. These insights may provide clues to new ways to treat notoriously difficult-to-cure fungal infections like thrush and vaginitis.

Restraint, confinement still an everyday practice in mental health settings Posted: 06 Jul 2015 11:32 AM PDT Providers of mental-health services still rely on intervention techniques such as physical restraint and confinement to control some psychiatric hospital patients, a practice that can cause harm to both patients and care facilities, according to a new study.

Stress-fighting proteins could be key to new treatments for asthma Posted: 06 Jul 2015 11:32 AM PDT Investigators have discovered the precise molecular steps that enable immune cells implicated in certain forms of asthma and allergy to develop and survive in the body. The findings reveal a new pathway that scientists could use to develop more effective treatments and therapies for the chronic lung disorder.

Link found between autoimmune diseases, medications, dangerous heartbeat condition Posted: 06 Jul 2015 11:32 AM PDT New research focuses on identifying the mechanism by which patients with various autoimmune and connective tissue disorders may be at risk for life-threatening cardiac events if they take certain anti-histamine or anti-depressant medications.

Protein implicated in osteosarcoma's spread acts as air traffic controller Posted: 06 Jul 2015 10:57 AM PDT The investigation of a simple protein has uncovered its uniquely complicated role in the spread of the childhood cancer, osteosarcoma. It turns out the protein, called ezrin, acts like an air traffic controller, coordinating multiple functions within a cancer cell and allowing it to endure stress conditions encountered during metastasis.

How to rule a gene 'galaxy': A lesson from developing neurons Posted: 06 Jul 2015 10:57 AM PDT A new study has found that many RNA messengers encoding neuronal proteins contain specialized sequences that can promote their destabilization in the presence of an RNA-binding protein called tristetraprolin, or TTP.

Uncovering the mechanism of our oldest anesthetic Posted: 06 Jul 2015 09:37 AM PDT Researchers have now revealed brainwave changes in patients receiving nitrous oxide, or "laughing gas." Nitrous oxide, commonly known as "laughing gas," has been used in anesthesiology practice since the 1800s, but the way it works to create altered states is has not been well understood.

Therapeutic nitric oxide generated from air with an electric spark Posted: 06 Jul 2015 09:37 AM PDT Treatment with inhaled nitric oxide can be life saving for newborns, children and adults with several dangerous conditions, but the availability of the treatment has been limited by the size, weight and complexity of equipment needed to administer the gas and the therapy's high price. Now a research team has developed a lightweight, portable system that produces nitric oxide from the air by means of an electrical spark.

Ion channel mechanics yield insights into optogenetics experiments Posted: 06 Jul 2015 09:37 AM PDT Optogenetics techniques, which allow scientists to map and control nerve cells using light stimulation, are being used to study neural circuits in the brain with unprecedented precision. This revolutionary technology relies on light-sensitive proteins such as channelrhodopsins, and researchers have now determined the molecular mechanism involved in the light-induced activation of one of these proteins.

Crowd computing to improve water filtration Posted: 06 Jul 2015 09:37 AM PDT Scientists propose a novel nanotechnology-based strategy to improve water filtration. The project was an experiment in crowdsourced computing -- carried out by over 150,000 volunteers who contributed their own computing power to the research.

Researchers develop world's most sensitive test to detect infectious disease, superbugs Posted: 06 Jul 2015 09:37 AM PDT Infectious diseases such as hepatitis C and some of the world's deadliest superbugs -- C. difficile and MRSA among them -- could soon be detected much earlier by a unique diagnostic test, designed to easily and quickly identify dangerous pathogens, experts report after developing the world's most sensitive detection test.

Fundamental beliefs about atherosclerosis overturned Posted: 06 Jul 2015 09:37 AM PDT Doctors' efforts to battle the dangerous atherosclerotic plaques that build up in our arteries and cause heart attacks and strokes are built on several false beliefs about the fundamental composition and formation of the plaques, new research shows. These new discoveries will force researchers to reassess their approaches to developing treatments and discard some of their basic assumptions about atherosclerosis, commonly known as hardening of the arteries.

Older patients with traumatic spinal cord injuries less likely to get surgery Posted: 06 Jul 2015 09:37 AM PDT Older patients with traumatic spinal cord injuries are less likely to receive surgery compared with younger patients and they experience a significant lag between injury and surgery, according to new research.

Research breakthrough to treat girls-only epilepsy Posted: 06 Jul 2015 08:44 AM PDT A breakthrough discovery is expected to help thousands of young girls worldwide who are suffering from a rare yet debilitating form of epilepsy, an international team led by a genetics expert reports.

People over 65 with traumatic brain injuries hospitalized four times as often as younger people Posted: 06 Jul 2015 08:43 AM PDT A disproportionate number of people hospitalized in Canada with traumatic brain injuries are 65 years or older, a new study has found. While that age group represents only 14 per cent of the Canadian population, it accounted for 38 per cent of hospitalizations for TBI between 2006-07 and 2010-11.

Potential treatment option for children with Ewing's sarcoma Posted: 06 Jul 2015 08:43 AM PDT A new therapeutic alternative for children who suffer from a malignant pediatric tumor bone and soft tissue called Ewing's sarcoma has been discovered by a research consortium. Ewing's sarcoma is the second most common bone cancer and affects children and youth. Currently, if diagnosed early and there is no metastasis it can be cured in 80% of cases but between 25% and 30% of cases are diagnosed when it has metastasized and survival drops to 20%.

New study again shows: More strokes with intracranial stents Posted: 06 Jul 2015 08:42 AM PDT A new study confirms that iff, after a stroke, patients also have stents inserted into blood vessels of the brain, new strokes occur considerably more often.

Pazopanib improves progression-free survival without impairing quality of life Posted: 06 Jul 2015 08:42 AM PDT In patients with soft tissue sarcoma, whose disease had progressed during or after prior chemotherapy, pazopanib improved progression-free survival but did not change health-related quality of life, research shows. This observed improvement in progression-free survival without impairment of health-related quality of life was considered a meaningful result.

tRNAs are segmented into fragments in a manner that depends on race, gender and population Posted: 06 Jul 2015 08:42 AM PDT The study reports on a newly discovered category of tRNA fragments as well as shows that all tRNAs are rich sources of very diverse short molecules whose characteristics depend on a person's gender, population, and race and differ according to tissue and disease type.

Age-related cognitive decline tied to immune-system molecule Posted: 06 Jul 2015 08:42 AM PDT A blood-borne molecule that increases in abundance as we age blocks regeneration of brain cells and promotes cognitive decline, new research shows. The molecule in question, known as beta-2 microglobulin, or B2M, is a component of a larger molecule called MHC I, which plays a major role in the adaptive immune system. A growing body of research indicates that the B2M-MHC I complex, which is present in all cells in the body except red blood cells and plasma cells, can act in the brain in ways not obviously related to immunity--guiding brain development, shaping nerve cell communication, and even affecting behavior.

Midlife changes in Alzheimer's biomarkers may predict dementia Posted: 06 Jul 2015 08:41 AM PDT Studying brain scans and cerebrospinal fluid of healthy adults, scientists have shown that changes in key biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease during midlife may help identify those who will develop dementia years later, according to new research.

Protein suggests a new strategy to thwart infection Posted: 06 Jul 2015 08:41 AM PDT The newfound ability of a protein of the intestines and lungs to distinguish between human cells and the cells of bacterial invaders could underpin new strategies to fight infections. A new article describes the knack of a human protein known as intelectin to distinguish between our cells and those of the disease-causing microbes that invade our bodies.

Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia with psychiatric, medical conditions Posted: 06 Jul 2015 08:41 AM PDT Cognitive behavioral therapy is a widely used nonpharmacologic treatment for insomnia disorders and an analysis of the medical literature suggests it also can work for patients whose insomnia is coupled with psychiatric and medical conditions, according to an article.

Increased risk of complications, death during delivery for women with epilepsy Posted: 06 Jul 2015 08:41 AM PDT A small fraction of pregnancies occur in women with epilepsy but a new study suggests those women may be at higher risk for complications and death during delivery, in a new article.

Many physicians, clinicians work sick despite risk to patients, survey finds Posted: 06 Jul 2015 08:41 AM PDT Many physicians and advanced practice clinicians, including registered nurse practitioners, midwives and physician assistants, reported to work while being sick despite recognizing this could put patients at risk, according to the results of a small survey.

Detecting more small cancers in screening mammography suggests overdiagnosis Posted: 06 Jul 2015 08:41 AM PDT Screening mammography was associated with increased diagnosis of small cancers in a study across U.S. counties but not with significant changes in breast cancer deaths or a decreased incidence of larger breast cancers, which researchers suggest may be the result of overdiagnosis, according to an article.

Extra DNA acts as a 'spare tire' for our genomes Posted: 06 Jul 2015 08:41 AM PDT Carrying around a spare tire is a good thing -- you never know when you'll get a flat. Turns out we're all carrying around 'spare tires' in our genomes, too. Today researchers report that an extra set of guanines (or 'G's) in our DNA may function just like a 'spare' to help prevent many cancers from developing.

Nanomedicine in the fight against thrombotic diseases Posted: 06 Jul 2015 07:38 AM PDT Ischemic heart disease and stroke caused by thrombus formation are responsible for more than 17 million deaths per year worldwide. Now researchers announce new research that has been covering the use of nanocarriers and microbubbles in drug delivery for thrombotic disease.

Fingolimod in relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis: Indication of added benefit in certain patients Posted: 06 Jul 2015 07:38 AM PDT Based on new analyses conducted by the drug manufacturer, an advantage can be determined in two instead of only one patient group for the use of Fingolimod in relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis. There are now indications instead of a hint.

Rope-chewing technique an easy way to screen monkeys for disease Posted: 06 Jul 2015 06:24 AM PDT What a piece of rope and strawberry jam have to do with preventing the spread of zoonotic disease.

Visualizing RNAi at work Posted: 06 Jul 2015 06:14 AM PDT Researchers have revealed the molecular mechanism of RNA interference (RNAi), the phenomenon by which the synthesis of a specific protein is inhibited, by real time observation of target RNA cleavage at the single-molecule level.

Drug inhibits infection that causes watery diarrhea Posted: 06 Jul 2015 06:13 AM PDT Researchers have demonstrated that heparin, a type of sulfated polysaccharide, inhibits infection with Cryptosporidium parvum, a protozoan that causes diarrhea in humans and other mammals. This will facilitate the development of anti-cryptosporidial agents.

Transcriptional mechanisms governing cartilage formation Posted: 06 Jul 2015 06:13 AM PDT Researchers have identified modes of Sox9 action during cartilage formation by analyzing big data on Sox9 location, chromatin state, and gene expression over the whole mouse genome. This finding will contribute to the understanding of cartilage diseases caused by genomic mutation and genome-based drug discovery for disease therapies.

New genomic aberrations of gastric cancer could pave the way for precision medicine Posted: 06 Jul 2015 06:13 AM PDT Scientists have discovered a relationship between Asian gastric cancers and the fusion of two genes.

How cancer cells avoid shutdown Posted: 06 Jul 2015 06:00 AM PDT Researchers unravel mechanisms by which a protein that promotes tumor growth is produced during stress. The specific protein concerned in the team's study is the protease cathepsin L, a certain enzyme. It is long known that high levels of this protease in breast cancers are associated with high metastasis rates and poor survival of the patients.

Emotion knowledge fosters attentiveness Posted: 06 Jul 2015 06:00 AM PDT Young children, who possess a good understanding of their own emotions and of those of their fellow human beings early on, suffer fewer attention problems than their peers with a lower emotional understanding, a new study shows.

Safer, with more benefits: Parents' vaccine views shifting Posted: 06 Jul 2015 05:53 AM PDT Over the same time period that multiple outbreaks of measles and whooping cough made headlines around the country, parents' views on vaccines became more favorable.

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