ScienceDaily: Top Health News

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• Key to burning fat faster discovered
• Ants 'screen' for beneficial bacteria to assist them
• Large health gaps found among black, Latino, and white fifth-graders
• Potency of statins linked to muscle side effects
• Scientists reveal how river blindness worm thrives
• Archived Guthrie cards find a new purpose
• Children’s body fatness linked to decisions made in the womb
• Prostate cancer: Six things men should know about tomatoes, fish oil, vitamin supplements, testosterone, PSA tests
• Imaging study sheds new light on alcohol-related birth defects
• Roots of human self-awareness: New study points to a complex, diffuse patchwork of brain pathways
• Ethical dilemmas contribute to 'critical weaknesses' in FDA postmarket oversight, experts say
• New device monitors schoolroom air for carbon dioxide levels that may make kids drowsy
• Targeting inflammation to prevent, treat cancers
• Video shows the traffic inside a brain cell: New imaging technique reveals the brain's continuous renovation
• Gene mutation may signal recurrence of fibromatosis in children
• Tracking infectious outbreaks by their genomes
• Toward medicines that recruit the body's natural disease-fighting proteins
• Mom's emotional health during child's early years linked to teen's oral health
• Low-dose sedative alleviates autistic-like behavior in mice with Dravet syndrome mutation
• Early exposure to antibiotics may impact development, obesity
• Intense prep for law school admission test alters brain structure
• Rewired visual input to sound-processing part of the brain leads to compromised hearing
• Close contact with young people at risk of suicide has no effect, study suggests
• Microbiologists find new approach to fighting viral illnesses
• Income, 'screen time' affect soda, junk food consumption
• 30 minutes of daily exercise does the trick: Same effect in half the time
• With a little training, signs of schizophrenia are averted
• First evidence from humans on how alcohol may boost risk of cancer
• Why muscles go wrong in Duchenne muscular dystrophy
• Researchers study the structure of drug resistance in tuberculosis
• More sophisticated wiring, not just bigger brain, helped humans evolve beyond chimps, geneticists find
• Benefits to early intervention in addressing brain abnormalities
• Researchers return blood cells to stem cell state
• Mesothelioma? Scientists quantify nanofiber health risk to workers
• First identification of a strong oral carcinogen in smokeless tobacco
• Predicting outbreaks of dengue fever according to climate
• Are the eyes the key to a new test for Alzheimer's disease?
• Male mice exposed to chronic social stress have anxious female offspring
• New cancer scanner halves radiation

Key to burning fat faster discovered Posted: 22 Aug 2012 07:26 PM PDT Newly discovered on/off switch in enzymes may help battle fat-related disease ranging from stroke and diabetes to acne.

Ants 'screen' for beneficial bacteria to assist them Posted: 22 Aug 2012 07:25 PM PDT Having healthy gut bacteria could have as much to do with a strategy that insurance companies use to uncover risk as with eating the right foods - according to researchers.

Large health gaps found among black, Latino, and white fifth-graders Posted: 22 Aug 2012 03:41 PM PDT Many racial/ethnic disparities were found for harmful health-related issues in 5,000 fifth graders from Alabama, Texas, and California. Black and Latino children were more likely than white children to witness violence, get less exercise, ride without seat belts in cars, etc. All races and ethnicities did better on health indicators with highly educated parents, higher income and advantages of certain schools. When children with similar advantages compared, racial/ethnic differences for most indicators smaller or even absent.

Potency of statins linked to muscle side effects Posted: 22 Aug 2012 03:41 PM PDT A new study reports that muscle problems reported by patients taking statins were related to the strength or potency of the given cholesterol-lowering drugs.

Scientists reveal how river blindness worm thrives Posted: 22 Aug 2012 03:13 PM PDT Scientists have found that the worm which causes River Blindness survives by using a bacterium to provide energy, as well as help 'trick' the body's immune system into thinking it is fighting a different kind of infection.

Archived Guthrie cards find a new purpose Posted: 22 Aug 2012 03:13 PM PDT Over the last 50 years, the spotting of newborn's blood onto filter paper for disease screening, called Guthrie cards, has become so routine that since 2000, more than 90% of newborns in the United States have had Guthrie cards created. Researchers have now shown that epigenetic information stored on archived Guthrie cards provides a retrospective view of the epigenome at birth, a powerful new application for the card that could help understand disease and predict future health.

Children’s body fatness linked to decisions made in the womb Posted: 22 Aug 2012 03:12 PM PDT New born human infants have the largest brains among primates, but also the highest proportion of body fat. Before birth, if the supply of nutrients from the mother through the placenta is limited or unbalanced, the developing baby faces a dilemma: should resources be allocated to brain growth, or to fat deposition for use as an energy reserve during the early months after birth? Scientists have shown that this decision could have an effect on how fat we are as children.

Prostate cancer: Six things men should know about tomatoes, fish oil, vitamin supplements, testosterone, PSA tests Posted: 22 Aug 2012 03:12 PM PDT When it comes to prostate cancer, there's a lot of confusion about how to prevent it, find it early and the best way – or even whether – to treat it. Here are six common prostate cancer myths along with research-based information from scientists to help men separate fact from fiction.

Imaging study sheds new light on alcohol-related birth defects Posted: 22 Aug 2012 03:12 PM PDT The new imaging study in a mouse model for fetal alcohol spectrum disorders could enhance the diagnoses of birth defects caused by alcohol exposure in the womb and it illustrates how the precise timing of that exposure could determine specific kinds of defects.

Roots of human self-awareness: New study points to a complex, diffuse patchwork of brain pathways Posted: 22 Aug 2012 03:12 PM PDT A research team has upended current thinking about areas in the human brain responsible for self-awareness. Using a rare patient with damage to areas considered vital to be self-aware, the team learned the patient was not only self-aware, but capable of introspection and self-insight. The researchers propose that self-awareness is a product of a diffuse patchwork of pathways in the brain rather than confined to specific areas.

Ethical dilemmas contribute to 'critical weaknesses' in FDA postmarket oversight, experts say Posted: 22 Aug 2012 03:12 PM PDT Ethical challenges are central to persistent "critical weaknesses" in the national system for ensuring drug safety, according to a commentary by former Institute of Medicine (IOM) committee members published today in the New England Journal of Medicine.

New device monitors schoolroom air for carbon dioxide levels that may make kids drowsy Posted: 22 Aug 2012 03:12 PM PDT With nearly 55 million students, teachers and school staff about to return to elementary and secondary school classrooms, scientists have developed a new hand-held sensor - practical enough for wide use - that could keep classroom air fresher and kids more alert for learning.

Targeting inflammation to prevent, treat cancers Posted: 22 Aug 2012 12:46 PM PDT Researchers have identified a gene that disrupts the inflammatory process implicated in liver cancer.

Video shows the traffic inside a brain cell: New imaging technique reveals the brain's continuous renovation Posted: 22 Aug 2012 12:46 PM PDT Using bioluminescent proteins from a jellyfish, a team of scientists has lit up the inside of a neuron, capturing spectacular video footage that shows the movement of proteins throughout the cell.

Gene mutation may signal recurrence of fibromatosis in children Posted: 22 Aug 2012 12:46 PM PDT In the case of aggressive fibromatosis, the good news is that it is a slow-growing benign tumor. The bad news is that this abdominal tumor often recurs after surgical removal. This is particularly true among children. While headway has been made in isolating causes of this recurrence in adults, it is less clear in children.

Tracking infectious outbreaks by their genomes Posted: 22 Aug 2012 12:02 PM PDT A New York City patient carrying a multi-drug-resistant strain of Klebsiella pneumoniae, a microbe frequently associated with hospital-borne infections, introduced the dangerous bacteria into the 243-bed research hospital while participating in a clinical study in the summer of 2011. To get the outbreak under control, medical researchers used genome sequencing in the middle of this active hospital epidemic to learn how the microbe spread.

Toward medicines that recruit the body's natural disease-fighting proteins Posted: 22 Aug 2012 11:40 AM PDT Like recruiters pitching military service to a throng of people, scientists are developing drugs to recruit disease-fighting proteins present naturally in everyone's blood in medicine's war on infections, cancer and a range of other diseases.

Mom's emotional health during child's early years linked to teen's oral health Posted: 22 Aug 2012 10:12 AM PDT A mother's emotional health and education level during her child's earliest years influence oral health at age 14, according to a new study.

Low-dose sedative alleviates autistic-like behavior in mice with Dravet syndrome mutation Posted: 22 Aug 2012 10:12 AM PDT A low dose of the sedative clonazepam alleviated autistic-like behavior in mice with a mutation that causes Dravet syndrome in humans. The mutation results in defective sodium ion channels. Affected brain cells cannot relay "hush" signals. An excess of excitatory signals results. Mice with this defect have seizures, impaired social interactions, learning difficulties, and freeze when confronting new mice or smells. Researchers overcame decreased sodium channel activity in mouse brain cells by increasing the strength of inhibitory signals with a common sedative.

Early exposure to antibiotics may impact development, obesity Posted: 22 Aug 2012 10:08 AM PDT Researchers have made a novel discovery that could have widespread clinical implications, potentially affecting everything from nutrient metabolism to obesity in children.

Intense prep for law school admission test alters brain structure Posted: 22 Aug 2012 09:52 AM PDT Intense prep courses for the Law School Admission Test are popular for good reason: They can improve scores significantly. Now neuroscientists have revealed the underlying impact of such preparation: The brain's neural connections change measurably, suggesting a bolstering of physical interconnections among reasoning areas of the brain. Diffusion tensor imaging scans of students before and after an intense three-month prep course showed increased connections between verbal and spatial reasoning areas of the brain.

Rewired visual input to sound-processing part of the brain leads to compromised hearing Posted: 22 Aug 2012 09:52 AM PDT Scientists have found that the ability to hear is lessened when, as a result of injury, a region of the brain responsible for processing sounds receives both visual and auditory inputs.

Close contact with young people at risk of suicide has no effect, study suggests Posted: 22 Aug 2012 09:52 AM PDT Researchers, doctors and patients tend to agree that during the high-risk period after an attempted suicide, the treatment of choice is close contact, follow-up and personal interaction in order to prevent a tragic repeat. Now, however, new research shows that this strategy does not work.

Microbiologists find new approach to fighting viral illnesses Posted: 22 Aug 2012 09:52 AM PDT By discovering how certain viruses use their host cells to replicate, microbiologists have identified a new approach to the development of universal treatments for viral illnesses such as meningitis, encephalitis, hepatitis and possibly the common cold.

Income, 'screen time' affect soda, junk food consumption Posted: 22 Aug 2012 09:50 AM PDT Researchers survey dietary habits of 1,800 Edmonton-area preschoolers.

30 minutes of daily exercise does the trick: Same effect in half the time Posted: 22 Aug 2012 09:50 AM PDT Same effect in half the time: Researchers have shown that 30 minutes of daily training provide an equally effective loss of weight and body mass as 60 minutes.

With a little training, signs of schizophrenia are averted Posted: 22 Aug 2012 09:50 AM PDT Animals that literally have holes in their brains can go on to behave as normal adults if they've had the benefit of a little cognitive training in adolescence. That's according to new work featuring an animal model of schizophrenia, where rats with particular neonatal brain injuries develop schizophrenia-like symptoms.

First evidence from humans on how alcohol may boost risk of cancer Posted: 22 Aug 2012 09:47 AM PDT Almost 30 years after discovery of a link between alcohol consumption and certain forms of cancer, scientists are reporting the first evidence from research on people explaining how the popular beverage may be carcinogenic. The results have special implications for hundreds of millions of people of Asian descent.

Why muscles go wrong in Duchenne muscular dystrophy Posted: 22 Aug 2012 09:47 AM PDT Skeletal muscle degeneration in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is worsened by stiffening of the microtubule cytoskeleton that provide structure inside muscle cells.

Researchers study the structure of drug resistance in tuberculosis Posted: 22 Aug 2012 09:47 AM PDT A research group is studying disease resistance in tuberculosis. The group has described the structure of a regulator that controls the expression of a pump that removes toxins from the bacteria.

More sophisticated wiring, not just bigger brain, helped humans evolve beyond chimps, geneticists find Posted: 22 Aug 2012 09:47 AM PDT Human and chimp brains look anatomically similar because both evolved from the same ancestor millions of years ago. But where does the chimp brain end and the human brain begin? A new study pinpoints uniquely human patterns of gene activity in the brain that could shed light on how we evolved differently than our closest relative. These genes' identification could improve understanding of human brain diseases like autism and schizophrenia, as well as learning disorders and addictions.

Benefits to early intervention in addressing brain abnormalities Posted: 22 Aug 2012 09:47 AM PDT Preemptive cognitive training —- an early intervention to address neuropsychiatric deficiencies —- can help the brain function normally later in life, a team of researchers has found through a series of experiments on laboratory rats. Their findings hold promise for addressing a range of brain impairments in humans, including schizophrenia.

Researchers return blood cells to stem cell state Posted: 22 Aug 2012 08:22 AM PDT Scientists have developed a reliable method to turn the clock back on blood cells, restoring them to a primitive stem cell state from which they can then develop into any other type of cell in the body.

Mesothelioma? Scientists quantify nanofiber health risk to workers Posted: 22 Aug 2012 08:22 AM PDT Health risks posed to people who work with tiny fibers used in manufacturing industries could be reduced, thanks to new research. Research into the health risks posed by nanofibers – used to strengthen objects from tennis rackets to airplane wings – has pinpointed the lengths at which these fibers are harmful to the lungs.

First identification of a strong oral carcinogen in smokeless tobacco Posted: 22 Aug 2012 07:08 AM PDT Scientists have now identified the first substance in smokeless tobacco that is a strong oral carcinogen, a health risk for the 9 million users of chewing tobacco, snuff and related products in the U.S., and called upon the federal government to regulate or ban the substance.

Predicting outbreaks of dengue fever according to climate Posted: 22 Aug 2012 06:17 AM PDT Dengue fever, transmitted by the Aedes mosquito, affects hundreds of millions of people in around one hundred tropical countries and causes 25,000 deaths per year. In the absence of a vaccine, determining the factors that influence epidemics to predict them better is a real public health challenge.

Are the eyes the key to a new test for Alzheimer's disease? Posted: 22 Aug 2012 06:17 AM PDT A simple eye tracking test could hold the key to earlier Alzheimer's diagnosis, according to new research.

Male mice exposed to chronic social stress have anxious female offspring Posted: 22 Aug 2012 06:16 AM PDT A study in mice suggests that a woman's risk of anxiety and dysfunctional social behavior may depend on the experiences of her parents, particularly fathers, when they were young.

New cancer scanner halves radiation Posted: 22 Aug 2012 04:14 AM PDT Particle physicists have developed a new medical technology that combines PET and MRI in one. Benefit: Improved image quality and less radiation.

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