Health News

Hibernating lemurs hint at the secrets of sleep

Date: Sep-09-2013
By studying hibernation, a Duke University team is providing a window into why humans sleep. Observations of a little-known primate called the fat-tailed dwarf lemur in captivity and the wild has revealed that it goes for days without the deepest part of sleep during its winter hibernation season. The findings support the idea that sleep plays a role in regulating body temperature and metabolism. Despite decades of research, why we sleep is still a mystery. Theories range from conserving energy, to processing information and memories, to removing toxins that build up when we're awake...

Experimental compound reverses Down syndrome-like learning deficits in mice

Date: Sep-09-2013
Researchers at Johns Hopkins and the National Institutes of Health have identified a compound that dramatically bolsters learning and memory when given to mice with a Down syndrome-like condition on the day of birth. As they report in the Sept. 4 issue of Science Translational Medicine, the single-dose treatment appears to enable the cerebellum of the rodents' brains to grow to a normal size...

Blocking mGluR5 can restore memory in mice with brain damage that mimics Alzheimer's

Date: Sep-09-2013
Yale School of Medicine researchers have discovered a protein that is the missing link in the complicated chain of events that lead to Alzheimer's disease, they report in the Sept. 4 issue of the journal Neuron. Researchers also found that blocking the protein with an existing drug can restore memory in mice with brain damage that mimics the disease. "What is very exciting is that of all the links in this molecular chain, this is the protein that may be most easily targeted by drugs," said Stephen Strittmatter, the Vincent Coates Professor of Neurology and senior author of the study...

Clinical tool accurately classifies benign and malignant spots on lung scans of smokers

Date: Sep-09-2013
A Terry Fox Research Institute(TFRI)-led study has developed a new clinical risk calculator software that accurately classifies, nine out of ten times, which spots or lesions (nodules) are benign and malignant on an initial lung computed tomography (CT) scan among individuals at high risk for lung cancer. The findings are expected to have immediate clinical impact worldwide among health professionals who currently diagnose and treat individuals at risk for or who are diagnosed with lung cancer, and provide new evidence for developing and improving lung-cancer screening programs...

Faulty internal recycling by brain's trash collectors may contribute to Alzheimer's

Date: Sep-09-2013
A defective trash-disposal system in the brain's resident immune cells may be a major contributor to neurodegenerative disease, a scientific team from the Stanford University School of Medicine has found. Preliminary observations show that this defect appears in the brains of patients who died of Alzheimer's disease, so correcting it may someday prove to be an effective way of preventing or slowing the course of the disease...

Relationship of kidney function estimates to risk improves by measuring cystatin C in the blood

Date: Sep-09-2013
A new, international study from the Chronic Kidney Disease Prognosis Consortium found that use of blood levels of cystatin C to estimate kidney function - alone or in combination with creatinine - strengthens the association between kidney function and risks of death and end-stage renal disease. The findings, reported in the September 5 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine, suggest that the use of cystatin C as a measurement of kidney function could lead to better staging and risk classification of chronic kidney disease...

Health landscape in 6 global regions reveals rapid progress and daunting challenges

Date: Sep-09-2013
In the Middle East and North Africa, heart disease, stroke, and diabetes are causing a massive amount of premature death and disability. People in Latin America and the Caribbean are living longer on the whole, yet they face increasing threats from chronic diseases. Mortality has declined in many South Asian countries, yet the number of deaths by non-communicable diseases and self-harm has skyrocketed since 1990...

Chlamydia and gonorrhoea infections linked to pregnancy complications

Date: Sep-09-2013
Becoming infected with chlamydia or gonorrhoea in the lead-up to, or during, pregnancy, increases the risk of complications, such as stillbirth or unplanned premature birth, indicates research published online in the journal Sexually Transmitted Infections. The researchers analysed the birth records of more than 350,000 women who had had their first baby between 1999 and 2008 in New South Wales, Australia's most heavily populated state...

DNA changes during pregnancy persist into childhood

Date: Sep-09-2013
Even before they are born, babies accumulate changes in their DNA through a process called DNA methylation that may interfere with gene expression, and in turn, their health as they grow up. But until now it's been unclear just how long these changes during the prenatal period persist...

Prion-like proteins drive several diseases of aging

Date: Sep-09-2013
Two leading neurology researchers have proposed a theory that could unify scientists' thinking about several neurodegenerative diseases and suggest therapeutic strategies to combat them. The theory and backing for it are described in the September 5, 2013 issue of Nature. Mathias Jucker and Lary Walker outline the emerging concept that many of the brain diseases associated with aging, such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, are caused by specific proteins that misfold and aggregate into harmful seeds...