Health News

Researchers suggest brain dopamine as a risk marker for alcohol use disorders

Date: Aug-13-2013
There are two traits closely associated with the development of alcohol use disorders (AUDs). One is a lower subjective intoxication response, also known as a low level of response to alcohol. The second is a greater propensity for reward seeking behaviors, as indexed by personality traits...

Piano playing involves coarticulation, with hand muscle contractions differing depending on the sequence of notes played

Date: Aug-13-2013
How players strike keys depends on how muscles are used for keystrokes that occur before and after Researchers have long been aware of a phenomenon in speech called coarticulation, in which certain sounds are produced differently depending on the sounds that come before or after them. For example, though the letter n is usually pronounced with the tongue pressed near the middle of the mouth's roof (as in the word "ten"), it's pronounced with the tongue farther forward when it's followed by -th (as in "tenth")...

Study sheds light on health problems of people living in marginal housing in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside

Date: Aug-13-2013
A new study is revealing the multiple health concerns faced by an estimated 3,000 tenants in single-room occupancy (SRO) hotels in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside (DTES). The results of the study aim to better inform the provision of health care and housing among an often-overlooked segment of the population. Due to their affordability, SROs are often the only alternative to homelessness for low-income individuals in Vancouver and other major cities. Some SROs are substandard and many tenants suffer from substance dependence, mental illness and infectious diseases...

'Smart' nanoparticles designed to improve drug delivery, DNA self-assembly

Date: Aug-13-2013
A team of chemists in SU's College of Arts and Scientists has used a temperature-sensitive polymer to regulate DNA interactions in both a DNA-mediated assembly system and a DNA-encoded drug-delivery system. Their findings, led by Associate Professor Mathew M. Maye and graduate students Kristen Hamner and Colleen Alexander, may improve how nanomaterials self-assemble into functional devices and how anticancer drugs, including doxorubicin, are delivered into the body. More information is available in an article in ACS Nano, published by the American Chemical Society...

New study of racial differences in types of alcohol beverages consumed during adolescence

Date: Aug-13-2013
Previous research has shown that white, compared to black, adolescents have higher rates of alcohol use, and show more rapid increases in alcohol use. Yet little is known about racial differences in types of alcohol consumed. A study of changes that may occur regarding type of alcohol beverage consumed during adolescence, when initial experimentation may transition to greater use, has found that black and white girls report significantly different risk profiles...

Specialised endocytocis consumes membrane tendrils: Cells eat themselves into shape

Date: Aug-13-2013
The process cells use to 'swallow' up nutrients, hormones and other signals from their environment - called endocytosis - can play a crucial role in shaping the cells themselves, scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany, have found. The study, published in Nature Communications, could help explain how the cells on your skin become different from those that line your stomach or intestine...

Novel biological pathway leads to successful treatment of triple negative breast cancer

Date: Aug-13-2013
Researchers at The Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, led by Dr. Ian S. Zagon, have discovered that a novel biological pathway, the OGF-OGFr axis, can be modulated in human triple-negative breast cancer cells to inhibit proliferation. According to BreastCancer.org 1 in 8 women in the U.S. will develop invasive breast cancer and more than 39,000 deaths occur annually...

Chronic cocaine use may cause profound metabolic changes, reducing the body's ability to store fat

Date: Aug-13-2013
Chronic cocaine use may reduce the body's ability to store fat, new research from the University of Cambridge suggests. The scientists found that cocaine use may cause profound metabolic changes which can result in dramatic weight gain during recovery, a distressing phenomenon that can lead to relapse. It was previously widely believed that cocaine suppresses the appetite and that the problematic weight gain during rehabilitation was a result of patients substituting food for drugs...

Global health research: Addressing ethical, social, and cultural issues

Date: Aug-13-2013
Resolving complex ethical, social and cultural issues in the early stage of a global health research project or clinical trial can improve the impact and quality of that research, a new report says. The current practice for researchers is to seek approval for a study or trial from a research ethics board, usually at an academic institution, late in the process when many important decisions have already been made. But this can leave many complex and messy ethical, social and cultural issues on the table, according to Dr...

Intelligence is not a remedy for racism

Date: Aug-13-2013
Smart people are just as racist as their less intelligent peers - they're just better at concealing their prejudice, according to a University of Michigan study. "High-ability whites are less likely to report prejudiced attitudes and more likely to say they support racial integration in principle," said Geoffrey Wodtke, a doctoral candidate in sociology. "But they are no more likely than lower-ability whites to support open housing laws and are less likely to support school busing and affirmative action programs...