Health News

Improper use of biocides in food production may endanger public health

Date: Jan-08-2014
Biocides used in the food industry at sublethal doses may be endangering, rather than protecting, public health by increasing antibiotic resistance in bacteria and enhancing their ability to form harmful biofilms, according to a study published ahead of print in Applied and Environmental Microbiology. This is among the first studies to examine the latter phenomenon.

Improper use of biocides in food production may endanger public health

Date: Jan-08-2014
Biocides used in the food industry at sublethal doses may be endangering, rather than protecting, public health by increasing antibiotic resistance in bacteria and enhancing their ability to form harmful biofilms, according to a study published ahead of print in Applied and Environmental Microbiology. This is among the first studies to examine the latter phenomenon.

Discovery spotlights key role of mystery RNA modification in cells

Date: Jan-08-2014
Researchers had known for several decades that a certain chemical modification exists on messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA), which is essential to the flow of genetic information. But only recently did experiments at the University of Chicago show that one major function of this modification governs the longevity and decay of RNA, a process critical to the development of healthy cells.The chemical modification on mRNA in question is called N6-methyladenosine (m6A).

To curb China's haze and air pollution, use water

Date: Jan-08-2014
A new idea to cut back on air pollution: spray water into the atmosphere from sprinklers atop tall buildings and towers, similar to watering a garden. This suggestion comes from Shaocai Yu of Zhejiang University in China, and North Carolina State University in the US. In an article published in Springer's journal Environmental Chemistry Letters, Yu suggests this course of action as a novel approach to help curb the severe air pollution and heavy haze that is experienced in many Chinese cities, as well as others around the world.

When danger is in the eye of the beholder

Date: Jan-08-2014
They went boating alone without life vests and gave no thought to shimmying up very tall coconut trees.And although they were only figments of a writer's imagination, the fictional adventurers helped provide new insight into how humans, especially men, gauge the threat of a potential adversary. Those reading the stories - dozens of residents of a small village on the Fijian island of Yasawa - judged the characters to be risk-seekers.

Researchers target cancer stem cells in malignant brain tumors

Date: Jan-08-2014
Researchers at the Cedars-Sinai Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute and Department of Neurosurgery identified immune system targets on cancer stem cells - cells from which malignant brain tumors are believed to originate and regenerate - and created an experimental vaccine to attack them.Results of laboratory and animal studies are published in the online edition of Stem Cells Translational Medicine, and will appear in the March 2014 print edition.

When danger is in the eye of the beholder

Date: Jan-08-2014
They went boating alone without life vests and gave no thought to shimmying up very tall coconut trees.And although they were only figments of a writer's imagination, the fictional adventurers helped provide new insight into how humans, especially men, gauge the threat of a potential adversary. Those reading the stories - dozens of residents of a small village on the Fijian island of Yasawa - judged the characters to be risk-seekers.

Researchers link protein with breast cancer's spread to the brain

Date: Jan-08-2014
A cancer-research team at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has identified a protein that may be a major culprit when breast cancer metastasizes to the brain.Brain metastasis is a terrifying complication of advanced breast cancer, with a grim prognosis and few treatment options. The cancer's spread to the brain is often undetected until patients start to develop symptoms such as seizures, headaches, and trouble thinking. Scientists hope a better understanding of the molecular events that regulate brain metastasis will lead to earlier diagnosis and improved therapies.

Smoking controls since 1964 'have saved 8 million Americans'

Date: Jan-08-2014
Measures over the past 50 years to reduce smoking in the US have saved an estimated 8 million premature deaths, increasing the average spans of those lives by almost 20 years, an analysis in a special issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association has found.January 2014 marks the 50th anniversary of the first report by the surgeon general to highlight the harms of tobacco smoking, and the control measures that have been in place since 1964 have saved a total of 157 million years of life across the population, the study concludes.

New biopsy test could pick out aggressive form of skin cancer

Date: Jan-08-2014
Testing the genetic profile of immune cells next to a melanoma could lead to more accurate diagnosis to spot whether a skin cancer is aggressive enough to spread, researchers from Italy have found.Development of the research finding could enable doctors to focus cancer treatment on skin cancer patients who need it - while sparing the harm of intervening when patients do not need it.