ScienceDaily: Top Health News

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• Naked mole-rats may hold clues to pain relief
• Regular consumption of sugary beverages linked to increased genetic risk of obesity
• Providing non-caloric beverages to teens can help them avoid excessive weight gain, study shows
• Growing corn to treat rare disease
• Key immune cell may play role in lung cancer susceptibility
• Brain: Protein that regulates key 'fate' decision in cortical progenitor cells identified
• How do we make moral judgments? Insights from Psychological Science
• Documenting women's experiences with chromosome abnormalities found in new prenatal test
• Virtual boundaries: How environmental cues affect motivation and task-oriented behavior
• Male infertility: 'Kick-starting' male fertility with missing protein
• Suicide leading cause of injury mortality in U. S.
• Diet high in total antioxidants associated with lower risk of myocardial infarction in women
• Denosumab reduces burden of giant-cell tumor of the bone, study suggests
• Dangerous dreaming: Kicking, screaming and falling out of bed might be more common than reported
• Advancing the treatment of trauma
• Mosquito virus could lead to new vaccines and drugs
• Giving lithium to those who need it
• New challenges for ex-Olympians
• Brain: Multiple contacts are key to synapse formation
• 'Foreign' proteins are also implicated in Alzheimer's disease
• Unprecedented cancer 'Moon Shots Program': Effort sets new bar for eradicating cancer
• Double assault on tough types of leukemias
• New strategies needed to combat disease in developing countries
• Clinical trial reveals pterostilbene reduces blood pressure in adults
• Treating disease by the numbers
• Informatics approach helps doctors, patients make sense of genome data
• New mouse model may provide inroads to understanding severe genetic disorder in children
• Abnormal carotid arteries found in children with kidney disease

Naked mole-rats may hold clues to pain relief Posted: 21 Sep 2012 03:07 PM PDT Naked mole-rats evolved to thrive in an acidic environment that other mammals, including humans, would find intolerable. Researchers report new findings as to how these rodents adapted, which may offer clues to relieving pain in other animals and humans.

Regular consumption of sugary beverages linked to increased genetic risk of obesity Posted: 21 Sep 2012 01:23 PM PDT Researchers have found that greater consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) is linked with a greater genetic susceptibility to high body mass index (BMI) and increased risk of obesity. The study reinforces the view that environmental and genetic factors may act together to shape obesity risk.

Providing non-caloric beverages to teens can help them avoid excessive weight gain, study shows Posted: 21 Sep 2012 01:23 PM PDT A new study on sugar sweetened beverages (SSBs) and teens from pediatric obesity expert David Ludwig, MD, PhD, director of New Balance Foundation Obesity Prevention Center Boston Children's Hospital, published 9/21 in New England Journal of Medicine. Findings show adolescents who eliminated SSBs for one year gained less weight than those who didn't, shedding light on an effective intervention to help combat adolescent obesity.

Growing corn to treat rare disease Posted: 21 Sep 2012 11:03 AM PDT The seeds of greenhouse-grown corn could hold the key to treating a rare, life-threatening childhood genetic disease, according to researchers.

Key immune cell may play role in lung cancer susceptibility Posted: 21 Sep 2012 11:01 AM PDT New research suggests a key immune cell may play a role in lung cancer susceptibility. Working in mice, they found evidence that the genetic diversity in natural killer cells contributes to whether or not the animals develop lung cancer. The scientists now are investigating whether the same phenomenon exists in humans.

Brain: Protein that regulates key 'fate' decision in cortical progenitor cells identified Posted: 21 Sep 2012 09:46 AM PDT Researchers have solved an important piece of one of neuroscience's outstanding puzzles: How progenitor cells in the developing mammalian brain reproduce themselves while also giving birth to neurons that will populate the emerging cerebral cortex, the seat of cognition and executive function in the mature brain.

How do we make moral judgments? Insights from Psychological Science Posted: 21 Sep 2012 09:46 AM PDT New research provides intriguing insights into some of the factors that influence how we make moral judgments.

Documenting women's experiences with chromosome abnormalities found in new prenatal test Posted: 21 Sep 2012 09:45 AM PDT Surveying a small group of women participating in a larger study investigating the use of DNA microarrays to identify the possibility of prenatal chromosomal abnormalities, researchers documented the women's reactions upon learning that their child's genetic material contained chromosomal abnormalities.

Virtual boundaries: How environmental cues affect motivation and task-oriented behavior Posted: 21 Sep 2012 09:45 AM PDT Much of our daily lives are spent completing tasks that involve a degree of waiting, such as remaining on hold while scheduling a doctor's appointment or standing in line at an ATM. Faced with a wait, some people postpone, avoid, or abandon their task. Others endure the wait but feel dissatisfied and frustrated by the experience.

Male infertility: 'Kick-starting' male fertility with missing protein Posted: 21 Sep 2012 09:45 AM PDT Adding a missing protein to infertile human sperm can "kick-start" its ability to fertilize an egg and dramatically increase the chances of a successful pregnancy, scientists have uncovered.

Suicide leading cause of injury mortality in U. S. Posted: 21 Sep 2012 09:39 AM PDT Suicide has now passed motor vehicle traffic crashes as the leading cause of injury deaths in the United States. Additionally, the disease rate has been declining while the injury rate has been rising.

Diet high in total antioxidants associated with lower risk of myocardial infarction in women Posted: 21 Sep 2012 08:10 AM PDT Coronary heart disease is a major cause of death in women. A new study has found that a diet rich in antioxidants, mainly from fruits and vegetables, can significantly reduce the risk of myocardial infarction.

Denosumab reduces burden of giant-cell tumor of the bone, study suggests Posted: 21 Sep 2012 08:10 AM PDT Treatment with denosumab, a drug targeted against a protein that helps promote bone destruction, decreased the number of tumor giant cells in patients with giant-cell tumor of the bone, and increased new bone formation, according to the results of a phase II study.

Dangerous dreaming: Kicking, screaming and falling out of bed might be more common than reported Posted: 21 Sep 2012 08:10 AM PDT A troubling sleep disorder that causes sleepers to physically act out their dreams by kicking, screaming or falling out of bed may be more common than reported, according to specialists.

Advancing the treatment of trauma Posted: 21 Sep 2012 06:26 AM PDT With traumatic injuries claiming almost six million lives a year, improvements in care, including in the challenging areas of brain and bone injuries, and haemorrhage, are urgently needed.

Mosquito virus could lead to new vaccines and drugs Posted: 21 Sep 2012 06:26 AM PDT The newly discovered Eilat virus is closely related to some of the world's most dangerous pathogens but incapable of infecting non-insect hosts. This attribute could make the virus a uniquely useful tool for studying the viruses responsible for chikungunya, Venezuelan equine encephalitis, western equine encephalitis and eastern equine encephalitis. In addition, the researchers say, Eilat could also aid in the development of new vaccines, therapies and diagnostic techniques.

Giving lithium to those who need it Posted: 21 Sep 2012 06:25 AM PDT Lithium is a 'gold standard' drug for treating bipolar disorder, however not everyone responds in the same way. New research finds that this is true at the levels of gene activation, especially in the activation or repression of genes which alter the level the apoptosis (programmed cell death). Most notably BCL2, known to be important for the therapeutic effects of lithium, did not increase in non-responders. This can be tested in the blood of patients within four weeks of treatment.

New challenges for ex-Olympians Posted: 21 Sep 2012 05:32 AM PDT When elite-level athletes retire, they often struggle to adapt to their new lives. When finding that the characteristics that were valuable in sport are not equally useful in 'ordinary' life, they often start experiencing disorientation, depression, self-doubt or even illness.

Brain: Multiple contacts are key to synapse formation Posted: 21 Sep 2012 05:31 AM PDT Multiple synaptic contacts between nerve cells facilitate the creation of a new contact, as neuroscientists report. An integral mechanism of memory foundation is the formation of additional contacts between neurons in the brain. However, until now it was not known what conditions lead to the development of such synapses and how they are stabilized once created. By studying mathematical models, the scientists found a simple explanation for how and when synapses form -- or disappear -- in the brain.

'Foreign' proteins are also implicated in Alzheimer's disease Posted: 21 Sep 2012 05:31 AM PDT Neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's or Parkinson's are characterised by the loss of nerve cells and the deposition of proteins in the brain tissue. Scientists have now demonstrated that Alzheimer's disease does not just – as previously believed – involve the proteins that are attributed to Alzheimer's, but instead the condition can involve a mixture of interacting proteins from different neurodegenerative diseases.

Unprecedented cancer 'Moon Shots Program': Effort sets new bar for eradicating cancer Posted: 21 Sep 2012 05:28 AM PDT The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center announces the launch of the Moon Shots Program, an unprecedented effort to dramatically accelerate the pace of converting scientific discoveries into clinical advances that reduce cancer deaths.

Double assault on tough types of leukemias Posted: 20 Sep 2012 12:33 PM PDT Investigators have identified two promising therapies to treat patients with acute megakaryocytic leukemia, a rare form of leukemia where the number of cases is expected to increase with the aging population. One of the drugs, Alisertib, was potent against the proliferation of cancer cells and reversed the disease in mice. Clinical trials are slated for 2013.

New strategies needed to combat disease in developing countries Posted: 20 Sep 2012 11:11 AM PDT So-called lifestyle diseases are gaining ground with epidemic speed in low-income countries. The traditional health focus in these countries has been to combat communicable diseases such as malaria, HIV and tuberculosis. However, new research suggests that dividing campaigns into combating either non-communicable or communicable diseases is ineffective and expensive.

Clinical trial reveals pterostilbene reduces blood pressure in adults Posted: 20 Sep 2012 11:10 AM PDT A form of pterostilbene, a compound found naturally in blueberries, reduces blood pressure in adults, according to new results.

Treating disease by the numbers Posted: 20 Sep 2012 11:01 AM PDT Advances in mathematical modeling are allowing medical professionals to better understand the risk factors that lead to disease.

Informatics approach helps doctors, patients make sense of genome data Posted: 20 Sep 2012 09:04 AM PDT Researchers have unveiled an analysis framework aimed at helping clinicians spot "medically actionable findings" from genetic tests in an efficient manner.

New mouse model may provide inroads to understanding severe genetic disorder in children Posted: 20 Sep 2012 08:56 AM PDT New mouse models can help scientists study MCT8 deficiency, an inherited genetic disorder affecting children, according to new data.

Abnormal carotid arteries found in children with kidney disease Posted: 20 Sep 2012 08:56 AM PDT Children with mild to moderate kidney disease have abnormally thick neck arteries, a condition known as carotid atherosclerosis, usually seen in older adults with a long history of elevated cholesterol and untreated hypertension.

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