ScienceDaily: Top Health News

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• New gene therapy approach developed for red blood cell disorders
• Hot pepper compound could help hearts
• Blocking 'oh-glick-nack' may improve long-term memory
• Capsule for removing radioactive contamination from milk, fruit juices, other beverages
• Competition-linked bursts of testosterone are fundamental aspect of human biology, study of Amazonian tribe suggests
• Nanoparticles and magnetic current used to damage cancerous cells in mice
• Placenta on toast? Could we derive benefits from ingesting afterbirth?
• Some flame retardants make fires more deadly
• New evidence on effects of green coffee beans in weight loss
• Most extensive full face transplant to date
• Microfluidic chip developed to stem flu outbreaks
• Living human gut-on-a-chip: Tiny device simulates structure, microenvironment, and mechanical behavior of human intestine
• Air pollution from trucks and low-quality heating oil may explain childhood asthma hot spots
• New way to abate heart attacks before patients get to the hospital
• New catalyst promises cheaper, greener drugs
• Stand up: Your life could depend on it
• Use it or lose it: Mind games help healthy older people too
• How colds cause coughs and wheezes
• Vitamins doing gymnastics: Scientists capture first full image of vitamin B12 in action
• Regular chocolate eaters are thinner, evidence suggests
• New endoscope technology paves the way for 'molecular-guided surgery' for cancer
• New 'electronic skin' patches monitor health wirelessly
• New field of chemistry has potential for making drugs inside patients -- and more
• Popcorn-shaped gold particles gang up on salmonella
• Stem cell study aids quest for motor neuron disease therapies
• Bariatric surgery dramatically outperforms standard treatment for type 2 diabetes
• Using viruses to beat superbugs
• Dental plaque bacteria may trigger blood clots
• The time is ripe for Salmonella
• E. coli bacteria becomes factory for sugar-modified proteins to make cheaper, faster pharmaceuticals
• Some scum: Microbe in pond scum enlisted in new cancer test

New gene therapy approach developed for red blood cell disorders Posted: 27 Mar 2012 06:57 PM PDT Scientists have designed what appears to be a powerful gene therapy strategy that can treat both beta-thalassemia disease and sickle cell anemia. They have also developed a test to predict patient response before treatment.

Hot pepper compound could help hearts Posted: 27 Mar 2012 06:56 PM PDT The food that inspires wariness is on course for inspiring even more wonder from a medical standpoint as scientists have reported the latest evidence that chili peppers are a heart-healthy food with potential to protect against the No. 1 cause of death in the developed world.

Blocking 'oh-glick-nack' may improve long-term memory Posted: 27 Mar 2012 06:56 PM PDT Just as the familiar sugar in food can be bad for the teeth and waistline, another sugar has been implicated as a health menace and blocking its action may have benefits that include improving long-term memory in older people and treating cancer. Progress has been made toward finding such a blocker for the sugar — with the appropriately malicious-sounding name "oh-glick-nack."

Capsule for removing radioactive contamination from milk, fruit juices, other beverages Posted: 27 Mar 2012 06:55 PM PDT Amid concerns about possible terrorist attacks with nuclear materials, and fresh memories of environmental contamination from the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in Japan, scientists have developed a capsule that can be dropped into water, milk, fruit juices and other foods to remove more than a dozen radioactive substances.

Competition-linked bursts of testosterone are fundamental aspect of human biology, study of Amazonian tribe suggests Posted: 27 Mar 2012 06:55 PM PDT Though Tsimane men have a third less baseline testosterone compared with U.S. men, Tsimane show the same increase in testosterone following a soccer game, suggesting that competition-linked bursts of testosterone are a fundamental aspect of human biology.

Nanoparticles and magnetic current used to damage cancerous cells in mice Posted: 27 Mar 2012 12:28 PM PDT Using nanoparticles and alternating magnetic fields, scientists have found that head and neck cancerous tumor cells in mice can be killed in half an hour without harming healthy cells. The findings mark the first time to the researchers' knowledge this cancer type has been treated using magnetic iron oxide nanoparticle-induced hyperthermia, or above-normal body temperatures, in laboratory mice.

Placenta on toast? Could we derive benefits from ingesting afterbirth? Posted: 27 Mar 2012 12:28 PM PDT Almost all non-human mammals eat placenta for good reasons. Are we missing something? Neuroscientists now suggest that ingesting components of afterbirth or placenta -- placentophagia -- may offer benefits to human mothers and perhaps to non-mothers and males.

Some flame retardants make fires more deadly Posted: 27 Mar 2012 10:42 AM PDT Some of the flame retardants added to carpets, furniture upholstery, plastics, crib mattresses, car and airline seats and other products to suppress the visible flames in fires are actually increasing the danger of invisible toxic gases that are the No. 1 cause of death in fires.

New evidence on effects of green coffee beans in weight loss Posted: 27 Mar 2012 10:42 AM PDT Scientists have reported striking new evidence that green, or unroasted, coffee beans can produce a substantial decrease in body weight in a relatively short period of time.

Most extensive full face transplant to date Posted: 27 Mar 2012 09:49 AM PDT The most extensive full face transplant ever performed has just been completed. It included both jaws, teeth, and tongue. The 36-hour operation occurred on March 19-20, 2012 and involved a multi-disciplinary team of faculty physicians and a team of over 150 nurses and professional staff.

Microfluidic chip developed to stem flu outbreaks Posted: 27 Mar 2012 09:48 AM PDT Researchers have developed a rapid, low-cost, accurate, point-of-care device that matches the accuracy of expensive and time-consuming lab-based tests to diagnose influenza.

Living human gut-on-a-chip: Tiny device simulates structure, microenvironment, and mechanical behavior of human intestine Posted: 27 Mar 2012 09:48 AM PDT Researchers have created a gut-on-a-chip microdevice lined by living human cells that mimics the structure, physiology, and mechanics of the human intestine -- even supporting the growth of living microbes within its luminal space. As a more accurate alternative to conventional cell culture and animal models, the microdevice could help researchers gain new insights into intestinal disorders and evaluate the safety and efficacy of potential treatments.

Air pollution from trucks and low-quality heating oil may explain childhood asthma hot spots Posted: 27 Mar 2012 09:48 AM PDT Where a child lives can greatly affect his or her risk for asthma. Neighborhood differences in rates of childhood asthma may be explained by varying levels of air pollution from trucks and residential heating oil. In New York City, where the study was conducted, asthma among school-age children ranges from a low of three percent to a high of 19 percent depending on the neighborhood.

New way to abate heart attacks before patients get to the hospital Posted: 27 Mar 2012 09:43 AM PDT Paramedics can reduce someone's chances of having a cardiac arrest or dying by 50 percent by immediately administering a mixture of glucose, insulin and potassium to people having a heart attack, according to new research.

New catalyst promises cheaper, greener drugs Posted: 27 Mar 2012 09:43 AM PDT A chemistry team has discovered environmentally-friendly iron-based nanoparticle catalysts that work as well as the expensive, toxic, metal-based catalysts that are currently in wide use by the drug, fragrance and food industry.

Stand up: Your life could depend on it Posted: 27 Mar 2012 06:46 AM PDT Standing up more often may reduce your chances of dying within three years, even if you are already physically active, a study of more than 200,000 people shows.

Use it or lose it: Mind games help healthy older people too Posted: 27 Mar 2012 06:43 AM PDT Cognitive training including puzzles, handicrafts and life skills are known to reduce the risk, and help slow down the progress, of dementia amongst the elderly. A new study has shown that cognitive training was able to improve reasoning, memory, language and hand eye co-ordination of healthy, older adults.

How colds cause coughs and wheezes Posted: 27 Mar 2012 06:43 AM PDT Cold-like infections make 'cough receptors' in the airways more sensitive, making asthmatics more prone to bouts of coughing and wheezing, reveal scientists. The work could lead to drugs that reduce virus-induced coughing in those suffering chronic lung diseases.

Vitamins doing gymnastics: Scientists capture first full image of vitamin B12 in action Posted: 27 Mar 2012 06:41 AM PDT It may not sound too exciting when it's listed on the side of your cereal box and your multivitamin bottle. But when vitamin B12 gets inside your body, new research suggests, it turns into a gymnast. Scientists report that they have created the first full 3-D images of B12 and its partner molecules twisting and contorting as part of a crucial reaction called methyltransfer.

Regular chocolate eaters are thinner, evidence suggests Posted: 27 Mar 2012 06:12 AM PDT Katherine Hepburn famously said of her slim physique: "What you see before you is the result of a lifetime of chocolate." New evidence suggests she may have been right. Nutritional experts present new findings that may overturn the major objection to regular chocolate consumption: that it makes people fat.

New endoscope technology paves the way for 'molecular-guided surgery' for cancer Posted: 27 Mar 2012 06:10 AM PDT With about 15 million endoscopies done on patients each year in the U.S., scientists have reported that a new version of these flexible instruments for diagnosing and treating disease shows promise for helping surgeons more completely remove cancerous tumors. The new technology combines endoscopy with the phenomenon responsible for the blue glow in the water of nuclear reactors.

New 'electronic skin' patches monitor health wirelessly Posted: 27 Mar 2012 06:10 AM PDT Like the colorful temporary tattoos that children stick to their arms for fun, people may one day put thin "electronic skin" patches onto their arms to wirelessly diagnose health problems or deliver treatments. The patches could eliminate the need for patients to stay tethered to large machines for hours of treatment or monitoring.

New field of chemistry has potential for making drugs inside patients -- and more Posted: 27 Mar 2012 06:10 AM PDT The traditional way of making medicines in a factory may be joined by a new approach in which doctors administer the ingredients for a medicine separately, and those ingredients combine inside patients' bodies. That's one promise from an emerging field of chemistry, according to its founder.

Popcorn-shaped gold particles gang up on salmonella Posted: 27 Mar 2012 06:10 AM PDT How about a test that identifies Salmonella, the food poisoning bacteria that sickens millions of people each year, in five minutes, so that shipments of lettuce can be confiscated before they reach the table? Scientists have just developed and successfully tested just such a test.

Stem cell study aids quest for motor neuron disease therapies Posted: 26 Mar 2012 01:09 PM PDT A breakthrough using cutting-edge stem cell research could speed up the discovery of new treatments for motor neuron disease. The international research team has created motor neurons using skin cells from a patient with an inherited form of MND.

Bariatric surgery dramatically outperforms standard treatment for type 2 diabetes Posted: 26 Mar 2012 10:35 AM PDT In the first published study of its kind, researchers have found that bariatric surgery dramatically outperforms standard medical treatment of severe type 2 diabetes.

Using viruses to beat superbugs Posted: 26 Mar 2012 08:36 AM PDT Viruses that can target and destroy bacteria have the potential to be an effective strategy for tackling hard-to-treat bacterial infections. The development of such novel therapies is being accelerated in response to growing antibiotic resistance.

Dental plaque bacteria may trigger blood clots Posted: 26 Mar 2012 08:34 AM PDT Oral bacteria that escape into the bloodstream are able to cause blood clots and trigger life-threatening endocarditis. Further research could lead to new drugs to tackle infective heart disease, say scientists.

The time is ripe for Salmonella Posted: 26 Mar 2012 08:34 AM PDT The ripeness of fruit could determine how food-poisoning bacteria grow on them, according to scientists. Their work could lead to new strategies to improve food safety, bringing many health and economic benefits.

E. coli bacteria becomes factory for sugar-modified proteins to make cheaper, faster pharmaceuticals Posted: 26 Mar 2012 08:25 AM PDT Escherichia coli – a bacteria considered the food safety bane of restaurateurs, grocers and consumers – is a friend. Biomolecular engineers have learned to use E. coli to produce sugar-modified proteins for making pharmaceuticals cheaper and faster.

Some scum: Microbe in pond scum enlisted in new cancer test Posted: 26 Mar 2012 08:25 AM PDT Scientists are enlisting the living, self-propelled microbes found in pond scum — the pea-green surface slicks that form on ponds — in the development of a long-awaited new test to detect the cells that spread cancer through the bloodstream from the original tumor to new sites in the body.

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