Health News

Advances in HIV vaccine research likely following animal vaccine study

Date: Dec-28-2013
A vaccine study in monkeys designed to identify measurable signs that the animals were protected from infection by SIV, the monkey version of HIV, as well as the mechanism of such protection has yielded numerous insights that may advance HIV vaccine research. Seven laboratories collaborated on the research led by Mario Roederer, Ph.D., and John R. Mascola, M.D., at the Vaccine Research Center of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health.

Genetic marker of resistance to key malaria drug identified

Date: Dec-28-2013
An international team of researchers has discovered a way to identify, at a molecular level, malaria-causing Plasmodium falciparum parasites that are resistant to artemisinin, the key drug for treating this disease. The research team, which included scientists from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, published their findings in the journal Nature.According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 627,000 people died of malaria in 2012.

The social, economic and environmental impacts and trade-offs of an expanding tobacco industry

Date: Dec-28-2013
Tobacco growers are the big winners, while the environment and people who have lost land to tobacco estates are the major losers in Malawi's expanding tobacco industry. This is according to Alois Mandondo of the Centre for Agrarian and Environmental Studies in Zimbabwe. Mandondo, as leader of a study published in Springer's journal Human Ecology, believes that concerted and coordinated efforts are needed to solve the related dilemmas faced by this African country.

Inside the Bloomberg public health toolbox

Date: Dec-28-2013
As Mayor Michael Bloomberg's term comes to a close, the latest research conducted by Columbia University's Mailman School of Public indicates that he leaves a legacy of ambitious public health policies from pioneering restrictions on trans fats and smoking to investments in green spaces and bicycle lanes that have improved the health and increased the life expectancy of New Yorkers.

Dual catalysts help synthesize alpha-olefins into new organic compounds

Date: Dec-28-2013
Boston College chemists have developed a new chemical synthesis methodology that converts chemicals known as alpha-olefins into new organic compounds. By combining a pair of catalytic reactions in sequence, the researchers converted inexpensive and plentiful chemicals into new boron-containing organic compounds prized by researchers.The team reports in the online edition of the journal Nature that their advance employed two catalytic reactions - one developed in their Boston College lab and another developed by colleagues at MIT.

Ancient cranial surgery

Date: Dec-28-2013
Cranial surgery is tricky business, even under 21st-century conditions (think aseptic environment, specialized surgical instruments and copious amounts of pain medication both during and afterward).However, evidence shows that healers in Peru practiced trepanation - a surgical procedure that involves removing a section of the cranial vault using a hand drill or a scraping tool - more than 1,000 years ago to treat a variety of ailments, from head injuries to heartsickness. And they did so without the benefit of the aforementioned medical advances.

Reading a novel triggers lasting changes in the brain

Date: Dec-28-2013
Lovers of literature can rejoice: a new study combines the humanities and neuroscience to take a look at what effects reading a novel can have on the brain. Researchers say exploring a book can not only change your perspective, but also it can change your mind - at least for a few days.The researchers, from Emory University in Atlanta, GA, published their findings in the journal Brain Connectivity.Neuroscientist Gregory Berns, lead author and director of Emory's Center for Neuropolicy, says:"Stories shape our lives and in some cases help define a person.

'Work with anxiety' rather than seek calm to improve performance

Date: Dec-28-2013
Performance anxiety is better helped by telling yourself to get excited rather than to calm down, says a psychologist publishing the results of experiments looking into fear-inducing prospects, such as public speaking and math tests.Simply saying the phrase, "I am excited" out loud was found to improve performance in the studies by Alison Wood Brooks, PhD, of Harvard Business School.

Beatboxing less harmful to vocal cords than singing

Date: Dec-28-2013
Many of us will have been intrigued by the sound of beatboxing at some point - a highly skilled vocal percussion in which the performer imitates a drum sound with their voice. You may think that compared with standard singing, beatboxing is harsher on the voice. But new research suggests this is not the case.Beatboxing became extremely popular in the 1980s, with the sound often being accompanied with rapping or singing. The likes of Jam Master Jay, Michael Jackson and even Justin Timberlake have been known to put their beatboxing talents on their records.

Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells isolated from multiple sclerosis patients have decreased suppressive function

Date: Dec-28-2013
Multiple sclerosis (MS), an inflammatory autoimmune disease affecting more than one million people worldwide, is caused by an immune reaction to myelin proteins, the proteins that help form the myelin insulating substance around nerves. Demyelination and MS are a consequence of this immune reaction. Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been considered as an important source for cell therapy for autoimmune diseases such as MS because of their immunosuppressive properties.