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Why Misinformation Sticks And How To Fix It
Date: Sep-21-2012Childhood vaccines do not cause autism. Barack Obama was born in the United States. Global warming is confirmed by science. And yet, many people believe claims to the contrary. Why does that kind of misinformation stick? A new report published in Psychological Science in the Public Interest, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, explores this phenomenon...
Potential Cell Therapy For Bowel Disease Suggested By Research
Date: Sep-21-2012New research shows that a special population of stem cells found in cord blood has the innate ability to migrate to the intestine and contribute to the cell population there, suggesting the cells' potential to treat inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). "These cells are involved in the formation of blood vessels and may prove to be a tool for improving the vessel abnormalities found in IBD," said lead author Graca Almeida-Porada, M.D., Ph.D., a professor at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center's Institute for Regenerative Medicine...
Chocolate Gorging Linked To Opium Chemical In Brain
Date: Sep-21-2012A new brain study suggests an opium-like chemical may drive the urge to gorge on chocolate candy and similar fatty and sweet treats. Researchers discovered this when they gave rats an artificial boost with a drug that went straight to a brain region called the neostriatum: it caused the animals to eat twice the amount of M&Ms they would otherwise have eaten. The team also found that when the rats began to eat the chocolate-coated candies, there was a surge in enkephalin, a natural opium-like substance that is produced in the same region of the brain...
Kangaroo Mother Care Benefits Preemies' Brains
Date: Sep-21-2012Kangaroo Mother Care - a technique in which a breastfed premature infant remains in skin-to-skin contact with the parent's chest rather than being placed in an incubator - has lasting positive impact on brain development, revealed Universite Laval researchers in the October issue of Acta Paediatrica. Very premature infants who benefited from this technique had better brain functioning in adolescence - comparable to that of adolescents born at term - than did premature infants placed in incubators...
Researcher Discovers Homing Device That Attracts Melanoma To The Brain
Date: Sep-21-2012The process of metastasis, by which cancer cells travel from a tumor site and proliferate at other sites in the body, is a serious threat to cancer patients. According to the National Cancer Institute, most recurrences of cancer are metastases rather than "new" cancers. Virtually all types of cancer can spread to other parts of the body, including the brain. Once metastatic melanoma cells are entrenched in the brain, patients typically have only a few months to live. Now Prof...
Pharmacodynamic Response Predicted By Genetically-Engineered Preclinical Models, Essential For Cancer Drug Development
Date: Sep-21-2012New cancer drugs must be thoroughly tested in preclinical models, often in mice, before they can be offered to cancer patients for the first time in phase I clinical trials. Key components of this process include pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic studies, which evaluate how the drug acts on a living organism. These studies measure the pharmacologic response and the duration and magnitude of response observed relative to the concentration of the drug at an active site in the organism...
A Few 'Hotspots' On The Human Genome Revealed By Diseases Of Aging Map
Date: Sep-21-2012Researchers have long known that individual diseases are associated with genes in specific locations of the genome. Genetics researchers at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine now have shown definitively that a small number of places in the human genome are associated with a large number and variety of diseases. In particular, several diseases of aging are associated with a locus which is more famous for its role in preventing cancer...
News From The Journals Of The American Society For Microbiology: September 2012
Date: Sep-21-2012New Insights Into How Certain Slow Progressers Control HIV Infection People with a rare genetic trait who are infected with HIV progress more slowly to AIDS than others. But even within this group, there are wide variations in time to progression. A new study illustrates in detail how the immune system fights the virus in those subjects who progress more slowly. The research, which could prove useful to efforts to develop a vaccine against HIV, is published in the September Journal of Virology...
Squeezing A Ball Before Competition Could Help Athletes Avoid Choking Under Pressure
Date: Sep-21-2012Some athletes may improve their performance under pressure simply by squeezing a ball or clenching their left hand before competition to activate certain parts of the brain, according to new research published by the American Psychological Association. In three experiments with experienced soccer players, judo experts and badminton players, researchers in Germany tested the athletes' skills during practice and then in stressful competitions before a large crowd or video camera...
Interrelated Health Issues Experienced By Children With Autism: Anxiety, GI Problems, Sensory Over-Responsivity
Date: Sep-21-2012One in 88 children has been diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A new study by a University of Missouri researcher found that many children with ASD also experience anxiety, chronic gastrointestinal (GI) problems and atypical sensory responses, which are heightened reactions to light, sound or particular textures. These problems appear to be highly related and can have significant effects on children's daily lives, including their functioning at home and in school...
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