ScienceDaily: Top Health News

---

• Better stroke care, everywhere: Study boosts local hospitals' clotbuster use
• Discovery could eventually help diagnose and treat chronic pain
• Genetic defect causing fragile X-related disorders more common than thought
• Brain imaging insight into cannabis as a pain killer
• Scientists create new approach to destroy disease-associated RNAs in cells
• Lifestyle changes linked to better outcomes after peripheral intervention
• Heart calcium scan predictive of diabetes-related death from cardiovascular disease
• Chromosome 'anchors' organize DNA during cell division: New role for telomeres in cellular growth may shed light on aging and age-related diseases
• Serendipity points to new potential target and therapy for melanoma
• Stroke drug kills bacteria that cause ulcers and tuberculosis
• First ever 'atlas' of T cells in human body
• Genomic 'hotspots' offer clues to causes of autism, other disorders
• Steering stem cells to become two different building blocks for new blood vessels
• Key gene for regenerating cells after heart attack
• Sibling squabbles can lead to depression, anxiety
• Removing protein 'garbage' in nerve cells may help control 2 neurodegenerative diseases
• Neuroscience: The extraordinary ease of ordinal series
• Toddlers' language skills predict less anger by preschool
• Sync to grow: Oscillation of gene activity may underlie how embryos grow in proportion
• Successful solo rock/pop stars twice as likely to die early as those in a band, study finds
• Asthmatics at increased risk of pulmonary embolism
• MicroRNAs present exciting opportunities for cancer therapy and diagnosis
• Discovery provides therapeutic target for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
• Impaired melatonin secretion may play a role in premenstrual syndrome
• Super-fine sound beam could one day be an invisible scalpel
• Alzheimer's disease: Cutting off immune response promises new approach to therapy
• Auto-immune disease: The viral route is confirmed
• How innate immune cells are involved in the development of type 1 diabetes
• Cholesterol helps regulate key signaling proteins in the cell
• Men with fibromyalgia often go undiagnosed

Better stroke care, everywhere: Study boosts local hospitals' clotbuster use Posted: 20 Dec 2012 04:57 PM PST From the moment a stroke occurs, patients must race against the clock to get treatment that can prevent lasting damage. Now, a new study shows the promise -- and the challenges -- of getting them state-of-the-art treatment safely at their local hospital, saving precious minutes.

Discovery could eventually help diagnose and treat chronic pain Posted: 20 Dec 2012 04:57 PM PST More than 100 million Americans suffer from chronic pain. But treating and studying chronic pain is complex and presents many challenges. Scientists have long searched for a method to objectively measure pain and a new study advances that effort.

Genetic defect causing fragile X-related disorders more common than thought Posted: 20 Dec 2012 04:57 PM PST A single genetic defect on the X chromosome that can result in a wide array of conditions -- from learning and emotional difficulties to primary ovarian insufficiency in women and tremors in middle-aged men -- occurs at a much greater frequency than previously thought, new research has found.

Brain imaging insight into cannabis as a pain killer Posted: 20 Dec 2012 04:57 PM PST The pain relief offered by cannabis varies greatly between individuals, a brain imaging study suggests. The researchers found that an oral tablet of THC, the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis, tended to make the experience of pain more bearable, rather than actually reduce the intensity of the pain.

Scientists create new approach to destroy disease-associated RNAs in cells Posted: 20 Dec 2012 12:46 PM PST Scientists have developed a new approach to alter the function of RNA in living cells by designing molecules that recognize and disable RNA targets. As a proof of principle, in the new study the team designed a molecule that disabled the RNA causing myotonic dystrophy.

Lifestyle changes linked to better outcomes after peripheral intervention Posted: 20 Dec 2012 12:46 PM PST Heart-healthy habits help patients with PAD, but lifestyle changes and medical therapy are dramatically underused by patients and their doctors.

Heart calcium scan predictive of diabetes-related death from cardiovascular disease Posted: 20 Dec 2012 12:35 PM PST People with Type 2 diabetes have two to four times the risk of cardiovascular disease compared to people without the disease. The best way for doctors to predict which diabetes patients are at the greatest risk for heart disease is to use a coronary artery calcium (CAC) test in addition to the most commonly used assessment tool, according to researchers.

Chromosome 'anchors' organize DNA during cell division: New role for telomeres in cellular growth may shed light on aging and age-related diseases Posted: 20 Dec 2012 11:41 AM PST For humans to grow and to replace and heal damaged tissues, the body's cells must continually reproduce, a process known as "cell division," by which one cell becomes two, two become four, and so on. A key question of biomedical research is how chromosomes, which are duplicated during cell division so that each daughter cell receives an exact copy of a person's genome, are arranged during this process.

Serendipity points to new potential target and therapy for melanoma Posted: 20 Dec 2012 11:39 AM PST A new study describes a new target and potential treatment for melanoma, the most dangerous form of skin cancer. MicroRNA can decide which genes in a cell's DNA are expressed and which stay silent. Melanoma tends to lack microRNA-26a, which makes the gene SODD go silent.

Stroke drug kills bacteria that cause ulcers and tuberculosis Posted: 20 Dec 2012 11:37 AM PST A drug for ischemic strokes may also treat tuberculosis and ulcers. New research shows the compound, ebselen, to inhibit the thioredoxin reductase system in bacteria, including Helicobacter pylori and Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

First ever 'atlas' of T cells in human body Posted: 20 Dec 2012 11:36 AM PST By analyzing tissues harvested from organ donors, researchers have created the first ever "atlas" of immune cells in the human body. Their results provide a unique view of the distribution and function of T lymphocytes in healthy individuals. In addition, the findings represent a major step toward development of new strategies for creating vaccines and immunotherapies.

Genomic 'hotspots' offer clues to causes of autism, other disorders Posted: 20 Dec 2012 11:35 AM PST Scientists have discovered that "random" mutations in the genome are not quite so random after all. Their study shows that the DNA sequence in some regions of the human genome is quite volatile and can mutate ten times more frequently than the rest of the genome.

Steering stem cells to become two different building blocks for new blood vessels Posted: 20 Dec 2012 11:31 AM PST Growing new blood vessels in the lab is a tough challenge, but an engineering team has solved a major stumbling block: how to prod stem cells to become two different types of tissue that are needed to build tiny networks of veins and arteries.

Key gene for regenerating cells after heart attack Posted: 20 Dec 2012 07:19 AM PST Researchers have pinpointed a molecular mechanism needed to unleash the heart's ability to regenerate, a critical step toward developing eventual therapies for damage suffered following a heart attack.

Sibling squabbles can lead to depression, anxiety Posted: 20 Dec 2012 05:04 AM PST Holiday presents will soon be under the tree for millions of adolescents. With those gifts may come sibling squabbles over violations of personal space, such as unwanted borrowing of a fashionable clothing item, or arguments over fairness, such as whose turn it is to play a new video game. Those squabbles represent two specific types of sibling conflict that can have different effects on a youth's emotional health, according to a multi-year study by a psychologist.

Removing protein 'garbage' in nerve cells may help control 2 neurodegenerative diseases Posted: 20 Dec 2012 05:04 AM PST A group of neuroscientists say they have new evidence that challenges scientific dogma involving two fatal neurodegenerative diseases -- amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and frontotemporal dementia -- and, in the process, have uncovered a possible therapeutic target as a novel strategy to treat both disorders.

Neuroscience: The extraordinary ease of ordinal series Posted: 20 Dec 2012 05:04 AM PST Familiar categories whose members appear in orderly sequences are processed differently than others in the brain, according to new research.

Toddlers' language skills predict less anger by preschool Posted: 20 Dec 2012 05:04 AM PST Toddlers with more developed language skills are better able to manage frustration and less likely to express anger by the time they're in preschool. That's the conclusion of a longitudinal study looking at 120 predominantly white children from families above poverty but below middle income from the time they were 18 months to 48 months.

Sync to grow: Oscillation of gene activity may underlie how embryos grow in proportion Posted: 20 Dec 2012 05:01 AM PST Researchers are one step closer to understanding how embryos develop and grow while always keeping the same proportions between their various parts. Their findings, published today in Nature, reveal that scaling of the future vertebrae in a mouse embryo is controlled by how the expression of some specific genes oscillates, in a coordinated way, between neighboring cells.

Successful solo rock/pop stars twice as likely to die early as those in a band, study finds Posted: 19 Dec 2012 07:34 PM PST Successful solo rock/pop stars are around twice as likely to die early as those in equally famous bands, new research indicates.

Asthmatics at increased risk of pulmonary embolism Posted: 19 Dec 2012 07:32 PM PST People with asthma have an increased risk of pulmonary embolism, according to new research.

MicroRNAs present exciting opportunities for cancer therapy and diagnosis Posted: 19 Dec 2012 02:43 PM PST As many as 50 percent of all human protein-coding genes are regulated by microRNA (miRNA) molecules. While some miRNAs impact onset and progression of cancer, others can actually suppress the development of malignant tumors and are useful in cancer therapy. They can also serve as potential biomarkers for early cancer detection. In a new study, researchers report on non-coding miRNAs as appealing biomarkers for malignancy.

Discovery provides therapeutic target for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis Posted: 19 Dec 2012 02:43 PM PST Researchers have found that the ability of a protein made by a gene called FUS to bind to RNA is essential to the development of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). This discovery identifies a possible therapeutic target for the fatal neurological disease.

Impaired melatonin secretion may play a role in premenstrual syndrome Posted: 19 Dec 2012 02:41 PM PST Researchers shows altered body rhythms of the hormone melatonin in premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) women with insomnia. This finding may help explain some of the sleep disruptions experienced by women with PMDD, also known as premenstrual syndrome.

Super-fine sound beam could one day be an invisible scalpel Posted: 19 Dec 2012 02:39 PM PST A carbon-nanotube-coated lens that converts light to sound can focus high-pressure sound waves to finer points than ever before. The engineering researchers who developed the new therapeutic ultrasound approach say it could lead to an invisible knife for noninvasive surgery.

Alzheimer's disease: Cutting off immune response promises new approach to therapy Posted: 19 Dec 2012 12:27 PM PST Researchers have identified a protein as a potential target for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. The molecular complex is part of the immune system and a driving force for inflammatory responses of the brain. Blocking its activity may pave the way for new possibilities for therapy, the researchers report.

Auto-immune disease: The viral route is confirmed Posted: 19 Dec 2012 10:35 AM PST Why would our immune system turn against our own cells? This is the question that researchers in France have attempted to answer in a new study concentrating in particular on the auto-immune disease known as myasthenia gravis.

How innate immune cells are involved in the development of type 1 diabetes Posted: 19 Dec 2012 10:34 AM PST A new study by researchers in France sheds light on type 1 diabetes -- a disease characterized by the self-destruction of the pancreatic cells that produce insulin. The research reveals the role of the innate immune cells, especially the dendritic cells, that cause the activation of the killer T-lymphocytes whose action is directed against the p pancreatic cells. The results obtained in mice make it possible to consider new ways of regulating the auto-immune reaction generated by the innate immune cells.

Cholesterol helps regulate key signaling proteins in the cell Posted: 19 Dec 2012 10:28 AM PST Cholesterol plays a key role in regulating proteins involved in cell signaling and may be important to many other cell processes, an international team of researchers has found.

Men with fibromyalgia often go undiagnosed Posted: 19 Dec 2012 10:27 AM PST Fibromyalgia is a complex illness to diagnose and to treat. There is not yet a diagnostic test to establish that someone has it, there is no cure and many fibromyalgia symptoms -- pain, fatigue, problems sleeping and memory and mood issues -- can overlap with or get mistaken for other conditions. A new study suggests that many people who have fibromyalgia, especially men, are going undiagnosed.

You are subscribed to email updates from ScienceDaily: Top Health News To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610