ScienceDaily: Top Health News

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• Tapeworm drug inhibits colon cancer metastasis
• Discovery of a new mechanism of gene control that is associated with cancer
• A better way to remember
• After 55 years, surgery restores sight
• American Cancer Society report finds continued progress in reducing cancer mortality
• Scientists turn memories off and on with flip of switch
• 'Ultrawideband' could be future of medical monitoring
• How many US deaths are caused by poverty and other social factors? About the same as deaths from heart attacks and stroke, study finds
• Barrett's esophagus carries lower risk of malignancy than previously reported, study finds
• Size matters -- in virulent fungal spores -- and suggests ways to stop a killer

Tapeworm drug inhibits colon cancer metastasis Posted: 17 Jun 2011 01:41 PM PDT A compound that for about 60 years has been used as a drug against tapeworm infection is also apparently effective against colon cancer metastasis, as studies using mice have shown. The compound silences a gene that triggers the formation of metastases in colon cancer. Researchers in Germany made this discovery in collaboration with researchers in the U.S. Plans are already underway to conduct a clinical trial.

Discovery of a new mechanism of gene control that is associated with cancer Posted: 17 Jun 2011 08:06 AM PDT In a new study, scientists reveal the mechanism of action of a protein that is essential for life and is associated with disease.

A better way to remember Posted: 17 Jun 2011 07:59 AM PDT Scientists and educators alike have long known that cramming is not an effective way to remember things. With their latest findings, researchers studying eye movement response in trained mice, have elucidated the neurological mechanism explaining why this is so. Their results suggest that protein synthesis in the cerebellum plays a key role in memory consolidation, shedding light on the fundamental neurological processes governing how we remember.

After 55 years, surgery restores sight Posted: 17 Jun 2011 05:16 AM PDT After being hit in the eye by a stone, a detached retina left a man blind in his right eye. Doctors at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary have reported a case, describing how this patient had functional vision restored 55 years after the childhood accident which left him blind.

American Cancer Society report finds continued progress in reducing cancer mortality Posted: 17 Jun 2011 05:15 AM PDT A steady reduction in overall cancer death rates translates to the avoidance of about 898,000 deaths from cancer between 1990 and 2007, according to the latest statistics from the American Cancer Society. However, progress has not benefited all segments of the population equally.

Scientists turn memories off and on with flip of switch Posted: 17 Jun 2011 05:15 AM PDT Scientists have developed a way to turn memories on and off -- literally with the flip of a switch. Using an electronic system that duplicates the neural signals associated with learning, they replicated the brain function in rats associated with long-term learned behavior, even when the rats had been drugged to forget. "Flip the switch on, and the rats remember. Flip it off, and the rats forget," said the leader of the team reporting the result.

'Ultrawideband' could be future of medical monitoring Posted: 16 Jun 2011 04:37 PM PDT New research has confirmed that an electronic technology called "ultrawideband" could hold part of the solution to an ambitious goal in the future of medicine -- health monitoring with sophisticated "body-area networks." Such networks would offer continuous, real-time health diagnosis to reduce the onset of degenerative diseases, save lives and cut health care costs.

How many US deaths are caused by poverty and other social factors? About the same as deaths from heart attacks and stroke, study finds Posted: 16 Jun 2011 04:36 PM PDT In the first comprehensive analysis of the contribution of social factors to US mortality, researchers found that poverty, low levels of education, poor social support and other social factors contribute about as many deaths in the US as such familiar causes as heart attacks, strokes and lung cancer.

Barrett's esophagus carries lower risk of malignancy than previously reported, study finds Posted: 16 Jun 2011 04:36 PM PDT Patients with Barrett's esophagus may have a lower risk of esophageal cancer than previously reported, according to a large, long-term study.

Size matters -- in virulent fungal spores -- and suggests ways to stop a killer Posted: 16 Jun 2011 04:36 PM PDT Scientists have found that larger fungal spores can be more lethal. Their findings about two different spore sizes of the fungus Mucor circinelloides, a pathogen that kills half or more of its victims, could help to develop new treatments and fight other types of fungal infections. Mucor infection is in the news as an environmental fungus contracted by people who had trauma in the wake of tornadoes in Joplin, Mo.