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Monday, April 8, 2013

ScienceDaily: Top Health News

ScienceDaily: Top Health News


How our bodies interact with our minds in response to fear and other emotions

Posted: 07 Apr 2013 06:15 PM PDT

New research has shown that the way our minds react to and process emotions such as fear can vary according to what is happening in other parts of our bodies.

Higher mercury levels in humans associated with increased risk for diabetes

Posted: 07 Apr 2013 06:15 PM PDT

A new study found that higher levels of mercury exposure in young adults increased their risks for type 2 diabetes later in life by 65 percent.

Widely used filtering material adds arsenic to beers

Posted: 07 Apr 2013 03:35 PM PDT

The mystery of how arsenic levels in beer sold in Germany could be higher than in the water or other ingredients used to brew the beer has been solved, scientists say.

Do cells in the blood, heart and lungs smell the food we eat?

Posted: 07 Apr 2013 03:35 PM PDT

In a discovery suggesting that odors may have a far more important role in life than previously believed, scientists have found that heart, blood, lung and other cells in the body have the same receptors for sensing odors that exist in the nose. It opens the door to questions about whether the heart, for instance, "smells" that fresh-brewed cup of coffee or cinnamon bun.

Reducing waste of food: A key element in feeding billions more people

Posted: 07 Apr 2013 03:35 PM PDT

Families can be key players in a revolution needed to feed the world, and could save money by helping to cut food losses now occurring from field to fork to trash bin, an expert said. He described that often-invisible waste in food — 4 out of every 10 pounds produced in the United States alone — and the challenges of feeding a global population of 9 billion.

Device keeps human liver alive outside body

Posted: 07 Apr 2013 12:01 PM PDT

In a world first, a donated human liver has been 'kept alive' outside a human being and then successfully transplanted into a patient in need of a new liver.

How communities effectively punish antisocial behavior

Posted: 07 Apr 2013 11:45 AM PDT

New research provides an insight into how groups of people tackle social dilemmas and effectively punish those engaging in anti-social behavior.

New link between heart disease and red meat: New understanding of cardiovascular health benefits of vegan, vegetarian diets

Posted: 07 Apr 2013 10:33 AM PDT

A compound abundant in red meat and added as a supplement to popular energy drinks has been found to promote atherosclerosis -- or the hardening or clogging of the arteries.

Final chapter to 60-year-old blood group mystery

Posted: 07 Apr 2013 10:33 AM PDT

Researchers have solved a 60-year-old mystery by identifying a gene that can cause rejection, kidney failure and even death in some blood transfusion patients. In this study they identified the gene that underlies the Vel blood group and will lead to the development of more reliable blood tests and reduce the risk for transfusion patients who lack this blood group.

Brain's stress circuits undergo profound learning early in life, scientists find

Posted: 07 Apr 2013 10:33 AM PDT

Researchers have discovered that stress circuits in the brain undergo profound learning early in life. Using a number of cutting edge approaches, including optogenetics, scientists have shown stress circuits are capable of self-tuning following a single stress. These findings demonstrate that the brain uses stress experience during early life to prepare and optimize for subsequent challenges.

New separation process advances stem cell therapies

Posted: 07 Apr 2013 10:33 AM PDT

A new separation process that depends on an easily-distinguished physical difference in adhesive forces among cells could help expand production of stem cells generated through cell reprogramming. The separation process could also lead to improvements in the reprogramming technique itself and expand disease modeling.

Global burden of dengue is triple current estimates

Posted: 07 Apr 2013 10:32 AM PDT

The global burden of dengue infection is more than triple current estimates from the World Health Organization, according to a multinational study.

Engineered T cells kill tumors but spare normal tissue in an animal model

Posted: 07 Apr 2013 10:32 AM PDT

Researchers devised a next gen cancer immune approach in which the activation signal for T cells is physically dissociated from a second costimulatory signal for immune cells. The two CARs carry different antigen specificity -- mesothelin and a-folate receptor. Mesothelin is primarily associated with mesothelioma and ovarian cancer, and a-folate receptor with ovarian cancer.

Finding genes for childhood obesity: Genome wide study identifies genetic variants associated with childhood obesity

Posted: 07 Apr 2013 10:31 AM PDT

A new study has revealed promising targets for the development of new drugs against childhood obesity. Researchers have identified four genes newly associated with childhood obesity and an increased burden of rare genetic deletions and rearrangements in severely obese children. Gaining a better basic understanding of obesity will open new doors to clinically relevant research.

Retinoic acid gradient visualized for the first time in an embryo

Posted: 07 Apr 2013 10:31 AM PDT

In a ground-breaking study, researchers report a new technique that allows them to visualize the distribution of retinoic acid in a live zebrafish embryo, in real-time. This technique enabled them to observe two concentration gradients going in opposing directions along the head-to-tail axis of the embryo, thus providing long-awaited evidence that retinoic acid is a morphogen.

First tests of old patent medicine remedies from a museum collection

Posted: 07 Apr 2013 10:29 AM PDT

What was in Dr. F. G. Johnson's French Female Pills and other scientifically untested elixirs, nostrums and other quack cures that were the only medicines available to sick people during the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries?

Ready for debut: Fruit-juice-infused chocolate with 50 percent less fat

Posted: 07 Apr 2013 10:29 AM PDT

Already renowned as a healthy treat when enjoyed in moderation, chocolate could become even more salubrious if manufacturers embraced new technology for making "fruit-juice-infused chocolate," a scientist says.

Lift weights to lower blood sugar? White muscle helps keep blood glucose levels under control

Posted: 07 Apr 2013 10:29 AM PDT

Researchers have challenged a long-held belief that whitening of skeletal muscle in diabetes is harmful.

Novel serum biomarker bilirubin predicted lung cancer risk in smokers

Posted: 07 Apr 2013 10:29 AM PDT

Smokers with low bilirubin levels were at increased risk for lung cancer incidence and mortality compared with those who had the highest bilirubin levels, making serum bilirubin a potential biomarker for lung cancer risk prediction.

Fetal exposure to excessive stress hormones in the womb linked to adult mood disorders

Posted: 07 Apr 2013 06:08 AM PDT

Exposure of the developing fetus to excessive levels of stress hormones in the womb can cause mood disorders in later life and now, for the first time, researchers have found a mechanism that may underpin this process.

Flies model a potential sweet treatment for Parkinson's disease

Posted: 07 Apr 2013 06:07 AM PDT

Researchers describe experiments that could lead to a new approach for treating Parkinson's disease using a common sweetener, mannitol.

Two-step ovarian cancer immunotherapy made from patients' own tumor benefits three quarters of trial patients

Posted: 07 Apr 2013 06:07 AM PDT

As many as three quarters of advanced ovarian cancer patients appeared to respond to a new two-step immunotherapy approach -- including one patient who achieved complete remission -- according to new research.

Screening blood samples for cancer-driving mutations more comprehensive than analyzing traditional tumor biopsy

Posted: 07 Apr 2013 06:06 AM PDT

Researchers using a tool called BEAMing technology, which can detect cancer-driving gene mutations in patients' blood samples, were able to identify oncogenic mutations associated with distinct responses to therapies used to treat patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST), according to new research.

Motor skills research nets good news for middle-aged

Posted: 05 Apr 2013 03:46 PM PDT

People in their 20s don't have much on their middle-aged counterparts when it comes to some fine motor movements, researchers have found. In a simple finger-tapping exercise, study participants' speed declined only slightly with age until a marked drop in ability with participants in their mid-60s.

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