ScienceDaily: Top Health News

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• Modified bone drug kills malaria parasite in mice
• Higher death risk with sleeping pills
• Deaths triple among football players, morning temperatures thought to play a role
• Hyperactivity in brain may explain multiple symptoms of depression
• A giant 'little step' in cancer treatment opening up new therapeutic horizons
• Low levels of omega-3 fatty acids may cause memory problems
• Research offers insight to how fructose causes obesity and other illness
• Immortal worms defy ageing
• Traces of listeria found in Vancouver ready-to-eat fish products
• 'Universal' vaccines could finally allow for wide-scale flu prevention
• The poor, in fact, are less likely to sue their doctor
• Protein identified that can lengthen our life?
• Understanding brain performance: People who take Ritalin are far more aware of their mistakes
• Some bacteria attack using spring-loaded poison daggers
• RNA interference cancer treatment? Delivering RNA with tiny sponge-like spheres
• Frontal attack or stealth? How subverting the immune system shapes the arms race between bacteria and hosts
• Multiple sclerosis: Damaged myelin not the trigger, study finds
• Diabetes drug improves glucose control without increasing risk of hypoglycemia, study suggests
• Dental pulp stem cells transformed by 'bad breath’ chemical
• Egg-producing stem cells isolated from adult human ovaries
• Promising new technique to rescue the immune system

Modified bone drug kills malaria parasite in mice Posted: 27 Feb 2012 05:49 PM PST A chemically altered osteoporosis drug may be useful in fighting malaria, researchers report in a new study. Unlike similar compounds tested against many other parasitic protozoa, the drug readily crosses into the red blood cells of malaria-infected mice and kills the malaria parasite. The drug works at very low concentrations with no observed toxicity to the mouse.

Higher death risk with sleeping pills Posted: 27 Feb 2012 05:48 PM PST People are relying on sleeping pills more than ever to get a good night's rest, but a new study links the medications to a 4.6 times higher risk of death and a significant increase in cancer cases among regular pill users.

Deaths triple among football players, morning temperatures thought to play a role Posted: 27 Feb 2012 01:26 PM PST Heat-related deaths among football players across the country tripled to nearly three per year between 1994 and 2009 after averaging about one per year the previous 15 years, according to an analysis of weather conditions and high school and college sports data. The study found for the eastern US, where most deaths occurred, morning heat index values were consistently higher in the latter half of the 30-year study period.

Hyperactivity in brain may explain multiple symptoms of depression Posted: 27 Feb 2012 01:26 PM PST People with depression suffer a number of symptoms -- including anxiety, memory issues, and sleep disturbances. Now researchers have found that the brains of depressed people show hyperactivity; The finding sheds new light on the brain dysfunction that causes depression and its wide array of symptoms.

A giant 'little step' in cancer treatment opening up new therapeutic horizons Posted: 27 Feb 2012 01:26 PM PST A new study heralds a new horizon in the fight against cancer, opening up a parallel dimension to existing treatment options. The data demonstrate that by combining two drugs that had already been used on a patient in the past but had stopped working, they boost each other's efficacy and at the same time manage to break down the patient's resistance to each of them individually, presenting a third potential treatment option for clinically advanced metastatic tumors. While this may not initially appear to be an innovation, given that combined treatments are used in cancer as a matter of course, it actually represents a radical change in the use of the existing therapeutic weaponry, an extremely practical solution and a source of hope for many patients.

Low levels of omega-3 fatty acids may cause memory problems Posted: 27 Feb 2012 01:25 PM PST A diet lacking in omega-3 fatty acids, nutrients commonly found in fish, may cause your brain to age faster and lose some of its memory and thinking abilities, according to a new study. Omega-3 fatty acids include the nutrients called docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA).

Research offers insight to how fructose causes obesity and other illness Posted: 27 Feb 2012 12:27 PM PST Scientists have provided new insights into how fructose causes obesity and metabolic syndrome, more commonly known as diabetes.

Immortal worms defy ageing Posted: 27 Feb 2012 12:26 PM PST Researchers have demonstrated how a species of flatworm overcomes the ageing process to be potentially immortal.

Traces of listeria found in Vancouver ready-to-eat fish products Posted: 27 Feb 2012 10:28 AM PST A new study has found traces of the bacteria listeria in ready-to-eat fish products sold in metro Vancouver, Canada.

'Universal' vaccines could finally allow for wide-scale flu prevention Posted: 27 Feb 2012 08:15 AM PST Scientists have found that an emerging class of long-lasting flu vaccines called "universal" vaccines could for the first time allow for the effective, wide-scale prevention of flu by limiting the virus' ability to spread and mutate. A computational model showed that the vaccines could achieve unprecedented control of the flu virus both seasonally and during outbreaks of highly contagious new strains.

The poor, in fact, are less likely to sue their doctor Posted: 27 Feb 2012 08:12 AM PST Contrary to the common perception among physicians that poor people sue doctors more frequently, researchers have demonstrated that socioeconomically disadvantaged patients, in fact, tend to sue physicians less often. Their work suggests that this myth may exist because of subconscious prejudices or stereotypes that affect thinking and decision making without doctors being aware of it -- a phenomenon known as unconscious bias.

Protein identified that can lengthen our life? Posted: 27 Feb 2012 08:12 AM PST Cells use various methods to break down and recycle worn-out components—autophagy is one of them. New research shows that the protein SNX18 is necessary for cells to be able to perform autophagy.

Understanding brain performance: People who take Ritalin are far more aware of their mistakes Posted: 27 Feb 2012 06:43 AM PST Researchers have investigated how the brain monitors ongoing behavior for performance errors – specifically failures of impulse control. People who take Ritalin are far more aware of their mistakes, a new study has found.

Some bacteria attack using spring-loaded poison daggers Posted: 27 Feb 2012 06:43 AM PST Bacteria have evolved different systems for secreting proteins. One, called a type VI secretion system, is found in about a quarter of all bacteria with two membranes. Despite being common, researchers have not understood how it works. Now scientists have figured out the structure of the type VI secretion system apparatus and proposed how it might work -- by shooting spring-loaded poison molecular daggers.

RNA interference cancer treatment? Delivering RNA with tiny sponge-like spheres Posted: 27 Feb 2012 06:43 AM PST For the past decade, scientists have been pursuing cancer treatments based on RNA interference -- a phenomenon that offers a way to shut off malfunctioning genes with short snippets of RNA. However, one huge challenge remains: finding a way to efficiently deliver the RNA. Scientists have now come up with a novel delivery vehicle in which RNA is packed into microspheres so dense that they withstand degradation until they reach their destinations. The new system knocks down expression of specific genes as effectively as existing delivery methods, but with a much smaller dose of particles.

Frontal attack or stealth? How subverting the immune system shapes the arms race between bacteria and hosts Posted: 27 Feb 2012 06:41 AM PST Why is it that Mycobacterium tuberculosis can cause tuberculosis with as little as 10 cells, whereas Vibrio cholerae requires the host to ingest up to tens of millions of cells to cause cholera? This is the question that scientists have just answered.

Multiple sclerosis: Damaged myelin not the trigger, study finds Posted: 27 Feb 2012 06:39 AM PST Millions of adults suffer from the incurable disease multiple sclerosis (MS). It is relatively certain that MS is an autoimmune disease in which the body's own defense cells attack the myelin in the brain and spinal cord. Myelin enwraps the nerve cells and is important for their function of transmitting stimuli as electrical signals. There are numerous unconfirmed hypotheses on the development of MS, one of which has now been refuted by the neuroimmunologists in their current research: The death of oligodendrocytes, as the cells that produce the myelin sheath are called, does not trigger MS.

Diabetes drug improves glucose control without increasing risk of hypoglycemia, study suggests Posted: 27 Feb 2012 06:37 AM PST Too high? Too low? Only about half of those with type 2 diabetes have their blood sugar levels on target, but a new drug shows promise in managing glucose levels. TAK-875 works by boosting the release of insulin from pancreatic B cells, but only when diabetics need it most – such as when glucose and fatty acids rise in the blood after a meal.

Dental pulp stem cells transformed by 'bad breath’ chemical Posted: 26 Feb 2012 07:59 PM PST Japanese scientists have found that the odorous compound responsible for halitosis – otherwise known as bad breath – is ideal for harvesting stem cells taken from human dental pulp.

Egg-producing stem cells isolated from adult human ovaries Posted: 26 Feb 2012 12:36 PM PST For the first time, researchers have isolated egg-producing stem cells from the ovaries of reproductive age women and shown these cells can produce what appear to be normal egg cells or oocytes.

Promising new technique to rescue the immune system Posted: 26 Feb 2012 12:35 PM PST Researchers report on a promising new technique that potentially could turn immune system killer T cells into more effective weapons against infections and possibly cancer.

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