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Experimental Therapy Crosses Blood-Brain Barrier to Treat Neurological Disease
Affectionate, less controlling mothers have strongest relationships with their children
Study finds it actually is better (and healthier) to give than to receive
Grooming Helps Insects Keep Their Senses Sharpened
Vitamin C supplements linked to kidney stones
Response and recovery in the brain may predict well-being
New Computational Pipeline Analyzes Tumor Images, May Help Predict Response to Cancer Therapy
Study Finds Substantial Microorganism Populations in the Upper Troposphere
Study finds price for reducing HIV risk
New research investigates inherited causes of autism
High risk of cardiovascular diseases amongst Swedish-born and immigrant MS patients

Experimental Therapy Crosses Blood-Brain Barrier to Treat Neurological Disease

Posted: 05 Feb 2013 06:36 AM PST

Researchers have overcome a major challenge to treating brain diseases by engineering an experimental molecular therapy that crosses the blood-brain barrier to reverse neurological lysosomal storage disease in mice.

Posted online in PNAS Early Edition on Feb. 4, the study was led by scientists at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.

Affectionate, less controlling mothers have strongest relationships with their children

Posted: 05 Feb 2013 06:28 AM PST

Researchers long have evaluated the roles parents play in children’s development. Now, researchers at the University of Missouri have found that mothers’ directiveness, the extent to which they try to control the content and pace of young children’s play, varies based on the children’s ages and the mothers’ ethnicities. In addition, the study found that the more directive the mothers were during play, the less engaged children were with them and the more negative emotion the children displayed toward their mothers.

Study finds it actually is better (and healthier) to give than to receive

Posted: 05 Feb 2013 05:39 AM PST

A five-year study by researchers at three universities has established that providing tangible assistance to others protects our health and lengthens our lives.

This, after more than two decades of research failed to establish that the same benefits accrue to the recipients of such help.

Grooming Helps Insects Keep Their Senses Sharpened

Posted: 05 Feb 2013 05:31 AM PST

In a study that delves into the mechanisms behind this common function, North Carolina State University researchers show that insect grooming – specifically, antennal cleaning – removes both environmental pollutants and chemicals produced by the insects themselves.

The findings, published online this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, show that grooming helps insects maintain acute olfactory senses that are responsible for a host of functions, including finding food, sensing danger and even locating a suitable mate.

Vitamin C supplements linked to kidney stones

Posted: 05 Feb 2013 05:16 AM PST

New research from Karolinska Institutet shows that men who take vitamin C supplements regularly run a higher risk of developing kidney stones. The study, which is published in the scientific periodical JAMA Internal Medicine, did not however observe an increased risk between kidney stones and multivitamins - which contain lower concentrations of vitamin C.

Response and recovery in the brain may predict well-being

Posted: 04 Feb 2013 03:16 PM PST

It has long been known that the part of the brain called the amygdala is responsible for recognition of a threat and knowing whether to fight or flee from the danger.

Now, using functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI, scientists at the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Waisman Center are watching the duration of the amygdala response in the brains of healthy people when exposed to negative images. How long the recovery takes may be an indicator of personality traits like neuroticism.

New Computational Pipeline Analyzes Tumor Images, May Help Predict Response to Cancer Therapy

Posted: 04 Feb 2013 10:05 AM PST

How’s this for big data: A whole-slide image of a tumor section can be ten billion pixels. There can be thousands of such images in the tumor cohorts maintained by The Cancer Genome Atlas project, which are collected from a large pool of patients.

Study Finds Substantial Microorganism Populations in the Upper Troposphere

Posted: 04 Feb 2013 09:10 AM PST

In what is believed to be the first study of its kind, researchers used genomic techniques to document the presence of significant numbers of living microorganisms – principally bacteria – in the middle and upper troposphere, that section of the atmosphere approximately four to six miles above the Earth’s surface.

Study finds price for reducing HIV risk

Posted: 04 Feb 2013 08:05 AM PST

With a goal to reduce HIV risk behaviors, researchers investigated whether gay men and male sex workers in Mexico City would participate in a conditional cash transfer program that encourages HIV prevention education and regular testing. A new study in the European Journal of Health Economics reports the price that would get more than 75-percent participation: $288 a year.

Paying at-risk populations to join programs of education and regular testing is an effective public health technique. Health economist Omar Galarraga studies the economic forces at work.

New research investigates inherited causes of autism

Posted: 04 Feb 2013 07:41 AM PST

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are among the most heritable of all neuropsychiatric conditions. Yet, most genetic links to ASD found in recent years have involved de novo mutations, which are not passed from parent to child, but instead arise spontaneously. While these mutations help explain how ASD develops in a fraction of cases, they don’t help us understand why autism so often runs in families.

High risk of cardiovascular diseases amongst Swedish-born and immigrant MS patients

Posted: 04 Feb 2013 07:35 AM PST

A new study from Karolinska Institutet shows that patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) run a high risk of heart attack, stroke and heart failure, regardless of migration background. According to principal investigator Tahereh Moradi, the study is the first in the world to examine the risk of cardiovascular diseases in male and female MS patients with both non-immigrant and immigrant backgrounds.