ScienceDaily Health Headlines -- for Saturday, February 12, 2011

ScienceDaily Health Headlines

for Saturday, February 12, 2011

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New drug treatment possibilities for Alzheimer's (February 11, 2011) -- Scientists have made a discovery that has the potential for use in the early diagnosis and eventual treatment of plaque-related diseases such as Alzheimer's disease and type 2 diabetes. ... > full story

New way to attack pathogens: RNA recycling system gone awry brings MRSA to a halt (February 11, 2011) -- Scientists have discovered a new way to attack dangerous pathogens, marking a hopeful next step in the ever-escalating battle between man and microbe. By stopping bacteria's ability to degrade RNA -- a "housekeeping" process crucial to their ability to thrive -- scientists were able to stop methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus or MRSA both in the laboratory and in infected mice. The approach shows promise against the most severe strains of the bacteria as well as MRSA biofilms. ... > full story

Experts urge even greater caution in use of X-rays during pregnancy and infancy (February 11, 2011) -- Clinicians should be careful about using X-rays on pregnant women and infants because of the potential for a slight increase in the risk of children developing cancer, concludes a new study. ... > full story

JPEG for the mind: How the brain compresses visual information (February 11, 2011) -- Scientists take the next step in next step in understanding how the brain compresses huge "files" of visual information down to the essentials. ... > full story

Scientists combine targeted agents to kill multiple myeloma cells (February 11, 2011) -- Scientists have developed a novel treatment strategy for multiple myeloma that pairs two targeted agents to kill cancer cells. ... > full story

Root cause of blood vessel damage in diabetes discovered (February 11, 2011) -- Diabetes researchers have identified a key mechanism that appears to contribute to the blood vessel damage that occurs in people with diabetes. Blood vessel problems are a common diabetes complication. Many of the nearly 26 million Americans with the disease face the prospect of amputations, heart attack, stroke and vision loss because of damaged vessels. ... > full story

Reduced levels of an important neurotransmitter found in multiple sclerosis patients (February 11, 2011) -- Researchers show for the first time that damage to a particular area of the brain and a consequent reduction in noradrenaline are associated with multiple sclerosis. ... > full story

Young children choose to share prizes after working together (February 11, 2011) -- Grownups have a good sense of what's fair. Research now shows that this is true for young children, too. Three-year-old children shared with a peer after they worked together to earn a reward, even in situations where it would be easy for one child to keep all of the spoils for himself. ... > full story

New view of human evolution? 3.2 million-year-old fossil foot bone supports humanlike bipedalism in Lucy's species (February 11, 2011) -- A fossilized foot bone recovered from Hadar, Ethiopia, shows that by 3.2 million years ago human ancestors walked bipedally with a modern human-like foot. These findings support the hypothesis that A. afarensis was primarily an upright walker, as opposed to a more versatile creature that also moved through the trees. ... > full story

New hybrid drug, derived from common spice, may protect, rebuild brain cells after stroke (February 11, 2011) -- Whether or not you're fond of Indian, Southeast Asian and Middle Eastern food, stroke researchers think you may become a fan of one of their key spices. The scientists created a new molecule from curcumin, a chemical component of the golden-colored spice turmeric, and found in laboratory experiments that it affects mechanisms that protect and help regenerate brain cells after stroke. ... > full story

Study seeks new way to enhance neuron repair in spinal cord injury (February 11, 2011) -- If researchers could determine how to send signals to cells responding to a spinal cord injury, they might be able to stop one type of cell from doing additional damage at the injury site and instead, coax it into helping nerve cells grow. That is the theory behind new research at Ohio State University, where scientists are trying to determine how to simultaneously stop damage and promote neuron growth with a single, targeted signal. ... > full story

Looking at a tough hill to climb? Depends on your point of view (February 11, 2011) -- People tend to overestimate the steepness of slopes -- and psychologists studying the phenomenon have made a discovery that refutes common ideas about how we perceive inclines in general. ... > full story