ScienceDaily: Top Health News

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• Electric 'thinking cap' controls learning speed
• Path to safer drugs for heart disease, cancer found by researchers
• Southeast England most at risk of rising deaths due to climate change
• Leukaemia caused by chromosome catastrophe
• Shifting evolution into reverse promises cheaper, greener way to make new drugs
• Drugs fail to reawaken dormant HIV infection
• Cold snare polypectomy effective for removal of small colorectal polyps in patients on anticoagulants
• New way to make muscle cells from human stem cells
• Genetic signature reveals new way to classify gum disease

Electric 'thinking cap' controls learning speed Posted: 23 Mar 2014 02:19 PM PDT Caffeine-fueled cram sessions are routine occurrences on any college campus. But what if there was a better, safer way to learn new or difficult material more quickly? What if "thinking caps" were real? Scientists have now shown that it is possible to selectively manipulate our ability to learn through the application of a mild electrical current to the brain, and that this effect can be enhanced or depressed depending on the direction of the current.

Path to safer drugs for heart disease, cancer found by researchers Posted: 23 Mar 2014 12:21 PM PDT Investigators may have found a way to solve a problem that has plagued a group of drugs called ligand-mimicking integrin inhibitors, which have the potential to treat conditions ranging from heart attacks to cancer metastasis.

Southeast England most at risk of rising deaths due to climate change Posted: 23 Mar 2014 12:20 PM PDT Warmer summers brought on by climate change will cause more deaths in London and southeast England than the rest of the country, scientists predict. In the most vulnerable districts, in London and the southeast, the odds of dying from cardiovascular or respiratory causes increased by over 10 per cent for every 1C rise in temperature. Districts in the far north were much more resilient, seeing no increase in deaths at equivalent temperatures.

Leukaemia caused by chromosome catastrophe Posted: 23 Mar 2014 12:19 PM PDT Researchers have found that people born with a rare abnormality of their chromosomes have a 2,700-fold increased risk of a rare childhood leukaemia. In this abnormality, two specific chromosomes are fused together but become prone to catastrophic shattering.

Shifting evolution into reverse promises cheaper, greener way to make new drugs Posted: 23 Mar 2014 12:17 PM PDT By shifting evolution into reverse, it may be possible to use "green chemistry" to make a number of costly synthetic drugs as easily and cheaply as brewing beer. Normally, both evolution and synthetic chemistry proceed from the simple to the complex. Small molecules are combined and modified to make larger and more complex molecules that perform specific functions. Bioretrosynthesis works in the opposite direction. It starts with the final, desired product and then uses natural selection to produce a series of specialized enzymes that can make the final product out of a chain of chemical reactions that begin with simple, commonly available compounds.

Drugs fail to reawaken dormant HIV infection Posted: 23 Mar 2014 12:17 PM PDT Scientists report that compounds they hoped would "wake up" dormant reservoirs of HIV inside immune system T cells — a strategy designed to reverse latency and make the cells vulnerable to destruction — have failed to do so in laboratory tests of such white blood cells taken directly from patients infected with HIV.

Cold snare polypectomy effective for removal of small colorectal polyps in patients on anticoagulants Posted: 21 Mar 2014 01:48 PM PDT A new study that compares cold snare polypectomy with conventional polypectomy for the removal of small colorectal polyps in anticoagulated patients. The study showed that delayed bleeding requiring hemostasis (stoppage of bleeding) occurred significantly less often after cold snare polypectomy than during conventional polypectomy despite continuation of anticoagulants.

New way to make muscle cells from human stem cells Posted: 21 Mar 2014 01:46 PM PDT As stem cells continue their gradual transition from the lab to the clinic, a research group has discovered a new way to make large concentrations of skeletal muscle cells and muscle progenitors from human stem cells. The new method could be used to generate large numbers of muscle cells and muscle progenitors directly from human pluripotent stem cells. These stem cells, such as embryonic (ES) or induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, can be made into virtually any adult cell in the body.

Genetic signature reveals new way to classify gum disease Posted: 21 Mar 2014 01:46 PM PDT A new system for classifying periodontal disease has been devised based on the genetic signature of affected tissue, rather than on clinical signs and symptoms. The new classification system, the first of its kind, may allow for earlier detection and more individualized treatment of severe periodontitis, before loss of teeth and supportive bone occurs.

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