Archives

Could a simple vitamin A and zinc supplement help protect young children from malaria? A randomized double blind trial would suggest the answer is yes. Vitamin A and zinc play a critical role in the normal function of the immune system, and may even play a synergistic role for reducing the risk of infection including malaria caused by Plasmodium falciparum.

What are the lifetime medical costs associated with obesity? Researchers found that the group of healthy, never-smoking individuals had the highest lifetime healthcare costs, because they lived the longest and developed diseases associated with aging; healthcare costs were lowest for the smokers, and intermediate for the group of obese never-smokers.

Researchers have demonstrated that in mice, the use of barbells may be as important to losing weight and improving health as the use of running shoes. The discovery builds upon the fact that skeletal muscle consists of two types of fibers. Endurance training such as running increases the amount of type I muscle fibers, while resistance training such as weightlifting increases type II muscle fibers.

Zebrafish are genetically similar to humans and good models for human diseases. Now, researchers have bred a zebrafish that is transparent throughout its life, allowing researchers to directly view its internal organs and observe disease processes like tumor growth or engraftment of bone-marrow transplants in a living organism.

The highest cost in rheumatoid arthritis results from patients having to leave the workforce early due to the disease. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is one of the most common autoimmune diseases and a leading cause of chronic pain affecting over three million people in Europe alone.

A new model may help unravel the cause of fibrous, noncancerous nerve tumors called neurofibromas, which can lead to disfigurement and in rare cases death by compressing vital organs. Researchers said their findings also provide a way to test therapies that could eventually help patients with limited options for treating the disease -- Neurofibromatosis type 1.

In experiments with rats, researchers have identified the change in brain circuitry that drives development of a compulsion to seek drugs, even when that compulsion is self-destructive. The researchers demonstrated the function of the circuitry by selectively switching off drug-seeking in the animals. They said their findings show the key role of the brain region, known as the striatum, which is a region activated by reward.

Cigarette smokers are four times as likely as nonsmokers to report feeling unrested after a night's sleep. Smokers also spend less time in deep sleep and more time in light sleep than nonsmokers. Researchers speculate that the stimulating effects of nicotine could cause smokers to experience nicotine withdrawal each night, which may contribute to disturbances in sleep.

Genetic evidence has been provided that Activating Transcription Factor 2 plays a suppressor role in skin cancer development. ATF2 is a protein that regulates gene transcription, the first step in the translation of genetic code, in response to extracellular stresses such as ultraviolet light and ionizing radiation. This function of ATF2 in stress and DNA damage response suggests it may also play a role in tumor formation.

Certain environmental toxins, such as the mycoestrogen zearalenone produced by the Fusarium fungus species, can be found naturally in the environment, have properties similar to the female reproductive hormone estrogen, and are also structurally similar to anabolic growth agents used in animal breeding. A new study suggests that certain mycoestrogens may be directly linked to the early onset of sexual development in young girls.