ScienceDaily: Top Health News

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• No benefit of evening primrose oil for treating eczema, review suggests
• Targeting prescribers can reduce excessive use of antibiotics in hospitals
• Smoking prevention in schools: Does it work?
• Identification of gene variants affecting fertility offers new treatment possibility
• Microglia can be derived from patient-specific human induced pluripotent stem cells and may help modulate the course of central nervous system diseases
• Scientists discover how a protein finds its way
• Frequently used biologic agents might cause acute liver injury
• Retirement expert: Medicare already means-tested
• Rare, lethal childhood disease tracked to protein
• Reading wordless storybooks to toddlers may expose them to richer language
• Cancer studies often lack necessary rigor to answer key questions
• Antidepressants linked with increased risks after surgery
• More evidence suggests eating omega 3s and avoiding meat, dairy linked to preserving memory
• U. S. children born outside the United States have lower risk of allergic disease
• Do you obsess over your appearance? Your brain might be wired abnormally
• Key shift in brain that creates drive to overeat identified
• Big data analysis identifies prognostic RNA markers in a common form of breast cancer
• Neuroscientists use statistical model to draft fantasy teams of neurons
• Adults lack stem cells for making new eggs
• Patterned hearts: Bioengineers create rubber-like material bearing micropatterns for stronger, more elastic hearts
• Sniffing out schizophrenia
• Foul-smelling gas shows health benefits in reducing joint swelling
• Analysis: U.S. emergency care cost estimates are too low
• Thymus teaches immune cells to ignore vital gut bacteria
• How Would You Like Your Assistant -- Human or Robotic?
• Molecular role of gene linked to blood vessel formation uncovered
• Will green tea help you lose weight?
• Pathological gambling caused by excessive optimism
• Rear seat design: A priority for children's safety in cars

No benefit of evening primrose oil for treating eczema, review suggests Posted: 29 Apr 2013 06:09 PM PDT Research into the complementary therapies evening primrose oil and borage oil shows little, if any, benefit for people with eczema compared with placebo, according to a new systematic review. The authors conclude that further studies on the therapies would be difficult to justify.

Targeting prescribers can reduce excessive use of antibiotics in hospitals Posted: 29 Apr 2013 06:09 PM PDT Giving prescribers access to education and advice or imposing restrictions on use can curb overuse or inappropriate use of antibiotics in hospitals, according to a new Cochrane systematic review. This is important because unnecessary use of these life-saving drugs is a key source of antibiotic resistance in bacteria.

Smoking prevention in schools: Does it work? Posted: 29 Apr 2013 06:09 PM PDT Smoking prevention in schools reduces the number of young people who will later become smokers, according to a new systematic review. For young people who have never smoked, these programs appear to be effective at least one year after implementation.

Identification of gene variants affecting fertility offers new treatment possibility Posted: 29 Apr 2013 06:08 PM PDT Identification of genetic variations in the genes coding for the hormone FSH may provide new treatments for male and female infertility, according to new work. Scientists have characterized gene variations which may improve treatment for almost half of infertile men, as well as allowing tailored treatment for women undergoing assisted reproduction.

Microglia can be derived from patient-specific human induced pluripotent stem cells and may help modulate the course of central nervous system diseases Posted: 29 Apr 2013 02:59 PM PDT Overall importance of microglia in various brain and spinal cord diseases surprises researchers, who find patient-specific stem cells can be turned into microglia, which could be very useful in future treatment options.

Scientists discover how a protein finds its way Posted: 29 Apr 2013 02:59 PM PDT Scientists have uncovered how an enzyme co-factor can bestow specificity on a class of proteins with otherwise nonspecific biochemical activity. Proteins can have more than one function, but they often need to be very specific in their action or they create cellular havoc, possibly leading to disease.

Frequently used biologic agents might cause acute liver injury Posted: 29 Apr 2013 01:49 PM PDT A commonly used class of biologic response modifying drugs can cause acute liver injury with elevated liver enzymes, according to a new study.

Retirement expert: Medicare already means-tested Posted: 29 Apr 2013 01:49 PM PDT The Obama administration's controversial proposal to means-test Medicare recipients has one small problem -- the Medicare program is already means-tested, says an expert on retirement benefits.

Rare, lethal childhood disease tracked to protein Posted: 29 Apr 2013 01:49 PM PDT Scientists have identified how a defective protein plays a central role in a rare, lethal childhood disease known as giant axonal neuropathy, or GAN. GAN is an extremely rare and untreatable genetic disorder that strikes the central and peripheral nervous systems of young children.

Reading wordless storybooks to toddlers may expose them to richer language Posted: 29 Apr 2013 01:48 PM PDT Researchers have found that children hear more complex language from parents when they read a storybook with only pictures compared to a picture-vocabulary book.

Cancer studies often lack necessary rigor to answer key questions Posted: 29 Apr 2013 01:48 PM PDT Fueled in part by an inclination to speed new treatments to patients, research studies for cancer therapies tend to be smaller and less robust than for other diseases.

Antidepressants linked with increased risks after surgery Posted: 29 Apr 2013 01:46 PM PDT Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) – among the most widely prescribed antidepressant medications – are associated with increased risk of bleeding, transfusion, hospital readmission and death when taken around the time of surgery, according to a new analysis.

More evidence suggests eating omega 3s and avoiding meat, dairy linked to preserving memory Posted: 29 Apr 2013 01:46 PM PDT A UAB study suggests that the Mediterranean diet, which emphasizes consuming foods that contain omega-3 fatty acids found in fish, chicken and salad dressing, and avoiding saturated fats, meat and dairy foods, may be linked to preserving memory and thinking abilities.

U. S. children born outside the United States have lower risk of allergic disease Posted: 29 Apr 2013 01:46 PM PDT A new study suggests children living the in the United States but born outside the U.S. have a lower prevalence of allergic disease that increases after residing in the United States for one decade.

Do you obsess over your appearance? Your brain might be wired abnormally Posted: 29 Apr 2013 12:42 PM PDT New research has discovered that people with body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) have abnormal connections throughout their brain. BDD is a disabling but often-misunderstood psychiatric condition in which individuals perceive that they're disfigured and ugly, even though they look normal to others.

Key shift in brain that creates drive to overeat identified Posted: 29 Apr 2013 12:42 PM PDT Neuroscientists have identified a cellular change in the brain that accompanies obesity. The findings could explain the body's tendency to maintain undesirable weight levels, rather than an ideal weight, and identify possible targets for pharmacological efforts to address obesity. The study identifies a mechanism for the body's ongoing tendency to return to the heavier weight.

Big data analysis identifies prognostic RNA markers in a common form of breast cancer Posted: 29 Apr 2013 12:41 PM PDT An analysis that integrates three large sets of genomic data available through The Cancer Genome Atlas has identified 37 RNA molecules that might predict survival in patients with the most common form of breast cancer. The study analyzed large masses of data from 466 cases of the most common type of breast cancer and provides the first prognostic signature in cancer composed of both mRNA and microRNA.

Neuroscientists use statistical model to draft fantasy teams of neurons Posted: 29 Apr 2013 12:41 PM PDT This past weekend teams from the National Football League used statistics like height, weight and speed to draft the best college players, and in a few weeks, armchair enthusiasts will use similar measures to select players for their own fantasy football teams. Neuroscientists are taking a similar approach to compile "dream teams" of neurons using a statistics-based method that can evaluate the fitness of individual neurons.

Adults lack stem cells for making new eggs Posted: 29 Apr 2013 12:41 PM PDT Mammalian females ovulate periodically over their reproductive lifetimes, placing significant demands on their ovaries for egg production. Whether mammals generate new eggs in adulthood using stem cells has been a source of scientific controversy. If true, these "germ-line stem cells" might allow novel treatments for infertility and other diseases.

Patterned hearts: Bioengineers create rubber-like material bearing micropatterns for stronger, more elastic hearts Posted: 29 Apr 2013 10:36 AM PDT Bioengineers report creating artificial heart tissue that closely mimics the functions of natural heart tissue through the use of human-based materials. Their work will advance how clinicians treat the damaging effects caused by heart disease, the leading cause of death in the United States.

Sniffing out schizophrenia Posted: 29 Apr 2013 10:05 AM PDT Scientists have developed an innovative method for diagnosing schizophrenia by collecting neural tissues from the nose. The finding could lead to early detection of the disease, giving rise to vastly improved treatment overall.

Foul-smelling gas shows health benefits in reducing joint swelling Posted: 29 Apr 2013 10:05 AM PDT Scientists have discovered that a novel drug molecule, which slowly generates the gas hydrogen sulfide, effectively reduces swelling and inflammation in arthritic joints.

Analysis: U.S. emergency care cost estimates are too low Posted: 29 Apr 2013 10:05 AM PDT US emergency care costs may be more than twice previously published estimates, according to a new analysis that critiques those estimates, argues for improved accounting, and suggests considering the value of emergency care as well as total spending.

Thymus teaches immune cells to ignore vital gut bacteria Posted: 29 Apr 2013 10:05 AM PDT The tiny thymus teaches the immune system to ignore the teeming, foreign bacteria in the gut that helps you digest and absorb food, researchers say.

How Would You Like Your Assistant -- Human or Robotic? Posted: 29 Apr 2013 09:55 AM PDT More than half of healthcare providers interviewed for a new study said that if they were offered an assistant, they preferred it to be a robotic helper rather than a human. However, they don't want robots to help with everything.

Molecular role of gene linked to blood vessel formation uncovered Posted: 29 Apr 2013 09:55 AM PDT Researchers have discovered that disrupting a gene that acts as a regulatory switch to turn on other genes can keep blood vessels from forming and developing properly.

Will green tea help you lose weight? Posted: 29 Apr 2013 08:47 AM PDT Green tea extract in tandem with an additional compound could be effective for body weight control and type 2 diabetes, a new study in mice indicates. Evidence has shown that green tea extract may be an effective herbal remedy useful for weight control and helping to regulate glucose in type 2 diabetes.

Pathological gambling caused by excessive optimism Posted: 29 Apr 2013 07:24 AM PDT Compulsive gamblers suffer from an optimism bias that modifies their subjective representation of probability and affects their decisions in situations involving high-risk monetary wagers.

Rear seat design: A priority for children's safety in cars Posted: 29 Apr 2013 06:46 AM PDT New report recommends technology, policy changes to better protect older children and adolescents in crashes.

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