Health News

Human brains 'hard-wired' to link what we see with what we do

Date: Mar-14-2014
Your brain's ability to instantly link what you see with what you do is down to a dedicated information 'highway', suggests new UCL-led research.For the first time, researchers from UCL and Cambridge University have found evidence of a specialised mechanism for spatial self-awareness that combines visual cues with body motion.Standard visual processing is prone to distractions, as it requires us to pay attention to objects of interest and filter out others.

Tuberculosis - EPFL creates a foundation to launch an antibiotic

Date: Mar-14-2014
Even though tuberculosis kills more than 1.5 million people every year, the market is not cost-effective for pharmaceutical companies. So EPFL is setting up a foundation to release an antibiotic developed in its own laboratories under EU funding.Researchers from EPFL and the AN Bach Institute in Moscow have discovered a new and extremely promising antibiotic for tuberculosis, especially effective against multi-resistant strains of the disease, which are on the rise in Eastern Europe. The drug, developed as a European FP7 project, has proven very effective against the disease.

Targeting bacterial cell division to fight antibiotic resistance

Date: Mar-14-2014
Nowadays, people do not expect to die as a result of a common infection like bacterial pneumonia. However, many do. Indeed, some bacteria have become resistant to all available antibiotics, due to overuse. The trouble is that there are currently no antibiotic that can kill all possible pathogens. Until now, antibiotic resistance has been counteracted by isolating derivatives of the antibiotics that are less easily degraded or expelled by the bacteria, by working on chemical modifications of the available antibiotics or by giving a combination of the antibiotics available.

Gut microbiota networks may influence autoimmune processes in type 1 diabetes

Date: Mar-14-2014
The interactions of the gut microbiota in children with typical diabetes autoantibodies differ from that in healthy children. The fact that these differences already exist before antibodies are detectable in the blood adds to the growing evidence that microbial DNA, the so-called microbiome, may be involved in the development of autoimmune processes. Scientists from the Helmholtz Zentrum München have published their findings in the specialist journal Diabetes.

Recent reports present misleading statistics on deaths from "legal highs", say leading drug experts

Date: Mar-14-2014
A recent report from the National Programme on Substance Abuse Deaths [1] presents misleading estimates of the number of UK deaths linked to so-called "legal highs" in 2012, according to a letter to The Lancet from Dr Leslie King and Professor David Nutt, writing on behalf of the Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs.

BRCA 1 breast cancer gene plays a protective role against the development of metabolic disease

Date: Mar-14-2014
The gene known to be associated with breast cancer susceptibility, BRCA 1, plays a critical role in the normal metabolic function of skeletal muscle, according to a new study led by University of Maryland School of Public Health researchers. Dr. Espen Spangenburg, associate professor of kinesiology, and his laboratory team are the first to identify that the BRCA1 protein is expressed in the skeletal muscle of both mice and humans, and that it plays a key role in fat storage, insulin response and mitochondrial function in skeletal muscle cells.

Chronic multisymptom illness afflicting Gulf War veterans: two definitions should guide VA treatment and research

Date: Mar-14-2014
Two existing definitions of chronic multisymptom illness (CMI) -- one by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and another from a study of Kansas Gulf War veterans -- should be used by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to guide research and treatment of Gulf War veterans, says a new report from the Institute of Medicine. Determining which definition to use in different circumstances should be based on specific needs.

Does alpha-synuclein confer protection or damage to dopaminergic neurons in Parkinson's disease?

Date: Mar-14-2014
Alpha-synuclein is a principal component of Lewy bodies and Lewy neurites, which are pathologic hall-marks of Parkinson's disease. Alpha-synuclein is generally considered to play a role in synaptic activity, although its function remains largely unknown. Accumulative evidence has been shown that aggregated extracellular alpha-synuclein fibrils can be internalized in the cells and enhance the intracellular formation of protein inclusions, leading to cell death. Conversely, there is emerging evidence suggesting that alpha-synuclein has also neuroprotective effects.

A relationship between gut bacteria and blood cell development helps the immune system fight infection

Date: Mar-14-2014
The human relationship with microbial life is complicated. At almost any supermarket, you can pick up both antibacterial soap and probiotic yogurt during the same shopping trip. Although there are types of bacteria that can make us sick, Caltech professor of biology and biological engineering Sarkis Mazmanian and his team are most interested in the thousands of other bacteria - many already living inside our bodies - that actually keep us healthy.

Health providers may experience information and financial loss during transition to ICD-10

Date: Mar-14-2014
Health providers may experience information and financial loss during the mandated conversion from the current International Classification of Diseases to its new and improved version, report researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago.The study, appearing in the March issue of the Journal of Oncology Practice, looked at coding ambiguity for hematology-oncology diagnoses to anticipate challenges all providers may face during the transition from ICD-9-CM to ICD-10-CM.