ScienceDaily: Health & Medicine News

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• Autism spectrum disorder linked to mutations in some mitochondrial DNA
• High-frequency spinal cord stimulation provides better results in chronic back, leg pain
• Antibody breaks leukemia's hold, providing new therapeutic approach
• Underfed worms program their babies to cope with famine
• What's the best way to match the implant to the breast?
• A skin graft for bad burns
• Placebo sweet spot for pain relief identified in brain
• Novel approach in primary care setting may help identify patients with COPD
• Neurobiology: Supporting the damaged brain
• New discovery in understanding chemotherapy resistance could prevent cancer cells fighting back
• When fat cells change their color
• Screws that fit the body's notches
• New research paves way for anti-cancer treatment
• Robots help position interventional needles
• Breakthrough in production of dopamine neurons for Parkinson's disease
• Fatty liver: Turning off TAZ reverses disease
• Clinical trial data sharing off to a slow start
• Children with autism may be over-diagnosed with ADHD, new study suggests
• Stability of exhausted T cells limits durability of cancer checkpoint drugs
• Study yields rich dossier of cancer-linked protein's associates
• Airway-on-a-chip could lead to new treatments for cigarette smoke-induced lung injury
• A metabolic switch to turn off obesity
• Hospital rooms and patients equally likely to transmit pathogens
• Can therapy dogs assist in motivating children on the autism spectrum?
• 50-year-old bacteria could be alternative treatment option for cancer
• The transition from daylight saving time to standard time leads to depressions
• Self-renewable cancer killer cells could be key to making immunotherapy work

Autism spectrum disorder linked to mutations in some mitochondrial DNA Posted: 28 Oct 2016 01:17 PM PDT Children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have greater numbers of harmful mutations in their mitochondrial DNA than family members, researchers report.

High-frequency spinal cord stimulation provides better results in chronic back, leg pain Posted: 28 Oct 2016 09:53 AM PDT For patients with severe, chronic back and leg pain, a new high-frequency spinal cord stimulation (SCS) technique provides superior clinical outcomes, compared to conventional low-frequency SCS, reports a clinical trial.

Antibody breaks leukemia's hold, providing new therapeutic approach Posted: 28 Oct 2016 08:51 AM PDT Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is an aggressive cancer known for drug resistance and relapse. In an effort to uncover new treatment strategies, researchers have discovered that a cell surface molecule known as CD98 promotes AML.

Underfed worms program their babies to cope with famine Posted: 28 Oct 2016 08:40 AM PDT Going hungry at an early age can cause lifelong health problems. But the extent of malnutrition's damage depends on mom's diet too -- at least in worms. A new study of the tiny nematode worm C. elegans finds that young worms that don't get anything to eat in the first few days of life are buffered from early starvation's worst effects if their mothers had also been underfed.

What's the best way to match the implant to the breast? Posted: 28 Oct 2016 08:21 AM PDT How should plastic surgeons choose the best implant type and size for women undergoing breast augmentation surgery? Implant size selection systems based on breast tissue measurements may provide better outcomes, suggests a research.

A skin graft for bad burns Posted: 28 Oct 2016 06:01 AM PDT To get a head start on healing burn wounds, biomedical engineers at Michigan Technological University turn to the body's natural network. They combine engineered stem cell sheets with split thickness skin grafts to do so.

Placebo sweet spot for pain relief identified in brain Posted: 28 Oct 2016 06:01 AM PDT Scientists have identified for the first time the region in the brain responsible for the "placebo effect" in pain relief, when a fake treatment actually results in substantial reduction of pain, according to new research. Pinpointing the sweet spot of the pain killing placebo effect could result in the design of more personalized medicine for the 100 million Americans with chronic pain.

Novel approach in primary care setting may help identify patients with COPD Posted: 28 Oct 2016 06:01 AM PDT With five simple questions and an inexpensive peak expiratory flow (PEF) meter, primary care clinicians may be able to diagnose many more patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, according to new research. Follow-up studies will help establish if earlier identification and treatment of people with COPD improves quality of life and health outcomes.

Neurobiology: Supporting the damaged brain Posted: 28 Oct 2016 06:00 AM PDT Embryonic nerve cells can functionally integrate into local neural networks when transplanted into damaged areas of the visual cortex of adult mice, say researchers.

New discovery in understanding chemotherapy resistance could prevent cancer cells fighting back Posted: 28 Oct 2016 05:59 AM PDT Scientists have discovered the key to preventing resistance to common chemotherapy used to treat breast and colon cancer, offering hope to an improvement to cancer care.

When fat cells change their color Posted: 28 Oct 2016 05:59 AM PDT In mammals, three types of adipose tissues exist. White adipocytes are mainly located in the abdominal and subcutaneous areas of the body and highly adapted to store excess energy. Conversely, beige and brown adipocytes are highly energy-expending by generating heat. The epigenetic enzyme Lsd1 plays an important role in maintaining brown fat tissue, report scientists.

Screws that fit the body's notches Posted: 28 Oct 2016 05:58 AM PDT Complex bone fractures are often set with titanium or steel screws and plates. However, if these remain in the body for some time, they can cause health problems. A new bioceramic screw nail has the capacity of replacing the currently used metal components. It can be easily introduced into bone and does not have to be removed.

New research paves way for anti-cancer treatment Posted: 28 Oct 2016 05:58 AM PDT A new lab technique has been created that may aid the development and success rate of an important anti-cancer treatment, report scientists.

Robots help position interventional needles Posted: 28 Oct 2016 05:58 AM PDT Finding the ideal position for interventional needles – as used in biopsies, for instance – is a difficult and time-consuming process. This can now be performed automatically, using a robotic arm to place a needle guide for the doctor at the optimal insertion point. With robotic assistance, doctors need five minutes to position the needle, as opposed to 30 minutes with conventional techniques.

Breakthrough in production of dopamine neurons for Parkinson's disease Posted: 28 Oct 2016 05:58 AM PDT The first transplantation of stem cells in patients with Parkinson's disease is almost within reach, say investigators. However, it remains a challenge for researchers to control stem cells accurately in the lab in order to achieve successful and functional stem cell therapies for patients.

Fatty liver: Turning off TAZ reverses disease Posted: 27 Oct 2016 11:35 AM PDT A factor in liver cells that is responsible for turning AAFLD into a serious disease that can lead to liver failure has now been identified by a research team.

Clinical trial data sharing off to a slow start Posted: 27 Oct 2016 11:35 AM PDT For many years, doctors, scientists and researchers have urged that clinical drug trial data be shared to accelerate medical advances in treating multiple diseases. But two years after free patient data became available in a major data-sharing project, the biggest surprise is how little it is being used.

Children with autism may be over-diagnosed with ADHD, new study suggests Posted: 27 Oct 2016 11:35 AM PDT Pediatric researchers report that children with ASD may mistakenly be diagnosed with ADHD because they have autism-related social impairments rather than problems with attention. This is important for understanding what are the right services and treatments for a child.

Stability of exhausted T cells limits durability of cancer checkpoint drugs Posted: 27 Oct 2016 11:33 AM PDT Reinvigorating exhausted T cells in mice using a PD-L1 blockade caused very few T memory cells to develop. After the blockade, re-invigorated T cells became re-exhausted if antigen from the virus remained high, and failed to become memory T cells when the virus was cleared, report scientists.

Study yields rich dossier of cancer-linked protein's associates Posted: 27 Oct 2016 09:34 AM PDT By developing an atomic-scale picture of how the cancer-linked enzyme PP2A binds to other proteins, researchers have developed a new list of nearly 100 of its potential partners.

Airway-on-a-chip could lead to new treatments for cigarette smoke-induced lung injury Posted: 27 Oct 2016 09:32 AM PDT Researchers have developed an airway-on-a-chip that supports living small-airway-lining cells from normal or diseased human lungs and an instrument that "breathes" cigarette smoke in and out over these chips. Using this technology, researchers recreated and analyzed the effects of smoking at the molecular, cellular, and tissue level to understand the damage occurring in normal lung and in engineered lung tissues from patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the third leading cause of death in the US.

A metabolic switch to turn off obesity Posted: 27 Oct 2016 08:58 AM PDT As science advances, evidence shows that weight management does indeed take place inside the head, but that it is not necessarily a question of lack of will. The ABHD6 enzyme in certain brain neurons plays a key role in controlling body weight, researchers have discovered.

Hospital rooms and patients equally likely to transmit pathogens Posted: 27 Oct 2016 08:58 AM PDT A new study shows how nurses got hard-to-treat, disease-causing germs on their clothes. The analysis found that pockets and sleeves of the scrubs were most likely to be contaminated, as were the bed rails in the rooms.

Can therapy dogs assist in motivating children on the autism spectrum? Posted: 27 Oct 2016 08:57 AM PDT A behavioral analyst who works with therapy dogs suggests using canines as a reward for completed tasks could be useful when working with children on the autism spectrum.

50-year-old bacteria could be alternative treatment option for cancer Posted: 27 Oct 2016 08:57 AM PDT Salmonella has a unique characteristic that allows the bacteria to penetrate through cell barriers and replicate inside its host. Now, scientists have developed a non-toxic strain of Salmonella to penetrate and target cancer cells. Results from this study could lead to promising new treatments that actively target and control the spread of cancer.

The transition from daylight saving time to standard time leads to depressions Posted: 27 Oct 2016 08:57 AM PDT The number of people diagnosed with depression at psychiatric hospitals increases immediately after the transition from daylight saving time to standard time, concludes new research.

Self-renewable cancer killer cells could be key to making immunotherapy work Posted: 26 Oct 2016 10:57 AM PDT A small molecule that can turn short-lived 'killer T-cells' into long-lived, renewable cells that can last in the body for a longer period of time, activating when necessary to destroy tumour cells, could help make cell-based immunotherapy a realistic prospect to treat cancer.

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