ScienceDaily: Top Health News

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• First comprehensive review of European breast cancer screening programs finds benefits outweigh harm
• Antidepressants, sleeping pills and anxiety drugs may increase driving risk
• Protection against whooping cough waned during the five years after fifth dose of DTaP
• Single gene cause of insulin sensitivity may offer insight for treating diabetes
• Expert recommendations ignore vital issues for patients, study suggests
• Belly button kidney removal boosts living-donor satisfaction
• Novel non-antibiotic agents against MRSA and strep infections
• Sinusitis linked to microbial diversity
• Self-control may not be a limited resource after all
• Popular pain-relieving medicines linked to hearing loss in women
• Studies shed light on how to reduce the amount of toxins in plant-derived foods
• Math anxiety causes trouble for students as early as first grade
• Gut microbes help the body extract more calories from food
• Marijuana use implicated in pregnancy problems
• Genetic test predicts risk for autism spectrum disorder
• Mathematical model may lead to safer chemotherapy
• Scientists discover how the brain ages
• Molecular switches in the cellular power plants: Researchers discover a new basic principle of the architecture of mitochondria
• A carefully scheduled high-fat diet resets metabolism and prevents obesity, researchers find
• Genetic make-up of children explains how they fight malaria infection
• What's the main cause of obesity -- our genes or the environment?

First comprehensive review of European breast cancer screening programs finds benefits outweigh harm Posted: 12 Sep 2012 04:28 PM PDT A major review of breast cancer screening services in Europe has concluded that the benefits of screening in terms of lives saved outweigh the harms caused by over-diagnosis.

Antidepressants, sleeping pills and anxiety drugs may increase driving risk Posted: 12 Sep 2012 04:25 PM PDT Drugs prescribed to treat anxiety, depression and insomnia may increase patients' risk of being involved in motor vehicle accidents, according to a recent study. Based on the findings, the researchers suggested doctors should consider advising patients not to drive while taking these drugs. Psychotropic drugs affect the way the brain functions and can impair a driver's ability to control their vehicle.

Protection against whooping cough waned during the five years after fifth dose of DTaP Posted: 12 Sep 2012 03:45 PM PDT Protection against whooping cough (also called pertussis) waned during the five years after the fifth dose of the combined diphtheria, tetanus, acellular pertussis (DTaP) vaccine, according to researchers. The fifth dose of the DTaP is routinely given to 4- to 6-year-old children prior to starting kindergarten.

Single gene cause of insulin sensitivity may offer insight for treating diabetes Posted: 12 Sep 2012 03:45 PM PDT The first single gene cause of increased sensitivity to the hormone insulin has been discovered. The opposite condition – insulin resistance – is a common feature of type 2 diabetes, so finding this cause of insulin sensitivity could offer new opportunities for pursuing novel treatments for diabetes.

Expert recommendations ignore vital issues for patients, study suggests Posted: 12 Sep 2012 03:43 PM PDT In the medical world, where decisions invariably involve risk and uncertainty, physicians note that experts generally base their recommendations on the outcome of death, which is "readily determined, easily quantified, concrete."

Belly button kidney removal boosts living-donor satisfaction Posted: 12 Sep 2012 01:19 PM PDT Living donors who had a kidney removed through a single port in the navel report higher satisfaction in several key categories, compared to donors who underwent traditional multiple-port laparoscopic removal, a new study shows.

Novel non-antibiotic agents against MRSA and strep infections Posted: 12 Sep 2012 01:19 PM PDT Medical researchers have discovered novel antivirulence drugs that, without killing the bacteria, render Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) and Streptococcus pyogenes, commonly referred to as strep, harmless by preventing the production of toxins that cause disease.

Sinusitis linked to microbial diversity Posted: 12 Sep 2012 01:19 PM PDT A common bacteria ever-present on the human skin and previously considered harmless, may, in fact, be the culprit behind chronic sinusitis, a painful, recurring swelling of the sinuses that strikes more than one in ten Americans each year, according to a new study.

Self-control may not be a limited resource after all Posted: 12 Sep 2012 09:59 AM PDT So many acts in our daily lives – refusing that second slice of cake, walking past the store with the latest gadgets, working on tax forms when you'd rather watch TV – seem to boil down to one essential ingredient: Self-control. But what is self-control, really? And how does it work? Researchers argue that the prevailing model of self-control may not be as precise as researchers once thought.

Popular pain-relieving medicines linked to hearing loss in women Posted: 12 Sep 2012 09:58 AM PDT Women who took ibuprofen or acetaminophen two or more days per week had an increased risk of hearing loss, according to new research.

Studies shed light on how to reduce the amount of toxins in plant-derived foods Posted: 12 Sep 2012 09:55 AM PDT A number of environmental toxins pose considerable health threats to humans, and the heavy metal cadmium (Cd) ranks high on the list. Most of us are exposed to it through plant-derived foods such as grains and vegetables. Now, new research offers ways in which investigators can reduce the amount of Cd found in the food we eat.

Math anxiety causes trouble for students as early as first grade Posted: 12 Sep 2012 09:51 AM PDT Many high-achieving students experience math anxiety at a young age — a problem that can follow them throughout their lives. In a study of first- and second-graders, researchers found that students report worry and fear about doing math as early as first grade. Most surprisingly math anxiety harmed the highest-achieving students.

Gut microbes help the body extract more calories from food Posted: 12 Sep 2012 09:51 AM PDT In a study using zebrafish, researchers reveal how microbes in the intestine aid the uptake of fats -- and suggest how diet may influence our bodies' microbial communities.

Marijuana use implicated in pregnancy problems Posted: 12 Sep 2012 07:18 AM PDT New research indicates marijuana-like compounds called endocannabinoids alter genes and biological signals critical to the formation of a normal placenta during pregnancy and may contribute to pregnancy complications like preeclampsia. A new study offers evidence that abnormal biological signaling by endocannabinoid lipid molecules produced by the body disrupts the movement of early embryonic cells important to a healthy pregnancy.

Genetic test predicts risk for autism spectrum disorder Posted: 12 Sep 2012 06:38 AM PDT A team of Australian researchers has developed a genetic test that is able to predict the risk of developing autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Mathematical model may lead to safer chemotherapy Posted: 12 Sep 2012 05:50 AM PDT A new study explains why certain patients develop severe infections after chemotherapy and points to ways of averting this side-effect.

Scientists discover how the brain ages Posted: 12 Sep 2012 05:50 AM PDT Researchers have revealed the mechanism by which neurons, the nerve cells in the brain and other parts of the body, age. The research opens up new avenues of understanding for conditions where the aging of neurons are known to be responsible, such as dementia and Parkinson's disease.

Molecular switches in the cellular power plants: Researchers discover a new basic principle of the architecture of mitochondria Posted: 12 Sep 2012 05:47 AM PDT A team of scientists has achieved groundbreaking new insights into the structure of mitochondria. Mitochondria are the microscopic power plants of the cell that harness the energy stored in food, thus enabling central life functions.

A carefully scheduled high-fat diet resets metabolism and prevents obesity, researchers find Posted: 12 Sep 2012 05:44 AM PDT New research shows that a carefully scheduled high-fat diet can lead to a reduction in body weight and a unique metabolism in which ingested fats are not stored, but rather used for energy at times when no food is available.

Genetic make-up of children explains how they fight malaria infection Posted: 12 Sep 2012 05:35 AM PDT Researchers have identified several novel genes that make some children more efficient than others in the way their immune system responds to malaria infection.

What's the main cause of obesity -- our genes or the environment? Posted: 11 Sep 2012 05:05 PM PDT The ongoing obesity epidemic is creating an unprecedented challenge for healthcare systems around the world, but what determines who gets fat? Two experts debate the issue.

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