ScienceDaily: Top Health News

---

• Synthetic stool can cure C. difficile infection, study suggests
• Reduction in air pollution from wood stoves associated with significantly reduced risk of death
• Concerns raised over the effectiveness of a costly and invasive procedure for melanoma
• Cancer screening unlikely to benefit patients with a short life expectancy: Less than 10 years and risks are likely to outweigh benefits
• Triple mix of blood pressure drugs and painkillers linked to kidney problems
• Nobel laureate James Watson puts forth novel hypothesis on curing late-stage cancers
• Cognitive benefit of lifelong bilingualism
• Being bored at work can make us more creative
• First oral drug for spinal cord injury improves movement in mice
• Two-drug combination may slow deadly thyroid cancer
• Weight counseling decreases despite rise in obesity
• Post-operative intravenous acetaminophen may help reduce use of morphine in infants
• Vitamin D supplementation does not reduce knee pain, cartilage loss in patients with osteoarthritis
• Intensive training for aphasia: Even older patients can improve
• Hold the diet soda? Sweetened drinks linked to depression, coffee tied to lower risk
• Stem cell materials could boost research into key diseases
• Blood brothers (and sisters): Sibling study discovers genetic region linked to control of key blood-clotting protein
• Teens susceptible to hepatitis B infection despite vaccination as infants
• Prescription drug misuse remains a top public health concern
• Simulated Mars mission reveals body's sodium rhythms
• Why obese people have higher rates of asthma
• Genes and obesity: Fast food isn't only culprit in expanding waistlines -- DNA is also to blame
• Parasitic worms may help treat diseases associated with obesity
• New target for common heart condition identified

Synthetic stool can cure C. difficile infection, study suggests Posted: 08 Jan 2013 05:16 PM PST A newly developed synthetic "poop" can cure nasty gastrointestinal infections caused by Clostridium difficile, a toxin-producing bacterium, a new study suggests.

Reduction in air pollution from wood stoves associated with significantly reduced risk of death Posted: 08 Jan 2013 05:16 PM PST Male deaths from all-causes, but particularly cardiovascular and respiratory disease, could be significantly reduced with a decrease in biomass smoke (smoke produced by domestic cooking and heating and woodland fires), a new article suggests.

Concerns raised over the effectiveness of a costly and invasive procedure for melanoma Posted: 08 Jan 2013 05:16 PM PST A special report finds that thousands of melanoma patients around the world are undergoing an expensive and invasive procedure called sentinel node biopsy, despite a lack of clear evidence and concerns that it may do more harm than good.

Cancer screening unlikely to benefit patients with a short life expectancy: Less than 10 years and risks are likely to outweigh benefits Posted: 08 Jan 2013 05:16 PM PST Breast and colorectal cancer screening should be targeted towards patients with a life expectancy greater than 10 years: for any shorter life expectancy the harms are likely to outweigh the benefits, concludes a new study.

Triple mix of blood pressure drugs and painkillers linked to kidney problems Posted: 08 Jan 2013 05:16 PM PST Patients who take a triple combination of blood pressure drugs and common painkillers are at an increased risk of serious kidney problems, especially at the start of treatment, finds a new study.

Nobel laureate James Watson puts forth novel hypothesis on curing late-stage cancers Posted: 08 Jan 2013 05:16 PM PST In a new paper he regards "among my most important work since the double helix," Nobelist James Watson sets forth a novel hypothesis regarding the role of oxidants and antioxidants in cancers that are currently incurable, notably in late-stage metastatic cancers.

Cognitive benefit of lifelong bilingualism Posted: 08 Jan 2013 05:15 PM PST Older bilinguals expend less energy when performing a cognitive flexibility task. The findings suggest the value of regular stimulating mental activity across the lifetime. As people age, cognitive flexibility -- the ability to adapt to unfamiliar or unexpected circumstances -- and related "executive" functions decline. Recent studies suggest lifelong bilingualism may reduce this decline -- a boost that may stem from the experience of constantly switching between languages.

Being bored at work can make us more creative Posted: 08 Jan 2013 05:15 PM PST Most of us think of being bored at work as a negative experience, but a new study suggests it can have positive results including an increase in creativity because it gives us time to daydream.

First oral drug for spinal cord injury improves movement in mice Posted: 08 Jan 2013 05:14 PM PST An experimental oral drug given to mice after a spinal cord injury was effective at improving limb movement after the injury, a new study shows.

Two-drug combination may slow deadly thyroid cancer Posted: 08 Jan 2013 01:22 PM PST A combination of the drugs pazopanib and paclitaxel shows promise in slowing anaplastic thyroid cancer (ATC), according to a new study. The two drugs together resulted in greater anti-cancer activity in ATC than either drug alone, according to new research.

Weight counseling decreases despite rise in obesity Posted: 08 Jan 2013 01:22 PM PST While the number of overweight and obese Americans has increased, the amount of weight counseling offered by primary care physicians has decreased -- especially for patients with high blood pressure and diabetes -- according to researchers.

Post-operative intravenous acetaminophen may help reduce use of morphine in infants Posted: 08 Jan 2013 01:22 PM PST Among infants undergoing major surgery, postoperative use of intermittent intravenous paracetamol (acetaminophen) for the management of pain resulted in a lower cumulative morphine dose over 48 hours.

Vitamin D supplementation does not reduce knee pain, cartilage loss in patients with osteoarthritis Posted: 08 Jan 2013 01:22 PM PST In a two-year randomized trial, patients with symptomatic knee osteoarthritis who received vitamin D supplementation did not have a significant difference in knee pain or cartilage volume loss compared to patients who received placebo.

Intensive training for aphasia: Even older patients can improve Posted: 08 Jan 2013 01:21 PM PST Older adults who have suffered from aphasia for a long time can nevertheless improve their language function and maintain these improvements in the long term, according to a new study.

Hold the diet soda? Sweetened drinks linked to depression, coffee tied to lower risk Posted: 08 Jan 2013 01:21 PM PST New research suggests that drinking sweetened beverages, especially diet drinks, is associated with an increased risk of depression in adults while drinking coffee was tied to a slightly lower risk.

Stem cell materials could boost research into key diseases Posted: 08 Jan 2013 10:20 AM PST Stem cell manufacturing for drug screening and treatments for diseases such as Huntington's and Parkinson's could be boosted by a new method of generating stem cells, a study suggests. Scientists have developed a family of compounds that can support the growth of human embryonic stem cells on a large scale for use in drug testing or treatments.

Blood brothers (and sisters): Sibling study discovers genetic region linked to control of key blood-clotting protein Posted: 08 Jan 2013 09:29 AM PST In 2006, the lab of Dr. David Ginsburg at the Life Sciences Institute put a call out for siblings attending the University of Michigan to donate blood for a study of blood-clotting disorders. The samples were collected over three years and have now enabled the researchers to identify the specific parts of the genome responsible for levels of a key substance for blood clotting.

Teens susceptible to hepatitis B infection despite vaccination as infants Posted: 08 Jan 2013 09:29 AM PST New research reveals that a significant number of adolescents lose their protection from hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, despite having received a complete vaccination series as infants. Results suggest teens with high-risk mothers and teens whose immune system fails to remember a previous viral exposure are behind HBV reinfection.

Prescription drug misuse remains a top public health concern Posted: 08 Jan 2013 09:24 AM PST Prescription drug misuse is second only to marijuana as the nation's most prevalent illicit drug problem, with approximately 22 million persons nationwide initiating nonmedical pain reliever use since 2002, according to a new report. The report also shows variations in use by state, with combined 2010 and 2011 data indicating that rates of past year misuse among those aged 12 or older ranged from 3.6 percent in Iowa to 6.4 percent in Oregon.

Simulated Mars mission reveals body's sodium rhythms Posted: 08 Jan 2013 09:24 AM PST Researchers report that -- in contrast to the prevailing dogma -- sodium levels fluctuate rhythmically with 7-day and monthly cycles. The findings, which demonstrate that sodium is stored in the body, have implications for blood pressure control, hypertension and salt-associated cardiovascular risk.

Why obese people have higher rates of asthma Posted: 08 Jan 2013 09:24 AM PST A new study has found that leptin, a hormone that plays a key role in energy metabolism, fertility, and bone mass, also regulates airway diameter. The findings could explain why obese people are prone to asthma and suggest that medications that increase leptin-signaling may relieve asthma in obese people.

Genes and obesity: Fast food isn't only culprit in expanding waistlines -- DNA is also to blame Posted: 08 Jan 2013 09:24 AM PST Researchers say it's not just what you eat that makes those pants tighter -- it's also genetics. In a new study, scientists discovered that body-fat responses to a typical fast-food diet are determined in large part by genetic factors, and they have identified several genes they say may control those responses.

Parasitic worms may help treat diseases associated with obesity Posted: 08 Jan 2013 08:24 AM PST On the list of undesirable medical conditions, a parasitic worm infection surely ranks fairly high. But parasites are not all bad, according to new research. A study demonstrates that once inside a host, many parasitic worms secrete a sugar-based anti-inflammatory molecule that might actually help treat metabolic disorders associated with obesity.

New target for common heart condition identified Posted: 08 Jan 2013 06:18 AM PST Researchers have found new evidence that metabolic stress can increase the onset of atrial arrhythmias, such as atrial fibrillation, a common heart condition that causes an irregular and often abnormally fast heart rate. The findings may pave the way for the development of new therapies for the condition which can be expected to affect almost one in four of the UK population at some point in their lifetime.

You are subscribed to email updates from ScienceDaily: Top Health News To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610