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Omega-3 fatty acids improve cognitive function in older adults

Changes in cognitive function and memory decline form a normal part of aging. However, in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease or mild cognitive impairment (the pre-dementia phase of Alzheimer's disease), these changes occur more quickly. There are currently no effective treatments for these diseases.

16 Mar 2016

Scientists explore new strategies to prevent onset of type 1 diabetes

Type 1 diabetes affects 30,000 individuals throughout Germany and is the most common metabolic disease in children and adolescents. To halt the ever-increasing incidence, the young investigator group "Immunological Tolerance in Type 1 Diabetes" at the Institute of Diabetes Research directed by Prof. Dr. Anette-Gabriele Ziegler is exploring new strategies to prevent the onset of the disease.

16 Mar 2016

Research sheds light on healthy cardiac parameters, blood pressure levels of college football players

Ensuring the health and safety of student athletes is a top priority at Texas A&M, especially in the Department of Health and Kinesiology and the Health Science Center College of Medicine. Recent research published in The American Journal of Cardiology and led by Stephen Crouse, Ph.D., is shedding light on the healthy cardiac parameters and blood pressure levels of collegiate American-style football (ASF) athletes.

16 Mar 2016

Smartphone microscopes could improve detection of skin cancer in developing countries

Everyone knows smartphones can be used as calendars, calculators, radios and cameras. But, did you know they can also be used as microscopes that have the potential to save lives? They are called smartphone microscopes and dermatologists at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston think these devices could improve the detection of skin cancer in developing countries.

16 Mar 2016

Blocking Mena protein could help prevent cancer metastasis, says MIT researcher

A new study from MIT reveals how cancer cells take some of their first steps away from their original tumor sites. This spread, known as metastasis, is responsible for 90 percent of cancer deaths.

16 Mar 2016

New hearing aid adjustment program may help increase hearing aid use for older adults

Hearing loss is the third most common chronic illness for older adults. It can impact everyday life and can significantly affect a person's health and safety if gone untreated. Hearing aids are the most common treatment for hearing loss. However, in 2005 more than 325,000 hearing aids, less than four years old were unused according to a previous study in the Hearing Journal.

16 Mar 2016

ROBO1 protein may delay progression of breast cancer

A protein called ROBO1 may delay the progression of breast cancer, according to a paper published in The Journal of Cell Biology. The study, "Loss of miR-203 regulates cell shape and matrix adhesion through ROBO1/Rac/FAK in response to stiffness" by Lily Thao-Nhi Le and colleagues, identifies a signaling pathway that may protect breast cells from the tumorigenic effects of stiff extracellular matrices.

16 Mar 2016

Diet-induced obesity, diabetes can be epigenetically inherited by offspring, say scientists

Scientists at Helmholtz Zentrum München, in collaboration with researchers from Technical University of Munich and the German Center for Diabetes Research, have shown that diet-induced obesity and diabetes can be epigenetically inherited by the offspring via both the oocytes and the sperm.

16 Mar 2016

Researchers devise synthetic patch filled with insulin-producing beta cells to control blood sugar levels

For decades, researchers have tried to duplicate the function of beta cells, the tiny insulin-producing entities that don't work properly in patients with diabetes. Insulin injections provide painful and often imperfect substitutes. Transplants of normal beta cells carry the risk of rejection or side effects from immunosuppressive therapies.

16 Mar 2016

Oral contraceptives increase rare stroke risk in obese women

Researchers have found that obese women taking oral contraceptives have an increased risk of cerebral venous thrombosis and should be educated about this risk accordingly.

16 Mar 2016

Study: New SARS-like WIV1-CoV virus poised to infect humans

A SARS-like virus found in Chinese horseshoe bats may be poised to infect humans without the need for adaptation, overcoming an initial barrier that could potentially set the stage for an outbreak according to a study at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

16 Mar 2016

Decreased dietary diversity linked to reduced microbiotic richness

Changes in farming practices over the last 50 years have resulted in decreased agro-diversity which, in turn, has resulted in decreased dietary diversity. The significant impact of this change in dietary richness on human health is the topic of an insightful perspective in Molecular Metabolism by Mark Heiman, MicroBiome Therapeutics and Frank Greenway, Pennington Biomedical Research Center

15 Mar 2016

Parent-infant interaction sessions need to focus on at-risk families

To more effectively and efficiently meet the needs of at-risk families, a Georgia State University study suggests the introduction of a technological enhancement to improve acquisition of skills developed during parent-infant sessions.

15 Mar 2016

School fitness reports ineffective in promoting weight loss among students

Teens being classified as overweight in school fitness reports does not appear to have any impact on short-term changes in body mass index, finds a new study by New York University's Institute for Education and Social Policy, the Center for Policy Research at Syracuse University's Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, and Columbia University.

15 Mar 2016

Living in poor neighborhoods puts young people at greatest risk for becoming obese in later life

A new study from the University of Colorado Denver shows the length of time children and young adults live in poor neighborhoods is associated with obesity later in life.

15 Mar 2016

Researchers identify important role of sleep in stroke care, rehabilitation

Researchers identify sleep as a problem in patients with stroke, and highlight the need to give greater consideration to sleep in stroke care, and in particular stroke rehabilitation.

15 Mar 2016

Real-time imaging method may lead to improved stroke care

According to the American Heart Association, ischemic strokes account for nearly 90 percent of all strokes. They occur when a blocked artery prevents blood from getting to the brain and usually result in long-term disability or death. Now, a team of researchers led by the University of Missouri School of Medicine has developed a new, real-time method of imaging molecular events after strokes - a finding that may lead to improved care for patients.

15 Mar 2016

Postnatal depression dissuades women from having a third child

Mothers who have postnatal depression are unlikely to have more than two children according to research carried out by evolutionary anthropologists the University of Kent and published by Evolution, Medicine and Public Health.

15 Mar 2016

Oral pill could improve breast cancer diagnostic techniques

The ongoing debate about breast cancer diagnostics has left many women confused — particularly over what age they should get mammograms and who needs treatment. An issue with current methods is that they often identify lumps but cannot conclusively pinpoint which ones are cancerous. To help resolve this uncertainty, researchers have developed a pill that could improve imaging techniques so that only cancerous tumors light up.

15 Mar 2016

Researchers describe antibiotic resistance as either selfish or co-operative

Trace concentrations of antibiotic, such as those found in sewage outfalls, are enough to enable bacteria to keep antibiotic resistance, new research from the University of York has found. The concentrations are much lower than previously anticipated, and help to explain why antibiotic resistance is so persistent in the environment.

15 Mar 2016