ScienceDaily: Top Health News

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• Probiotics reduce infections for patients in intensive care, study finds
• Lower antioxidant level might explain higher skin-cancer rate in males
• New evidence of an unrecognized visual process
• Adult stem cells use special pathways to repair damaged muscle, researchers find
• When babies awaken: New study shows surprise regarding important hormone level
• Not all cellular reprogramming is created equal
• Amplification of multiple cell-growth genes found in some brain tumors
• World's first view of Type 1 diabetes as it unfolds
• Two out of three medical students do not know when to wash their hands
• Cancer cells' DNA repair disrupted to increase radiation sensitivity

Probiotics reduce infections for patients in intensive care, study finds Posted: 01 Dec 2011 05:02 PM PST Traumatic brain injury is associated with a profound suppression of the patient's ability to fight infection. At the same time the patient also often suffers hyper-inflammation, due to the brain releasing glucocorticoids. New research shows that including probiotics with nutrients, supplied via the patient's feeding tube, increased interferon levels, reduced the number of infections, and even reduced the amount of time patients spent in intensive care.

Lower antioxidant level might explain higher skin-cancer rate in males Posted: 01 Dec 2011 02:42 PM PST A new study may help explain why men are three times more likely than women to develop a common form of skin cancer. The study found that male mice had lower levels of an important skin antioxidant than female mice and higher levels of certain cancer-linked inflammatory cells. As a result, men may be more susceptible to oxidative stress in the skin, which may raise their risk of skin cancer compared to women.

New evidence of an unrecognized visual process Posted: 01 Dec 2011 02:42 PM PST We don't see only what meets the eye. The visual system constantly takes in ambiguous stimuli, weighs its options, and decides what it perceives. This normally happens effortlessly. Sometimes, however, an ambiguity is persistent, and the visual system waffles on which perception is right. Such instances interest scientists because they help us understand how the eyes and the brain make sense of what we see.

Adult stem cells use special pathways to repair damaged muscle, researchers find Posted: 01 Dec 2011 01:36 PM PST Researchers recently found how even distant satellite cells could help with the repair, and are now learning how the stem cells travel within the tissue. This knowledge could ultimately help doctors more effectively treat muscle disorders such as muscular dystrophy, in which the muscle is easily damaged and the patient's satellite cells have lost the ability to repair.

When babies awaken: New study shows surprise regarding important hormone level Posted: 01 Dec 2011 11:28 AM PST Cortisol may be the Swiss Army knife of hormones in the human body -- just when scientists think they understand what it does, another function pops up. While many of these functions are understood for adults, much less is known about how cortisol operates in babies and toddlers, especially when it comes to an important phenomenon called the cortisol awakening response, or CAR.

Not all cellular reprogramming is created equal Posted: 01 Dec 2011 09:51 AM PST Tweaking the levels of factors used during the reprogramming of adult cells into induced pluriopotent stem (iPS) cells can greatly affect the quality of the resulting iPS cells, according to researchers. This finding explains at least in part the wide variation in quality and fidelity of iPS cells created through different reprogramming methods.

Amplification of multiple cell-growth genes found in some brain tumors Posted: 01 Dec 2011 09:51 AM PST A small percentage of the deadly brain tumors called glioblastomas, which usually resist treatment with drugs targeting mutations in cell-growth genes, appears to contain extra copies of two or three of these genes at the same time. The surprising discovery has major implications for the understanding of tumor biology – including the evolution of tumor cell populations – and for targeted cancer therapies.

World's first view of Type 1 diabetes as it unfolds Posted: 01 Dec 2011 09:51 AM PST A war is being waged in the pancreases of millions of people throughout the world. The siege leads to the development of Type 1 diabetes and has been a battlefield largely hidden from view -- until now. Researchers have created the first cellular movies showing the destruction underlying Type 1 diabetes in real-time in mouse models.

Two out of three medical students do not know when to wash their hands Posted: 01 Dec 2011 07:54 AM PST Only 21 percent of surveyed medical students could identify five true and two false indications of when and when not to wash their hands in the clinical setting, according to a new study.

Cancer cells' DNA repair disrupted to increase radiation sensitivity Posted: 01 Dec 2011 07:54 AM PST Shortening end caps on chromosomes in human cervical cancer cells disrupts DNA repair signaling, increases the cells' sensitivity to radiation treatment and kills them more quickly, according to a new study. Researchers would to like see their laboratory findings lead to safer, more effective combination therapies for hard-to-treat pediatric brain cancers. To this end, they are starting laboratory tests on brain cancer cells.

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