Health News

Natural Antibiotic Kills Tuberculosis Bacterium

Date: Sep-18-2012
A natural product secreted by a soil bacterium shows promise as a new drug to treat tuberculosis report scientists in a new study published in EMBO Molecular Medicine. A team of scientists working in Switzerland has shown how pyridomycin, a natural antibiotic produced by the bacterium Dactylosporangium fulvum, works. This promising drug candidate is active against many of the drug-resistant types of the tuberculosis bacterium that no longer respond to treatment with the front-line drug isoniazid...

Wedding Jitters May Be A Sign Of Trouble Ahead

Date: Sep-18-2012
Women who have doubts before their wedding have a higher risk of marital problems and divorce, researchers from UCLA reported in the Journal of Family Psychology. The authors explained that pre-wedding misgivings are frequently a sign that there is likely to be trouble ahead. Although the pre-nuptial jitters are often predictors of marital problems years later for both men and women, the association was found to be closer among women. Lead author, doctoral psychology candidate, Justin Lavner, said: "People think everybody has premarital doubts and you don't have to worry about them...

Roles Of Novel Epigenetic Chemical In The Brain Involved In Memory And Learning

Date: Sep-18-2012
Researchers from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) have identified a new role of a chemical involved in controlling the genes underlying memory and learning. "The brain is a plastic tissue, and we know that learning and memory require various genes to be expressed," says CAMH Senior Scientist Dr. Art Petronis, who is a senior author on the new study. "Our research has identified how the chemical 5-hmC may be involved in the epigenetic processes allowing this plasticity." Dr...

Just A Single HPV Protein Required For Cervical Cancer And Pre-Cancer Cervical Growths

Date: Sep-18-2012
Human papillomavirus (HPV) has long been implicated in cervical cancer, but details of how it happens have remained a mystery. Now researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have found that a single HPV protein is required for cervical cancer and even pre-cancer growths in the cervix to survive. In anticipation of a clinical trial in humans, the scientists and their collaborators are moving quickly to test if a gene-silencing technique could cripple the protein and eliminate cervical cancer and pre-cancerous growths in specially-bred mice...

First 3-D Model Of A Protein Critical To Embryo Development

Date: Sep-18-2012
The first detailed and complete picture of a protein complex that is tied to human birth defects as well as the progression of many forms of cancer has been obtained by an international team of researchers led by scientists with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). Knowing the architecture of this protein, PRC2, for Polycomb Repressive Complex 2, should be a boon to its future use in the development of new and improved therapeutic drugs...

Neurodevelopment In Babies Affected By Passive Smoking

Date: Sep-18-2012
A new study shows that newborns that have been exposed to nicotine from both active and passive smoking mothers show poor physiological, sensory, motor and attention responses. Smoking during pregnancy has been linked to many different problems in infants like learning difficulties, attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity and even obesity. However, although the paediatric and obstetric disorders linked to tobacco during this stage are well defined, the effects on neonatal behaviour have not yet been studied in depth...

Breath Analysis Could Help Diagnose Pulmonary Nodules

Date: Sep-18-2012
A pilot study, published in the October 2012 issue of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer's (IASLC) Journal of Thoracic Oncology, showed that breath testing could be used to discriminate between benign and malignant pulmonary nodules. The study looked at 74 patients who were under investigation for pulmonary nodules and attended a referral clinic in Colorado between March 2009 and May 2010...

Diabetes More Common In Non-Walkable Neighborhoods

Date: Sep-18-2012
Whether or not your neighborhood is good for walking around could influence your risk for diabetes.  A new study published in Diabetes Care, defined a "less walkable" neighborhood as having fewer places within a 10-minute walk, poorly connected streets, and lower residential density. New immigrants in these types of neighborhoods were 50 percent more likely to develop diabetes in contrast to long-term residents living in walkable areas. Immigrants in low-income neighborhoods were also at a greater risk...

Bullying - When Should Schools Intervene?

Date: Sep-18-2012
Although American adults frequently rate bullying as a serious health concern, a recent poll showed that they have different ideas about which bullying behaviors should make school officials get involved. The University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health recently asked questions about bullying to a sample of adults from the U.S. The topics included which behaviors they considered bullying and which ones should make school officials take action...

Symptoms Of Alcohol Abuse, Not Dependence, May Better Reflect Family Risk For Alcohol Use Disorders

Date: Sep-18-2012
Individuals with alcohol use disorders (AUDs) vary widely in their age of onset of use, patterns of drinking, and symptom profiles. AUDs are often 'divided' into two categories: alcohol abuse (AA) and alcohol dependence (AD), with AA perceived as a milder syndrome that might develop into AD over time. A recent study of the clinical features of AUDs, with a focus on family liability, has found that - contrary to expectations - AA symptoms better reflect familial risk for AUDs than AD symptoms...