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Saturday, September 6, 2014

ScienceDaily: Top Health News

ScienceDaily: Top Health News


Breast cancer specialist reports advance in treatment of triple-negative breast cancer

Posted: 05 Sep 2014 12:30 PM PDT

A major American study could lead to improvements in outcomes for women with triple-negative breast cancer, an aggressive form of the disease that disproportionately affects younger women.

Past sexual assault triples risk of future assault for college women

Posted: 05 Sep 2014 12:29 PM PDT

Disturbing news for women on college campuses: a new study indicates that female college students who are victims of sexual assault are at a much higher risk of becoming victims again.

When offering someone a job hurts more than it helps

Posted: 05 Sep 2014 11:15 AM PDT

A sociologist has made the surprising discovery that unsolicited job leads can increase symptoms of depression in people who are employed full-time or happy with their financial status.

Disease in a dish approach could aid Huntington's disease discovery

Posted: 05 Sep 2014 09:31 AM PDT

Scientists have applied iPS technology to a model of Huntington's disease in transgenic nonhuman primates, allowing them to conveniently assess the efficacy of potential therapies on neuronal cells in the laboratory.

Examining grandparents in the U.S.

Posted: 05 Sep 2014 09:27 AM PDT

Grandparents are an important source of both financial and non-financial support for families. But, surprisingly little is known about this group. Most research is limited to those grandparents who live with their grandchildren, ignoring the vast majority of those who don't. Researchers have now used census data from 2009 to take a closer look at this growing population.

Novel immunotherapy vaccine decreases recurrence in HER2 positive breast cancer patients

Posted: 05 Sep 2014 09:27 AM PDT

A new breast cancer vaccine candidate, (GP2), provides further evidence of the potential of immunotherapy in preventing disease recurrence. One of only a few vaccines of its kind in development, GP2 has been shown to be safe and effective for breast cancer patients, reducing recurrence rates by 57%. Further, women with the highest overexpression of HER2 (known as HER2 +3) had no cancer recurrences when they were administered the vaccine after completing trastuzumab (Herceptin), a type of immunotherapy drug known as a monoclonal antibody.

Dietary recommendations may be tied to increased greenhouse gas emissions

Posted: 05 Sep 2014 09:27 AM PDT

If Americans altered their menus to conform to federal dietary recommendations, emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases tied to agricultural production could increase significantly, according to a new study.

Stigma as a barrier to mental health care

Posted: 05 Sep 2014 08:39 AM PDT

Despite the availability of effective evidence-based treatment, about 40 percent of individuals with serious mental illness do not receive care and many who begin an intervention fail to complete it. A new report investigates stigma as a significant barrier to care for many individuals with mental illness.

Synthetic messenger boosts immune system

Posted: 05 Sep 2014 08:39 AM PDT

Specific immune cells, known as T lymphocytes, have to be activated so that the body can develop long-term protection against infections. Previously, it was believed that this process only took place in the lymph nodes and the spleen. Now scientists have discovered that T cells can also be activated in the liver -- via a much faster, more direct signaling pathway. The findings could lead to improvements in the formulation of vaccines.

Banked blood grows stiffer with age, study finds

Posted: 05 Sep 2014 08:39 AM PDT

It may look like fresh blood and flow like fresh blood, but the longer blood is stored, the less it can carry oxygen into the tiny microcapillaries of the body, says a new study. Using advanced optical techniques, the researchers measured the stiffness of the membrane surrounding red blood cells over time. They found that, even though the cells retain their shape and hemoglobin content, the membranes get stiffer, which steadily decreases the cells' functionality.

New gene mutations for Wilms tumor found

Posted: 05 Sep 2014 08:36 AM PDT

Significant progress in defining new genetic causes of Wilms tumor, a type of kidney cancer found only in children, has been made by researchers. Wilms tumor is the most common childhood genitourinary tract cancer and the third most common solid tumor of childhood.

Use of dengue vaccine may cause short-term spikes in its prevalence

Posted: 05 Sep 2014 06:08 AM PDT

As researchers continue to work toward vaccines for serious tropical diseases such as dengue fever, experts caution in a new report that such vaccines will probably cause temporary but significant spikes in the disease in the years after they are first used.

Sugar substitutes not so super sweet after all

Posted: 05 Sep 2014 06:08 AM PDT

The taste of common sugar substitutes is often described as being much more intense than sugar, but participants in a recent study indicated that these non-nutritive sugar substitutes are no sweeter than the real thing, according to food scientists.

WHO-commissioned report on e-cigarettes misleading, say experts

Posted: 05 Sep 2014 06:08 AM PDT

World leading tobacco experts argue that a recently published World Health Organization-commissioned review of evidence on e-cigarettes contains important errors, misinterpretations and misrepresentations, putting policy-makers and the public in danger of foregoing the potential public health benefits of e-cigarettes. The authors, writing today in the journal Addiction, analyze the WHO-commissioned Background Paper on E-cigarettes, which looks to have been influential in the recently published WHO report calling for greater regulation of e-cigarettes.

First international standards for growth of developing babies, size of newborns

Posted: 05 Sep 2014 06:06 AM PDT

The first international standards for fetal growth and newborn size have been developed by a global team led by scientists. Now, for the first time, all 120 million babies born each year across the world can be assessed using a common set of standards, reflecting how babies should grow when mothers have adequate health, nutrition, medical care and socioeconomic status.

IBD patients: Consider giving infliximab a second try

Posted: 05 Sep 2014 06:06 AM PDT

Restarting infliximab therapy after a drug holiday is safe and effective for patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), according to a new study. Infliximab was the first anti-tumor necrosis factor biologic for Crohn's disease and still is used frequently for its efficacy in both Crohn's and ulcerative colitis. Studies have shown that loss of response to infliximab is about 13 percent per patient-year of treatment.

No association found between wearing bra, breast cancer

Posted: 05 Sep 2014 06:06 AM PDT

A population-based case-control study found no association between bra wearing and increased breast cancer risk among postmenopausal women. "There have been some concerns that one of the reasons why breast cancer may be more common in developed countries compared with developing countries is differences in bra-wearing patterns," said one investigator. "Given how common bra wearing is, we thought this was an important question to address."

One in five child deaths in England preventable, as are many other types, study shows

Posted: 05 Sep 2014 06:04 AM PDT

A new series of articles highlights the substantial number of preventable deaths in England. For example, 20% of child deaths reviewed between 2010 and 2011 (800 of 4601) were from preventable causes including accidents, suicide, abuse, and neglect. Moreover, the series reveals that death rates vary widely between and within high income countries and between different age groups. At an international level, a higher proportion of deaths in older children in the USA, Australia, and New Zealand are due to external causes.

Early school testing no indication of later success

Posted: 05 Sep 2014 06:04 AM PDT

Tests and assessments carried out at school are often seen as a way of predicting how well a child will do later on in life. However, new research suggests that how well a child is doing at one point is no guarantee of later success or difficulty.

Fast-paced TV shows don't harm preschoolers' concentration

Posted: 05 Sep 2014 06:04 AM PDT

Watching fast-paced television programs does not adversely affect young children's ability to concentrate.

New blood test could offer more tailored treatment of ovarian cancer

Posted: 05 Sep 2014 06:04 AM PDT

A new blood test allowing doctors to predict which ovarian cancer patients will respond to particular types of treatment is a step closer following a new study. Researchers say the test could be developed and used in hospitals within the next few years.

Caffeine therapy for apnea of prematurity does not have long-term harmful effects on sleep

Posted: 05 Sep 2014 06:02 AM PDT

Caffeine therapy for apnea of prematurity has no long-term harmful effects on sleep or control of breathing, according to a new study of 201 preterm children assessed at ages 5-12, the first study in humans to examine the long-term effects of neonatal caffeine treatment on sleep regulation and ventilatory control.

Novel microneedle patch for faster, effective delivery of painkiller, collagen

Posted: 05 Sep 2014 06:02 AM PDT

A simple technique has been developed to encapsulate lidocaine, a common painkiller, or collagen in the tiny needles attached to an adhesive patch. When applied to the skin, the microneedles deliver the drug or collagen rapidly into the skin without any discomfort to the user.

Soy supplementation adversely effects expression of breast cancer-related genes

Posted: 04 Sep 2014 03:37 PM PDT

Soy supplementation alters expression of genes associated with breast cancer, raising concerns that soy could have adverse effects in breast cancer, according to a new study.

FDA approves new game changing drug to fight melanoma

Posted: 04 Sep 2014 03:36 PM PDT

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a new immunotherapy drug to treat advanced melanoma, signaling a paradigm shift in the way the deadly skin cancer is treated. Melanoma incidence rates have been increasing for at least 30 years. An estimated 76,100 new cases of melanoma will be diagnosed in the U.S. in 2014, and nearly 10,000 Americans will die from the disease this year.

Should scientists handle retractions differently?

Posted: 04 Sep 2014 08:12 AM PDT

A study by scholars quantifies the fallout for scientists whose fields suffer high-profile retractions, with a twist: Even valid older research, when cited in a retracted study, loses credibility -- especially if the retracted paper involves malfeasance. The fallout from a retraction does not land solely on the scientists who are at fault, but on people in the field more broadly.

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