ScienceDaily: Top Health News

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• World's smallest propeller could be used for microscopic medicine
• Vision-correcting display makes reading glasses so yesterday
• Watching neurons fire from a front-row seat
• Brainwaves can predict audience reaction of television programming
• Brand-specific television alcohol ads a significant predictor of brand consumption among underage youth
• Do your stem cells sound like cancer? While-you-wait, non-invasive cancer diagnosis by converting stem cell data into sound
• Social origins of intelligence in the brain
• Diet affects males' and females' gut microbes differently
• Autistic brain less flexible at taking on tasks
• Help your infant or toddler cope with stressful events
• Preterm children's brains can catch up years later
• Diverse boards pay more dividends, take fewer risks, study finds
• When it comes to gluten-free diets, unfounded beliefs abound
• Mortality rates increase due to extreme heat and cold
• Using TV, videos or a computer game as a stress reducer after a tough day at work can lead to feelings of guilt and failure
• Healthy lifestyle may buffer against stress-related cell aging
• Stem cell advance may increase efficiency of tissue regeneration
• Forced mutations doom HIV: How potential HIV drug exacts its toll on viral populations
• Dementia patients more likely to get implanted pacemakers, says study
• Electronic screening tool to triage teenagers and risk of substance misuse
• Endurance runners more likely to die of heat stroke than heart condition
• Running reduces risk of death regardless of duration, speed
• Memory relies on astrocytes, the brain's lesser known cells: supportive cells vital in cognitive function
• Stimulation of brain region restores consciousness to animals under general anesthesia
• Glucose 'control switch' in the brain key to both types of diabetes
• Cell's recycling center implicated in division decisions
• Brain's habenula signals how bad things could be
• Researchers examine changing face of cognitive gender differences in Europe
• Facial features are the key to first impressions
• Irreversible inhibitor for KRAS gene mutation involved in lung, colon, and pancreatic cancers
• Parents need to talk to their children about school bus safety at the start of the school year
• Genetic mutations linked to salivary gland tumors
• Researchers produce record-length mirror-image protein
• Learning the smell of fear: Mothers teach babies their own fears via odor, animal study shows
• Disruptive effects of anesthesia on brain cell connections are temporary, study suggests
• Six reasons for headaches in school-age children and how parents can help relieve the pain
• Green spaces found to increase birth weight
• Booming mobile health app market needs more FDA oversight for consumer safety, confidence
• The role of dairy in maintaining adult bone and skeletal muscle health
• Fist bumping beats germ-spreading handshake
• New protein structure could help treat Alzheimer's, related diseases
• Children with disabilities benefit from classroom inclusion
• Wait, wait -- don’t tell me the good news yet: Early warning about goal completion a buzzkill
• Google searches may hold key to future market crashes, researchers find
• Burnout impacts transplant surgeons
• Drug may aid multiple myeloma patients who suffer from low platelet counts
• It takes more than practice to excel
• One in 3,000 blood donors in England infected with hepatitis E: HEV containing blood components transfused

World's smallest propeller could be used for microscopic medicine Posted: 29 Jul 2014 01:47 PM PDT Scientists have created robots that are only nanometers in length, small enough to maneuver inside the human body and possibly inside human cells.

Vision-correcting display makes reading glasses so yesterday Posted: 29 Jul 2014 12:29 PM PDT Researchers are developing vision-correcting displays that can compensate for a viewer's visual impairments to create sharp images without the need for glasses or contact lenses. The technology could potentially help those who currently need corrective lenses to use their smartphones, tablets and computers, and could one day aid people with more complex visual problems.

Watching neurons fire from a front-row seat Posted: 29 Jul 2014 11:19 AM PDT They are with us every moment of every day, controlling every action we make, from the breath we breathe to the words we speak, and yet there is still a lot we don't know about the cells that make up our nervous systems. When things go awry and nerve cells don't communicate as they should, the consequences can be devastating. Speech can be slurred, muscles stop working on command and memories can be lost forever.

Brainwaves can predict audience reaction of television programming Posted: 29 Jul 2014 11:19 AM PDT By analyzing the brainwaves of 16 individuals as they watched mainstream television content, researchers were able to accurately predict the preferences of large TV audiences, up to 90 percent in the case of Super Bowl commercials.

Brand-specific television alcohol ads a significant predictor of brand consumption among underage youth Posted: 29 Jul 2014 11:19 AM PDT Underage drinkers are three times more likely to drink alcohol brands that advertise on television programs they watch compared to other alcohol brands, providing new and compelling evidence of a strong association between alcohol advertising and youth drinking behavior.

Do your stem cells sound like cancer? While-you-wait, non-invasive cancer diagnosis by converting stem cell data into sound Posted: 29 Jul 2014 09:38 AM PDT Converting stem cell data into sounds could enable GPs to make instant, non-invasive cancer diagnoses during a routine check-up. A recent study shows how data sonification (where data is conveyed as audio signals as opposed to visual illustrations such as graphs) can improve standard techniques currently used in spectroscopy stem cell analysis. What could this mean for cancer diagnostics?

Social origins of intelligence in the brain Posted: 29 Jul 2014 08:54 AM PDT By studying the injuries and aptitudes of Vietnam War veterans who suffered penetrating head wounds during the war, scientists are tackling -- and beginning to answer -- longstanding questions about how the brain works. The researchers found that brain regions that contribute to optimal social functioning also are vital to general intelligence and to emotional intelligence. This finding bolsters the view that general intelligence emerges from the emotional and social context of one's life.

Diet affects males' and females' gut microbes differently Posted: 29 Jul 2014 08:54 AM PDT The microbes living in the guts of males and females react differently to diet, even when the diets are identical, according to a new study. These results suggest that therapies designed to improve human health and treat diseases through nutrition might need to be tailored for each sex.

Autistic brain less flexible at taking on tasks Posted: 29 Jul 2014 08:54 AM PDT The brains of children with autism are relatively inflexible at switching from rest to task performance, according to a new brain-imaging study.

Help your infant or toddler cope with stressful events Posted: 29 Jul 2014 08:51 AM PDT 18-month-old "Karla" was playing on the slide at the park in her neighborhood, her mother sitting on a nearby bench chatting with her friend. A loud screech was followed by a crash and the sound of car alarms going off. In a flash, Karla was swept into her mother's arms and both were shaking as they saw people running and heard sirens coming toward the scene of a car crash in the street next to the park.

Preterm children's brains can catch up years later Posted: 29 Jul 2014 06:31 AM PDT There's some good news for parents of preterm babies -- latest research shows that by the time they become teenagers, the brains of many preterm children can perform almost as well as those born at term.

Diverse boards pay more dividends, take fewer risks, study finds Posted: 29 Jul 2014 06:26 AM PDT A study of more than 2,000 companies that spanned over 13 years has found that board diversity curbs excessive risk taking and tend to pay more in dividends.

When it comes to gluten-free diets, unfounded beliefs abound Posted: 29 Jul 2014 06:26 AM PDT Lots of people are eating gluten-free diets, but perhaps for the wrong reasons, a UF/IFAS researcher says. Such diets, while necessary for those with celiac disease, may lack nutrients essential to good health.

Mortality rates increase due to extreme heat and cold Posted: 29 Jul 2014 04:36 AM PDT When temperatures are extremely high or low, there is a significant increase in the number of deaths caused by heart failure or stroke. This has been confirmed by epidemiological studies.

Using TV, videos or a computer game as a stress reducer after a tough day at work can lead to feelings of guilt and failure Posted: 29 Jul 2014 04:36 AM PDT It seems common practice: After a long day at work, most people sometimes just want to turn on the TV or play a video or computer game to calm down and relax. However, in a new study researchers found that people who were highly stressed after work did not feel relaxed or recovered when they watched TV or played computer or video games. Instead, they tended to show increased levels of guilt and feelings of failure.

Healthy lifestyle may buffer against stress-related cell aging Posted: 29 Jul 2014 04:35 AM PDT A new study shows that while the impact of life's stressors accumulate overtime and accelerate cellular aging, these negative effects may be reduced by maintaining a healthy diet, exercising and sleeping well.

Stem cell advance may increase efficiency of tissue regeneration Posted: 28 Jul 2014 06:18 PM PDT A new stem-cell discovery might one day lead to a more streamlined process for obtaining stem cells, which in turn could be used in the development of replacement tissue for failing body parts, according to scientists.

Forced mutations doom HIV: How potential HIV drug exacts its toll on viral populations Posted: 28 Jul 2014 01:23 PM PDT Fifteen years ago, medical researchers had a novel idea for an HIV drug. They thought if they could induce the virus to mutate uncontrollably, they could force it to weaken and eventually die out -- a strategy that our immune system uses against many viruses.

Dementia patients more likely to get implanted pacemakers, says study Posted: 28 Jul 2014 01:23 PM PDT People with dementia are more likely to get implanted pacemakers for heart rhythm irregularities, such as atrial fibrillation, than people who don't have cognitive difficulties, according to researchers. The researchers noted the finding runs counter to expectations that less aggressive interventions are the norm for patients with the incurable and disabling illness.

Electronic screening tool to triage teenagers and risk of substance misuse Posted: 28 Jul 2014 01:23 PM PDT An electronic screening tool that starts with a single question to assess the frequency of substance misuse appears to be an easy way to screen teenagers who visited a physician for routine medical care.

Endurance runners more likely to die of heat stroke than heart condition Posted: 28 Jul 2014 01:23 PM PDT Heat stroke is 10 times more likely than cardiac events to be life-threatening for runners during endurance races in warm climates, according to a new study. The authors noted the findings may play a role in the ongoing debate over pre-participation ECG screenings for preventing sudden death in athletes by offering a new perspective on the greatest health risk for runners.

Running reduces risk of death regardless of duration, speed Posted: 28 Jul 2014 01:23 PM PDT Running for only a few minutes a day or at slow speeds may significantly reduce a person's risk of death from cardiovascular disease compared to someone who does not run, according to a new study.

Memory relies on astrocytes, the brain's lesser known cells: supportive cells vital in cognitive function Posted: 28 Jul 2014 12:40 PM PDT When you're expecting something -- like the meal you've ordered at a restaurant -- or when something captures your interest, unique electrical rhythms sweep through your brain.

Stimulation of brain region restores consciousness to animals under general anesthesia Posted: 28 Jul 2014 12:40 PM PDT Stimulating the ventral tegmental area, one of two dopamine-producing regions in the brain, was able to arouse animals receiving general anesthesia with either isoflurane or propofol. The same effect did not result from stimulation of the substantia nigra.

Glucose 'control switch' in the brain key to both types of diabetes Posted: 28 Jul 2014 12:39 PM PDT Researchers have pinpointed a mechanism in part of the brain that is key to sensing glucose levels in the blood, linking it to both type 1 and type 2 diabetes.

Cell's recycling center implicated in division decisions Posted: 28 Jul 2014 12:39 PM PDT Most cells do not divide unless there is enough oxygen present to support their offspring, but certain cancer cells and other cell types circumvent this rule. Researchers have now identified a mechanism that overrides the cells' warning signals, enabling cancers to continue to divide even without a robust blood supply. In the process, the researchers found that lysosomes -- the cell's protein 'recycling centers' -- help govern cell division decisions.

Brain's habenula signals how bad things could be Posted: 28 Jul 2014 12:39 PM PDT An evolutionarily ancient and tiny part of the brain tracks expectations about nasty events, according to new research. The study demonstrates for the first time that the human habenula, half the size of a pea, tracks predictions about negative events, like painful electric shocks, suggesting a role in learning from bad experiences.

Researchers examine changing face of cognitive gender differences in Europe Posted: 28 Jul 2014 12:39 PM PDT Improved living conditions and less gender-restricted educational opportunities reduce the cognitive disparities between men and women or improve the gap in favor of women, according to new research.

Facial features are the key to first impressions Posted: 28 Jul 2014 12:38 PM PDT A new study shows that it is possible to accurately predict first impressions using measurements of physical features in everyday images of faces, such as those found on social media.

Irreversible inhibitor for KRAS gene mutation involved in lung, colon, and pancreatic cancers Posted: 28 Jul 2014 12:36 PM PDT Cancer researchers have found a molecule that selectively and irreversibly interferes with the activity of a mutated cancer gene common in 30 percent of tumors.

Parents need to talk to their children about school bus safety at the start of the school year Posted: 28 Jul 2014 12:36 PM PDT According to the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration, from 2001 through 2010, 1,368 people died in school transportation-related crashes—an average of 137 fatalities per year.

Genetic mutations linked to salivary gland tumors Posted: 28 Jul 2014 12:36 PM PDT Research conducted at the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute has discovered links between a set of genes known to promote tumor growth and mucoepidermoid carcinoma, an oral cancer that affects the salivary glands.

Researchers produce record-length mirror-image protein Posted: 28 Jul 2014 12:36 PM PDT Biochemists have reported an advance in the production of functional mirror-image proteins. In a new study, they have chemically synthesized a record-length mirror-image protein and used this protein to demonstrate that a cellular chaperone, which helps "fold" large or complex proteins into their functional state, has a previously unappreciated talent -- the ability to fold mirror-image proteins. These findings will greatly facilitate mirror-image protein production for applications in drug discovery and synthetic biology.

Learning the smell of fear: Mothers teach babies their own fears via odor, animal study shows Posted: 28 Jul 2014 12:36 PM PDT Babies can learn what to fear in the first days of life just by smelling the odor of their distressed mothers', new research suggests. And not just "natural" fears: If a mother experienced something before pregnancy that made her fear something specific, her baby will quickly learn to fear it too -- through her odor when she feels fear.

Disruptive effects of anesthesia on brain cell connections are temporary, study suggests Posted: 28 Jul 2014 11:15 AM PDT A study of juvenile rat brain cells suggests that the effects of a commonly used anesthetic drug on the connections between brain cells are temporary.

Six reasons for headaches in school-age children and how parents can help relieve the pain Posted: 28 Jul 2014 11:15 AM PDT As the school year approaches and begins, many parents may start to hear their children complain about headaches.

Green spaces found to increase birth weight Posted: 28 Jul 2014 10:09 AM PDT Mothers who live near green spaces deliver babies with significantly higher birth weights, according to a new study.

Booming mobile health app market needs more FDA oversight for consumer safety, confidence Posted: 28 Jul 2014 09:38 AM PDT While the mobile health apps market offers tremendous potential, several health law experts say that more oversight is needed by the US Food and Drug Administration to ensure consumer confidence and safety. Out of 100,000 mHealth apps on the market, only about 100 have been cleared by the FDA, which opponents see as a deterrent to innovation and profit. But it doesn't have to be.

The role of dairy in maintaining adult bone and skeletal muscle health Posted: 28 Jul 2014 09:37 AM PDT Understanding that diets are often built around food groups rather than specific nutrients, researchers from Switzerland, France, and North America decided to examine interactions between four nutrients found in dairy products and their role in preserving bone and skeletal muscle.

Fist bumping beats germ-spreading handshake Posted: 28 Jul 2014 09:37 AM PDT "Fist bumping" transmits significantly fewer bacteria than either handshaking or high-fiving, while still addressing the cultural expectation of hand-to-hand contact between patients and clinicians, according to a new study.

New protein structure could help treat Alzheimer's, related diseases Posted: 28 Jul 2014 09:37 AM PDT Bioengineers have a designed a peptide structure that can stop the harmful changes of the body's normal proteins into a state that's linked to widespread diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, heart disease, Type 2 diabetes and Lou Gehrig's disease.

Children with disabilities benefit from classroom inclusion Posted: 28 Jul 2014 07:45 AM PDT The secret to boosting the language skills of preschoolers with disabilities may be to put them in classrooms with typically developing peers, a new study finds.

Wait, wait -- don’t tell me the good news yet: Early warning about goal completion a buzzkill Posted: 28 Jul 2014 07:45 AM PDT New research finds that the positive reaction one would have when succeeding is lessened if it doesn't follow the expected course.

Google searches may hold key to future market crashes, researchers find Posted: 28 Jul 2014 06:44 AM PDT A team of researchers has developed a method to automatically identify topics that people search for on Google before subsequent stock market falls.

Burnout impacts transplant surgeons Posted: 28 Jul 2014 06:44 AM PDT Despite saving thousands of lives yearly, nearly half of organ transplant surgeons report a low sense of personal accomplishment and 40 percent feel emotionally exhausted, according to a new American study on transplant surgeon burnout. Burnout is characterized by high emotional exhaustion, high depersonalization and low levels of personal accomplishment, one expert says, explaining people with burnout often feel emotionally drained, overextended and distant or having a lack of feelings toward patients.

Drug may aid multiple myeloma patients who suffer from low platelet counts Posted: 28 Jul 2014 06:43 AM PDT A previously unknown but crucial component in the process to make platelets has been identified by researchers, a discovery that could help spare multiple myeloma patients from a dangerous side effect of the primary drug (bortezomib) used to treat their cancer. Multiple myeloma is a blood cancer that develops in bone marrow and affects plasma cells, which produce antibodies to help protect against infection.

It takes more than practice to excel Posted: 28 Jul 2014 06:42 AM PDT Psychologists have overturned a 20-year-old theory that people who excel in their fields are those who practiced the most.

One in 3,000 blood donors in England infected with hepatitis E: HEV containing blood components transfused Posted: 28 Jul 2014 05:04 AM PDT The first systematic analysis of hepatitis E virus (HEV) transmission by blood components indicates that about 1 in 3,000 donors in England have HEV in their plasma. The findings suggest that around 1200 HEV-containing blood components (eg, red cells, platelets, and fresh frozen plasma) are likely to be transfused every year in England.

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