Health News

The long-term effects of bariatric surgery in patients with type 2 diabetes

Date: Sep-23-2013
Overweight patients with type 2 diabetes continue to experience the benefits of bariatric surgery up to nine years after the procedure, according to new research from Cleveland Clinic's Bariatric & Metabolic Institute, published online in the journal, Annals of Surgery. Prior research has shown that bariatric surgery effectively treats diabetes and reduces cardiovascular risk factors, but few studies have reported the long-term metabolic effects of bariatric surgery...

Right combination of sugars regulates brain development, from worm to man

Date: Sep-23-2013
If the development of our nervous system is disturbed, we risk developing serious neurological diseases, impairing our sensory systems, movement control or cognitive functions. This is true for all organisms with a well-developed nervous system, from man to worm. New research from BRIC, University of Copenhagen reveals how a tiny molecule called mir-79 regulates neural development in roundworms. The molecule is required for correct migration of specific nerve cells during development and malfunction causes defects in the nervous system of the worm...

Researchers tease apart workings of a common gene variant linked to susceptibility to depression, anxiety and memory loss

Date: Sep-23-2013
Researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College have discovered why a tiny alteration in a brain gene, found in 20 percent of the population, contributes to the risk for anxiety, depression and memory loss. Their discovery, reported in Nature Communications, describes new functions for the alteration, a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) gene. This gene is a powerful regulator of the growth and function of neurons, and the establishment of brain circuitry...

Discovery of Protein 'motif' crucial to telomerase activity offers insight in the hunt for drugs to block enzyme highly active in most cancers

Date: Sep-23-2013
It is difficult to underestimate the importance of telomerase, an enzyme that is the hallmark of both aging and the uncontrolled cell division associated with cancer. In an effort to understand and control telomerase activity, researchers at The Wistar Institute have discovered a protein "motif," named TFLY, which is crucial to the function of telomerase. Altering this motif disrupts telomerase function, they found, a fact that they believe will help them in their efforts to identify inhibitors of telomerase with potential cancer therapeutic properties...

Diabetes biomarker linked to lifestyle and demographic

Date: Sep-23-2013
Scientists say they have discovered a definitive link between certain lifestyle and demographic factors and a potential biomarker to determine the risk of type 2 diabetes, according to a study published in the journal Clinical Chemistry. Researchers from the US and Japan say their latest research builds on previous studies that show how low levels of a protein called sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) can be an indication of increased risk for metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes years in advance. For the study, led by Dr...

Bracing 'effective in reducing adolescent scoliosis'

Date: Sep-23-2013
Scientists say that the use of bracing in adolescents suffering from idiopathic scoliosis may reduce the risk of the condition progressing to the point that surgery is needed. Scoliosis is a condition in which the spine abnormally curves to the right or left. When it occurrs in a child or teen, the condition is referred to as adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS). It is unknown what causes the disorder, but severe cases of the condition, if untreated, may cause pain and disability, particularly if a child is still growing...

Missing immune response may prove a vital link for new leukaemia treatments

Date: Sep-23-2013
Patients suffering from leukaemia could have their immune system engineered to fight the disease, after scientists at the University of Birmingham discovered that they lacked an immune response to a certain class of proteins which could be restored through stem cell transplants. The discovery may even eventually lead to a vaccination against leukaemia for at risk groups who are found to be lacking the necessary immune response - meaning that individuals may then rely on their immune system to kill cancerous cells before the disease takes hold...

Brain activity discovered beyond flat line

Date: Sep-22-2013
Scientists have discovered evidence of brain activity beyond a flat line EEG, opposing existing data that suggests there is no brain activity or possibility of life once a person enters the flat line stage. Researchers from the University of Montreal say this major discovery suggests there is a "whole new frontier in animal and human brain functioning." For the study, published in the journal PLOS ONE, the research team observed a human patient who was in an "extreme deep hypoxic coma...

New technique helps bring genome's 'dark matter' into the light

Date: Sep-22-2013
Using technology he helped develop, Vanderbilt University scientist Bryan Venters, Ph.D., has shed new light on the "dark matter" of the genome and has begun to explore a possible new approach to treating cancer. "Clarity is everything," said Venters, assistant professor of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics who further developed the high-resolution technology as a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Frank Pugh, Ph.D., at Pennsylvania State University before moving to Vanderbilt in January...

Imagination - how and where does it occur in the brain?

Date: Sep-22-2013
Have you wondered where imagination comes from, what makes us creative, why we think scientifically or create art, and invent tools? Philosophers have argued for thousands of years about the essence of imagination. Scientists at Dartmouth College believe their study brings us closer to the answer...