Health News

Some cognitive impairment of Alzheimer's disease may be due progesterone changes

Date: Dec-10-2013
Steroid hormones and their metabolites within the central nervous system are commonly defined as neuroactive steroids or neurosteroids. Although neuroactive steroids have been shown to improve learning and memory ability and protect against amyloid beta (Aβ) peptide-induced neurotoxicity, changes in their level during Alzheimer's disease and their role in Aβ-mediated cognitive impairment remain elusive given the limitation in sample sizes and analysis methods. To gain a better understanding on the role of neuroactive steroids in the pathology of Alzheimer's disease, Dr.

Hints of added benefit of enzalutamide in prostate cancer

Date: Dec-10-2013
Longer overall survival in patients without visceral metastases / bone complications and pain progression delayedEnzalutamide (trade name: Xtandi) has been approved since June 2013 for men with metastatic prostate cancer in whom the commonly used hormone blockade is no longer effective and who have already been treated with the cytostatic drug docetaxel.

Researchers use reprogrammed patient neurons to test Alzheimer's drugs

Date: Dec-10-2013
Why do certain Alzheimer medications work in animal models but not in clinical trials in humans? A research team from the University of Bonn and the biomedical enterprise LIFE & BRAIN GmbH has been able to show that results of established test methods with animal models and cell lines used up until now can hardly be translated to the processes in the human brain. Drug testing should therefore be conducted with human nerve cells, conclude the scientists. The results are published by Cell Press in the journal Stem Cell Reports.

Parental stress linked to childhood obesity

Date: Dec-10-2013
Parental stress is linked to weight gain in children, according to a new study from St. Michael's Hospital. The study found that children whose parents have high levels of stress have a Body Mass Index, or BMI, about 2 per cent higher than those whose parents have low levels of stress. Children with higher parental stress also gained weight at a 7 per cent higher rate during the study period than other children.Those figures may sound low, said lead author Dr.

The skin "talks" to the liver

Date: Dec-10-2013
Researchers from the University of Southern Denmark have discovered that the skin is capable of communicating with the liver. The discovery has surprised the scientists, and they say that it may help our understanding of how skin diseases can affect the rest of the body.

Multiple myeloma drug candidate shows promising results

Date: Dec-10-2013
A new study conducted by scientists from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute at Harvard Medical School and Karolinska Institutet in Sweden presents very promising results for the treatment of the cancer form multiple myeloma. The drug candidate used in the research has been developed by scientists from Karolinska Institutet and a Swedish company following its initial identification at the same university. The findings are so promising that the scientists are teaming up with Harvard to bring the drug to clinical trials on patients.

Plant sterols naturally found in corn oil linked to heart health benefits

Date: Dec-10-2013
Corn oil significantly reduces cholesterol with more favorable changes in total cholesterol (TC) and LDL-C than extra virgin olive oil, new research shows. The findings were presented at the American Society for Nutrition's Advances & Controversies in Clinical Nutrition Conference by lead researcher, Dr. Kevin C Maki, PhD, of Biofortis, the clinical research arm of Merieux NutriSciences.

Microbes in gut may increase risk for colorectal cancer

Date: Dec-10-2013
In one of the largest epidemiological studies of human gut bacteria and colorectal cancer ever conducted, a team of researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center has found a clear association between gut bacteria and colorectal cancer. The study, published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, discovered that colorectal cancer patients had fewer beneficial bacteria and more harmful bacteria than people without the disease.

Novel hormone essential for heart development discovered

Date: Dec-10-2013
This unusual discovery could aid cardiac repair and provide new therapies to common heart diseases and hypertension Scientists at A*STAR's Institute of Medical Biology (IMB) and Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology (IMCB) have identified a gene encoding a hormone that could potentially be used as a therapeutic molecule to treat heart diseases. The hormone - which they have chosen to name ELABELA - is only 32 amino-acids long, making it amongst the tiniest proteins made by the human body.

Decreased hippocampal synaptophysin accompanies the aging process

Date: Dec-10-2013
Caveolin-1 may be a new target for interfering with age-dependent decline in synaptic plasticity. To explore the relationship between synaptic plasticity in the aging process and changes in learning and memory, Dr. Yang Liu and coworkers from the First Affiliated Hospital, Dalian Medical University, China examined synaptophysin expression in the hippocampus, cortex and cerebellum of rats at different ages, and analyzed the association between synaptophysin expression and cognition and behaviors.