Health News

The Complex Relationship Between Muscle And Bone: Findings Could Identify People At Higher Risk For Falls And Fractures

Date: Jun-24-2012
Researchers have long been aware that the progressive loss of muscle mass and bone density is a natural part of aging. But little work has investigated how muscle tissue affects the inner and outer layers of bone microstructure. A Mayo Clinic study looked at skeletal muscle mass and bone health across the life span and discovered distinct differences in how muscle affects the two layers of bone in men and women. The findings are published in the Journal of Bone & Mineral Research...

Stem Cell Treatment Of Heart Attacks May Be Improved By 'Master Molecule'

Date: Jun-24-2012
Johns Hopkins researchers have discovered that a single protein molecule may hold the key to turning cardiac stem cells into blood vessels or muscle tissue, a finding that may lead to better ways to treat heart attack patients. Human heart tissue does not heal well after a heart attack, instead forming debilitating scars. For reasons not completely understood, however, stem cells can assist in this repair process by turning into the cells that make up healthy heart tissue, including heart muscle and blood vessels...

Nutritional Supplements And The Current State Of Scientific Research

Date: Jun-24-2012
The Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN), the dietary supplement industry's leading trade association, has released its comprehensive report, The Benefits of Nutritional Supplements (4th Edition). The updated book, which assesses the current state of the science on the health benefits associated with select nutritional supplements, finds consistent and adequate use of these products contributes to overall health and wellness throughout all age groups, lifestyles, and life stages...

For Psoriasis And Wound Care, Protein May Be Key

Date: Jun-24-2012
Psoriasis is an autoimmune disorder in which skin cells proliferate out of control. For some hard-to-heal wounds, the problem is just the opposite: Restorative skin cells don't grow well or fast enough. In a paper published in Immunity, researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine describe a molecule that may lead to new treatments for both problems. An international team of scientists led by principal investigator Richard L...

Potential New Therapeutic Target For Cancer Drugs

Date: Jun-24-2012
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have uncovered a new signal transduction pathway specifically devoted to the regulation of alternative RNA splicing, a process that allows a single gene to produce or code multiple types of protein variants. The discovery, published in Molecular Cell, suggests the new pathway might be a fruitful target for new cancer drugs. Signal transduction in the cell involves kinases and phosphatases, enzymes that transfer or remove phosphates in protein molecules in a cascade or pathway...

Malaria Transmission Studied In Computer Model

Date: Jun-24-2012
Malaria affects over 200 million individuals every year and kills hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. The disease varies greatly from region to region in the species that cause it and in the carriers that spread it. It is easily transmitted across regions through travel and migration. This results in outbreaks of the disease even in regions that are essentially malaria-free, such as the United States. Malaria has been nearly eliminated in the U.S. since the 1950s, but the country continues to see roughly 1,500 cases a year, most of them from travelers...

Study Suggests Confusion Can Be Beneficial For Learning

Date: Jun-23-2012
Most of us assume that confidence and certainty are preferred over uncertainty and bewilderment when it comes to learning complex information. But a new study led by Sidney D'Mello of the University of Notre Dame shows that confusion when learning can be beneficial if it is properly induced, effectively regulated, and ultimately resolved. The study will be published in a forthcoming issue of Learning and Instruction...

Inflammation Reduced In Overweight Older Adults By Omega-3

Date: Jun-23-2012
New research shows that omega-3 fatty acid supplements can lower inflammation in healthy, but overweight, middle-aged and older adults, suggesting that regular use of these supplements could help protect against and treat certain illnesses. Four months of omega-3 supplementation decreased one protein in the blood that signals the presence of inflammation by an average of more than 10 percent, and led to a modest decrease in one other inflammation marker...

HIV In Pregnancy Increases Risk For Hearing Loss In Offspring

Date: Jun-23-2012
Children exposed to HIV in the womb may be more likely to experience hearing loss by age 16 than are their unexposed peers, according to scientists in a National Institutes of Health research network. The researchers estimated that hearing loss affects 9 to 15 percent of HIV-infected children and 5 to 8 percent of children who did not have HIV at birth but whose mothers had HIV infection during pregnancy. Study participants ranged from 7 to 16 years old...

Improved Understanding Of How Bacteria Spread

Date: Jun-23-2012
A University of Alberta researcher is moving closer to understanding how infection is caused by the spread of bacteria. In a study published in the high-impact Cell Press journal called Structure, Joel Weiner and his collaborators, Gerd Prehna and Natalie Stynadka at the University of British Columbia, share new knowledge about how bacteria release proteins. Proteins are complex molecules that perform all sorts of functions in the cells of living things. The group studied a specific protein called YebF in E. coli bacteria. It is widely found in other bacteria as well...