Health & Medicine
Health & Medicine - May 19, 2010 13:49 - 25 Comments
Genes reveal differences in breast vs. bottle
U. ILLINOIS (US)—While breast-fed and formula-fed babies both gain weight and seem to develop similarly, genetic tracking of an infant’s intestines offers new proof that the difference between the two are very real. (more…)
Health & Medicine - May 18, 2010 16:12 - 0 Comments
Chemical signals tell fat cells to grow up
U. PENN (US)—The discovery of an intermediate state between early-stage fat cells and fully mature ones could offer new clues for developing anti-obesity drugs. (more…)
Health & Medicine - May 18, 2010 14:58 - 0 Comments
Stay-young steroids may protect the heart
U. LEEDS (UK)—Steroids currently sold as “fountain of youth” supplements—so called because of their apparent ability to improve energy, vision, and memory—may help trigger the body’s natural defense against heart disease. (more…)
Health & Medicine - May 18, 2010 10:27 - 0 Comments
Tan addicts worry about wrinkles, not cancer
NORTHWESTERN (US)—Young women in a recent study were more likely to cut back on indoor tanning based on concerns about getting leathery, wrinkled skin, rather than worries about skin cancer. (more…)
Health & Medicine - May 17, 2010 13:44 - 2 Comments
No link between cell phones and brain cancer
U. LEEDS (UK)—Results from the largest epidemiological study of mobile phone use to date shows no link between mobile phones and brain tumors. (more…)
Health & Medicine - May 17, 2010 11:58 - 2 Comments
Flexible implant maps heart’s electrical activity
U. PENN (US)—Researchers have created and tested a new type of implantable device for measuring the heart’s electrical output. The device represents the first use of flexible silicon technology for a medical application. (more…)
Health & Medicine - May 14, 2010 15:41 - 6 Comments
Male contraceptive that comes with a zap!
UNC CHAPEL HILL (US)—Some might call it the Holy Grail of reproductive science: developing a long-term, inexpensive, completely reversible, and nonhormonal male contraceptive. (more…)
Health & Medicine - May 14, 2010 14:25 - 2 Comments
Med pouch helps protect infants from HIV
DUKE (US)—By using medications packaged just like fast-food ketchup, HIV-positive mothers in developing countries can more easily provide protection to newborn babies born at home. (more…)
Health & Medicine - May 14, 2010 11:52 - 2 Comments
Findings weaken autism theory
NYU (US)—The mirror neuron system, which is thought to play a central role in social communications, appears to respond normally in individuals with autism. The finding counters theories suggesting that a mirror system dysfunction causes the social difficulties related to the disorder. (more…)
Health & Medicine - May 12, 2010 15:56 - 1 Comment
Just dying for too little sleep?
U. WARWICK (UK)—People who sleep for fewer than six hours each night are 12 percent more likely to die prematurely than those who get the recommended 6-8 hours, according to a research review. (more…)
Health & Medicine - May 11, 2010 14:38 - 11 Comments
Diabetes causes drop in testosterone
U. BUFFALO (US)—The effect of diabetes on lowering testosterone levels is similar to a weight gain of 20 pounds, according to new research that finds 40 percent of obese men have below-normal testosterone levels. (more…)
Health & Medicine - May 11, 2010 12:52 - 0 Comments
Brain may use clot-buster to fend off stroke
EMORY (US)—New research on the properties of the clot-busting stroke drug tPA suggests that it can act as a neuroprotectant and may form the keystone of an adaptive response to a reduction in blood flow. (more…)
Health & Medicine - May 10, 2010 16:29 - 11 Comments
Can mental trauma alter our biology?
U. MICHIGAN (US)—Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may be caused by actual alterations in the body’s immune system triggered by exposure to a disturbing event. (more…)
Health & Medicine - May 10, 2010 15:58 - 1 Comment
Cancer cells ignore their internal clocks
VANDERBILT (US)—A new finding challenges the assumption that the biological clocks in cancer cells are damaged and can’t regulate cell division in the fashion that they do in normal cells. (more…)
Health & Medicine - May 10, 2010 12:47 - 1 Comment
Caregiving spouses at higher risk for dementia
JOHNS HOPKINS (US)—Husbands and wives caring for spouses with dementia are six times more likely to develop the memory-impairing condition than those whose spouses don’t have it, according to results of a 12-year study. (more…)
Health & Medicine - May 7, 2010 15:38 - 2 Comments
Feed kids veggies for starters
PENN STATE (US)—Serving children vegetables as a first course helps them eat healthier throughout the meal, new research shows. (more…)
Best of 2010, Health & Medicine - May 6, 2010 12:03 - 23 Comments
How dark chocolate protects the brain
JOHNS HOPKINS (US)—It’s not the distinctive chocolate aroma or the luscious bittersweet taste. Researchers say it’s a compound in dark chocolate that appears to limit stroke damage by amplifying brain signals that protect nerve cells. (more…)
Health & Medicine - May 6, 2010 11:26 - 3 Comments
Chickens fed flaxseed survive ovarian cancer
U. ILLINOIS (US)—Chickens consuming a diet rich in flaxseed experienced a decreased severity of ovarian cancer and increased survival rates. The finding is significant because ovarian cancer in humans develops in a similar way. (more…)
