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Muscle synergies activated in altered ways after stroke

The simple act of picking up a pencil requires the coordination of dozens of muscles: The eyes and head must turn toward the object as the hand reaches forward and the fingers grasp it. To make this job more manageable, the brain's motor cortex has implemented a system of shortcuts. Instead of controlling each muscle independently, the cortex is believed to activate muscles in groups, known as "muscle synergies." These synergies can be combined in different ways to achieve a wide range of movements.

21 Aug 2012

Spirituality often enhances health regardless of a person's faith

Despite differences in rituals and beliefs among the world's major religions, spirituality often enhances health regardless of a person's faith, according to University of Missouri researchers. The MU researchers believe that health care providers could take advantage of this correlation between health - particularly mental health - and spirituality by tailoring treatments and rehabilitation programs to accommodate an individual's spiritual inclinations.

21 Aug 2012

Dogs offer excellent animal model for human obsessive compulsive disorder study

The genetics research group, based at the University of Helsinki and the Folkh-lsan Research Center and led by Professor Hannes Lohi, has in collaboration with an international group of researchers investigated the characteristics and environmental factors associated with compulsive tail chasing in dogs.

21 Aug 2012

People with metabolic abnormalities may experience rapid decline in their cognitive skills

People who are obese and also have high blood pressure and other risk factors called metabolic abnormalities may experience a faster decline in their cognitive skills over time than others, according to a study published in the August 21, 2012, print issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

21 Aug 2012

Study utilizes integrative approach to probe biology of bipolar disorder

The more that we understand the brain, the more complex it becomes. The same can be said about the genetics and neurobiology of psychiatric disorders. For "Mendelian" disorders, like Huntington disease, mutation of a single gene predictably produces a single clinical disorder, following relatively simple genetic principals. Compared to Mendelian disorders, understanding bipolar disorder has been extremely challenging. Its biology is not well understood and its genetics are complex.

21 Aug 2012

Study shows significant benefits of temporal training on cognitive function in the elderly

Research has found that declines in temporal information processing (TIP), the rate at which auditory information is processed, underlies the progressive loss of function across multiple cognitive systems in the elderly, including new learning, memory, perception, attention, thinking, motor control, problem solving, and concept formation. In a new study, scientists have found that elderly subjects who underwent temporal training improved not only the rate at which they processed auditory information, but also in other cognitive areas.

21 Aug 2012

High-definition fiber tractography shows white matter tracts in living brain

A technique called high-definition fiber tractography (HDFT) provides a powerful new tool for tracing the course of nerve fiber connections within the brain—with the potential to improve the accuracy of neurosurgical planning and to advance scientific understanding of the brain's structural and functional networks, reports a paper in the August issue of Neurosurgery, official journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons.

21 Aug 2012

Mayo Clinic receives approval for construction of new building on Phoenix campus

Mayo Clinic has been granted approval for construction of a 217,200 square-foot building on its Phoenix campus, a major expansion that will create a single-site, integrated Cancer Center. Mayo Clinic Cancer Center is the only National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center with a multi-site, national presence, which allows us to serve a broad and diverse group of patients.

21 Aug 2012

Viewpoints: Insuring medical treatments are well researched; GOP Govs reluctance on exchanges may backfire

By 1990, many doctors were recommending hormone replacement therapy to healthy middle-aged women and P.S.A. screening for prostate cancer to older men. Both interventions had become standard medical practice. But in 2002, a randomized trial showed that preventive hormone replacement caused more problems (more heart disease and breast cancer) than it solved. ... Then, in 2009, trials showed that P.S.A. screening led to many unnecessary surgeries and had a dubious effect on prostate cancer deaths.

21 Aug 2012

India's CNBC-TV18 examines implications of country's decision to issue compulsory license for Bayer cancer drug

"India's grant of a compulsory license to Natco for Bayer's kidney-cancer drug Nexavar has sent shockwaves across the globe," but "India has found a backer in the World Health Organization," CNBC-TV18's "moneycontrol.com" reports.

21 Aug 2012

Portable Micro-Plasma Device may help repair skin after laser surgery

A National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) research team has designed a Portable Micro-Plasma Device (PMPD) that may be the ultimate solution to repairing the skin after laser surgery.

21 Aug 2012

Thiabendazole drug slows tumor growth and shows promise as chemotherapy for cancer

An inexpensive antifungal drug, thiabendazole, slows tumor growth and shows promise as a chemotherapy for cancer. Scientists in the College of Natural Sciences at The University of Texas at Austin made this discovery by exploiting the evolutionary relatedness of yeast, frogs, mice and humans.

21 Aug 2012

Studies raise possibility of new DBS approaches to treat obesity

Scientific advances in understanding the "addiction circuitry" of the brain may lead to effective treatment for obesity using deep brain stimulation (DBS), according to a review article in the August issue of Neurosurgery, official journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons.

21 Aug 2012

Majority of Californians support health reform, Poll says; Gov. Brown plans special legislative session on health law

Californians support health reform, a new polls says, even as Calif. Gov. Jerry Brown seeks a special session from state lawmakers to deal with health reform issues, which he says can go no further without more federal guidance.

21 Aug 2012

New neurotechnology aims to help rehabilitate stroke survivors

What comes naturally to most people - to think and then do - is difficult for stroke patients who have lost the full use of their limbs. New research by Rice University, the University of Houston (UH) and TIRR Memorial Hermann aims to help victims recover that ability to the fullest extent possible with a $1.17 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the President's National Robotics Initiative (NRI).

21 Aug 2012

Daily vitamin D intake protects against respiratory infections in children

A study conducted in Mongolian schoolchildren supports the possibility that daily vitamin D supplementation can reduce the risk of respiratory infections in winter. In a report that will appear in the journal Pediatrics and has received early online release, an international research team found that vitamin D supplementation decreased the risk of respiratory infections among children who had low blood levels of vitamin D at the start of the study.

21 Aug 2012

Coconut water really does deserve its popular reputation as Mother Nature's own sports drink

Coconut water really does deserve its popular reputation as Mother Nature's own sports drink, a new scientific analysis of the much-hyped natural beverage concluded here today at the 244th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS).

21 Aug 2012

Semen protein acts on the female brain to prompt ovulation

An international team of scientists led by Gregg Adams at the University of Saskatchewan has discovered that a protein in semen acts on the female brain to prompt ovulation, and is the same molecule that regulates the growth, maintenance, and survival of nerve cells.

21 Aug 2012

Roundup: Abortion cases against Kan. Planned Parenthood dropped; Maine Readies session on money owed hospitals; Calif. suing doc over billing practices

The first criminal prosecution of Planned Parenthood came to an abrupt end Friday when Kansas prosecutors dropped all charges against a local affiliate accused of failing to determine the viability of fetuses before abortions were performed. ... They said that state law did not prohibit Planned Parenthood from using the gestational age of fetuses to determine whether they were viable or could survive outside of the womb.

21 Aug 2012

BioDiem and French partner VIVALIS a step forward in developing vaccines for diseases and related cancers

Australian infectious disease therapy and vaccine development company BioDiem Ltd (ASX: BDM) announced today successful results from two programs of work carried out by French partner VIVALIS (NYSE Euronext: VLS), confirming the ability of BioDiem’s Live Attenuated Influenza Virus (LAIV) to grow in VIVALIS’ proprietary EB66® cell line.

20 Aug 2012

Research News and Research

Muscle synergies activated in altered ways after stroke

Spirituality often enhances health regardless of a person's faith

Dogs offer excellent animal model for human obsessive compulsive disorder study

People with metabolic abnormalities may experience rapid decline in their cognitive skills

Study utilizes integrative approach to probe biology of bipolar disorder

Study shows significant benefits of temporal training on cognitive function in the elderly

High-definition fiber tractography shows white matter tracts in living brain

Mayo Clinic receives approval for construction of new building on Phoenix campus

Viewpoints: Insuring medical treatments are well researched; GOP Govs reluctance on exchanges may backfire

India's CNBC-TV18 examines implications of country's decision to issue compulsory license for Bayer cancer drug

Portable Micro-Plasma Device may help repair skin after laser surgery

Thiabendazole drug slows tumor growth and shows promise as chemotherapy for cancer

Studies raise possibility of new DBS approaches to treat obesity

Majority of Californians support health reform, Poll says; Gov. Brown plans special legislative session on health law

New neurotechnology aims to help rehabilitate stroke survivors

Daily vitamin D intake protects against respiratory infections in children

Coconut water really does deserve its popular reputation as Mother Nature's own sports drink

Semen protein acts on the female brain to prompt ovulation

Roundup: Abortion cases against Kan. Planned Parenthood dropped; Maine Readies session on money owed hospitals; Calif. suing doc over billing practices

BioDiem and French partner VIVALIS a step forward in developing vaccines for diseases and related cancers

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