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Well-functioning lungs reduce risk of dementia

A middle-aged woman with well-functioning lungs runs less risk of developing Alzheimer's disease.

17 May 2006

Acidity in the brain could hold the key to stroke treatment

Development of a new technique for detecting brain damage caused by stroke has been boosted up by a £1m grant to scientists at The University of Manchester.

From The University of Manchester 17 May 2006

Parents in favor of research on children

Many drugs are not tested on children because testing entails a risk -children are not just small but are also busy developing their bodies.

17 May 2006

Telomere erosion may lead to shorter life expectancy in men

This new study published in the journal "Cytogenetic and Genome Research" shows significantly shorter telomeres and higher erosion rates in men than in women, which likely causes a shorter life expectancy of male cells and tissues.

17 May 2006

Malaria study goes to the desert

Scientists studying malaria-carrying mosquitoes and the effects of the disease on people are about to undertake a unique experiment in West Africa.

17 May 2006

One in 50 teenagers still wet the bed

One in 50 teenagers still wet the bed and almost half of 19 year-olds who have a problem are wetting the bed every night, according to research published in the May issue of the UK-based urology journal BJUI International.

17 May 2006

Gene family of potential tumor inhibitors identified

Proteins from a newly discovered family of genes, LRIG, function as a retardant for a protein that is important to tumor cells. It is probably this mechanism that lends the gene family its inhibiting effect on cancer tumors.

17 May 2006

Study gives new insight into the stages of recovery of hand muscle control after a stroke

A Queen's study of stroke survivors gives new insight into the stages of recovery of hand muscle control after a stroke, suggesting that patients may benefit from different treatment strategies at different times during the recovery process.

17 May 2006

Genetic cause of hearing loss in aging

Researchers at Indiana University School of Medicine have taken a step toward understanding the genetics that make people more susceptible to the loss of hearing as they age.

17 May 2006

Search for gene search for sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Though it's the more common form of the disease, sporadic Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), which affects roughly 90 percent of those living with the fatal neurodegenerative illness, has been the one less studied, simply because, unlike familial ALS, no genes have turned up.

17 May 2006

Oxygen free radicals associated with Parkinson's Disease

Research by neuroscientists at the University of Virginia Health System shows that oxygen free radicals are damaging proteins in mitochondria, the tiny cellular 'batteries' of brain cells.

17 May 2006

Using probiotics is a safe and effective way to prevent asthma in children

In the first effort of its kind in the United States, researchers at the University of California, San Francisco have launched a study to determine whether giving active probiotic supplements to infants can delay or prevent asthma in children.

17 May 2006

Exercise shown to protect against skin and bowel cancer

Two studies have shown that exercise can protect against skin and bowel cancer, and they have identified new mechanisms that could be responsible for this effect.

17 May 2006

Investigations in the field of personality

A study published in the latest issue of Journal of Personality finds that when people feel an event has had a large impact on them, e.g. it contributed to their life story or sense of identity, they downplay the negative and emphasize the positive.

17 May 2006

Maternal psychological distress during pregnancy in relation to child development

Many cultures hold that stress during pregnancy affects a woman's unborn child. However, there has been surprisingly little research on the topic.

17 May 2006

Taking astrocytes seriously

By blowing gentle puffs of air onto a mouse's whiskers and watching how its brain reacts, scientists are discovering that a long-overlooked signaling system in the brain is crucial to our everyday activity.

17 May 2006

OK from the FDA for synthetic marijuana drug

Despite saying quite recently that it does not support the use of marijuana for medical purposes, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given marketing approval for a drug which is a synthetic version of the active ingredient in marijuana.

17 May 2006

Cannabis effective at relieving pain after major surgery

A cannabis plant extract provides pain relief for patients after major surgery such as knee replacements, a study by Imperial College London and the Medical Research Council has shown.

17 May 2006

No link found between statins and breast cancer

According to a new study by U.S. researchers, women who use statin drugs to lower their cholesterol are no more likely to develop breast cancer than women who do not use the drugs.

17 May 2006

Female non-smokers no more at risk of lung cancer than males

To date few studies have examined the age, sex, and race-specific risks of lung cancer incidence and death among people who have never smoked tobacco.

17 May 2006