Health News

When children need specialist care, parents need guidance

Date: Jan-30-2014
Parents vary widely in views about their responsibilities in getting specialty care for their children, according to a new University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health.Most children get their health care from a primary care provider, known as a PCP, but when there are signs or symptoms of a more serious illness, the PCP often refer kids to a specialist.According to this month's poll, it's a common occurrence. Among the 1,232 parents surveyed in this poll, 46 percent report that at least one of their children has been referred to a specialist.

Culprit behind skeletal muscle disease found

Date: Jan-30-2014
Mutations in a protein that is vital for proper muscle function can cause skeletal muscle disease, a new study finds. Understanding the cause of such myopathies may enable researchers to develop treatments.A University of Arizona doctoral candidate has shown for the first time that genetic mutations in the titin gene can cause skeletal muscle myopathy, a disease in which muscle fibers do not function properly, resulting in muscle weakness. Myopathic disease can affect heart muscles as well as skeletal muscles, and titin is responsible for many problems associated with heart disease.

3-D model of famous amnesiac's brain helps illuminate human memory

Date: Jan-30-2014
During his lifetime, Henry G. Molaison (H.M.) was the best-known and possibly the most-studied patient of modern neuroscience. Now, thanks to the postmortem study of his brain, based on histological sectioning and digital three-dimensional construction led by Jacopo Annese, PhD, at the University of California, San Diego, scientists around the globe will finally have insight into the neurological basis of the case that defined modern studies of human memory.

Study raises questions about use of technologies to predict cognitive development

Date: Jan-30-2014
Assessing structural and functional changes in the brain may predict future memory performance in healthy children and adolescents, according to a study appearing in the Journal of Neuroscience. The findings shed new light on cognitive development and suggest MRI and other tools may one day help identify children at risk for developmental challenges earlier than current testing methods allow.Working memory capacity - the ability to hold onto information for a short period of time - is one of the strongest predictors of future achievements in math and reading.

Surprising research results reveal brain regions thought to be uniquely human share many similarities with monkeys

Date: Jan-30-2014
New research suggests a surprising degree of similarity in the organization of regions of the brain that control language and complex thought processes in humans and monkeys. The study, published online January 28 in the Cell Press journal Neuron, also revealed some key differences. The findings may provide valuable insights into the evolutionary processes that established our ties to other primates but also made us distinctly human.

Discovery of new operating principle of potassium channels

Date: Jan-30-2014
Neurons transmit information with the help of special channels that allow the passage of potassium ions. Defective potassium channels play a role in epilepsy and depression. The scientists working with Prof. Henning Stahlberg at the Biozentrum of the University of Basel have now identified the complete 3D structure of a particular potassium channel, a HCN channel. This enabled them to draw conclusions about its mechanism of action, which they describe in the current issue of Nature Communications.Neurons conduct information by way of electrical impulses through our body.

Intranasal vaccine protects mice against West Nile infection

Date: Jan-30-2014
Researchers from Duke University have developed a nasal vaccine formulation that provides protective immunity against West Nile virus (WNV) infection in mice after only 2 doses. They presented their findings at the 2014 American Society for Microbiology Biodefense and Emerging Diseases Research Meeting."Our results demonstrate that a needle-free WNV vaccine using only 2 vaccine doses is able to induce protective anti-WNV immunity," says Herman Staats, a researcher on the study.

Potential psychological costs in labeling obesity as a disease

Date: Jan-30-2014
Messages that describe obesity as a disease may undermine healthy behaviors and beliefs among obese individuals, according to a new study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.The findings show that obese individuals exposed to such messages placed less importance on health-focused dieting and reported less concern about weight. These beliefs, in turn, predicted unhealthier food choices.

Women's weight loss may be aided by certain probiotics

Date: Jan-30-2014
Certain probiotics could help women lose weight and keep it off, according to a recent study published in the British Journal of Nutrition by a team of researchers headed by Universite Laval Professor Angelo Tremblay.Studies have already demonstrated that the intestinal flora of obese individuals differs from that of thin people. That difference may be due to the fact that a diet high in fat and low in fiber promotes certain bacteria at the expense of others.

In certain breast cancers, melatonin shows potential to slow tumor growth

Date: Jan-30-2014
An early stage study shows melatonin - a hormone that regulates the body's sleep and awake cycles - may have the potential to help slow the growth of certain breast cancer tumors, according to researchers from Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit and Foundation for Research Support of the State of São Paulo.The study, published online in the journal PLoS One, finds that melatonin may inhibit tumor growth and cell production, as well as block the formation of new blood vessels in ER-negative breast cancer models.