The Medical Thread

Yaaaaaay. *groan*

Programming DNA to reverse antibiotic resistance in bacteria: "New research introduces a promising new tool to combat the rapid, extensive spread of antibiotic resistance around the world. It nukes antibiotic resistance in selected bacteria, and renders other bacteria more sensitive to antibiotics. The research, if ultimately applied to pathogens on hospital surfaces or medical personnel's hands, could turn the tide on untreatable, often lethal bacterial infections."

Study pinpoints what part genes play in the age of first-time moms, family size: "Researchers have analyzed the genomes of thousands of women in the UK and the Netherlands to measure the extent to which a woman's genes play a role for when she has her first baby and how many children she will have. Significantly, they have found that some women are genetically predisposed to have children earlier than others, and conclude that they have passed down their reproductive advantage to the next generation."

Your viral infection history in a single drop of blood: "New technology makes it possible to test for current and past infections with any known human virus by analyzing a single drop of a person's blood. The method, called VirScan, is an efficient alternative to existing diagnostics that test for specific viruses one at a time."

World's first digitally-encoded synthetic polymers: "Researchers have for the first time succeeded in recording a binary code on a synthetic polymer. Inspired by the capacity of DNA to retain an enormous amount of genetic information, the team synthesized and read a multi-bit message on an artificial polymer."

Why are 95% of people who live to 110 women? You're as old as your stem cells: "Human supercentenarians share at least one thing in common—over 95 percent are women. Scientists have long observed differences between the sexes when it comes to aging, but there is no clear explanation for why females live longer. In a discussion of what we know about stem cell behavior and sex, researchers argue that it's time to look at differences in regenerative decline between men and women. This line of research could open up new explanations for how the sex hormones estrogen and testosterone, or other factors, modify lifespan."

Do cheaters have an evolutionary advantage? Cheating amoebas reveal key to successful societies: "Anyone who has crawled along in the left lane while other drivers raced up the right lane, which was clearly marked "lane ends, merge left," has experienced social cheating, a maddening and fascinating behavior common to many species.

Although it won't help with road rage, scientists are beginning to understand cheating in simpler 'model systems,' such as the social amoeba, Dictyostelium discoideum.

At one stage in their life cycle thousands of the normally solitary Dicty converge to form a multicellular slug and then a fruiting body, consisting of a stalk holding aloft a ball of spores. It is during this cooperative act that the opportunity for cheating arises.

Some amoebae ultimately become cells in the stalk of the fruiting body and die, while others rise to the top, and form spores that pass their genes to the next generation. When unrelated amoebae gather to form a fruiting body, some strains may overcontribute to the spores and undercontribute to the stalk. These are the cheaters.

Scientists knew that cheaters could be found in wild populations of Dicty, but whether this was a successful strategy in the game of natural selection was anyone's guess.

Now the ease and low cost of genome sequencing has finally made it possible to answer the question. 'By looking at the genetic variation in or near Dicty's 'social genes,' scientists are able to tell whether variants of these genes that made cooperators into cheaters had swept through populations, fought to maintain a toehold, or been given a pass because they didn't affect survival,' said Elizabeth Ostrowski, PhD, assistant professor of biology and biochemistry at the University of Houston.

'The genome signatures we found suggest neither the cheating nor the cooperating variants of the social genes was able to take over the populations and that the variants had battled to a standstill,' said David C. Queller, PhD, the Spencer T. Olin Professor of Biology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis."

Scientists produce the first lab-grown limb: " Researchers from the Massachusetts General Hospital in the US have made a major breakthrough in the field of artificially grown body parts: the scientists have successfully grown a functioning rat limb using a technique that could eventually lead to fully natural replacements for human limbs.

Muscles and veins have previously been grown in laboratories, but up until now no one has repeated the trick with an entire limb because of the combination of different tissue types involved (muscles, bone, cartilage, tendons, blood vessels and so on). To solve the problem, scientists copied the technique already used for lab-grown organs.

To begin with, a donor limb from a deceased rat was stripped of all its cellular material, with only the primary vascular and nerve matrix retained to form the basis of the new limb. At the same time, vascular and muscle cells taken from a second rat were being carefully grown. Using a special bioreactor container, the dead limb was injected with these new vascular and muscle progenitor cells.

Through the use of a special nutrient solution and regular doses of electrical stimulation, the scientists were able to successfully grow the new limb to a working state. The vascular cells were found to be functioning normally while the muscles contracted at 80 percent of the strength of the muscles found in newborn animals."

Data scientists find connections between birth month and health: "Scientists have developed a computational method to investigate the relationship between birth month and disease risk. The researchers used this algorithm to examine New York City medical databases and found 55 diseases that correlated with the season of birth. Overall, the study indicated people born in May had the lowest disease risk, and those born in October the highest."

Over 95% of the world’s population has health problems, with over a third having more than five ailments: "Just one in 20 people worldwide (4.3%) had no health problems in 2013, with a third of the world's population (2.3 billion individuals) experiencing more than five ailments, according to a major new analysis."

E-cigarette ban in enclosed spaces in Wales pushes ahead

Wales isn't the first — apparently some countries have already put controls on the use of e-cigarettes, or banned them completely.

Scientists gain first glimpse of new concepts developing in the brain: "Scientists have — for the first time — documented the formation of a newly learned concept inside the brain and show that it occurs in the same brain areas for everyone. The results from this study also indicate that it may be possible to use a similar approach to understand the 'loss' of knowledge in various brain disorders, such as dementia or Alzheimer's disease, or due to brain injuries. The loss of a concept in the brain may be the reverse of the process that the study observed."

Researchers isolate smallest unit of sleep to date: "Scientists have grown a tiny group of brain cells that can be induced to fall asleep, wake up and even show rebound sleep after 'staying up late.' The study — the first to document that sleep originates in small neural networks — opens the door to deeper understanding of the genetic, molecular and electrical aspects underlying sleep disorders."

Virus evolution and human behavior shape global patterns of flu movement: "The global movement patterns of all four seasonal influenza viruses are illustrated in new research, providing a detailed account of country-to-country virus spread over the last decade and revealing unexpected differences in circulation patterns between viruses."

Do newborns delivered by C-section face higher risk of chronic health problems later in life?: "The evidence as to whether newborns delivered by C-section are more likely to develop chronic diseases later in life has been examined by investigators. The authors of a new study find that their evidence warrants concerns that C-section may lead to worse long-term child health."

Impact of insecticides on the cognitive development of 6-year-old children: "Researchers have provided new evidence of neurotoxicity in humans from pyrethroid insecticides, which are found in a wide variety of products and uses."

First live birth after transplantation of ovarian tissue removed and frozen during childhood: "A young woman has become the first in the world to give birth to a healthy child after doctors restored her fertility by transplanting ovarian tissue that had been removed and frozen while she was a child."

High salt prevents weight gain in mice on a high-fat diet: Dietary sodium suppresses digestive efficiency, limiting fat absorption: "In a study that seems to defy conventional dietary wisdom, scientists have found that adding high salt to a high-fat diet actually prevents weight gain in mice. The findings highlight the profound effect non-caloric dietary nutrients can have on energy balance and weight gain, and suggest that public health efforts to continue lowering sodium intake may have unexpected and unintended consequences."

Movement in ADHD may help children think, perform better in school: "The constant movement of children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may be distracting — but the fidgeting also may improve their cognitive performance."

New method detects early breast cancer via urine: Test identifies changes in cell metabolism, highly accurate: "Medical researchers have developed an approach for detecting breast cancer by means of urine samples. The method involves determining the concentration of molecules that regulate cell metabolism and that are often dysregulated in cancer cells. These molecules, referred to as microRNAs, enter into the urine over the blood. By determining the composition of microRNAs in the urine, the scientists succeeded in establishing with 91 percent accuracy whether a test subject was healthy or diseased."

Nuts and peanuts -- but not peanut butter -- linked to lower mortality rates, study finds: "A study confirms a link between peanut and nut intake and lower mortality rates, but finds no protective effect for peanut butter. Men and women who eat at least 10 grams of nuts or peanuts per day have a lower risk of dying from several major causes of death than people who don't consume nuts or peanuts."

New drug triggers tissue regeneration: Faster regrowth and healing of damaged tissues: "The concept sounds like the stuff of science fiction: take a pill, and new tissues grow to replace damaged ones. Researchers have now announced steps toward turning this idea into reality. They have detailed how a new drug repaired damage to the colon, liver and bone marrow in animal models — even saving mice who would have died in a bone marrow transplantation model."

Dendritic cells of elite controllers able to recognize, mount defense against HIV: "Investigators have added another piece to the puzzle of how a small group of individuals known as elite controllers are able to control HIV infection without drug treatment. The research team reports finding that dendritic cells of elite controllers are better able to detect the presence of HIV, which enables them to stimulate the generation of T cells specifically targeting the virus."

These tiny plastic chips can deliver therapeutic genes into cells: "A graduate student is developing a cost-effective new method of delivering desirable genes into human cells using a tiny plastic chip. The technique could substantially reduce the cost and extend the reach of new cancer-killing immunotherapy treatments, which currently rely on viral vectors and cost around $5,000-$10,000 a pop.

The patent-pending device, which is being developed by engineering [=Ph D]] student Ryan Pawell from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Australia, contains tiny features less than 1/10th the width of a strand of human hair, which can deliver biological materials to cells. This allows the cells to be reprogrammed, and essentially recreates a fully functioning laboratory on a piece of plastic the size of a postage stamp."

Speech recognition from brain activity: "Speech is produced in the human cerebral cortex. Brain waves associated with speech processes can be directly recorded with electrodes located on the surface of the cortex. It has now been shown for the first time that is possible to reconstruct basic units, words, and complete sentences of continuous speech from these brain waves and to generate the corresponding text."

Biodiversity reduces human, wildlife diseases and crop pests: "With infectious diseases increasing worldwide, the need to understand how and why disease outbreaks occur is becoming increasingly important. Looking for answers, a team of biologists found broad evidence that supports the controversial 'dilution effect hypothesis,' which suggests that biodiversity limits outbreaks of disease among humans and wildlife."

Six-month-old conjoined twin sisters separated in Haiti: "On Friday, May 22, physicians and nurses separated a pair of six-month-old conjoined Haitian twins, the first such operation ever performed on Haitian soil."

edited 15th Jun '15 2:20:11 PM by rmctagg09

Early behavior problems may be linked to 'aging' biomarkers in preschoolers: "Preschoolers with oppositional defiant behavior are more likely to have shorter telomeres, a hallmark of cellular aging, which in adults is associated with increased risk for chronic diseases and conditions like diabetes, obesity and cancer."

FDA takes step to remove artificial trans fats in processed foods: "Based on a thorough review of the scientific evidence, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration finalized its determination that partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs), the primary dietary source of artificial trans fat in processed foods, are not 'generally recognized as safe' or GRAS for use in human food. Food manufacturers will have three years to remove PHOs from products."

edited 16th Jun '15 5:17:29 PM by rmctagg09

How the brain learns to distinguish between what is important and what is not: "Traffic lights, neon-lit advertisements, a jungle of road signs: when learning to drive, it is often very difficult to distinguish between important and irrelevant information. How the brain learns the importance of certain images over others is being investigated by researchers. They show that learning the relevance of images considerably modifies neuronal networks in the brain. These changes might help our brain to process and classify the overload of stimuli in our environment more effectively."

Data bank launched for global access to ancient DNA: "Medical and other researchers and science teachers around the world will be able to compare ancient DNA from humans from thousands of years ago with the genetics of modern day humans, thanks to a new world-first open access databank at the University of Adelaide's Australian Centre for Ancient DNA (ACAD)."

Researchers find links between the strength of your immune system, and your likelihood of suffering from PTSD and severe stress. Boosting the immune system even helps learning speeds, at least in rats. If this is the case, I think I need to go get some shots to boost my immune system!

So for those of you who've been keeping track of the MERS-CoV outbreaks: Imported cases in Thailand, China; 165 cases in South Korea at present.

Diet that mimics fasting appears to slow aging: "Study shows broad health benefits from periodic use of diet that mimics fasting in mice and yeast — which appear to translate to humans, also."

Stem cell exosomes used to induce damaged mouse hearts to self-repair: "A little more than a decade ago, researchers discovered that all cells secrete tiny communications modules jammed with an entire work crew of messages for other cells. Today, a team of researchers is harnessing the communications vesicles excreted by stem cells and using them to induce the damaged heart to repair itself."

Musicians don't just hear in tune, they also see in tune: "Auditory melodies can enhance a musician's visual awareness of written music, particularly when the two match, a new experiment shows. That is the conclusion of the latest scientific experiment designed to puzzle out how the brain creates an apparently seamless view of the external world based on the information it receives from the eyes."

Single gene turns colorectal cancer cells back into normal tissue in mice: "Anti-cancer strategies generally involve killing off tumor cells. However, cancer cells may instead be coaxed to turn back into normal tissue simply by reactivating a single gene. Researchers found that restoring normal levels of a human colorectal cancer gene in mice stopped tumor growth and re-established normal intestinal function within only four days."

Three-year-olds help victims of injustice: "Young children are just as likely to respond to the needs of another individual as they are to their own, new research shows."

Emotional brains 'physically different' from rational ones: "Researchers at Monash University have found physical differences in the brains of people who respond emotionally to others' feelings, compared to those who respond more rationally, in a study published in the journal NeuroImage.

The work, led by Robert Eres from the University's School of Psychological Sciences, pinpointed correlations between grey matter density and cognitive and affective empathy. The study looked at whether people who have more brain cells in certain areas of the brain are better at different types of empathy."

Ah, MERS.

Honestly? More people are scared...of what the government is trying to hide with the cover of this outbreak.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/lifestyle/wellbeing/diet/11686002/Why-weve-all-been-doing-the-Fast-Diet-wrong.html

It's a variant on the Fast Diet, but easier and supposedly more effective.

As resistant as I am to magic bullet solutions, it does seem more than plausible that our bodies have "re-booting" mechanisms.

Expanding the DNA alphabet: 'Extra' DNA base found to be stable in mammals: "A rare DNA base, previously thought to be a temporary modification, has been shown to be stable in mammalian DNA, suggesting that it plays a key role in cellular function."

Turning fake pills into real treatments: "A series of fascinating studies showed that many people respond positively to placebo pills — even when they are told that the pills don't have any active ingredients. Researchers are now testing these 'open-label' placebos for the first time among cancer survivors."

Cocktail of common chemicals may trigger cancer: "A global taskforce of 174 scientists from leading research centers across 28 countries studied the link between mixtures of commonly encountered chemicals and the development of cancer. The study selected 85 chemicals not considered carcinogenic to humans and found 50 supported key cancer-related mechanisms at exposures found in the environment today."

Molecular mechanisms within fetal lungs initiate labor: "Researchers have identified two proteins in a fetus' lungs responsible for initiating the labor process, providing potential new targets for preventing preterm birth. They discovered that the proteins SRC-1 and SRC-2 activate genes inside the fetus' lungs near full term, leading to an inflammatory response in the mother's uterus that initiates labor."

Smart insulin patch could replace painful injections for diabetes: "The first 'smart insulin patch' that can detect increases in blood sugar levels has been developed by researchers. The patch has the ability to secrete doses of insulin into the bloodstream whenever needed."

How understanding GPS can help you hit a curveball: "Our brains track moving objects by applying one of the algorithms your phone's GPS uses, according to researchers. This same algorithm also explains why we are fooled by several motion-related optical illusions, including the sudden 'break' of baseball's well known 'curveball illusion.'"

Three Ebola virus variants identified in Guinea: "Sequencing the genome of Ebola virus strains circulating in Guinea has allowed scientists to retrace the spread of the virus and monitor its evolution in the country where the outbreak started. Characterization of the genetic variations of the virus is crucial to ensure the continued efficacy of diagnostic tools and for the development of effective treatments and vaccines."

Robot controlled remotely with thoughts: "For someone suffering from paralysis or limited mobility, visiting with other people is extremely difficult. Scientists have been working on a revolutionary brain-machine approach in order to restore a sense of independence to the disabled. The idea is to remotely control a robot from home with one's thoughts. The research, involving numerous subjects located in different countries, produced excellent results in both human and technical terms."

Medical marijuana 'edibles' mostly mislabeled: Many too weak, some surprisingly strong: "The vast majority of edible cannabis products sold in a small sample of medical marijuana dispensaries carried labels that overstated or understated the amount of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), a proof-of-concept study shows. Though the scope of the study was small, the researchers say, the results of the study suggest some medical cannabis patients could be unintentionally overdosing or are being cheated by mislabeled products."

Earth's daily rotation period encoded in an atomic-level protein structure: "Scientists have demonstrated that Earth's daily rotation period (24 hours) is encoded in the KaiC protein at the atomic level, a small, 10 nm-diameter biomolecule expressed in cyanobacterial cells.The results of this joint research will help elucidate a longstanding question in chronobiology: How is the circadian period of biological clocks determined?"

New class of compounds shrinks pancreatic cancer tumors, prevents regrowth: "A chemical compound that has reduced the growth of pancreatic cancer tumors by 80 percent in treated mice has been developed by researchers. The compound, called MM41, was designed to block faulty genes. It appears to do this by targeting little knots in their DNA, called quadruplexes, which are very different from normal DNA and which are especially found in faulty genes."

How does the brain recognize faces from minimal information?: "Our brain recognizes objects within milliseconds, even if it only receives rudimentary visual information. Researchers believe that reliable and fast recognition works because the brain is constantly making predictions about objects in the field of view and is comparing these with incoming information. Only if mismatches occur in this process do higher areas of the brain have to be notified of the error in order to make active corrections to the predictions. Now scientists have confirmed this hypothesis."

Experimental treatment sends deadly leukemia into remission: "An experimental new treatment approach for a rare, deadly leukemia can send the disease into remission even in patients for whom the standard therapy has failed, a pilot study has found. The study is 'proof of principle' the cutting-edge approach could be used to treat many other cancers as well."

How the brain combines information across sensory modalities: "Visual information is dense, and researchers have long theorized that when visual stimuli are confusing or ambiguous, the brain must apply additional contextual information in order to interpret it. A group of Korean researchers became interested in one source of visual confusion called binocular rivalry as a means of studying how the brain provides additional context to confusing visual information. They have published the results of their study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences."

3-D heart printed using multiple imaging techniques: "Congenital heart experts have successfully integrated two common imaging techniques to produce a three-dimensional anatomic model of a patient's heart. This is the first time the integration of computed tomography (CT) and three-dimensional transesophageal echocardiography (3DTEE) has been used in this way. A proof-of-concept study also opens the way for these techniques to be used in combination with a third tool — magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)."

Rapid Ebola diagnostic successful in field trial: "A new test can accurately diagnose Ebola virus disease within minutes, providing clinicians with crucial information for treating patients and containing outbreaks."

Low scores on memory and thinking tests may signal Alzheimer's 18 years prior to disease: "Errors on memory and thinking tests may signal Alzheimer's up to 18 years before the disease can be diagnosed, a new study suggests."

Fundamental differences in how pain is processed in males and females: "New animal research reveals fundamental sex differences in how pain is processed. These findings have far-reaching implications for our basic understanding of pain, how we develop the next generation of medications for chronic pain — which is by far the most prevalent human health condition — and the way we execute basic biomedical research using mice."

How a newborn baby sees you: "A newborn infant can see its parents' expressions at a distance of 30 cm. For the first time, researchers have managed to reconstruct infants visual perception of the world."

Smell fingerprints? Each person may have a unique sense of smell: "Each of us has, in our nose, about six million smell receptors of around four hundred different types. The distribution of these receptors varies from person to person — so much so that each person's sense of smell may be unique. In research recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), Weizmann Institute scientists report on a method of precisely characterizing an individual's sense of smell, which they call an 'olfactory fingerprint.'"

Eye color may be linked to alcohol dependence: "People with blue eyes might have a greater chance of becoming alcoholics, according to a unique new study by genetic researchers."

Repeated courses of antibiotics may profoundly alter children's development: "A new animal study adds to growing evidence that multiple courses of commonly used antibiotics may have a significant impact on children's development. Female mice treated with two classes of widely used childhood antibiotics, including amoxicillin, gained more weight and developed larger bones than untreated mice. Both of the antibiotics also disrupted the gut microbiome, the trillions of microbes that inhabit the intestinal tract."

How small genetic change in Yersinia pestis changed human history: "While studying Yersinia pestis, the bacteria responsible for epidemics of plague such as the Black Death, scientists found a single small genetic change that fundamentally influenced the evolution of the deadly pathogen, and thus the course of human history. They demonstrated how the acquisition of a single gene caused the shift of Y. pestis from causing a primarily gastrointestinal infection to a more serious and often fatal respiratory disease and how later modifications lead to infections associated with the bubonic plague."

Patients with recurrent depression have smaller hippocampi: "The brains of people with recurrent depression have a significantly smaller hippocampus — the part of the brain most associated with forming new memories — than healthy individuals, a new global study of nearly 9,000 people reveals."