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Neurons that control sexual behavior mapped

How the bundles of neurons in the brain controls behaviour remains an ongoing mystery. Researchers from the Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP), in Vienna, Austria, and the Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB/MRC), Cambridge, United Kingdom, have mapped neurons of the fruit fly, Drosophila, that controls sexual behavior. "We literally untangled the mess of wires in the fly brain and laid the ground plans for investigating a complex behavior in a simple organism," says Jai Yu, whose doctoral work is published in Current Biology.

29 Sep 2010

Misperceptions about flavored and sports beverages

Children who practice healthy lifestyle habits such as eating fruits and vegetables and engaging in physical activity may be negatively impacting their health because they tend to consume large amounts of flavored and sports beverages containing sugar, according to research at The Michael & Susan Dell Center for Healthy Living at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth).

29 Sep 2010

European Society of Cardiology to support EuroPRevent Meeting

Workplace wellness programmes play a vital role in preventing cardiovascular disease and stroke. This year's World Heart Day theme is to encourage employers and employees to take simple steps to improve heart-health in the workplace. The European Society of Cardiology is keen to support this theme, which coincides with the upcoming launch of two major initiatives at the next EuroPRevent Meeting in April 2011 in Geneva.

27 Sep 2010

Americans eating fewer vegetables and getting fatter

Despite two decades of public health initiatives, stricter government dietary guidelines, record growth of farmers' markets and the ease of products like salad in a bag, Americans still aren't eating enough vegetables. This month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a comprehensive nationwide behavioral study of fruit and vegetable consumption.

27 Sep 2010

Victorian health report card

Results from the 2008 Victorian Population Health Survey of more than 34,000 people are out. Broadly the picture is not too pleasing with signs of poor health like weight gain and disease. People are eating less fruit and vegetables, but smoking is down and asthma is less prevalent than it was earlier in the decade.

26 Sep 2010

Peer-reviewed paper on power of iridoids in Tahitian Noni Bioactives published in Wiley Online Library

Tahitian Noni International's Brett West, director of noni benefits research, and his team have recently published another peer-reviewed paper on the power of iridoids in Tahitian Noni® Bioactives™. The paper, published just this month in the Wiley Online Library, concludes that iridoids are the major source of bioactivity in Tahitian Noni Bioactives, and that substantial iridoids can be found in the noni fruit, leaf, root, seed, and flower of noni plants.

24 Sep 2010

United Fresh Produce Association urges passage of Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act legislation

The United Fresh Produce Association is urging the U.S. House of Representatives to immediately pass the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, legislation that will reauthorize all child nutrition programs. It is critical that all child nutrition programs be reauthorized and signed into law by President Obama before they expire on September 30. The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act makes important reforms and strengthens child nutrition programs by investing $4.5 billion in programs to reduce childhood hunger and childhood obesity.

24 Sep 2010

UC San Diego receives grant to study hypoxia susceptibility

Gabriel G. Haddad, MD, chair of the Department of Pediatrics at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Physician-in-Chief at Rady Children's Hospital-San Diego has received a $10 million grant from the National Institute of Health's Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.

24 Sep 2010

New study signals hope for treatment of rare neurodegenerative disease

A new study led by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists signals hope for treatment of a neurodegenerative disease and a new model for understanding the mechanism at work in other more common neurodegenerative disorders.

23 Sep 2010

Synthetic lethality boosts effectiveness of molecularly targeted therapies against tumors

Molecularly targeted therapies can reduce tumors rapidly. However, not all tumors respond to the drugs, and even those that do often develop resistance over time. Looking for a way to combat the problem of resistance, researchers at Fox Chase Cancer Center hypothesized that hitting already weakened cancer cells with a second targeted agent could kill them-but only if it was the right second agent.

22 Sep 2010

ACT people live longer but may have more mental health issues: Report

Chief Health Officer Charles Guest's report on the health and wellbeing of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) population between July 2006 and June 2008 was presented in the Legislative Assembly. It showed that life expectancy rate at birth in the ACT was 80.3 years for males and 84 for women. This was despite the fact that most are overweight and only a minority eats enough fruit and vegetables.

22 Sep 2010

Improper biological clocks tend to develop diabetes, obesity: Research

Biologists have found that a key protein that regulates the biological clocks of mammals also regulates glucose production in the liver and that altering the levels of this protein can improve the health of diabetic mice.

20 Sep 2010

Researchers decode key DNA in evolution of aging, development and fertility

UC Irvine researchers have deciphered how lowly fruit flies bred to rapidly develop and reproduce actually evolve over time. The findings, reported in the Sept. 15 online issue of Nature, contradict the long-held belief that sexual beings evolve the same way simpler organisms do and could fundamentally alter the direction of genetic research for new pharmaceuticals and other products.

17 Sep 2010

Common Alzheimer's disease drug enhances learning of new skills

Research on a drug commonly prescribed to Alzheimer's disease patients is helping neuroscientists at the University of California, Berkeley, better understand perceptual learning in healthy adults.

17 Sep 2010

Tahitian Noni International wins Excelsis Awards

The Global Quality Foundation announced that Tahitian Noni International (TNI) Mexico is this year's winner of two Excelsis Awards - one for excellence in product quality, and the other for research and development. The Global Quality Foundation is a multifaceted organization that searches for improvements in quality processes, products and services that satisfy the needs of the current global society.

15 Sep 2010

Healthy lifestyle pattern reduces mortality

It is widely known that a healthy lifestyle that includes not smoking, limiting alcohol intake, and maintaining a proper weight reduces disease risk.

15 Sep 2010

CRA appeals to FDA for name change allowance in high fructose corn syrup labeling

In an effort to help clarify the labeling of food products for consumers, the Corn Refiners Association (CRA) today petitioned the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to allow manufacturers the option of using 'corn sugar' as an alternative name for high fructose corn syrup.

14 Sep 2010

Sorghum bran contains high antioxidant, anti-inflammatory properties: Study

A new University of Georgia study has found that select varieties of sorghum bran have greater antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties than well-known foods such as blueberries and pomegranates.

14 Sep 2010

Potassium salt intake can improve blood pressure: Study

An increased intake of 'good' potassium salts could contribute significantly to improving blood pressure at the population level. The favourable effect brought about by potassium is even estimated to be comparable with the blood pressure reduction achievable by halving the intake of 'bad' sodium salts (mostly from table salt).

14 Sep 2010

Researchers develop GAL4/UAS system to study human neurological diseases

A team of University of Oklahoma researchers studying neurobiology in fruit flies (Drosophila) has developed a new method for understanding brain function with potential applications in studies of human neurological diseases.

13 Sep 2010