ScienceDaily: Top Health News

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• Every second counts when performing CPR: Increase in survival when AED used less than 10 seconds after CPR pause
• One skull + two brains = four objects in mind
• Discoveries in mitochondria open new field of cancer research
• How the immune system responds to hepatitis A virus
• Nanoparticles disguised as red blood cells will deliver cancer-fighting drugs
• Fat substitutes linked to weight gain: Rats on high-fat diet gained more weight after eating low-calorie potato chips made with fat substitutes
• Signaling pathway is 'executive software' of airway stem cells
• Discovery of parathyroid glow promises to reduce endocrine surgery risk
• 'My dishwasher is trying to kill me': New research finds harmful fungal pathogens living in dishwasher seals
• Informal daycare not as good for kids' cognitive development as formal daycare, study suggests
• High prevalence and severity of childhood food allergy in the US
• Device could improve harvest of stem cells from umbilical cord blood
• Inducing labor is not associated with higher rates of cesarean sections, study finds
• Diagnosed autism is more common in an IT-rich region, study finds
• Buzz kills: No amount of alcohol safe to drive
• First ever drug to treat ‘Celtic Gene’ in cystic fibrosis sufferers
• GPs missing early dementia, UK study shows
• Unexpected function of dyslexia-linked gene: Controlling cilia of cells
• Proteins used to map the aging process
• Study of biomarker development in mice provides a roadmap for a similar approach in humans
• Single gene controls development of many forms of polycystic disease
• New genes for risk and progression of rare brain disease identified

Every second counts when performing CPR: Increase in survival when AED used less than 10 seconds after CPR pause Posted: 20 Jun 2011 03:32 PM PDT A new study has found the number of people who survive after suffering a cardiac arrest outside a hospital drops significantly if the pause between stopping CPR and using a defibrillator to administer an electric shock is longer than 20 seconds.

One skull + two brains = four objects in mind Posted: 20 Jun 2011 01:13 PM PDT A new study by neuroscientists could be put to immediate use in designing more effective cognitive therapy, smarter brain games, better "heads up displays," and much more.

Discoveries in mitochondria open new field of cancer research Posted: 20 Jun 2011 01:13 PM PDT Researchers have revealed novel mechanisms in mitochondria that have implications for cancer as well as many other age-related diseases such as Parkinson's disease, heart disease and hypertension. This discovery has pioneered the formation of a whole new field within epigenetics research ripe with possibilities of developing future gene therapies to treat cancer and age-associated diseases.

How the immune system responds to hepatitis A virus Posted: 20 Jun 2011 01:13 PM PDT A surprising finding in a study comparing hepatitis C virus (HCV) with hepatitis A virus (HAV) infections in chimpanzees sheds new light on the nature of the body's immune response to these viruses.

Nanoparticles disguised as red blood cells will deliver cancer-fighting drugs Posted: 20 Jun 2011 01:13 PM PDT Researchers have developed a novel method of disguising nanoparticles as red blood cells, which will enable them to evade the body's immune system and deliver cancer-fighting drugs straight to a tumor.

Fat substitutes linked to weight gain: Rats on high-fat diet gained more weight after eating low-calorie potato chips made with fat substitutes Posted: 20 Jun 2011 12:10 PM PDT Synthetic fat substitutes used in low-calorie potato chips and other foods could backfire and contribute to weight gain and obesity, a new study suggests.

Signaling pathway is 'executive software' of airway stem cells Posted: 20 Jun 2011 12:10 PM PDT Researchers have found out how mouse basal cells that line airways "decide" to become one of two types of cells that assist in airway-clearing duties. The findings could help provide new therapies for either blocked or thinned airways.

Discovery of parathyroid glow promises to reduce endocrine surgery risk Posted: 20 Jun 2011 10:31 AM PDT Researchers have discovered that parathyroid glands have a natural fluorescence that can be used during surgery to identify these tiny organs, which are hard to find with the naked eye.

'My dishwasher is trying to kill me': New research finds harmful fungal pathogens living in dishwasher seals Posted: 20 Jun 2011 10:31 AM PDT A potentially pathogenic fungus has found a home living in extreme conditions in some of the most common household appliances, researchers have found. A new paper shows that these sites make perfect habitats for extremotolerant fungi (which includes black yeasts). Some of these are potentially dangerous to human health.

Informal daycare not as good for kids' cognitive development as formal daycare, study suggests Posted: 20 Jun 2011 09:20 AM PDT Formal daycare may be better for a child's cognitive development than informal care by a grandparent, sibling, or family friend, according to a study of single mothers and their childcare choices.

High prevalence and severity of childhood food allergy in the US Posted: 20 Jun 2011 09:20 AM PDT A national study of food allergies in the US, the largest of its kind, finds that more children have food allergies than previously reported.

Device could improve harvest of stem cells from umbilical cord blood Posted: 20 Jun 2011 09:20 AM PDT A graduate student team has invented a system to significantly boost the number of stem cells collected from a newborn's umbilical cord and placenta, so that many more patients with leukemia, lymphoma and other blood disorders can be treated.

Inducing labor is not associated with higher rates of cesarean sections, study finds Posted: 20 Jun 2011 08:21 AM PDT Inducing labor in the weeks around term, or from week 39 to week 41, is not connected with higher rates of cesarean section compared with waiting for a later spontaneous or induced labor.

Diagnosed autism is more common in an IT-rich region, study finds Posted: 20 Jun 2011 07:39 AM PDT A new study has for the first time found that autism diagnoses are more common in an information technology-rich region. The researchers predicted that autism spectrum conditions (ASC) would be more common in populations enriched for 'systemizing', which is the drive to analyze how systems work, and to predict, control and build systems. These skills are required in disciplines such as engineering, physics, computing and mathematics.

Buzz kills: No amount of alcohol safe to drive Posted: 20 Jun 2011 07:39 AM PDT In the United States, the blood-alcohol limit may be 0.08 percent, but no amount of alcohol seems to be safe for driving, according to new research. A study finds that blood-alcohol levels well below the U.S. legal limit are associated with incapacitating injury and death.

First ever drug to treat ‘Celtic Gene’ in cystic fibrosis sufferers Posted: 20 Jun 2011 06:52 AM PDT Scientists have developed a new treatment for cystic fibrosis. The new drug will benefit sufferers who have the 'Celtic Gene', a genetic mutation which is particularly common in Ireland.

GPs missing early dementia, UK study shows Posted: 20 Jun 2011 06:52 AM PDT New research demonstrates that general practitioners (GPs) are struggling to correctly identify people in the early stages of dementia resulting in both missed cases (false negatives) and misidentifications (false positives).

Unexpected function of dyslexia-linked gene: Controlling cilia of cells Posted: 20 Jun 2011 06:48 AM PDT Scientists have discovered that a gene linked to dyslexia has a surprising biological function: it controls cilia, the antenna-like projections that cells use to communicate.

Proteins used to map the aging process Posted: 20 Jun 2011 06:45 AM PDT Loss of muscle mass is not only associated with disease, such as HIV and cancer, but also with the normal aging process. New research shows that nine proteins, isolated from blood of men, alter with age but that the profile of only some of these proteins can be reversed by testosterone treatment.

Study of biomarker development in mice provides a roadmap for a similar approach in humans Posted: 19 Jun 2011 10:35 AM PDT Researchers have demonstrated in mice that the performance of a novel biomarker-development pipeline using targeted mass spectrometry is robust enough to support the use of an analogous approach in humans.

Single gene controls development of many forms of polycystic disease Posted: 19 Jun 2011 10:35 AM PDT A single gene is central in the development of several forms of polycystic kidney and liver disease, researchers report.

New genes for risk and progression of rare brain disease identified Posted: 19 Jun 2011 10:34 AM PDT There are new genetic clues on risk factors and biological causes of a rare neurodegenerative disease called progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), according to a new study. In the largest genetics study of the disease, three new genes associated with risk for PSP were identified and two additional genetic variants affecting risk for PSP were confirmed.