ScienceDaily: Top Health News

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• Infant cooing, babbling linked to hearing ability, researcher finds
• Does size matter? MRI measures of joint's geometry suggest role in athletes' severe knee injuries
• Dying brain cells cue new brain cells to grow in songbird
• Study questions accuracy of lung cancer screens in some geographic regions
• Note to young men: Fat doesn't pay well
• Surveys may assess language more than attitudes, says study
• 'Brain Breaks' increase activity, educational performance in elementary schools
• Foot drop stimulator found to be beneficial in stroke rehab
• Mefloquine fails to replace SP for malaria prevention during pregnancy
• Medical students who attended community college likelier to serve poor communities
• Clues to superbug evolution: Microbiologists sequence entire genome of a Klebsiella pneumoniae strain
• Slight alterations in microRNA sequences hold more information than previously thought
• Gene mutation discovered in blood disorder aplastic anemia
• Walking off depression and beating stress outdoors? Nature group walks linked to improved mental health
• Mother-infant bed sharing messaging should be tailored, according to researcher
• Life, liberty, and the pursuit of healthcare? Privatized medical care scrutinized
• Nanotubes help healing hearts keep the beat
• Search for better biofuels microbes leads to human gut
• Complexity of diabetes: More to tiny fluctuations in blood sugar than meets the eye
• Increased knowledge of HPV vaccines does not predict higher rate of vaccination
• Pneumonia: More precise diagnosis method developed by interdisciplinary research team
• Single parents' dating, sexual activity contradicts assumptions
• Brain wave may be used to detect what people have seen, recognize
• Safe passages into adulthood: Preventing gender-based violence and its consequences
• Federal food program puts food on the table, but dietary quality could be improved
• Video blinds us to the evidence, study finds
• Multi-function protein is key to stopping genomic parasites from 'jumping'
• Critically ill ICU patients lose almost all of their gut microbes and the ones left aren't good
• New DNA sequencing method to diagnose tuberculosis
• Lack of sleep increases risk of failure in school
• Fruit and vegetable consumption could be as good for your mental as your physical health
• New approach aims to silence cancer 'survival genes'
• Artificial intelligence that imitates children’s learning
• Presence or absence of early language delay alters anatomy of the brain in autism
• Newborn screening uncovers hidden genetic disorders
• New measure provides more data on oxygen levels during sedation
• Job loss fears may boost first-time asthma risk
• Sporting events should ditch nutritional supps, sports drinks sponsorship, experts urge
• Scientists seen as competent but not trusted by Americans
• Experts provide much-needed policy analysis for clinical integration of next-generation sequencing
• Few kids receive psychotherapy along with medication for ADHD, study finds
• Healthy lifestyle choices may dramatically reduce risk of heart attack in men

Infant cooing, babbling linked to hearing ability, researcher finds Posted: 23 Sep 2014 03:21 PM PDT Infant vocalizations are primarily motivated by infants' ability to hear their own babbling, research shows. Additionally, infants with profound hearing loss who received cochlear implants to help correct their hearing soon reached the vocalization levels of their hearing peers, putting them on track for language development.

Does size matter? MRI measures of joint's geometry suggest role in athletes' severe knee injuries Posted: 23 Sep 2014 03:20 PM PDT With only 200-300,000 per year, ACL injuries are far less common than ankle ligament injuries, which number more than two million annually. But ACL injuries can end sports careers and are proven to lead to the early onset of osteoarthritis, putting young athletes on track for joint replacement as early as their 30s. Research provides insight into the potential role of the knee's geometric characteristics in increasing injury risk.

Dying brain cells cue new brain cells to grow in songbird Posted: 23 Sep 2014 03:20 PM PDT Using a songbird as a model, scientists have described a brain pathway that replaces cells that have been lost naturally and not because of injury. If scientists can further tap into the process, it might lead to ways to encourage replacement of cells in human brains that have lost neurons naturally because of aging or Alzheimer's disease.

Study questions accuracy of lung cancer screens in some geographic regions Posted: 23 Sep 2014 01:11 PM PDT FDG-PET technology is less accurate in diagnosing lung cancer versus benign disease in regions where infections like histoplasmosis or tuberculosis are common, a new study suggests. Misdiagnosis of lung lesions suspicious for cancer could lead to unnecessary tests and surgeries for patients, with additional potential complications and mortality.

Note to young men: Fat doesn't pay well Posted: 23 Sep 2014 11:28 AM PDT Men who are already obese as teenagers could grow up to earn up to 18 percent less than their peers of normal weight, researchers report. The team compared extensive information from Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States, and the results were found across the board.

Surveys may assess language more than attitudes, says study Posted: 23 Sep 2014 11:27 AM PDT Scientists who study patterns in survey results might be dealing with data on language rather than what they're really after -- attitudes -- according to an international study.

'Brain Breaks' increase activity, educational performance in elementary schools Posted: 23 Sep 2014 11:27 AM PDT A recent survey about an exercise DVD that adds short breaks of physical activity into the daily routine of elementary school students found it had a high level of popularity with both students and teachers, and offered clear advantages for overly sedentary educational programs.

Foot drop stimulator found to be beneficial in stroke rehab Posted: 23 Sep 2014 11:27 AM PDT Use of a foot drop stimulator during a task-specific movement for 4 weeks can retrain the neuromuscular system, a study demonstrates. This finding indicates that applying the foot drop stimulator as rehabilitation intervention may facilitate recovery from this common complication of stroke.

Mefloquine fails to replace SP for malaria prevention during pregnancy Posted: 23 Sep 2014 11:27 AM PDT Two large randomized controlled trials conducted in Africa tested an alternative drug for malaria prevention in HIV-negative and HIV-positive pregnant women.

Medical students who attended community college likelier to serve poor communities Posted: 23 Sep 2014 10:14 AM PDT Among students who apply to and attend medical school, those from underrepresented minority backgrounds are more likely than white and Asian students to have attended a community college at some point. Community college students who were accepted to medical school were also more likely than those students who never attended a community college to commit to working with underserved populations.

Clues to superbug evolution: Microbiologists sequence entire genome of a Klebsiella pneumoniae strain Posted: 23 Sep 2014 10:13 AM PDT Imagine going to the hospital with one disease and coming home with something much worse, or not coming home at all. With the emergence and spread of antibiotic-resistance pathogens, healthcare-associated infections have become a serious threat. On any given day about one in 25 hospital patients has at least one such infection and as many as one in nine die as a result. Microbiologists, for the first time, recently sequenced the entire genome of a Klebsiella pneumoniae strain, encoding New Delhi Metallo-beta-lactamase (NDM-1).

Slight alterations in microRNA sequences hold more information than previously thought Posted: 23 Sep 2014 10:13 AM PDT MicroRNA isoforms show population-specific and gender-specific signatures -– a finding that could affect how researchers view and study microRNAs. The team's findings have several implications: For researchers they suggest that the assays currently in the market do not necessarily capture the variant that is prevalent in the cells with which a researcher works. For patients, the findings represent an opportunity for a potentially significant advantage: the knowledge that a given patient has a different molecular profile than another patient with the same disease is a very important piece of information.

Gene mutation discovered in blood disorder aplastic anemia Posted: 23 Sep 2014 09:14 AM PDT A gene mutation that causes aplastic anemia, a serious blood disorder in which the bone marrow fails to produce normal amounts of blood cells, has been discovered by an international team of scientists. The gene regulates telomeres on the ends of chromosomes.

Walking off depression and beating stress outdoors? Nature group walks linked to improved mental health Posted: 23 Sep 2014 09:14 AM PDT They are common suggestions to remedy stress: You just need a breath of fresh air. Walk it off. Get out and see people. Turns out all those things combined may in fact make you feel better -- a lot better -- a new large scale study suggests.

Mother-infant bed sharing messaging should be tailored, according to researcher Posted: 23 Sep 2014 08:07 AM PDT Bed sharing, a practice where mother and infant sleep on the same surface, remains popular all over the world despite potential health risks for the infant. According to a study, bed sharing can likely be decreased if public health officials tailor messaging to their unique population.

Life, liberty, and the pursuit of healthcare? Privatized medical care scrutinized Posted: 23 Sep 2014 08:07 AM PDT Privatized medical care in the US has contributed to greater wealth-health inequality than state-sponsored healthcare systems in Sweden, the UK, Israel, Germany, and the Czech Republic, researchers report. According to the study, the wealthiest older people in the US surprisingly suffered from worse health than the poorest older people in the other countries reviewed.

Nanotubes help healing hearts keep the beat Posted: 23 Sep 2014 08:07 AM PDT Patches to heal pediatric heart defects are improved when infused with carbon nanotubes, researchers report. The nanotubes serve as bridges for cell-to-cell electrical signals and help cells in the patches beat in sync with surrounding heart muscle.

Search for better biofuels microbes leads to human gut Posted: 23 Sep 2014 08:07 AM PDT Scientists have scoured cow rumens and termite guts for microbes that can efficiently break down plant cell walls for the production of next-generation biofuels, but some of the best microbial candidates actually may reside in the human lower intestine, researchers report.

Complexity of diabetes: More to tiny fluctuations in blood sugar than meets the eye Posted: 23 Sep 2014 08:06 AM PDT For millions of people in the United States living with Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes, measuring the daily rise and fall of blood glucose (sugar) is a way of life. Now a group of researchers has discovered that there may be more to tiny fluctuations in blood sugar than meets the eye -- in fact, the largely-ignored instantaneous dynamics may provide a wealth of information encoded in the small, seemingly inconsequential ups and downs of blood sugar.

Increased knowledge of HPV vaccines does not predict higher rate of vaccination Posted: 23 Sep 2014 08:06 AM PDT A year-long study of over 360 adolescents who were considered to be ideal candidates to receive the HPV vaccine showed that neither increased parental or adolescent knowledge about HPV or the vaccine resulted in higher rates of vaccination. That is, those with higher levels of knowledge were not more likely to obtain vaccination for themselves or their daughters.

Pneumonia: More precise diagnosis method developed by interdisciplinary research team Posted: 23 Sep 2014 08:06 AM PDT More accurate and rapid methods of identification of bacterial pathogens in patients with pulmonary infections are under investigation by scientists, which could lead to more targeted antimicrobial therapy with potentially less adverse effects and lower costs. Next-generation sequencing of samples from the sputum of intubated patients may enable more focused treatment of pneumonia in the critically ill.

Single parents' dating, sexual activity contradicts assumptions Posted: 23 Sep 2014 07:16 AM PDT Contrary to what is often assumed about single parents, particularly single parents of young children, a new study has found that single parents of children younger than age 5 date and are sexually active as often as singles without children -- and more so than single parents of older children.

Brain wave may be used to detect what people have seen, recognize Posted: 23 Sep 2014 07:16 AM PDT Brain activity can be used to tell whether someone recognizes details they encountered in normal, daily life, which may have implications for criminal investigations and use in courtrooms, new research shows. The findings suggest that a particular brain wave, known as P300, could serve as a marker that identifies places, objects, or other details that a person has seen and recognizes from everyday life.

Safe passages into adulthood: Preventing gender-based violence and its consequences Posted: 23 Sep 2014 07:16 AM PDT Gender-based violence affects the physical and mental health of girls and boys, men and women worldwide. A recent study addresses the challenge of developing effective strategies to change inequitable and harmful social norms that result in gender-based violence. Inequitable gender norms are not only related to domestic violence, but also to other behaviors such as multiple sexual partners, smoking and alcohol abuse which lead to poor health outcomes.

Federal food program puts food on the table, but dietary quality could be improved Posted: 23 Sep 2014 06:02 AM PDT Participants in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, previously known as the food stamp program, had lower dietary quality scores compared with income eligible non-participants, a new study shows.

Video blinds us to the evidence, study finds Posted: 23 Sep 2014 06:02 AM PDT Where people look when watching video evidence varies wildly and has profound consequences for bias in legal punishment decisions, a team of researchers at two Law Schools has found.

Multi-function protein is key to stopping genomic parasites from 'jumping' Posted: 23 Sep 2014 06:02 AM PDT Most organisms, including humans, have parasitic DNA fragments called 'jumping genes' that insert themselves into DNA molecules, disrupting genetic instructions in the process. And that phenomenon can result in age-related diseases such as cancer. But researchers now report that the 'jumping genes' in mice become active as the mice age when a multi-function protein stops keeping them in check in order to take on another role.

Critically ill ICU patients lose almost all of their gut microbes and the ones left aren't good Posted: 23 Sep 2014 06:02 AM PDT After a long stay in the Intensive Care Unit only a handful of pathogenic microbe species remain behind in patients' intestines, a study has shown. The team of researchers tested these remaining pathogens and discovered that some can become deadly when provoked by conditions that mimic the body's stress response to illness.

New DNA sequencing method to diagnose tuberculosis Posted: 23 Sep 2014 06:02 AM PDT A new approach to the diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB) has been developed by researchers working in the UK and The Gambia that relies on direct sequencing of DNA extracted from sputum -- a technique called metagenomics -- to detect and characterize the bacteria that cause TB without the need for time-consuming culture of bacteria in the laboratory.

Lack of sleep increases risk of failure in school Posted: 23 Sep 2014 06:00 AM PDT A new Swedish study shows that adolescents who suffer from sleep disturbance or habitual short sleep duration are less likely to succeed academically compared to those who enjoy a good night's sleep. In a new study involving more than 20,000 adolescents aged between 12 and 19, researchers demonstrated that reports of sleep disturbance and habitual short sleep duration (less than 7 hours per day) increased the risk of failure in school.

Fruit and vegetable consumption could be as good for your mental as your physical health Posted: 23 Sep 2014 05:59 AM PDT New research focused on mental wellbeing found that high and low mental wellbeing were consistently associated with an individual's fruit and vegetable consumption. 33.5% of respondents with high mental wellbeing ate five or more portions of fruit and vegetables a day, compared with only 6.8% who ate less than one portion.

New approach aims to silence cancer 'survival genes' Posted: 23 Sep 2014 05:59 AM PDT A promising new approach for tackling colorectal cancer, the second most common cause of cancer-related death, is under development. The new method works by silencing cancer 'survival genes' and could potentially combat cancer through the selective killing of colorectal cancer cells without adverse effects on normal, non-cancer cells.

Artificial intelligence that imitates children’s learning Posted: 23 Sep 2014 05:59 AM PDT The computer programs used in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) are highly specialized. They can for example fly airplanes, play chess or assemble cars in controlled industrial environments. Scientists have now created an AI program that can learn how to solve problems in many different areas. The program is designed to imitate certain aspects of children's cognitive development.

Presence or absence of early language delay alters anatomy of the brain in autism Posted: 23 Sep 2014 05:59 AM PDT Individual differences in early language development, and in later language functioning, are associated with changes in the anatomy of the brain in autism. A new study has found that a common characteristic of autism -- language delay in early childhood -- leaves a 'signature' in the brain.

Newborn screening uncovers hidden genetic disorders Posted: 23 Sep 2014 05:58 AM PDT How can a seemingly healthy child have a genetic disorder? An expert explains how newborn screening works and why it can prevent lifelong disability -- and even save a child's life.

New measure provides more data on oxygen levels during sedation Posted: 23 Sep 2014 05:57 AM PDT The "area under the curve of oxygen desaturation" (AUCDesat) may provide a more sophisticated approach to monitoring blood oxygen levels during procedures using sedation, according to a study. Sedation is essential for many types of medical procedures. But even though it has an excellent safety profile, sedation is not risk-free, anesthesiologists say.

Job loss fears may boost first-time asthma risk Posted: 22 Sep 2014 05:56 PM PDT Job loss fears may boost the risk of developing asthma for the first time, indicates research. The findings back up other epidemiological studies pointing to a link between the development of asthma and stress, particularly work related stress, say the researchers. "Our findings may provide a possible explanation for the increased prevalence of respiratory symptoms during the recent economic crisis in the UK," researchers add.

Sporting events should ditch nutritional supps, sports drinks sponsorship, experts urge Posted: 22 Sep 2014 05:56 PM PDT Sporting bodies should ditch the sponsorship of nutritional supplement and sports drinks manufacturers, because they could be lending 'unwarranted credibility' to these products, conclude two leading authorities on the promotion of sports for health and wellbeing.

Scientists seen as competent but not trusted by Americans Posted: 22 Sep 2014 03:13 PM PDT While Americans view scientists as competent, they are not entirely trusted. This may be because they lack 'warmth' and are not perceived to be friendly and trustworthy. One way to combat this perception is through showing concern for humanity and the environment, according to research.

Experts provide much-needed policy analysis for clinical integration of next-generation sequencing Posted: 22 Sep 2014 03:13 PM PDT As genetic sequencing technologies continue to evolve rapidly, becoming part of clinical care, there is a critical need to establish appropriate policies and regulatory frameworks to address potential challenges, legal and ethical experts have said.

Few kids receive psychotherapy along with medication for ADHD, study finds Posted: 22 Sep 2014 03:00 PM PDT For many children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, medication alone can manage symptoms. But evidence shows that some affected children do better and can take lower doses of stimulant medications when they receive behavioral therapy along with ADHD drugs. A new study finds that about one quarter of commercially-insured children who are treated with medication for ADHD also receive psychotherapy, and the percentage is far lower in many parts of the country.

Healthy lifestyle choices may dramatically reduce risk of heart attack in men Posted: 22 Sep 2014 03:00 PM PDT Following a healthy lifestyle, including maintaining a healthy weight and diet, exercise, not smoking and moderating alcohol intake, could prevent four out of five coronary events in men, according to a new study.

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