Health News

New light-sensitive proteins allow scientists to study how multiple sets of neurons interact with each other

Date: Feb-11-2014
Optogenetics is a technique that allows scientists to control neurons' electrical activity with light by engineering them to express light-sensitive proteins. Within the past decade, it has become a very powerful tool for discovering the functions of different types of cells in the brain.Most of these light-sensitive proteins, known as opsins, respond to light in the blue-green range.

Exercise may slow progression of retinal degeneration

Date: Feb-11-2014
Moderate aerobic exercise helps to preserve the structure and function of nerve cells in the retina after damage, according to an animal study appearing February 12 in The Journal of Neuroscience. The findings suggest exercise may be able to slow the progression of retinal degenerative diseases.Age-related macular degeneration, one of the leading causes of blindness in the elderly, is caused by the death of light-sensing nerve cells in the retina called photoreceptors.

Invisibility cloak for hearing aids and implants

Date: Feb-11-2014
Microsystems are at the heart of portable hearing aids and implants. Now researchers are developing a miniature, low-power wireless microsystem to make these medical aids smaller, more comfortable and more efficient.People with impaired hearing struggle with things we take for granted, whether it is listening to birds warbling in the garden or chatting with friends and acquaintances. They experience particular problems with hearing at higher frequencies and by following-up conversations.

Updated FDA requirements for infant formula will maintain high-quality standards and help ensure healthy growth of infants

Date: Feb-11-2014
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration published an interim final rule to further safeguard the health of infants fed infant formula in the United States. The rule, which sets standards for manufacturers to produce safe infant formula that supports healthy growth, is accompanied by two draft guidance documents for industry."Many families rely on infant formula as either the sole source of nutrition or an integral part of an infant's diet through 12 months of age," said Michael R. Taylor, the FDA's deputy commissioner for Foods and Veterinary Medicine.

Fruit juice 'as bad' as sugary drinks, say researchers

Date: Feb-11-2014
Two medical researchers writing in one of The Lancet journals argue that because of its high sugar content, fruit juice could be just as bad for us as sugar-sweetened beverages like carbonated drinks and sodas.Naveed Sattar, professor of Metabolic Medicine, and Dr. Jason Gill, both of the Institute of Cardiovascular and Medical Sciences at the University of Glasgow in Scotland, call for the UK government to change the current "five a day" guideline to exclude a portion of fruit juice from the list of fruits and vegetable servings that count toward it.

EU rules are denying children latest cancer drugs

Date: Feb-11-2014
Children with cancer are being denied new, potentially life-saving drugs, because EU rules are allowing companies to trial some drugs only in adults, leading cancer experts warn. Changes to how EU rules are implemented could allow children access to a goldmine of potential cancer drugs which have currently only been tested in adults - by making it more difficult for pharma companies to avoid testing them in under-18s too.

Innovative technique in stem cells to boost scientists' ability to study - and potentially cure - genetic disease

Date: Feb-11-2014
Sometimes biology is cruel. Sometimes simply a one-letter change in the human genetic code is the difference between health and a deadly disease. But even though doctors and scientists have long studied disorders caused by these tiny changes, replicating them to study in human stem cells has proven challenging.

Smoking may increase the risk of the most common type of breast cancer

Date: Feb-11-2014
Young women who smoke and have been smoking a pack a day for a decade or more have a significantly increased risk of developing the most common type of breast cancer. That is the finding of an analysis published early online in Cancer, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society. The study indicates that an increased risk of breast cancer may be another health risk incurred by young women who smoke.

NIST categorizes bio scaffolds by characteristic cell shapes

Date: Feb-11-2014
Getting in the right shape might be just as important in a biology lab as a gym. Shape is thought to play an important role in the effectiveness of cells grown to repair or replace damaged tissue in the body. To help design new structures that enable cells to "shape up," researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have come up with a way to measure, and more importantly, classify, the shapes cells tend to take in different environments.With the notable exception of Flat Stanley, we all live, and are shaped by, a 3-dimensional world.

Surprising new clue to the roots of hunger

Date: Feb-11-2014
While the function of eating is to nourish the body, this is not what actually compels us to seek out food. Instead, it is hunger, with its stomach-growling sensations and gnawing pangs that propels us to the refrigerator - or the deli or the vending machine. Although hunger is essential for survival, abnormal hunger can lead to obesity and eating disorders, widespread problems now reaching near-epidemic proportions around the world.