ScienceDaily: Top Health News

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• Babies know when you're faking, psychology researchers show
• Worldwide database of brain images for chronic-pain conditions
• Empathy? Surprising study shows that brains process the pain of villains more than the pain of people we like
• Genetic errors identified in 12 major cancer types
• Finding blood clots before they wreak havoc
• Tracking viral DNA in the cell: New method to generate virus particles containing labeled viral DNA genomes
• Schizophrenia linked to abnormal brain waves: Neurological hyperactivity produces disordered thinking
• Study shows how Staph toxin disarms the immune system
• Researchers discover, treat toxic effects of ALS mutation in neurons using patients' skin cells
• Better understanding of inherited hearing loss
• When neurons have less to say, they speak up
• 'Individualized' therapy for the brain targets specific gene mutations causing dementia, ALS
• Rare gene mutation sheds light on protein's role in brain development
• Taking guns away from mentally ill won't eliminate mass shootings, psychiatrist argues
• Warning against Wi-Fi in cars: Drivers will be too distracted even if devices are voice-operated, study shows
• Maximizing broccoli's cancer-fighting potential
• Glowing neurons reveal networked link between brain, whiskers
• Toward a urine test for detecting blood clots
• Working to the beat
• Brain connections underlying accurate introspection revealed
• Roadmap for implementing quality preschool
• Drug activates virus against cancer
• Scientists create a super antioxidant
• Iron supplementation can provide cognitive, physical benefits to anemic children
• Are Oreos addictive? Research says yes
• Inhibiting a single protein could improve treatment of atherosclerosis
• Lung infections offer clue to unlocking the mystery of heart drug
• Neurosurgical residents improve quality, reduce costs
• Can thermodynamics help us better understand human cancers?
• New discovery in quest for better drugs
• World first: Lungs awaiting transplant preserved 11 hours outside body
• Recovery from childhood ADHD may depend on pattern of brain development
• New imaging technique can identify breast cancer subtypes, early treatment response
• Earlier is better for measles immunization first dose

Babies know when you're faking, psychology researchers show Posted: 16 Oct 2013 11:56 AM PDT Psychology researchers demonstrate that infants can detect whether a person's emotions are justifiable given a particular context.

Worldwide database of brain images for chronic-pain conditions Posted: 16 Oct 2013 11:54 AM PDT A new database featuring hundreds of brain scans and other key clinical information will help researchers tease out similarities and differences between these and many other chronic-pain conditions, helping to accelerate research and treatment development.

Empathy? Surprising study shows that brains process the pain of villains more than the pain of people we like Posted: 16 Oct 2013 10:22 AM PDT A counterintuitive findings from a new study show that the part of the brain that is associated with empathizing with the pain of others is activated more strongly by watching the suffering of hateful people as opposed to likable people.

Genetic errors identified in 12 major cancer types Posted: 16 Oct 2013 10:21 AM PDT Examining 12 major types of cancer, scientists have identified 127 repeatedly mutated genes that appear to drive the development and progression of a range of tumors in the body. The discovery sets the stage for devising new diagnostic tools and more personalized cancer treatments.

Finding blood clots before they wreak havoc Posted: 16 Oct 2013 09:30 AM PDT Simple urine test developed by engineers uses nanotechnology to detect dangerous blood clotting.

Tracking viral DNA in the cell: New method to generate virus particles containing labeled viral DNA genomes Posted: 16 Oct 2013 09:30 AM PDT Cell biologists and chemists reveal how viral DNA traffics in human cells. They have developed a new method to generate virus particles containing labeled viral DNA genomes. This allowed them to visualize, for the first time, single viral genomes in the cytoplasm and the nucleus by using fluorescence microscopy in regular or superresolution mode. The new findings enhance our understanding of how viral disease occurs, and how cells respond to infections.

Schizophrenia linked to abnormal brain waves: Neurological hyperactivity produces disordered thinking Posted: 16 Oct 2013 09:30 AM PDT Schizophrenia patients usually suffer from a breakdown of organized thought, often accompanied by delusions or hallucinations. For the first time, neuroscientists have observed the neural activity that appears to produce this disordered thinking.

Study shows how Staph toxin disarms the immune system Posted: 16 Oct 2013 09:30 AM PDT Researchers have discovered a new mechanism by which the deadly Staphylococcus aureus bacteria attack and kill off immune cells. Their findings explain a critical survival tactic of a pathogen that causes more skin and heart infections than any other microbe, and kills more than 100,000 Americans every year.

Researchers discover, treat toxic effects of ALS mutation in neurons using patients' skin cells Posted: 16 Oct 2013 09:30 AM PDT Researchers have discovered how the most common genetic abnormality in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia kills neurons, and have successfully developed a therapeutic strategy to block this neurodegeneration in neurons made from the skin cells of ALS patients. The findings have important implications for treating patients with these debilitating, currently incurable neurodegenerative diseases.

Better understanding of inherited hearing loss Posted: 16 Oct 2013 09:20 AM PDT A team of researchers made an important discovery that could better explain some inherited forms of hearing loss in humans. Scientists identified a group of proteins crucial for shaping the cellular organ responsible for detecting sounds.

When neurons have less to say, they speak up Posted: 16 Oct 2013 09:20 AM PDT The brain is an extremely adaptable organ – but it is also quite conservative. That's in short, what scientists are now able to show. Researchers have found that neurons in the brain regulate their own activity in such a way that the overall activity level in the network remains as constant as possible. This remains true even in the event of major changes.

'Individualized' therapy for the brain targets specific gene mutations causing dementia, ALS Posted: 16 Oct 2013 09:20 AM PDT Scientists have developed new drugs that — at least in a laboratory dish — appear to halt the brain-destroying impact of a genetic mutation at work in some forms of two incurable diseases, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and dementia.

Rare gene mutation sheds light on protein's role in brain development Posted: 16 Oct 2013 09:19 AM PDT Though worlds apart, four unrelated families have been united in a medical mystery over the source of a rare inherited disorder that results in their children being born with abnormal brain growth and severe functional impairments.

Taking guns away from mentally ill won't eliminate mass shootings, psychiatrist argues Posted: 16 Oct 2013 08:28 AM PDT A string of public mass shootings during the past decade-plus have rocked America leaving policymakers and mental health experts alike fishing for solutions to prevent these heinous crimes.

Warning against Wi-Fi in cars: Drivers will be too distracted even if devices are voice-operated, study shows Posted: 16 Oct 2013 08:28 AM PDT Plans to provide high-speed Internet access in vehicles, announced last month in North America could do with some sobering second-thought, says a psychology professor in a new study on the impact of auditory distractions on visual attention.

Maximizing broccoli's cancer-fighting potential Posted: 16 Oct 2013 08:28 AM PDT Spraying a plant hormone on broccoli -- already one of the planet's most nutritious foods -- boosts its cancer-fighting potential, and researchers say they have new insights on how that works.

Glowing neurons reveal networked link between brain, whiskers Posted: 16 Oct 2013 08:27 AM PDT New research on mouse whiskers reveals a surprise -- at the fine scale, the sensory system's wiring diagram doesn't have a set pattern. And it's probably the case that no two people's touch sensory systems are wired exactly the same at the detailed level, according to this study.

Toward a urine test for detecting blood clots Posted: 16 Oct 2013 08:27 AM PDT Detecting dangerous blood clots, which can cause life-threatening conditions such as strokes and heart attacks, leading causes of death for men and women in the US, has been a coveted and elusive goal. But scientists are now reporting progress in the form of a simple urine test.

Working to the beat Posted: 16 Oct 2013 08:26 AM PDT Scientists have contributed significantly towards a first explanation for the development of music. Contrary to what was previously suspected, music does not simply distract us when physically working hard by making the work seem a lot easier, but actually the music reduces the effort. This new insight permits on the one hand a conclusion to human's historical development of music, and on the other hand provides an important impulse for the expansion of the therapeutical use of music.

Brain connections underlying accurate introspection revealed Posted: 16 Oct 2013 07:04 AM PDT The human mind is not only capable of cognition and registering experiences but also of being introspectively aware of these processes. Until now, scientists have not known if such introspection was a single skill or dependent on the object of reflection. Also unclear was whether the brain housed a single system for reflecting on experience or required multiple systems to support different types of introspection.

Roadmap for implementing quality preschool Posted: 16 Oct 2013 06:57 AM PDT Early childhood education can yield short- and long-term educational, economic, and societal benefits, underscoring the value of expanding publicly funded preschool education, researchers say.

Drug activates virus against cancer Posted: 15 Oct 2013 09:38 AM PDT Scientists have discovered that a drug called valproic acid increases the effectiveness of parvoviruses that are used against cancer. In some cases, pancreatic and cervical tumors that had been transplanted to rats completely regressed after treatment with a combination of the virus and an agent. The drug makes the viruses replicate more rapidly and improves their capacity to kill cancer cells.

Scientists create a super antioxidant Posted: 15 Oct 2013 09:37 AM PDT Scientists are enhancing the natural antioxidant properties of an element found in a car's catalytic converter to make it useful for medical applications.

Iron supplementation can provide cognitive, physical benefits to anemic children Posted: 15 Oct 2013 09:35 AM PDT Giving daily iron supplements to anemic primary-school-aged children can have cognitive and physical benefits, according to a study.

Are Oreos addictive? Research says yes Posted: 15 Oct 2013 09:33 AM PDT Students and a professor of neuroscience have found "America's favorite cookie" is just as addictive as cocaine – at least for lab rats. In a study designed to shed light on the potential addictiveness of high-fat/ high-sugar foods, they found rats formed an equally strong association between the pleasurable effects of eating Oreos and a specific environment as they did between cocaine or morphine and a specific environment. They also found that eating cookies activated more neurons in the brain's "pleasure center" than exposure to drugs of abuse.

Inhibiting a single protein could improve treatment of atherosclerosis Posted: 15 Oct 2013 07:38 AM PDT A new study, conducted in mice, shows that the well-known association between a fat-rich diet and atherosclerosis is related to the induction of the protein Rcan1 in the wall of the aorta.

Lung infections offer clue to unlocking the mystery of heart drug Posted: 15 Oct 2013 07:38 AM PDT Scientists have discovered ground breaking clues as to how the pioneering heart drug ticagrelor might reduce the risk of dying following a heart attack, in comparison to previous standard treatments.

Neurosurgical residents improve quality, reduce costs Posted: 15 Oct 2013 07:38 AM PDT An incentive program to reduce unnecessary diagnostic laboratory tests performed in neurosurgical patients was highly successful. Neurosurgical residents identified five frequently scheduled laboratory tests that rarely yield information that would change patient care. New guidelines were developed to determine when these tests should be performed. The result was a 47% reduction in the number of targeted tests, which was attended by cost savings of $1.7 million in one year.

Can thermodynamics help us better understand human cancers? Posted: 15 Oct 2013 06:46 AM PDT Researchers analyzed gene expression profiles of more than 2,000 patients and identified cancer-specific gene signatures for breast, lung, prostate and ovarian cancers.

New discovery in quest for better drugs Posted: 15 Oct 2013 06:46 AM PDT Scientists have combined cutting edge computer modelling with pharmacology and medicinal chemistry to reveal new insights into how the body interacts with novel drug treatments, in research that could lead to the creation of drugs that are more targeted and with fewer side effects.

World first: Lungs awaiting transplant preserved 11 hours outside body Posted: 15 Oct 2013 06:41 AM PDT A multidisciplinary transplant team successfully preserved a set of donor lungs for over eleven hours with the help of a machine, the longest period ever reported. The lengthy preservation time was necessary because the patient needed a liver transplant immediately prior to the lung transplant. The patient has since left the hospital and is in good health.

Recovery from childhood ADHD may depend on pattern of brain development Posted: 15 Oct 2013 06:40 AM PDT Some people grow out of their childhood attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and some don't. In fact, around 50% of individuals diagnosed as children continue to suffer from ADHD as adults. Researchers are trying to understand the reasons why, and whether there are any differences that distinguish the two groups. Gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic class, and symptom severity have already been ruled out as potentials. So, perhaps there is a distinguishing variable in the brain?

New imaging technique can identify breast cancer subtypes, early treatment response Posted: 15 Oct 2013 06:37 AM PDT An optical imaging technique that measures metabolic activity in cancer cells can accurately differentiate breast cancer subtypes, and it can detect responses to treatment as early as two days after therapy administration.

Earlier is better for measles immunization first dose Posted: 14 Oct 2013 07:16 PM PDT Children receiving measles-containing vaccines at 12-15 months of age have a lower increased risk of fever and seizures than those who receive them at 16-23 months of age, according to a new study.

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