ScienceDaily: Top Health News

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• Blood test for Alzheimer's gaining ground
• Brain hubs boil when hoarders face pitching their own stuff
• Copper facilitates prion disease, scientists show
• Tracking fruit flies to understand the function of the nervous system
• Psychotherapy is effective but underutilized, review shows
• Thinking abstractly may help to boost self-control
• Why living in the moment is impossible: Decision-making memories stored in mysterious brain area known to be involved with vision
• Neuroscientists find brain stem cells that may be responsible for higher functions, bigger brains
• Human antibodies that protect against large variety of flu viruses described
• Hormone in fruit flies sheds light on diabetes cure, weight-loss drug for humans
• The making and unmaking of stem-like, aggressive breast cancer cells
• Hormone acting drugs and uterine artery embolization offers nonsurgical treatment for uterine fibroids
• U.S. retirement expert: Medicare woes mostly rooted in myth
• 89 million Americans medically uninsured during 2004 to 2007
• Potential drug molecule shows enhanced anti-HIV activity
• Scientists use worms to unearth cancer drug targets
• Depression linked with increased risk of peripheral artery disease
• Delirium increases the risk of developing new dementia 8-fold in older patients
• Crossing five or more time zones more than doubles illness risk for elite athletes
• Tai Chi shown to improve COPD exercise capacity
• Natural birth -- but not C-section -- triggers brain-boosting proteins
• Clinical trial results support strategy for reversing type 1 diabetes: Treatment with generic vaccine kills autoimmune cells, temporarily restoring insulin production
• Doctors can now detect hard-to-diagnose prostate cancer
• Student scores improve if teachers given incentives upfront
• One week of therapy may help reorganize brain, reduce stuttering
• Genome study of children's cancer yields possible prognosis tool
• Simple mathematical computations underlie brain circuits
• Iron, vitamins could affect physical fitness in adolescents
• Alcohol advertising standards violations most common in magazines with youthful audiences
• Yoga reduces depression in pregnant women, boosts maternal bonding
• Feeling fat may make you fat, study suggests

Blood test for Alzheimer's gaining ground Posted: 09 Aug 2012 04:07 PM PDT The possibility of an inexpensive, convenient test for Alzheimer's disease has been on the horizon for several years, but previous research leads have been hard to duplicate. Now in a new study, scientists have taken a step toward developing a blood test for Alzheimer's, finding a group of markers that hold up in statistical analyses in three independent groups of patients.

Brain hubs boil when hoarders face pitching their own stuff Posted: 09 Aug 2012 04:07 PM PDT In patients with hoarding disorder, parts of a decision-making brain circuit under-activated when dealing with others' possessions, but over-activated when deciding whether to keep or discard their own things, a new study has found.

Copper facilitates prion disease, scientists show Posted: 09 Aug 2012 04:07 PM PDT Many of us are familiar with prion disease from its most startling and unusual incarnations —- the outbreaks of "mad cow" disease (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) that created a crisis in the global beef industry. Or the strange story of Kuru, a fatal illness affecting a tribe in Papua New Guinea known for its cannibalism. Both are forms of prion disease, caused by the abnormal folding of a protein and resulting in progressive neurodegeneration and death.

Tracking fruit flies to understand the function of the nervous system Posted: 09 Aug 2012 04:07 PM PDT Researchers at the Freie Universität Berlin, Germany and the Center for Genomic Regulation (CRG) in Barcelona, Spain have designed open source software that allows tracking the position of Drosophila fruit flies as well as their larvae during behavioral experiments. The research appeared in two joint publications in the open access journal PLOS ONE.

Psychotherapy is effective but underutilized, review shows Posted: 09 Aug 2012 04:06 PM PDT Psychotherapy is effective, helps reduce the overall need for health services and produces long-term health improvements, according to a new review.

Thinking abstractly may help to boost self-control Posted: 09 Aug 2012 12:13 PM PDT Many of the long term goals people strive for -- like losing weight -- require us to use self-control and forgo immediate gratification. And yet denying our immediate desires in order to reap future benefits is often very hard for us to do. Psychologists now propose that the way people subjectively understand, or construe, events can influence self-control.

Why living in the moment is impossible: Decision-making memories stored in mysterious brain area known to be involved with vision Posted: 09 Aug 2012 11:16 AM PDT The sought-after equanimity of "living in the moment" may be impossible, according to neuroscientists who've pinpointed a brain area responsible for using past decisions and outcomes to guide future behavior.

Neuroscientists find brain stem cells that may be responsible for higher functions, bigger brains Posted: 09 Aug 2012 11:15 AM PDT Scientists have identified a new stem cell population that may be responsible for giving birth to the neurons responsible for higher thinking. The finding also paves the way for scientists to produce these neurons in culture—a first step in developing better treatments for cognitive disorders, such as schizophrenia and autism, which result from disrupted connections among these brain cells.

Human antibodies that protect against large variety of flu viruses described Posted: 09 Aug 2012 11:15 AM PDT Scientists have described three human antibodies that provide broad protection against Influenza B virus strains. The same team had previously reported finding broadly neutralizing antibodies against Influenza A strains.

Hormone in fruit flies sheds light on diabetes cure, weight-loss drug for humans Posted: 09 Aug 2012 11:14 AM PDT Neurobiologists have examined how fruit flies (Drosophila) react when given a decreased diet. Since fruit flies and humans share 30% of the same genes and their brains are wired similarly, the findings could be key to developing new treatments for diabetes and aiding in all sorts of metabolic research, including weight-loss drugs.

The making and unmaking of stem-like, aggressive breast cancer cells Posted: 09 Aug 2012 10:38 AM PDT Progestins regulate miRNA-29, returning hormone-dependent breast cancer cells to chemoresistant, aggressive, stem-cell-like state.

Hormone acting drugs and uterine artery embolization offers nonsurgical treatment for uterine fibroids Posted: 09 Aug 2012 10:38 AM PDT Women with uterine fibroids larger than 10 cm have a new nonsurgical treatment choice –- hormone acting drugs followed by uterine artery embolization, a new study shows. The new treatment option can replace hysterectomy, which leaves women infertile.

U.S. retirement expert: Medicare woes mostly rooted in myth Posted: 09 Aug 2012 10:38 AM PDT Various misconceptions surrounding the continued viability of Medicare can be debunked or discredited, according to an article by an expert on retirement benefits.

89 million Americans medically uninsured during 2004 to 2007 Posted: 09 Aug 2012 09:46 AM PDT 89 million Americans were without health insurance for at least one month during the period from 2004 to 2007, and 23 million lost coverage more than once during that time, according to researchers.

Potential drug molecule shows enhanced anti-HIV activity Posted: 09 Aug 2012 09:46 AM PDT Researchers have shown that minimal modification of a synthetic peptide with anti-HIV activity results in a new compound with more than two orders of magnitude higher binding affinity to the chemokine receptor CXCR4 and greatly improved anti-HIV activity. This could be a step toward the design of new, more effective drugs against AIDS, inflammatory diseases, and some forms of cancer.

Scientists use worms to unearth cancer drug targets Posted: 09 Aug 2012 09:45 AM PDT Through novel experiments involving small nematode worms, scientists have discovered several genes that may be potential targets for drug development in the ongoing war against cancer. Specifically, researchers hypothesize that inhibiting these genes could reverse certain key traits associated with cancer cells.

Depression linked with increased risk of peripheral artery disease Posted: 09 Aug 2012 07:02 AM PDT Depression was linked with an increased risk of peripheral artery disease in a study of more than one thousand men and women with heart disease conducted by researchers at the San Francisco VA Medical Center and the University of California, San Francisco.

Delirium increases the risk of developing new dementia 8-fold in older patients Posted: 09 Aug 2012 06:07 AM PDT Older people who have experienced episodes of delirium are significantly more likely to develop dementia, according to new research.

Crossing five or more time zones more than doubles illness risk for elite athletes Posted: 09 Aug 2012 06:06 AM PDT Elite athletes who cross more than five time zones to compete are around two to three times as likely to get ill as when they compete on their home turf, suggests new research.

Tai Chi shown to improve COPD exercise capacity Posted: 09 Aug 2012 06:06 AM PDT Tai Chi can be used as an effective form of exercise therapy for people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, according to new findings.

Natural birth -- but not C-section -- triggers brain-boosting proteins Posted: 09 Aug 2012 06:06 AM PDT Vaginal birth triggers the expression of a protein in the brains of newborns that improves brain development and function in adulthood, according to a new study. The study also found that this protein expression is impaired in the brains of offspring delivered by cesarean section.

Clinical trial results support strategy for reversing type 1 diabetes: Treatment with generic vaccine kills autoimmune cells, temporarily restoring insulin production Posted: 09 Aug 2012 06:05 AM PDT A phase I clinical trial has confirmed that use of a generic vaccine to raise levels of an immune system modulator can cause the death of autoimmune cells targeting the insulin-secreting cells of the pancreas and temporarily restore insulin secretion in human patients with type 1 diabetes.

Doctors can now detect hard-to-diagnose prostate cancer Posted: 09 Aug 2012 06:05 AM PDT Researchers have successfully developed and tested a new prostate cancer screening method that uses the combined power of a novel drug therapy and changes in PSA levels over time to identify men with a high PSA who are more likely to have aggressive prostate cancer despite negative biopsies.

Student scores improve if teachers given incentives upfront Posted: 09 Aug 2012 06:03 AM PDT A bonus payment to teachers can improve student academic performance — but only when it is given upfront, on the condition that part of the money must be returned if student performance fails to improve, new research shows.

One week of therapy may help reorganize brain, reduce stuttering Posted: 09 Aug 2012 06:03 AM PDT Just one week of speech therapy may reorganize the brain, helping to reduce stuttering, according to a new study.

Genome study of children's cancer yields possible prognosis tool Posted: 09 Aug 2012 06:02 AM PDT A new study of the genetic makeup, or genome, of Ewing sarcoma, a rare cancer that strikes children, teenagers, and young adults, has produced multiple discoveries, including genetic factors related to long-term survival.

Simple mathematical computations underlie brain circuits Posted: 08 Aug 2012 01:31 PM PDT Neuroscientists report that two major classes of brain cells repress neural activity in specific mathematical ways: One type subtracts from overall activation, while the other divides it.

Iron, vitamins could affect physical fitness in adolescents Posted: 08 Aug 2012 01:31 PM PDT Adolescents' blood levels of various micronutrients are correlated with how well they performed in certain physical fitness tests, new research shows. Though these results don't prove causality, they suggest a new relationship between different measures of adolescent health.

Alcohol advertising standards violations most common in magazines with youthful audiences Posted: 08 Aug 2012 10:24 AM PDT The content of alcohol ads placed in magazines is more likely to be in violation of industry guidelines if the ad appears in a magazine with sizable youth readership, according to a new study.

Yoga reduces depression in pregnant women, boosts maternal bonding Posted: 08 Aug 2012 09:19 AM PDT Can prenatal yoga treat depression?

Feeling fat may make you fat, study suggests Posted: 08 Aug 2012 09:18 AM PDT Normal weight teens who perceive themselves as fat are more likely to grow up to be fat, researchers report.

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