ScienceDaily: Top Health News

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• Oxytocin improves brain function in children with autism
• Coffee drinkers have lower risk of death, study suggests
• Weight in pregnancy best controlled by diet, study suggests
• Multipotent stromal stem cells from normally discarded human placental tissue demonstrate high therapeutic potential
• With fat: What's good or bad for the heart, may be the same for the brain
• Revealing the stars of brain adaptability

Oxytocin improves brain function in children with autism Posted: 19 May 2012 06:32 PM PDT Preliminary results from an ongoing, large-scale study shows that oxytocin -- a naturally occurring substance produced in the brain and throughout the body -- increased brain function in regions that are known to process social information in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders (ASD).

Coffee drinkers have lower risk of death, study suggests Posted: 19 May 2012 04:14 AM PDT Older adults who drank coffee -- caffeinated or decaffeinated -- had a lower risk of death overall than others who did not drink coffee, according a new study.

Weight in pregnancy best controlled by diet, study suggests Posted: 18 May 2012 10:28 AM PDT Pregnant women, including those who are obese or overweight, should be encouraged to minimize weight gain through diet, according to major new research.

Multipotent stromal stem cells from normally discarded human placental tissue demonstrate high therapeutic potential Posted: 18 May 2012 10:22 AM PDT Placental stem cells with important therapeutic properties can be harvested in large quantities from the fetal side of human term placentas (called the chorion). The chorion is a part of the afterbirth and is normally discarded after delivery, but it contains stem cells of fetal origin that appear to be pluripotent -- i.e., they can differentiate into different types of human cells, such as lung, liver, or brain cells. Since these functional placental stem cells can be isolated from either fresh or frozen term human placentas, this implies that if each individual's placenta is stored at birth instead of thrown away, these cells can be harvested in the future if therapeutic need arises. This potential represents a major breakthrough in the stem cell field.

With fat: What's good or bad for the heart, may be the same for the brain Posted: 18 May 2012 05:13 AM PDT According to new research, one "bad" fat -- saturated fat -- was found to be associated with worse overall cognitive function and memory in women over time. By contrast, a "good" fat -- mono-unsaturated fat was associated with better overall cognitive function and memory.

Revealing the stars of brain adaptability Posted: 16 May 2012 06:25 AM PDT Star-shaped brain cells called astrocytes are found to bridge the gap between global brain activity and localized circuits. Global network activity in the brain modulates local neural circuitry via calcium signaling in non-neuronal cells called astrocytes, according to new research.

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