ScienceDaily: Top Health News

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• Statin, osteoporosis drug combo may help treat parasitic infections
• Psychologists report new insights on human brain, consciousness
• Making sense of conflicting advice on calcium intake
• Vitamin D does not contribute to kidney stones
• Brain may flush out toxins during sleep
• Gene regulation differences between humans, chimpanzees very complex
• Researchers advance toward engineering 'wildly new genome'
• Mysterious ancient human crossed Wallace's Line
• Complex diseases traced to gene copy numbers
• Brain scans may aid in diagnosis of autism
• Depression twice as likely in migraine sufferers
• Bird study finds key info about human speech-language development
• Female doctors better than male doctors, but males are more productive
• Brain scans show unusual activity in retired American football players
• U.S. regions exhibit distinct personalities, research reveals
• Increase seen in donor eggs for in vitro fertilization, improved outcomes
• Blood pressure drugs decrease risk of Alzheimer's disease
• Separating the good from the bad in bacteria
• Rapid blood test to diagnose sepsis at the bedside could save thousands of lives
• Elusive secret of HIV long-term immunity
• New way to treat chronic kidney disease and heart failure
• Bacteria-eating viruses 'magic bullets in the war on superbugs'
• How Do ADHD Medications Work?
• Ghrelin, a stress-induced hormone, primes the brain for PTSD
• Moderate to severe psoriasis linked to chronic kidney disease
• First step taken toward macular dystrophy gene therapy
• Protective pathway identified to counter toxicity associated with Alzheimer's disease
• High variability among primary care physicians in rate of PSA screening
• For diabetics, angioplasty and bypass surgery lead to similar long-term benefits

Statin, osteoporosis drug combo may help treat parasitic infections Posted: 17 Oct 2013 02:39 PM PDT Researchers have discovered that a combination of two commonly prescribed drugs used to treat high cholesterol and osteoporosis may serve as the foundation of a new treatment for toxoplasmosis, a parasitic infection caused by the protozoan Toxoplasma gondii.

Psychologists report new insights on human brain, consciousness Posted: 17 Oct 2013 02:36 PM PDT A study by psychologists is a step toward neuroscience research on consciousness. "The difference between being conscious and unconscious is a bit like the difference between driving from Los Angeles to New York in a straight line versus having to cover the same route hopping on and off several buses that force you to take a 'zig-zag' route and stop in several places," said lead author of the study.

Making sense of conflicting advice on calcium intake Posted: 17 Oct 2013 02:34 PM PDT In recent years, studies have reported inconsistent findings regarding whether calcium supplements used to prevent fractures increase the risk of heart attack. Now, in an assessment of the scientific literature, a researcher says patients and health care practitioners should focus on getting calcium from the diet, rather than supplements, when possible.

Vitamin D does not contribute to kidney stones Posted: 17 Oct 2013 02:33 PM PDT Increased vitamin D levels may prevent a wide range of diseases, according to recent studies. However, some previous studies led to a concern that vitamin D supplementation could increase an individual's risk of developing kidney stones.

Brain may flush out toxins during sleep Posted: 17 Oct 2013 11:46 AM PDT Using mice, researchers showed for the first time that the space between brain cells may increase during sleep, allowing the brain to flush out toxins that build up during waking hours. These results suggest a new role for sleep in health and disease.

Gene regulation differences between humans, chimpanzees very complex Posted: 17 Oct 2013 11:46 AM PDT Changes in gene regulation have been used to study the evolutionary chasm that exists between humans and chimpanzees despite their largely identical DNA. However, scientists have discovered that mRNA expression levels, long considered a barometer for differences in gene regulation, often do not reflect differences in protein expression -- and, therefore, biological function -- between humans and chimpanzees.

Researchers advance toward engineering 'wildly new genome' Posted: 17 Oct 2013 11:46 AM PDT In two parallel projects, researchers have rewritten the genetic code of the bacterium E. coli. In the first study they created a genetically and biochemically novel organism by erasing every example of a single codon from the entire genome. In the second, they tested whether all codons could be swapped to a synonymous codon in 42 separate genes, while eliminating every instance of 13 codons throughout each of those genes.

Mysterious ancient human crossed Wallace's Line Posted: 17 Oct 2013 11:44 AM PDT Scientists have proposed that the most recently discovered ancient human relatives – the Denisovans – somehow managed to cross one of the world's most prominent marine barriers in Indonesia, and later interbred with modern humans moving through the area on the way to Australia and New Guinea.

Complex diseases traced to gene copy numbers Posted: 17 Oct 2013 10:52 AM PDT Researchers have connected very rare and precise duplications and deletions in the human genome to their complex disease consequences by duplicating them in zebrafish.

Brain scans may aid in diagnosis of autism Posted: 17 Oct 2013 08:42 AM PDT The investigators found that brain connectivity data from 19 paths in brain scans predicted whether the participants had autism, with an accuracy rate of 95.9 percent.

Depression twice as likely in migraine sufferers Posted: 17 Oct 2013 08:42 AM PDT The prevalence of depression among those with migraine is approximately twice as high as for those without the disease (men: 8.4% vs. 3.4%; women 12.4% vs. 5.7%), according to a new study.

Bird study finds key info about human speech-language development Posted: 17 Oct 2013 08:15 AM PDT A study has shown for the first time how two tiny molecules regulate a gene implicated in speech and language impairments as well as autism disorders, and that social context of vocal behavior governs their function.

Female doctors better than male doctors, but males are more productive Posted: 17 Oct 2013 07:06 AM PDT The quality of care provided by female doctors is higher than that of their male counterparts while the productivity of males is greater, new research shows. The research team reached this conclusion by studying the billing information of over 870 Quebec practitioners (half of whom were women) relating to their procedures with elderly diabetic patients.

Brain scans show unusual activity in retired American football players Posted: 17 Oct 2013 06:38 AM PDT A new study has discovered profound abnormalities in brain activity in a group of retired American football players. Although the former players in the study were not diagnosed with any neurological condition, brain imaging tests revealed unusual activity that correlated with how many times they had left the field with a head injury during their careers.

U.S. regions exhibit distinct personalities, research reveals Posted: 17 Oct 2013 06:34 AM PDT Americans with similar temperaments are so likely to live in the same areas that a map of the country can be divided into regions with distinct personalities, according to new research published by the American Psychological Association.

Increase seen in donor eggs for in vitro fertilization, improved outcomes Posted: 17 Oct 2013 04:59 AM PDT Between 2000 and 2010 in the United States the number of donor eggs used for in vitro fertilization increased, and outcomes for births from those donor eggs improved.

Blood pressure drugs decrease risk of Alzheimer's disease Posted: 16 Oct 2013 06:33 PM PDT An analysis of data previously gathered on more than 3,000 elderly Americans strongly suggests that taking certain blood pressure medications to control blood pressure may reduce the risk of dementia due to Alzheimer's disease.

Separating the good from the bad in bacteria Posted: 16 Oct 2013 06:33 PM PDT New microfluidic technique quickly distinguishes bacteria within the same strain; could improve monitoring of cystic fibrosis and other diseases.

Rapid blood test to diagnose sepsis at the bedside could save thousands of lives Posted: 16 Oct 2013 06:33 PM PDT Researchers have identified a biomarker -- a biological 'fingerprint' -- for sepsis in the blood, and showed it could be possible to diagnose the condition within two hours by screening for this biomarker at a patient's bedside.

Elusive secret of HIV long-term immunity Posted: 16 Oct 2013 06:32 PM PDT Scientists have discovered a long sought, critical new clue about why some people are able to control the HIV virus long term without taking antiviral drugs. The finding may be useful in shortening drug treatment for everyone else with HIV. These rare individuals have an extra helping of an immune protein that blocks HIV from spreading within the body by turning it into an impotent wimp. Earlier treatment could protect reserves of the critical protein for everyone.

New way to treat chronic kidney disease and heart failure Posted: 16 Oct 2013 06:32 PM PDT Researchers are using adult bone marrow stem cells as they investigate a completely new way of treating chronic kidney disease and heart failure in rats.

Bacteria-eating viruses 'magic bullets in the war on superbugs' Posted: 16 Oct 2013 06:25 PM PDT A team of scientists has isolated viruses that eat bacteria -- called phages -- to specifically target the highly infectious hospital superbug Clostridium difficile (C. diff.).

How Do ADHD Medications Work? Posted: 16 Oct 2013 07:02 AM PDT There is a swirling controversy regarding the suspicion that medications prescribed for the treatment of ADHD (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder) primarily act to control disruptive behavior as opposed to having primary effects on the ability to attend to the environment. A new study now provides evidence that methylphenidate and atomoxetine, two FDA-approved medications for the treatment of ADHD, both improve the brain's activation when attempting to make fine temporal distinctions, but have differential effects on performance.

Ghrelin, a stress-induced hormone, primes the brain for PTSD Posted: 15 Oct 2013 04:14 PM PDT Study finds that ghrelin, produced during stressful situations, primes the brain for post-traumatic stress disorder.

Moderate to severe psoriasis linked to chronic kidney disease Posted: 15 Oct 2013 04:13 PM PDT Moderate to severe psoriasis is associated with an increased risk of chronic kidney disease independent of traditional risk factors, such as diabetes and heart disease, finds a study.

First step taken toward macular dystrophy gene therapy Posted: 15 Oct 2013 04:12 PM PDT With a new study, researchers report "encouraging" findings that mark the first clear step in developing a gene therapy that could prevent vision loss or event restore vision in individuals suffering from vision-robbing conditions called bestrophinopathies.

Protective pathway identified to counter toxicity associated with Alzheimer's disease Posted: 15 Oct 2013 04:12 PM PDT New research has identified a pathway used by the brain to try to protect itself from toxicity that occurs with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Researchers have done extensive work on the role of prion protein. They found that toxicity of amyloid-² peptides, one of the major culprits in AD, can be decreased by preventing it from interacting with the prion protein.

High variability among primary care physicians in rate of PSA screening Posted: 15 Oct 2013 04:11 PM PDT The authors of a new study examined whether PSA screening rates would vary substantially among primary care physicians (PCPs) and if the variance would depend on which PCP patients used.

For diabetics, angioplasty and bypass surgery lead to similar long-term benefits Posted: 15 Oct 2013 04:10 PM PDT For patients with diabetes and coronary artery disease in more than one artery, treatment with coronary artery bypass graft surgery provided slightly better health status and quality of life between 6 months and 2 years than procedures using drug-eluting stents, although beyond 2 years the difference disappeared.

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