ScienceDaily: Top Health News

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• Researchers identify switch that controls growth of most aggressive brain tumor cells
• Microfluidic platform gives clear look at a crucial step in cancer metastasis
• Blood pressure cuff may save lives in patients with acute heart attack
• Proteins identified that may help brain tumors spread
• Digoxin use associated with higher risk of death for heart failure patients
• Final piece found in puzzle of brain circuitry controlling fertility
• Imaging technique detects pediatric liver disease without needle biopsy
• Lifestyle Influences Metabolism via DNA Methylation
• Getting rid of unwanted visitors
• Higher calorie diets increase weight gain, shorten hospital stays for teens with anorexia
• Barriers to HIV vaccine response explored
• Building the best brain: How brain cell connections get cemented early in life
• Transmitting future asthma by smoking today
• MERS Co-V genomes reveal complex transmission patterns
• Cancer cells supported by normal cells in and near tumors
• Placebo effect and lessons for the physician-patient relationship
• Researchers identify biomarker for smoker's lung cancer
• New research supports intentional weight loss for older adults

Researchers identify switch that controls growth of most aggressive brain tumor cells Posted: 20 Sep 2013 11:37 AM PDT Researchers have identified a cellular switch that potentially can be turned off and on to slow down, and eventually inhibit the growth of the most commonly diagnosed and aggressive malignant brain tumor.

Microfluidic platform gives clear look at a crucial step in cancer metastasis Posted: 20 Sep 2013 08:14 AM PDT A microfluidic platform provides a high-resolution view of a crucial step in cancer metastasis.

Blood pressure cuff may save lives in patients with acute heart attack Posted: 20 Sep 2013 08:14 AM PDT Done in the ambulance, this simple and safe intervention - inflation of a blood pressure cuff to cut off blood flow to the arm during transportation to hospital for acute balloon dilatation – reduces subsequent cardiac symptoms and mortality after acute heart attack.

Proteins identified that may help brain tumors spread Posted: 20 Sep 2013 08:12 AM PDT Scientists have identified a molecular pathway that seems to contribute to the ability of malignant glioma cells in a brain tumor to spread and invade previously healthy brain tissue.

Digoxin use associated with higher risk of death for heart failure patients Posted: 20 Sep 2013 07:21 AM PDT Digoxin, a drug commonly used to treat heart conditions, was associated with a 72 percent higher rate of death among adults with newly diagnosed systolic heart failure.

Final piece found in puzzle of brain circuitry controlling fertility Posted: 20 Sep 2013 07:21 AM PDT In a landmark discovery, the final piece in the puzzle of understanding how the brain circuitry vital to normal fertility in humans and other mammals operates has been put together by researchers.

Imaging technique detects pediatric liver disease without needle biopsy Posted: 20 Sep 2013 06:47 AM PDT A new, non-invasive imaging technique, magnetic resonance elastography, can now help physicians accurately detect fibrosis (scarring) in children with chronic liver disease -- a growing problem due in part to increasing obesity rates.

Lifestyle Influences Metabolism via DNA Methylation Posted: 20 Sep 2013 06:44 AM PDT An unhealthy lifestyle leaves traces in the DNA. These may have specific effects on metabolism, causing organ damage or disease. Scientists have now identified 28 DNA alterations associated with metabolic traits. This is a world-first epigenome-wide association study of modified genes and metabolites.

Getting rid of unwanted visitors Posted: 20 Sep 2013 06:44 AM PDT Gut-dwelling bacteria are attracting attention, particularly those associated with human diseases. Helicobacter pylori is found in the stomach of humans, where it may cause chronic gastritis and gastric ulcers, although the majority of infections are asymptomatic. The bacterium has been associated with humans for more than 100,000 years, when it first infected San hunter-gatherers. An international consortium has discovered that the Baka pygmies of Cameroon, another community of hunter-gatherers, have a surprisingly low rate of Helicobacter infection.

Higher calorie diets increase weight gain, shorten hospital stays for teens with anorexia Posted: 20 Sep 2013 06:42 AM PDT Higher calorie diets produce twice the rate of weight gain compared to the lower calorie diets that currently are recommended for adolescents hospitalized with anorexia nervosa.

Barriers to HIV vaccine response explored Posted: 20 Sep 2013 06:42 AM PDT Researchers have discovered that an antibody that binds and neutralizes HIV likely also targets the body's own "self" proteins. This finding could complicate the development of HIV vaccines designed to elicit this protective antibody, called 4E10, and others like it, as doing so might be dangerous or inefficient.

Building the best brain: How brain cell connections get cemented early in life Posted: 20 Sep 2013 06:42 AM PDT When we're born, our brains aren't very organized, but as we grow and learn, things get a bit more stable. How and why does this happen -- and what happens when it doesn't go normally? Researchers have made a major stride in understanding this process, called synapse maturation.

Transmitting future asthma by smoking today Posted: 20 Sep 2013 06:42 AM PDT A new study confirms the lasting legacy of smoking. In the study, researchers exposed animal mothers to nicotine during pregnancy — a proxy for smoking — and found the grandchildren were also at an increased risk for asthma, despite the grandchildren never having been exposed to nicotine themselves.

MERS Co-V genomes reveal complex transmission patterns Posted: 19 Sep 2013 05:13 PM PDT Exactly one year after the first published report on MERS-Coronavirus, the virus continues to defy expectation. In the largest study of its kind, scientists examine the entire genetic code of 21 MERS-Coronavirus samples. Their results suggest that additional human or animal cases -- which have so far evaded detection -- might be the sources of infection.

Cancer cells supported by normal cells in and near tumors Posted: 19 Sep 2013 05:13 PM PDT Investigators report important progress in research aimed at finding ways to fight cancer by targeting the local environment in which tumors grow and from which they draw sustenance. It's part of the first systematic effort to catalog the repertoire of interactions between cancer cells and their environment.

Placebo effect and lessons for the physician-patient relationship Posted: 19 Sep 2013 05:12 PM PDT The findings of a comprehensive review of the placebo phenomenon and its consequences for clinical medicine are contained in a new article that provides an in-depth biological and evolutionary approach to examining the placebo effect in relationship to the doctor-patient relationship.

Researchers identify biomarker for smoker's lung cancer Posted: 19 Sep 2013 01:30 PM PDT Researchers have shown that a specific protein pair may be a successful prognostic biomarker for identifying smoking-related lung cancers. The protein is associated with increased expression of the RET oncogene, a particular cancer-causing gene called RET.

New research supports intentional weight loss for older adults Posted: 19 Sep 2013 05:52 AM PDT New research shows that physical activity and weight loss conducted together for older, overweight and obese adults results in improved body composition, translating into lower cardiovascular disease risk and improved mobility.

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