Health News

Depression in adolescence increases risk for developing anxiety

Date: Aug-14-2013
Some adolescents who suffer with symptoms of depression also may be at risk for developing anxiety, according to a new study of children's mental health. The study found that among youth who have symptoms of depression, the risk is most severe for those who have one or more of three risk factors, said psychologist Chrystyna D. Kouros, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, who led the study...

Potential to repair any genetic defect offered by new gene repair technique

Date: Aug-14-2013
Using human pluripotent stem cells and DNA-cutting protein from meningitis bacteria, researchers from the Morgridge Institute for Research and Northwestern University have created an efficient way to target and repair defective genes. Writing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the team reports that the novel technique is much simpler than previous methods and establishes the groundwork for major advances in regenerative medicine, drug screening and biomedical research...

A well-connected core brain network helps humans to adapt

Date: Aug-14-2013
One thing that sets humans apart from other animals is our ability to intelligently and rapidly adapt to a wide variety of new challenges - using skills learned in much different contexts to inform and guide the handling of any new task at hand. Now, research from Washington University in St...

Study highlights challenges of predicting disease outcomes in a warming world

Date: Aug-14-2013
Climate change is already affecting the spread of infectious diseases--and human health and biodiversity worldwid - according to disease ecologists reporting research results in this week's issue of the journal Science. Modeling disease outcomes from host and parasite responses to climate variables, they say, could help public health officials and environmental managers address the challenges posed by the changing landscape of infectious disease...

Insight from UCSF-led study may advance gene and cell therapy

Date: Aug-14-2013
Researchers have probed deep into the cell's genome, beyond the basic genetic code, to begin learning the "grammar" that helps determine whether or not a gene gets switched on to make the protein it encodes. Their discovery - that the ordering of specific DNA sequences in key regions of the genome affects the activity of genes - might advance efforts to use gene and cell-based therapies to treat disease, said UCSF molecular biologist Nadav Ahituv, PhD, senior scientist on the study...

Link between DHA-enriched formula in infancy and positive cognitive outcomes in childhood

Date: Aug-14-2013
University of Kansas scientists have found that infants who were fed formula enriched with long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCPUFA) from birth to 12 months scored significantly better than a control group on several measures of intelligence conducted between the ages of three to six years...

Low Risk Ankle Rule clinical trial

Date: Aug-14-2013
Radiography is widely used in diagnosing ankle injuries, with 85%-95% in pediatric injuries, although only 12% of these show fractures. "Radiography is unnecessary for most children's ankle injuries, and these high rates of radiography needlessly expose children to radiation and are a questionable use of resources," writes Dr. Kathy Boutis, a pediatric emergency department physician at the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) and the University of Toronto, with coauthors...

Potential new anti-cancer target: 'dark-horse' molecule

Date: Aug-14-2013
Australian researchers have identified a molecule called interleukin-11 as a potential new target for anti-cancer therapies. Until now, the importance of interleukin-11 in cancer development has been underestimated, but researchers have recently identified this molecule as a 'dark horse' for the development of cancer. Their discovery suggests blocking interleukin-11 signalling could ultimately provide an exciting new approach to the treatment of bowel and stomach cancer, which are two of the most common cancers worldwide...

The origin of Huntington's disease

Date: Aug-14-2013
The synapses in the brain act as key communication points between approximately one hundred billion neurons. They form a complex network connecting various centres in the brain through electrical impulses. New research from Lund University suggests that it is precisely here, in the synapses, that Huntington's disease might begin. The researchers at Lund University looked into the brains of mice with real-time imaging methods, following some of the very first stages of the disease through advanced microscopes. What they discovered was an unprecedented degradation of synaptic activity...

Bowel cancer patients to benefit from metabolic 'fingerprinting' of tumors

Date: Aug-14-2013
It is possible to see how advanced a bowel cancer is by looking at its metabolic 'fingerprint', according to new research. Bowel cancer is the third most common type of cancer globally, with over one million new cases diagnosed every year. Accurately determining the stage that a tumour has reached is crucial for deciding which treatments to offer. Metabolic fingerprinting looks at the levels of many different metabolites, which are the products of chemical reactions in the body's cells, in a sample of blood, urine or tissue. This mix of metabolites alters as cancer develops and grows...