ScienceDaily: Top Health News

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• Safety concern with mist inhalers for delivering common drug for chronic lung disease
• Blood pressure changes are age-related
• Prolonged TV viewing linked to increased risk of type two diabetes, cardiovascular disease
• Prostate cancer gets around hormone therapy by activating a survival cell signaling pathway
• Fear boosts activation of immature brain cells: Adult neural stem cells play role in creating emotional context of memory
• Potential therapeutic target for controlling obesity discovered
• Ancestry plays vital role in nutrition and disease, study shows
• Why hair turns gray: Communication between hair follicles and melanocyte stem cells key to mystery
• Low-carbohydrate, high-protein diets may reduce both tumor growth rates and cancer risk
• Molecular mechanism for some anti-arrhythmia drugs discovered
• New cell type offers immunology hope
• Sleep loss in early childhood may contribute to the development of ADHD symptoms
• Sleep problems may be a link between perceived racism and poor health
• Nanotubes could pose health risk to production line staff, study suggests
• Copper folds protein into precursors of Parkinson's plaques

Safety concern with mist inhalers for delivering common drug for chronic lung disease Posted: 14 Jun 2011 05:36 PM PDT People who use a mist inhaler to deliver a drug widely prescribed in more than 55 countries to treat chronic obstructive pulmonary disease may be 52 percent more likely to die, new research suggests.

Blood pressure changes are age-related Posted: 14 Jun 2011 05:36 PM PDT The main causes of increases in blood pressure over a lifetime are modifiable and could be targeted to help prevent cardiovascular disease.

Prolonged TV viewing linked to increased risk of type two diabetes, cardiovascular disease Posted: 14 Jun 2011 01:18 PM PDT Prolonged TV viewing was associated with increased risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and premature death, according to a new study.

Prostate cancer gets around hormone therapy by activating a survival cell signaling pathway Posted: 14 Jun 2011 12:45 PM PDT Cancer is crafty. Researchers found that when a common type of prostate cancer was treated with conventional hormone ablation therapy blocking androgen production or androgen receptor (AR) function -- which drives growth of the tumor -- the cancer was able to adapt and compensate by activating a survival cell signaling pathway, effectively circumventing the roadblock put up by this treatment.

Fear boosts activation of immature brain cells: Adult neural stem cells play role in creating emotional context of memory Posted: 14 Jun 2011 10:19 AM PDT Scientists have long known that fear and highly emotional experiences lead to incredibly strong memories. A new study describes one way by which emotions can affect memory: The brain's emotional center, the amygdala, induces the hippocampus, a relay hub for memory, to generate new neurons. In a fearful situation, these newborn neurons are activated by the amygdala, providing a "blank slate" to strongly imprint the new fearful memory.

Potential therapeutic target for controlling obesity discovered Posted: 14 Jun 2011 10:19 AM PDT A new study has found that a cellular signaling pathway governs the differentiation of cells into fat tissue or smooth muscle, which lines the vascular system. Engaging this signaling pathway and its capacity to govern cell differentiation has important implications in preventing obesity and cardiovascular disease.

Ancestry plays vital role in nutrition and disease, study shows Posted: 14 Jun 2011 10:19 AM PDT Scientists are just beginning to consider the impact of gene-diet interactions in different populations in regards to disease prevention and treatment. In a new study, researchers reveal how humans of different ancestry process a certain type of fat called polyunsaturated (PUFA) fat. Their findings suggest that the dramatic increase in a particular type of fatty acid, omega-6 PUFAs, in the American diet, together with a genetic propensity, causes individuals of African descent to more efficiently convert these dietary PUFAs to long chain PUFAs in the human body. Long chain PUFA can then, in turn, be converted to inflammatory messengers. Increased inflammatory messengers have been associated with a variety of chronic diseases including cardiovascular disease, arthritis, allergies and asthma, and diabetes.

Why hair turns gray: Communication between hair follicles and melanocyte stem cells key to mystery Posted: 14 Jun 2011 08:50 AM PDT A new study has shown that, for the first time, Wnt signaling, already known to control many biological processes, between hair follicles and melanocyte stem cells can dictate hair pigmentation.

Low-carbohydrate, high-protein diets may reduce both tumor growth rates and cancer risk Posted: 14 Jun 2011 08:50 AM PDT Eating a low-carbohydrate, high-protein diet may reduce the risk of cancer and slow the growth of tumors already present, according to a new study.

Molecular mechanism for some anti-arrhythmia drugs discovered Posted: 14 Jun 2011 08:50 AM PDT Researchers -- using an innovative, atom-by-atom substitution method -- have uncovered the mechanism by which a particular class of drugs controls irregular heartbeats.

New cell type offers immunology hope Posted: 14 Jun 2011 07:12 AM PDT Scientists have discovered a new type of cell in the immune system. The new cell type, a kind of white blood cell, belongs to a family of T-cells that play a critical role in protection against infectious disease. Their findings could ultimately lead to the development of novel drugs that strengthen the immune response against particular types of infectious organisms.

Sleep loss in early childhood may contribute to the development of ADHD symptoms Posted: 14 Jun 2011 07:11 AM PDT Less sleep in preschool-age children significantly predicted worse parent-reported hyperactivity and inattention at kindergarten. In contrast, hyperactivity and inattention at preschool did not predict sleep duration at kindergarten. The sample consisted of approximately 6,860 children, and analyses controlled for gender, ethnicity and family income. According to the authors, sleep problems, particularly difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep, are frequently reported in children and adolescents with ADHD. Longitudinal studies may reveal the direction of causation.

Sleep problems may be a link between perceived racism and poor health Posted: 14 Jun 2011 07:11 AM PDT Perceived racism was associated with an elevated risk of self-reported sleep disturbance, which was increased by 61 percent after adjusting for socioeconomic factors and symptoms of depression. People who experience racial discrimination are more likely to have poor mental and physical health. The results suggest that sleep may be an important pathway linking discrimination with health problems.

Nanotubes could pose health risk to production line staff, study suggests Posted: 14 Jun 2011 07:05 AM PDT Tiny fibers used to strengthen everyday products such as bicycle frames and hockey sticks could pose health hazards to those involved in their manufacture. Certain types of carbon nanotubes -- cylindrical molecules about one-thousandth of the width of a human hair -- could cause cancer in the lining of the lung, researchers have found.

Copper folds protein into precursors of Parkinson's plaques Posted: 14 Jun 2011 07:05 AM PDT Researchers have figured out how copper induces misfolding in the protein associated with Parkinson's disease, leading to creation of the fibrillar plaques which characterize the disease.