Health News

In Mouse Model, Promising Alzheimer's 'Drug' Halts Memory Loss

Date: Jun-28-2013
A new class of experimental drug-like small molecules is showing great promise in targeting a brain enzyme to prevent early memory loss in Alzheimer's disease, according to Northwestern Medicine® research. Developed in the laboratory of D. Martin Watterson, the molecules halted memory loss and fixed damaged communication among brain cells in a mouse model of Alzheimer's. "This is the starting point for the development of a new class of drugs," said Watterson, lead author of a paper on the study and the John G...

Flu Increases Likelihood Of Bacterial Pneumonia 100-Fold

Date: Jun-28-2013
It's been known for more than two centuries that pneumonia cases increase during flu epidemics. But population-level epidemiological studies looking at seasonal patterns of influenza and pneumococcal pneumonia incidence have revealed either a modest association or have failed to identify any signature of interaction between the two. These seemingly inconsistent observations at the personal and population scales have puzzled public health officials...

Levels Of Immune Cells Believed Responsible For Type 1 Diabetes Reduced By DNA 'Reverse' Vaccine

Date: Jun-28-2013
A clinical trial of a vaccine, led by Stanford University School of Medicine researchers and designed to combat type-1 diabetes, has delivered initially promising results, suggesting that it may selectively counter the errant immune response that causes the disease. Several important findings of the multicenter, randomized, double-blind trial will be published in Science Translational Medicine. First, levels of a blood-borne proxy of insulin production were maintained - and in some cases increased - over the course of the 12-week dosing regimen...

Good And Bad Bacteria In The Gut Battle It Out During Salmonella Infection

Date: Jun-28-2013
The blockbuster battles between good and evil are not just on the big screen this summer. A new study that examined food poisoning infection as-it-happens in mice revealed harmful bacteria, such as a common type of Salmonella, takes over beneficial bacteria within the gut amid previously unseen changes to the gut environment. The results provide new insights into the course of infection and could lead to better prevention or new treatments...

For The First Time, A Donor Mouse Has Been Cloned Using A Drop Of Peripheral Blood From Its Tail

Date: Jun-28-2013
From obesity to substance abuse, from anxiety to cancer, genetically modified mice are used extensively in research as models of human disease. Researchers often spend years developing a strain of mouse with the exact genetic mutations necessary to model a particular human disorder. But what if that mouse, due to the mutations themselves or a simple twist of fate, was infertile? Currently, two methods exist for perpetuating a valuable strain of mouse...

Pathologic Findings Following Outbreak Of Fungal Infections Associated With Contaminated Steroid Injections

Date: Jun-28-2013
Investigators from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) describe pathologic findings from 40 case reports of fungal infection in patients who had been given contaminated epidural, paraspinal, or intra-articular (into joints) steroid injections and correlate these findings with clinical and laboratory data. The report, published in the September issue of The American Journal of Pathology, alerts clinicians and the general public to the catastrophic dangers of contaminated epidural injections...

In 200-Mile Long Mountain Race, Runners' Muscles Protected By Sleep Deprivation, Pacing

Date: Jun-28-2013
Runners who complete one of the world's most challenging ultra-marathons experience less neuromuscular fatigue, muscle damage and inflammation compared to those who run distances half to one quarter as long, according to the results of research published in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Jonas Saugy and colleagues from the University of Lausanne, Switzerland. The researchers tested the effects of sleep deprivation as well as blood and muscle markers of inflammation in runners who completed the Tor des Geants, an over 200-mile mountain ultramarathon with 24,000 m of elevation changes...

Community-Wide Approach Effective In Addressing Child Obesity

Date: Jun-28-2013
Community wide interventions hold promise as an effective approach to reducing childhood obesity rates according to new research from the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University and Tufts University School of Medicine. An analysis of data from the first two school years (20 calendar months) of the Shape Up Somerville: Eat Smart Play Hard™ intervention showed that schoolchildren in Somerville, Massachusetts gained less weight and were less likely to be obese or overweight than schoolchildren in two similar control communities...

Sleep Deprivation Boosts Anticipatory Anxiety, Making Us Tired And Edgy

Date: Jun-28-2013
UC Berkeley researchers have found that a lack of sleep, which is common in anxiety disorders, may play a key role in ramping up the brain regions that contribute to excessive worrying. Neuroscientists have found that sleep deprivation amplifies anticipatory anxiety by firing up the brain's amygdala and insular cortex, regions associated with emotional processing. The resulting pattern mimics the abnormal neural activity seen in anxiety disorders...

Identification Of Important Genomic Variations Will Likely Impact Down Syndrome

Date: Jun-28-2013
Down syndrome, more commonly known as "trisomy 21" is very often accompanied by pathologies found in the general population: Alzheimer's disease, leukemia, or cardiac deficiency. In a study conducted by Professor Stylianos Antonarakis' group from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Geneva (UNIGE), researchers have identified the genomic variations associated with trisomy 21, determining the risk of congenital heart disease in people with Down syndrome...