ScienceDaily: Top Health News

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• Chicago woman cured of sickle cell disease
• Crucial immune fighter role of STING protein revealed
• Living alone associated with higher risk of mortality, cardiovascular death
• Loneliness in older individuals linked to functional decline, death
• Clues to nervous system evolution found in nerve-less sponge
• Brothers in arms: Commensal bacteria help fight viruses
• Discovery helps mice beat urinary tract infections
• Highways of the brain: High-cost and high-capacity
• Chemists use nanopores to detect DNA damage
• Natural exposure to gamma rays in background radiation linked to childhood leukemia
• Peaches, plums, nectarines give obesity, diabetes slim chance
• Children, brain development and the criminal law
• Yankee Fans keep enemy Red Sox closer
• The weight of nations: An estimation of adult human biomass
• Wild almond tree oil may combat obesity, diabetes
• Antitoxin strategy may help target other pathogens
• Controlling hand movements : Manipulation of specific neural circuit buried in complicated brain networks in primates

Chicago woman cured of sickle cell disease Posted: 18 Jun 2012 04:47 PM PDT A Chicago woman is the first Midwest patient to receive a successful stem cell transplant to cure her sickle cell disease without chemotherapy in preparation for the transplant.

Crucial immune fighter role of STING protein revealed Posted: 18 Jun 2012 04:47 PM PDT Researchers have unlocked the structure of a key protein that, when sensing certain viruses and bacteria, triggers the body's immediate immune response.

Living alone associated with higher risk of mortality, cardiovascular death Posted: 18 Jun 2012 01:17 PM PDT Living alone was associated with an increased risk of death and cardiovascular death in an international study of stable outpatients at risk of or with arterial vascular disease (such as coronary disease or peripheral vascular disease).

Loneliness in older individuals linked to functional decline, death Posted: 18 Jun 2012 01:17 PM PDT Loneliness in individuals over 60 years of age appears associated with increased risk of functional decline and death, according to a new report.

Clues to nervous system evolution found in nerve-less sponge Posted: 18 Jun 2012 12:37 PM PDT Scientists have turned to the simple sponge to find clues about the evolution of the complex nervous system and found that, but for a mechanism that coordinates the expression of genes that lead to the formation of neural synapses, sponges and the rest of the animal world may not be so distant after all.

Brothers in arms: Commensal bacteria help fight viruses Posted: 18 Jun 2012 12:34 PM PDT Healthy humans harbor an enormous and diverse group of bacteria and other bugs that live within their intestines. These microbial partners provide beneficial aid in multiple ways -- from helping digest food to the development of a healthy immune system. New research shows that commensal bacteria are essential to fight off viral infections.

Discovery helps mice beat urinary tract infections Posted: 18 Jun 2012 12:34 PM PDT The bacteria that cause urinary tract infections may take advantage of a cellular waste disposal system that normally helps fight invaders, according to researchers.

Highways of the brain: High-cost and high-capacity Posted: 18 Jun 2012 12:34 PM PDT A new study characterizes an influential network within the brain as the "backbone" for global brain communication. A costly network in terms of energy and space consumed, but one with a big pay-off.

Chemists use nanopores to detect DNA damage Posted: 18 Jun 2012 12:34 PM PDT Scientists are racing to sequence DNA faster and cheaper than ever by passing strands of the genetic material through molecule-sized pores. Now, scientists have adapted this "nanopore" method to find DNA damage that can lead to mutations and disease.

Natural exposure to gamma rays in background radiation linked to childhood leukemia Posted: 18 Jun 2012 12:00 PM PDT New findings demonstrate that there are small effects of radiation even at very low doses.

Peaches, plums, nectarines give obesity, diabetes slim chance Posted: 18 Jun 2012 10:29 AM PDT Peaches, plums and nectarines have bioactive compounds that can potentially fight-off obesity-related diabetes and cardiovascular disease, according to new studies.

Children, brain development and the criminal law Posted: 18 Jun 2012 07:28 AM PDT The legal system needs to take greater account of new discoveries in neuroscience that show how a difficult childhood can affect the development of a young person's brain which can increase the risk adolescent crimes, according to researchers.

Yankee Fans keep enemy Red Sox closer Posted: 18 Jun 2012 07:26 AM PDT Fans of the New York Yankees incorrectly perceive Fenway Park, home of the archrival Boston Red Sox, to be closer to New York City than is Camden Yards, home of the Baltimore Orioles, psychologists have found. Their research shows how social categorization, collective identification, and identity threat work in concert to shape our representations of the physical world.

The weight of nations: An estimation of adult human biomass Posted: 18 Jun 2012 06:50 AM PDT The world population is over seven billion and all of these people need feeding. However, the energy requirement of a species depends not only on numbers but on its average mass. New research has estimated the total mass of the human population, defined its distribution by region, and the proportion of this biomass due to the overweight and obesity.

Wild almond tree oil may combat obesity, diabetes Posted: 18 Jun 2012 06:50 AM PDT A future weapon in the battle against obesity and diabetes could come in the form of an oil derived from the seeds of wild almond trees, according to researchers.

Antitoxin strategy may help target other pathogens Posted: 18 Jun 2012 06:50 AM PDT "Beads on a string" approach may reduce cost and development time for agents that neutralize and clear pathogenic molecules.

Controlling hand movements : Manipulation of specific neural circuit buried in complicated brain networks in primates Posted: 17 Jun 2012 11:25 AM PDT Scientists have developed "the double viral vector transfection technique," which can deliver genes to a specific neural circuit by combining two new kinds of gene transfer vectors. With this method, they found that "indirect pathways," which were suspected to have been left behind in the course of evolution, actually plays an important role in the highly developed dexterous hand movements.

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