Health News

Neuroscientists Turn Off Ability To Feel Cold

Date: Feb-14-2013
A way to turn off the ability to feel cold in mice was recently developed by neuroscientists at the University of Southern California. The experts isolated chills at a cellular level, establishing the sensory network of neurons in the skin that relays the cold sensation. Although the ability to sense cold in mice was shut off, the researchers, led by David McKemy, associate professor of neurobiology at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, were able to allow the animals to still sense heat and touch...

Type Of Praise Given By Parents Predicts Attitudes Toward Challenge 5 Years Later

Date: Feb-14-2013
Toddlers whose parents praised their efforts more than they praised them as individuals had a more positive approach to challenges five years later. That's the finding of a new longitudinal study that also found gender differences in the kind of praise that parents offer their children. The study, by researchers at the University of Chicago and Stanford University, appears in the journal Child Development. "Previous studies have looked at this issue among older students," according to Elizabeth A...

Enzyme Therapy Slows Progression Of Late Infantile Batten Disease In Canine Model

Date: Feb-14-2013
Batten disease is a rare, fatal genetic disorder that affects children. Currently, no effective treatment exists for the disease, which ultimately kills all who are affected. Dachshunds also suffer from Batten disease, and now researchers from the University of Missouri College of Veterinary Medicine and School of Medicine, in collaboration with BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc., have developed a treatment for the disease that has significantly delayed the onset and progression of symptoms in the Dachshunds...

Improved Understanding Of The Molecular Machinery Of Cancer

Date: Feb-14-2013
Researchers with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the University of California (UC) Berkeley have provided important new details into the activation of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), a cell surface protein that has been strongly linked to a large number of cancers and is a major target of cancer therapies...

Majority Of Young Children Still Suffer ADHD Symptoms Despite Treatment

Date: Feb-14-2013
Nine out of 10 young children with moderate to severe attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) continue to experience serious, often severe symptoms and impairment long after their original diagnoses and, in many cases, despite treatment, according to a federally funded multi-center study led by investigators at Johns Hopkins Children's Center...

Computer Program Predicts The Role Posture May Play In Reducing Head, Neck Injuries

Date: Feb-14-2013
"Sit up straight in your chair!" That command given by countless parents to their children may one day be delivered by vehicle designers to a robot that is actually a computerized model of a long-distance truck driver or other heavy equipment operator, thanks to a University of Iowa research program. That's because a UI researcher has designed a computer program that allows engineers to accurately predict the role posture plays in transferring the stress of vehicle motion to bone and muscle in the head and neck...

Combining Synthetic, Natural Toxins Could Disarm Cancer, Drug-Resistant Bacteria

Date: Feb-14-2013
Cancer researchers from Rice University suggest that a new man-made drug that's already proven effective at killing cancer and drug-resistant bacteria could best deliver its knockout blow when used in combination with drugs made from naturally occurring toxins. "One of the oldest tricks in fighting is the one-two punch -- you distract your opponent with one attack and deliver a knockout blow with another," said José Onuchic of Rice's Center for Theoretical Biological Physics (CTBP). "Combinatorial drug therapies employ that strategy at a cellular level...

Research Offers New Insight Into RASopathy-Associated Lymphatic Defects

Date: Feb-14-2013
The RAS pathway is a cellular signaling pathway that regulates growth and development in humans. RASopathies are a group of diseases characterized by defects in RAS signaling. Many patients with RASopathies present with defects in the lymphatic system, which removes excess fluid from tissues, absorbs fats from the digestive system, and transports immune cells. To determine how alterations in the RAS pathway affect development of the lymphatic system, researchers at Yale University generated transgenic mice that expressed mutations associated with a RASopathy known as Noonan syndrome...

In Nursing Homes, High Prevalence Of Drug-Resistant MRSA Found

Date: Feb-14-2013
While most infection control measures are focused on hospitals, a new study points to the need for more targeted interventions to prevent the spread of drug-resistant bugs in nursing homes as community-associated strains of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) are on the rise in these facilities. The study is published in the March issue of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, the journal of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America. CA-MRSA is a growing cause of invasive disease, including bloodstream infections, abscesses, and pneumonia...

First National Survey Examining Alcohol Brand Preferences Among Underage Youth

Date: Feb-14-2013
A relatively small number of alcohol brands dominate underage youth alcohol consumption, according to a new report from researchers at the Boston University School of Public Health and the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth (CAMY) at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The report, published online by Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, is the first national study to identify the alcohol brands consumed by underage youth, and has important implications for alcohol research and policy. The top 25 brands accounted for nearly half of youth alcohol consumption...