Health News

Infectious cat parasite found in western Arctic Beluga

Date: Feb-17-2014
University of British Columbia scientists have found for the first time an infectious form of the cat parasite Toxoplasma gondii in western Arctic Beluga, prompting a health advisory to the Inuit people who eat whale meat.The same team also discovered a new strain of the parasite Sarcocystis, previously sequestered in the icy north, that is responsible for killing 406 grey seals in the north Atlantic in 2012.

New model can isolate the effects of nutrients on gene expression and physiology

Date: Feb-17-2014
Everyday our cells take in nutrients from food and convert them into the building blocks that make life possible. However, it has been challenging to pinpoint exactly how a single nutrient or vitamin changes gene expression and physiology. Scientists at the University of Massachusetts Medical School have developed a novel interspecies model system that allows these questions to be answered. In a study appearing in the journal Cell, UMMS researchers use this new approach to show how bacterially supplied vitamin B12 changes gene expression, development and fertility in the model organism C.

New model can isolate the effects of nutrients on gene expression and physiology

Date: Feb-17-2014
Everyday our cells take in nutrients from food and convert them into the building blocks that make life possible. However, it has been challenging to pinpoint exactly how a single nutrient or vitamin changes gene expression and physiology. Scientists at the University of Massachusetts Medical School have developed a novel interspecies model system that allows these questions to be answered. In a study appearing in the journal Cell, UMMS researchers use this new approach to show how bacterially supplied vitamin B12 changes gene expression, development and fertility in the model organism C.

Working with paramedics allows intravenous medications to be given to stroke patients within 'golden hour'

Date: Feb-17-2014
In the first study of its kind, a consortium led by UCLA physicians found that giving stroke patients intravenous magnesium within an hour of symptom onset does not improve stroke outcomes, according to research presented at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference.However, the eight-year study found that, by working with paramedics in the field, intravenous medications can be given to stroke patients within the "golden hour," the window in which patients have the best chance to survive and avoid debilitating, long-term neurological damage.

Why talking to kids really matters

Date: Feb-17-2014
Fifty years of research has revealed the sad truth that the children of lower-income, less-educated parents typically enter school with poorer language skills than their more privileged counterparts. By some measures, 5-year-old children of lower socioeconomic status (SES) score two years behind on standardized language development tests by the time they enter school.In recent years, Anne Fernald, a psychology professor at Stanford University, has conducted experiments revealing that the language gap between rich and poor children emerges during infancy.

How genome-editing tool works as a 'guided missile' to correct errors in the genetic code

Date: Feb-17-2014
Researchers from the Broad Institute and MIT have teamed up with colleagues from the University of Tokyo to form the first high definition picture of the Cas9 complex - a key part of the CRISPR-Cas system used by scientists as a genome-editing tool to silence genes and probe the biology of cells. Their findings, which are reported in Cell, are expected to help researchers refine and further engineer the tool to accelerate genomic research and bring the technology closer to use in the treatment of human genetic disease.

New finding has implications for autism and schizophrenia

Date: Feb-17-2014
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have discovered that a well-known protein has a new function: It acts in a biological circuit to determine whether an immature neural cell remains in a stem-like state or proceeds to become a functional neuron.The findings, published in the online issue of Cell Reports, more fully illuminate a fundamental but still poorly understood cellular act - and may have significant implications for future development of new therapies for specific neurological disorders, including autism and schizophrenia.

How genome-editing tool works as a 'guided missile' to correct errors in the genetic code

Date: Feb-17-2014
Researchers from the Broad Institute and MIT have teamed up with colleagues from the University of Tokyo to form the first high definition picture of the Cas9 complex - a key part of the CRISPR-Cas system used by scientists as a genome-editing tool to silence genes and probe the biology of cells. Their findings, which are reported in Cell, are expected to help researchers refine and further engineer the tool to accelerate genomic research and bring the technology closer to use in the treatment of human genetic disease.

OCD dogs serve as model of the disorder in humans

Date: Feb-17-2014
Characterized by persistent thoughts or impulses, obsessive compulsive disorder forces individuals to perform repetitive actions to try to relieve anxiety about their uncontrollable thoughts. Dogs can also suffer from this disorder and researchers say they may be able to serve as a simplified model of the human condition, after finding certain genetic links.

Loneliness increases risk of premature death in seniors

Date: Feb-17-2014
According to research by a professor at the University of Chicago, extreme loneliness can increase an older person's risk of premature death by 14%.This makes extreme loneliness a risk factor for premature death that is nearly as potent as disadvantaged socioeconomic status. Disadvantaged socioeconomic status is known to cause an increase of 19% in risk of early death. The researcher notes that a 2010 study even found that loneliness has twice the impact on early death as obesity does.