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Does stress damage the brain?

In the March 1st issue of Biological Psychiatry, published by Elsevier, a paper by Tibor Hajszan and colleagues provides an important new chapter to this question.

16 Mar 2009

Big link between driving and heart attacks

People who have had a heart attack are likely to report having been in traffic shortly before their symptoms began, researchers reported at the American Heart Association's 49th Annual Conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention.

15 Mar 2009

University of Florida doctors test targets for Parkinson surgery

Doctors may be able to tailor a specialized form of brain surgery to more closely match the needs of Parkinson patients, according to results from the first large-scale effort to compare the two current target areas of deep brain stimulation surgery, or DBS.

15 Mar 2009

Next generation antibiotic compounds that do not provoke bacterial resistance

Bacterial resistance to antibiotics is one of medicine's most vexing challenges.

15 Mar 2009

Prion discovery gives clue to control of mass gene expression

The discovery in common brewer's yeast of a new, infectious, misfolded protein -- or prion -- by University of Illinois at Chicago molecular biologists raises new questions about the roles played by these curious molecules, often associated with degenerative brain diseases like "mad cow" and its human counterpart, Creutzfeldt-Jakob.

15 Mar 2009

Potential pathway for drug intervention

A newly identified molecular pathway that directs stem cells to produce glial cells yields insights into the neurobiology of Down's syndrome and a number of central nervous system disorders characterized by too many glial cells, according to a recent study by researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.

15 Mar 2009

New approach to prevent bacterial infections from taking hold

Dr Quinn Parks and colleagues describe how they used enzymes against products of the body's own defence cells to prevent Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria from building a protective biofilm which enables them to avoid both the body's immune mechanisms and antibiotics.

15 Mar 2009

Statins reduce odds of an asthma-related hospitalization or ER visit

Results of a new study presented at the 2009 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Asthma, Allergy and Immunology (AAAAI) show dramatic reductions in emergency room (ER) visits and hospitalizations for asthma patients taking cholesterol-lowering statins in addition to common asthma treatments.

15 Mar 2009

Imbalance of iron homeostasis involved in prion disease-associated neuronal demise

Imbalance of iron homeostasis is a common feature of prion disease-affected human, mouse, and hamster brains, according to a new study by Dr. Neena Singh and colleagues at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, alongside collaborators from Creighton University.

15 Mar 2009

Hyperbaric therapy for autism shows potential

Hyperbaric treatment for children with autism has reportedly led to improvements in the condition, though previous studies were uncontrolled.

15 Mar 2009

Genetic mechanism in mole rats can be targeted in cancer research

"When we understand how the subterranean mole rat developed these mechanisms for survival, we may be able to understand why they are so destructive in humans," Prof. Aaron Avivi of the University of Haifa said.

15 Mar 2009

Susceptibility to blood disorders may be inherited

Researchers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) have shown for the first time that a tendency to develop some blood disorders may be inherited.

15 Mar 2009

Simple interventions help prevent adverse cardiovascular effects caused by pollution

Diesel exhaust causes arteries to lose their flexibility. Researchers writing in BioMed Central's open access journal Particle and Fibre Toxicology found that exposure to engine pollution resulted in arterial stiffness in a group of healthy volunteers.

15 Mar 2009

Cellular discovery may lead to targeted treatment for rare form of anemia

University of Cincinnati (UC) researchers have identified the specific biological mechanisms believed to lead to a rare and incurable blood disease known as Diamond Blackfan anemia (DBA).

15 Mar 2009

Blocking the dual leucine zipper kinase gene may help ease painful nerve condition

Scientists have identified the first gene that pulls the plug on ailing nerve cell branches from within the nerve cell, possibly helping to trigger the painful condition known as neuropathy.

15 Mar 2009

Alzheimer's disease therapeutic prevents long-term damage from TBI in pre-clinical studies

A class of Alzheimer's disease drugs currently studied in clinical trials appears to reduce damage caused by traumatic brain injury in animals, researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center report in an upcoming advance online publication of Nature Medicine.

15 Mar 2009

Disparities in stroke outcomes between black and white patients still great

In Florida, black young adults are hospitalized for stroke at a rate three times higher than their white and Hispanic peers, a new study by University of South Florida researchers reports.

15 Mar 2009

Moderate alcohol consumption related to stronger bones

The devastating effects of excessive alcohol consumption are undisputable, although some data suggest that moderate alcohol consumption may impart some health benefits.

15 Mar 2009

One virus particle is enough to cause infectious disease

Can exposure to a single virus particle lead to infection or disease? Until now, solid proof has been lacking. Experimental research with insect larvae at Wageningen University and Simon Fraser University in Canada has shown that one virus particle is theoretically enough to cause infection and subsequent disease.

15 Mar 2009

Summary of the latest research into how blood pressure is controlled

The problem of high blood pressure has reached pandemic proportions, causing premature death through heart attacks, strokes and kidney disease in a third of the UK population. For decades, scientists have battled at length over its cause yet still cannot agree; is the kidney or the brain to blame?

15 Mar 2009