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New drug promises to reduce damage from a heart attack

Research into a new drug by Australian heart experts has found that it can dramatically reduce heart muscle damage after a heart attack.

28 Jul 2009

New research reveals what motivates people to smoke

A new study - designed to understand why people smoke and help develop more effective quitting programmes for smokers - has revealed that only half of smokers say enjoyment and coping with stress were reasons why they smoke. The new Cancer Research UK study is published in Nicotine and Tobacco Research* today (Wednesday).

28 Jul 2009

Hypertension may lead to ‘silent’ strokes

"Silent" strokes, which are strokes that don't result in any noticeable symptoms but cause brain damage, are common in people over 60, and especially in those with high blood pressure, according to a study published in the July 28, 2009, print issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

28 Jul 2009

Maternal exposure to nanoparticles related to neurological dysfunction in the mouse

Maternal exposure to nanoparticles of titanium dioxide (TiO2) affects the expression of genes related to the central nervous system in developing mice. Researchers writing in BioMed Central's open access journal Particle and Fibre Toxicology found that mice whose mothers were injected with the nanoparticles while pregnant showed alteration in gene expression related to neurological dysfunction.

28 Jul 2009

Smokeless tobacco use carries little or no risk of cancer

A large meta-analysis, published in the open access journal BMC Medicine, has shown that snuff as used in Scandinavia has no discernible effect on the risk of various cancers. Products used in the past in the USA may have increased the risk, but any effect that exists now seems likely to be quite small.

28 Jul 2009

Enjoyable leisure activities tied to psychological and physical well-being

Taking time for leisure activities apart from the demands of work and other responsibilities helps people function better physically and mentally. In fact, the more time spent doing different types of enjoyable activities, the better a person's health tends to be, according to a new study.

28 Jul 2009

Acute stress improves working memory

Day after day of chronic stress will wear a person down physically and mentally. But new research suggests that the acute stress produced by a brief run-in with a stressful scenario acts on a key brain region controlling emotion and cognition, temporarily improving learning and memory.

28 Jul 2009

New links between dreams and psychosis could revive dream therapy in psychiatry

Similarities in brain activity during lucid dreaming and psychosis suggest that dream therapy may be useful in psychiatric treatment, a European Science Foundation (ESF) workshop has found. This is strengthened by the potential evolutionary relationship between dreams and psychosis.

28 Jul 2009

Mathematical modeling predicts Herceptin resistance

Cancer researchers are turning to mathematical models to help answer important clinical questions, and a new paper in Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, illustrates how the technique may answer questions about Herceptin resistance.

28 Jul 2009

Spermatagonial stem cells can be directly converted into other cell types

Researchers have found a way to directly convert spermatogonial stem cells, the precursors of sperm cells, into tissues of the prostate, skin and uterus. Their approach, described this month in the journal Stem Cells, may prove to be an effective alternative to the medical use of embryonic stem cells.

28 Jul 2009

Psychologists report on link between post-trauma narrative content, emotional distress

A new study by psychologists at the University at Buffalo and the F. W. Olin College of Engineering finds that in the aftermath of national trauma, the ability to make sense out of what happened has implications for individual well-being and that the kinds of stories people tell about the incident predict very different psychological outcomes for them.

28 Jul 2009

Scientists re-engineer human enzyme to become resistant to harmful agents such as chemotherapy

Scientists from the Université de Montréal and McGill University have re-engineered a human enzyme, a protein that accelerates chemical reactions within the human body, to become highly resistant to harmful agents such as chemotherapy, according to a new study published in The Journal of Biological Chemistry.

28 Jul 2009

Analysis suggests human development is set by ongoing interplay of parent and offspring genes

An analysis of rare genetic disorders in which children lack some genes from one parent suggests that maternal and paternal genes engage in a subtle tug-of-war well into childhood, and possibly as late as the onset of puberty.

28 Jul 2009

Discovery of potential treatment for spinal muscular atrophy

Spinal Muscular Atrophy is the second-leading cause of infant mortality in the world. Ravindra Singh, associate professor in biomedical sciences at Iowa State University's College of Veterinary Medicine, would like to see Spinal Muscular Atrophy lose its high ranking and even slide off the list altogether.

28 Jul 2009

Anemia increases risk of death in people aged 85 and older

Anemia in very elderly people aged 85 and older appears to be associated with an increased risk of death, according to a new study in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).

28 Jul 2009

miR-21 molecule plays early and important role in nonsmoking lung cancer

The cause of lung cancer in never-smokers is poorly understood, but a study led by investigators at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center and at the National Cancer Institute has identified a molecule believed to play an early and important role in its development.

28 Jul 2009

Gene expression patterns in cancer could aid early screening and prevention

Distinctive patterns of genes turned off - or left on - in healthy versus cancerous cells could enable early screening for many common cancers and maybe help avoid them, Medical College of Georgia scientists say.

28 Jul 2009

Repeated stress signals made in cells with metabolism-associated disease encourage the growth of invading bacteria

Mitochondrial diseases disrupt the power generating machinery within cells and increase a person's susceptibility to bacterial infection, particularly in the lungs or respiratory tract.

28 Jul 2009

Coronary calcium scoring may predict heart attack risk

Researchers may be able to predict future severe cardiac events in patients with known, stable coronary artery disease (CAD) using coronary calcium scoring, according to a study published in the online edition of Radiology.

28 Jul 2009

Artificial intelligence used to diagnose metastatic cancer

When doctors are managing care for women with breast cancer, the information available to them profoundly influences the type of care they recommend. Knowing whether a woman's cancer has metastasized, for instance, directly affects how her doctors will approach treatment -- which may in turn influence the outcome of that treatment.

28 Jul 2009