ScienceDaily: Health & Medicine News

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• Team advances therapy preventing addiction relapse by erasing drug-associated memories
• Projected benefits of high blood pressure treatment in China
• New Medicaid health care program for disabled adults improves aspects of patients' care, report says
• From pluripotency to totipotency
• New weapon in the fight against malnutrition
• Parents' preconception exposure to environmental stressors can disrupt early development
• Intervention to screen women for partner violence does not improve health outcomes
• Emergency department intervention does not reduce heavy drinking or partner violence
• Progress has been made in reducing rates of violence in US; overall numbers remain high
• Mindfulness-based stress reduction therapy decreases PTSD symptom severity among veterans
• Researcher calls for improved firearm safety counseling by physicians
• Cures for PTSD often remain elusive for war veterans
• Weight loss surgery benefits for gut microbiome last at least a decade
• How common white fat can be turned into energy-burning brown fat in humans
• Daily changes in mouse gut bacteria moves with internal clock, gender
• Brain infection study reveals how disease spreads from gut
• Striking a gender balance among speakers at scientific conferences
• Trachoma risk tied to sleeping near cooking fires, lack of ventilation
• Mandatory life jackets could cut odds of recreational boating deaths 80 percent, experts say
• Modelling the effect of vaccines on cholera transmission
• Social factors linked to heart disease for all
• Scaffold-integrated microchips for end-to-end in vitro tumor cell attachment, xenograft formation
• Understanding molecular mechanism leading to addiction in humans
• Researchers use wastewater treatment to capture carbon dioxide, produce energy
• Teen marijuana use not linked to later depression, lung cancer, other health problems, study finds
• Missing piece surfaces in the puzzle of autism
• Trauma experiences change the brain even in those without PTSD
• Benefits, risks of antidepressants during pregnancy
• Scientists identify that memories can be lost and found
• Head impacts, collegiate football practice, games
• Flexible vocalizations in wild bonobos show similarities to development of human speech
• Effect of environmental epigenetics on disease, evolution
• Childhood cancer cells drain immune system's batteries

Team advances therapy preventing addiction relapse by erasing drug-associated memories Posted: 04 Aug 2015 01:08 PM PDT Scientists have made a discovery that brings them closer to a new therapy based on selectively erasing dangerous and tenacious drug-associated memories. A new study demonstrates the effectiveness of a single injection of an early drug candidate called blebbistatin in preventing relapse in animal models of methamphetamine addiction.

Projected benefits of high blood pressure treatment in China Posted: 04 Aug 2015 01:08 PM PDT An expanded program of treatment for hypertension could prevent about 800,000 cardiovascular disease events every year in China, according to a modeling study. The predictions of this simulation indicate that such a program should also be borderline cost-effective, provided low cost essential anti-hypertensive drugs are used.

New Medicaid health care program for disabled adults improves aspects of patients' care, report says Posted: 04 Aug 2015 11:29 AM PDT Care linked to heart attacks and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, among disabled adults covered by Medicaid has improved with the expansion of a new health care program in Texas over the last decade, researchers have found.

From pluripotency to totipotency Posted: 04 Aug 2015 11:29 AM PDT While it is already possible to obtain in vitro pluripotent cells (i.e., cells capable of generating all tissues of an embryo) from any cell type, researchers have pushed the limits of science even further. They managed to obtain totipotent cells with the same characteristics as those of the earliest embryonic stages and with even more interesting properties.

New weapon in the fight against malnutrition Posted: 04 Aug 2015 11:29 AM PDT Malnutrition affects millions of people worldwide and is responsible for one-fifth of deaths in children under the age of five. Children can also experience impaired cognitive development and stunted growth. Now scientists have opened the doors to new research into malnutrition by creating an animal model that replicates the imbalance of gut bacteria associated with the difficult-to-treat disease.

Parents' preconception exposure to environmental stressors can disrupt early development Posted: 04 Aug 2015 11:29 AM PDT Even before a child is conceived, the parents' exposure to environmental stressors can alter the way genes are expressed and ultimately harm the child's health when those genes are passed down to the next generation, according to a new article.

Intervention to screen women for partner violence does not improve health outcomes Posted: 04 Aug 2015 11:27 AM PDT Screening women for partner violence and providing a resource list did not influence the number of hospitalizations, emergency department, or outpatient care visits compared with women only receiving a resource list or receiving no intervention over three years, according to a study.

Emergency department intervention does not reduce heavy drinking or partner violence Posted: 04 Aug 2015 11:27 AM PDT A brief motivational intervention delivered during an emergency department visit did not improve outcomes for women with heavy drinking involved in abusive relationships, according to a study.

Progress has been made in reducing rates of violence in US; overall numbers remain high Posted: 04 Aug 2015 11:27 AM PDT Even though homicide and assault rates have decreased in the US in recent years, the number of these and other types of violent acts remains high, according to a new report. The authors write that multiple strategies exist to improve interpersonal violence prevention efforts, and health care providers are an important part of this solution.

Mindfulness-based stress reduction therapy decreases PTSD symptom severity among veterans Posted: 04 Aug 2015 11:27 AM PDT In a randomized trial that included veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), those who received mindfulness-based stress reduction therapy showed greater improvement in self-reported PTSD symptom severity, although the average improvement appears to have been modest, according to a study.

Researcher calls for improved firearm safety counseling by physicians Posted: 04 Aug 2015 11:27 AM PDT Physicians should improve the way they discuss firearm safety with patients by showing more respect for the viewpoints of gun owners, according to a new article.

Cures for PTSD often remain elusive for war veterans Posted: 04 Aug 2015 11:27 AM PDT Our nation's veterans continue to suffer emotional and psychological effects of war -- some for decades. And while there has been greater attention directed recently toward post-traumatic stress disorder, and more veterans are seeking help, current psychotherapy treatments are less than optimal, according to a new narrative review.

Weight loss surgery benefits for gut microbiome last at least a decade Posted: 04 Aug 2015 11:27 AM PDT Two types of bariatric surgeries, Roux-en-Y gastric bypass and vertical banded gastroplasty, result in similar microbiome remodeling changes that are maintained a decade later in a group of women, a new study shows. Transfer of the microbiota from the bariatric surgery patients was shown to decrease fat mass and increase carbohydrate use in mice.

How common white fat can be turned into energy-burning brown fat in humans Posted: 04 Aug 2015 11:27 AM PDT Researchers have discovered, for the first time in humans, that the widely reviled energy storing white fat can be turned into an energy burning brown fat that uses up excess calories.

Daily changes in mouse gut bacteria moves with internal clock, gender Posted: 04 Aug 2015 07:36 AM PDT Researchers analyzed circadian rhythms in abundance and type of microbiota in the gut and feces of mice using genetic sequencing. They found that the absolute abundance of a large group of rod-shaped bacteria common in the gut and skin of animals, and relative species make-up of the microbiome, changed over a 24-hour cycle, and this rhythmicity was more pronounced in female mice.

Brain infection study reveals how disease spreads from gut Posted: 04 Aug 2015 07:34 AM PDT Diagnosis of deadly brain conditions could be helped by new research that shows how infectious proteins that cause the disease spread. Research reveals how the proteins -- called prions -- spread from the gut to the brain after a person or animal has eaten contaminated meat.

Striking a gender balance among speakers at scientific conferences Posted: 04 Aug 2015 07:02 AM PDT Increasing the number of female speakers at a scientific conference can be done relatively quickly by calling attention to gender disparities common to such meetings and getting more women involved in the conference planning process, suggests a researcher.

Trachoma risk tied to sleeping near cooking fires, lack of ventilation Posted: 04 Aug 2015 07:02 AM PDT Children who sleep in unventilated rooms with cooking fires are at greater risk for severe trachoma, a leading cause of preventable blindness in developing countries, according to the findings of a recent study conducted in Tanzania.

Mandatory life jackets could cut odds of recreational boating deaths 80 percent, experts say Posted: 04 Aug 2015 07:02 AM PDT Increasing life jacket wear by only 20 percent would have saved 1,721 out of 3,047 boaters involved in accidents between 2008 and 2011, scientists say, a finding that could be used to argue for regulations requiring use of the safety devices.

Modelling the effect of vaccines on cholera transmission Posted: 04 Aug 2015 07:01 AM PDT Cholera is a diarrheal disease that is caused by an intestinal bacterium, Vibrio cholerae. Recently an outbreak of cholera in Haiti brought public attention to this deadly disease. In this work, the goal of our differential equation model is to find an effective optimal vaccination strategy to minimize the disease related mortality and to reduce the associated costs.

Social factors linked to heart disease for all Posted: 04 Aug 2015 06:39 AM PDT The social determinants of health are multi-dimensional and multi-level, yet we have few studies that examine the social determinants in large, diverse populations. More extensive research and new interventions are needed, an expert writes, if we are to reach the a goal of increasing the proportion of the population in ideal cardiovascular health by 2020.

Scaffold-integrated microchips for end-to-end in vitro tumor cell attachment, xenograft formation Posted: 04 Aug 2015 06:38 AM PDT A new microchip has been developed that can retrieve microfluidically attached cancer cells for serial analysis by integrating a 3-D hydrogel scaffold into a fluidic device.

Understanding molecular mechanism leading to addiction in humans Posted: 04 Aug 2015 06:37 AM PDT A new study opens the field to new understanding of the molecular mechanism underlying addiction in humans. The team found that humans with mutation of a key gene for this co-transmission were 10 times more vulnerable to very severe forms of addiction.

Researchers use wastewater treatment to capture carbon dioxide, produce energy Posted: 04 Aug 2015 06:37 AM PDT Cleaning up municipal and industrial wastewater can be dirty business, but engineers have developed an innovative wastewater treatment process that not only mitigates carbon dioxide emissions, but actively captures greenhouse gases as well.

Teen marijuana use not linked to later depression, lung cancer, other health problems, study finds Posted: 04 Aug 2015 06:37 AM PDT Chronic marijuana use by teenage boys does not appear to be linked to later physical or mental health issues such as depression, psychotic symptoms or asthma, according to a new study.

Missing piece surfaces in the puzzle of autism Posted: 04 Aug 2015 04:40 AM PDT A new gene that plays a crucial role during early development in humans and whose under-expression may induce certain autistic traits has been uncovered by scientists. Understanding the mechanisms that underlie autism spectrum disorders (ASD), which affect 7.6 million people is a major challenge. Characterized by heterogeneous symptoms and a multifactorial origin, this complex condition evolves during brain development. The scientists thus chose to study adult olfactory stem cells as indicators of the early stages of ontogenesis in order to determine new genes involved in this disease.

Trauma experiences change the brain even in those without PTSD Posted: 04 Aug 2015 04:37 AM PDT Trauma may cause distinct and long-lasting effects even in people who do not develop PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), according to research. It is already known that stress affects brain function and may lead to PTSD, but until now the underlying brain networks have proven elusive.

Benefits, risks of antidepressants during pregnancy Posted: 04 Aug 2015 04:37 AM PDT Treating maternal psychiatric disorder with commonly used antidepressants is associated with a lower risk of certain pregnancy complications including preterm birth and delivery by Caesarean section, according to researchers. However, the medications -- selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs -- resulted in an increased risk of neonatal problems.

Scientists identify that memories can be lost and found Posted: 04 Aug 2015 04:37 AM PDT A team of scientists believe they have shown that memories are more robust than we thought and have identified the process in the brain, which could help rescue lost memories or bury bad memories, and pave the way for new drugs and treatment for people with memory problems.

Head impacts, collegiate football practice, games Posted: 04 Aug 2015 04:36 AM PDT Researchers examined the number and severity of subconcussive head impacts sustained by college football players over an entire season during practices and games. The researchers found that the number of head impacts varied depending on the intensity of the activity.

Flexible vocalizations in wild bonobos show similarities to development of human speech Posted: 04 Aug 2015 04:36 AM PDT From an early age, human infants are able to produce vocalizations in a wide range of emotional states and situations -- an ability felt to be one of the factors required for the development of language. Researchers have found that wild bonobos (our closest living relatives) are able to vocalize in a similar manner. Their findings challenge how we think about the evolution of communication and potentially move the dividing line between humans and other apes.

Effect of environmental epigenetics on disease, evolution Posted: 03 Aug 2015 05:33 AM PDT Environmental factors are having an underappreciated effect on the course of disease and evolution by prompting genetic mutations through epigenetics, a process by which genes are turned on and off independent of an organism's DNA sequence. Researchers assert that is a dramatic shift in how we might think of disease and evolution's underlying biology.

Childhood cancer cells drain immune system's batteries Posted: 01 Aug 2015 06:28 PM PDT Cancer cells in neuroblastoma contain a molecule that breaks down a key energy source for the body's immune cells, leaving them too physically drained to fight the disease, according to new research.

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