ScienceDaily: Top Health News

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• Safe way to repair sickle cell disease genes, study suggests
• Multiple sclerosis often starts in brain's outer layers
• Stress reduction and mindful eating curb weight gain among overweight women
• Novel drug wipes out deadliest malaria parasite through starvation
• Researchers suggest unconventional approach to control HIV epidemics
• Why does the same mutation kill one person but not another?
• Drug duo kills chemotherapy-resistant ovarian cancer cells, researchers find
• Why aren't we smarter already? Evolutionary limits on cognition
• Gene expression in mouse neural retina sequenced
• First realistic 3D reconstruction of a brain circuit
• Traumatic injury sets off a 'genomic storm' in immune system pathways
• Research could help people with declining sense of smell
• Drug reverses aging-associated changes in brain cells, animal study shows
• Maternal care influences brain chemistry into adulthood, animal study shows
• Geneticists help show bitter taste perception is not just about flavors

Safe way to repair sickle cell disease genes, study suggests Posted: 07 Dec 2011 02:57 PM PST Researchers have developed a way to use patients' own cells to potentially cure sickle cell disease and many other disorders caused by mutations in a gene that helps produce blood hemoglobin.

Multiple sclerosis often starts in brain's outer layers Posted: 07 Dec 2011 02:56 PM PST Multiple sclerosis may progress from the outermost layers of the brain to its deep parts, and isn't always an "inside-out" process as previously thought, reported a new study. The traditional understanding is that the disease begins in the white matter that forms the bulk of the brain's inside, and extends to involve the brain's superficial layers, the cortex. Study findings support an opposite, outside-in process.

Stress reduction and mindful eating curb weight gain among overweight women Posted: 07 Dec 2011 12:24 PM PST Mastering simple mindful eating and stress-reduction techniques helped prevent weight gain even without dieting in overweight women.

Novel drug wipes out deadliest malaria parasite through starvation Posted: 07 Dec 2011 12:24 PM PST An antimalarial agent proved effective at clearing infections caused by the malaria parasite most lethal to humans -- by literally starving the parasites to death.

Researchers suggest unconventional approach to control HIV epidemics Posted: 07 Dec 2011 12:24 PM PST A new weapon to prevent HIV infection, called pre-exposure prophylaxis, Because PrEP is based on the same drugs used to treat HIV-infected individuals, the big public health scare is that the dual use of these drugs will lead to skyrocketing levels of drug resistance. In fact, say researchers in a new study, that is not the case and indeed, the exact opposite is likely to happen.

Why does the same mutation kill one person but not another? Posted: 07 Dec 2011 12:23 PM PST The vast majority of genetic disorders (schizophrenia or breast cancer, for example) have different effects in different people. Moreover, an individual carrying certain mutations can develop a disease, whereas another one with the same mutations may not. This holds true even when comparing two identical twins who have identical genomes. But why does the same mutation have different effects in different individuals?

Drug duo kills chemotherapy-resistant ovarian cancer cells, researchers find Posted: 07 Dec 2011 10:30 AM PST The use of two drugs never tried in combination before in ovarian cancer resulted in a 70 percent destruction of cancer cells already resistant to commonly used chemotherapy agents, say researchers.

Why aren't we smarter already? Evolutionary limits on cognition Posted: 07 Dec 2011 10:30 AM PST We put a lot of energy into improving our memory, intelligence, and attention. There are even drugs that make us sharper, such as Ritalin and caffeine. But maybe smarter isn't really all that better. A new warns warns that there are limits on how smart humans can get, and any increases in thinking ability are likely to come with problems.

Gene expression in mouse neural retina sequenced Posted: 07 Dec 2011 10:30 AM PST Researchers have gained new insights into neural disease genes by sequencing virtually all the gene expression in the mouse neural retina. The technology to obtain such a "transcriptome" has become accessible enough that full-scale sequencing is becoming the preferred method for asking genetics questions.

First realistic 3D reconstruction of a brain circuit Posted: 07 Dec 2011 10:29 AM PST Researchers report that, using a conceptually new approach and state-of-the-art research tools, they have created the first realistic three-dimensional diagram of a thalamocortical column in the rodent brain. This is the first step toward creating a complete computer model of the brain, and may ultimately lead to an understanding of how the brain computes and how it goes awry in disease.

Traumatic injury sets off a 'genomic storm' in immune system pathways Posted: 07 Dec 2011 10:29 AM PST Serious traumatic injuries, including major burns, set off a "genomic storm" in human immune cells, altering around 80 percent of the cells' normal gene expression patterns.

Research could help people with declining sense of smell Posted: 07 Dec 2011 10:26 AM PST Cells in the nose – smell sensors, primarily – are constantly replaced as old ones die off. Olfactory stem cells are the source for these new cells, but how do they determine when to form mature cells? Neuroscientists have now found a genetic trigger – a transcription factor – that acts as a brake on differentiation. Removing it makes stem cells change into mature olfactory cells at the expense of self-renewal.

Drug reverses aging-associated changes in brain cells, animal study shows Posted: 07 Dec 2011 08:35 AM PST Drugs that affect the levels of an important brain protein involved in learning and memory reverse cellular changes in the brain seen during aging, according to an animal study.

Maternal care influences brain chemistry into adulthood, animal study shows Posted: 07 Dec 2011 08:30 AM PST The effect of the messenger substance neuropeptide Y depends on the behavior of the mother during infancy.

Geneticists help show bitter taste perception is not just about flavors Posted: 06 Dec 2011 09:08 PM PST Long the bane of picky eaters everywhere, broccoli's taste is not just a matter of having a cultured palate; Some people can easily taste a bitter compound in the vegetable that others have difficulty detecting. Now a team researchers has helped uncover the evolutionary history of one of the genes responsible for this trait. Beyond showing the ancient origins of the gene, the researchers discovered something unexpected: Something other than taste must have driven its evolution.

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