Health News

Social Networking: Gen Xers Connect Online As Often As They Socialize In Person

Date: Feb-05-2013
Young adults in Generation X are as likely to connect with friends, family and co-workers online as they are in person, according to a University of Michigan study. In a typical month, adults in their late 30s report that they engaged in about 75 face-to-face contacts or conversations, compared to about 74 electronic contracts through personal emails or social media. "Given the speed of emerging technologies, it is likely that electronic contacts will continue to grow in the years ahead, eventually exceeding face-to-face interactions," says Jon D...

Ozone Depletion Trumps Greenhouse Gas Increase In Jet-Stream Shift

Date: Feb-05-2013
Depletion of Antarctic ozone is a more important factor than increasing greenhouse gases in shifting the Southern Hemisphere jet stream in a southward direction, according to researchers at Penn State. "Previous research suggests that this southward shift in the jet stream has contributed to changes in ocean circulation patterns and precipitation patterns in the Southern Hemisphere, both of which can have important impacts on people's livelihoods," said Sukyoung Lee, professor of meteorology...

Transition In Cell Type Parallels Treatment Response, Disease Progression In Breast Cancer

Date: Feb-05-2013
A process that normally occurs in developing embryos - the changing of one basic cell type into another - has also been suspected of playing a role in cancer metastasis. Now a study from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Cancer Center researchers has associated this process, called epithelial-mesenchymal transition or EMT, with disease progression and treatment response in breast cancer patients. The report also identifies underlying mechanisms that someday may become therapeutic targets...

Scientists Identify Culprit In Obesity-Associated High Blood Pressure

Date: Feb-05-2013
Obesity and its related conditions such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and stroke are among the most challenging of today's healthcare concerns. Together, they constitute the biggest killer in western society. New findings, published in Cell, have identified a target that could hold the key to developing safe therapies to treat obesity and its associated conditions...

Diabetes Distresses Bone Marrow Stem Cells By Damaging Their Microenvironment

Date: Feb-05-2013
New research has shown the presence of a disease affecting small blood vessels, known as microangiopathy, in the bone marrow of diabetic patients. While it is well known that microangiopathy is the cause of renal damage, blindness and heart attacks in patients with diabetes, this is the first time that a reduction of the smallest blood vessels has been shown in bone marrow, the tissue contained inside the bones and the main source of stem cells. These precious cells not only replace old blood cells but also exert an important reparative function after acute injuries and heart attacks...

How Cancer Cells Rewire Their Metabolism To Survive

Date: Feb-05-2013
Cancer cells need food to survive and grow. They're very good at getting it, too, even when nutrients are scarce. Many scientists have tried killing cancer cells by taking away their favorite food, a sugar called glucose. Unfortunately, this treatment approach not only fails to work, it backfires - glucose-starved tumors actually get more aggressive. In a study published January 31 in the journal Cell, researchers at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute discovered that a protein called PKCζ is responsible for this paradox...

Study Finds Hormones Can Change The Breast's Genetic Material

Date: Feb-05-2013
Melbourne scientists have discovered how female steroid hormones can make dramatic changes to the genetic material in breast cells, changes that could potentially lead to breast cancer. Researchers from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne, Australia, have identified how pregnancy hormones send signals to critical molecules on the DNA to make changes in the epigenome. The epigenome is a series of chemical tags that modify DNA, controlling which genes are switched on and off...

Biologistics: How Fast Do Chemical Trains Move In Living Cells?

Date: Feb-05-2013
The rate of chemical processes in cells is dictated by the speed of movement (diffusion) of molecules needed for a given reaction. Using a versatile method developed at the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw, researchers were able to predict for the first time the diffusion coefficients of all proteins in Escherichia coli. The achievement is important not only for biologists and chemists, but also for... transport companies. Understanding of chemical foundations of life requires knowledge about the rate of chemical reactions in cells...

The Humble 'Virtual Chimney' Fences That Could Reduce The Impact Of Airport Pollution

Date: Feb-05-2013
Simple 'blast' fences called baffles could deliver improvements in air quality for people living near airports, new research has found. Placed behind a runway, the baffles could serve as a 'virtual chimney', funnelling emissions from aircraft engines upwards where they can disperse more effectively, thereby reducing the environmental impact on people living nearby...

Research Analyses Effects Of Gender Violence In The Psychological Development Of Women

Date: Feb-05-2013
A PhD thesis recently defended at the University of Deusto studied the effects of gender violence on the psychological development of women. Carmina Serrano Hernández, who has just received her PhD, is the author of this investigation the aim of which was to understand the phenomenon of gender violence, and to know its causes and effects. To this end, she carried out theoretical research on the topic and constructed a theoretical framework for explaining the phenomenon known as the Psychological Skills Model...