Health & Medicine : Science World Report

May 15, 2012 04:35 PM EDT

Sugar Makes You Stupid

Attention, college students cramming between midterms and finals: Binging on soda and sweets for as little as six weeks may make you stupid.

May 15, 2012 04:26 PM EDT

All Cancer Cells Are Not Created Equal

A study from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers suggests that specific populations of tumor cells have different roles in the process by which tumors make new copies of themselves and grow.

May 15, 2012 02:57 PM EDT

Reported Increase in Older Adult Fall Deaths Due to Improved Coding

The recent dramatic increase in the fall death rate in older Americans is likely the effect of improved reporting quality, according to a new report from the Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy. The report finds the largest increase in the mortality rate occurred immediately followin...

May 15, 2012 01:26 PM EDT

Mice with Big Brains Provide Insight into Brain Regeneration and Developmental Disorders

Scientists at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI) and the University of Ottawa (uOttawa) have discovered that mice that lack a gene called Snf2l have brains that are 35 per cent larger than normal. The research, led by Dr. David Picketts and published in the prestigious journal Development...

May 15, 2012 12:56 PM EDT

Brain Circuitry Is Different for Women with Anorexia and Obesity

Why does one person become anorexic and another obese? A study recently published by a University of Colorado School of Medicine researcher shows that reward circuits in the brain are sensitized in anorexic women and desensitized in obese women. The findings also suggest that eating behavior is rela...

May 15, 2012 12:17 PM EDT

Solar-Panel-Like Cells Help Restore Sight to the Blind

Using tiny solar-panel-like cells surgically placed underneath the retina, scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine have devised a system that may someday restore sight to people who have lost vision because of certain types of degenerative eye diseases.

May 15, 2012 09:32 AM EDT

CNIO Scientists Successfully Test the first Gene Therapy Against Aging-associated Decline

A number of studies have shown that it is possible to lengthen the average life of individuals of many species, including mammals, by acting on specific genes. To date, however, this has meant altering the animals' genes permanently from the embryonic stage - an approach impracticable in humans.

May 15, 2012 09:22 AM EDT

Scientists Make Breakthrough in Bile Duct Cancer with Discovery of New Gene Mutations

A team of international scientists has made a significant breakthrough in understanding the cause of bile duct cancer, a deadly type of liver cancer. By identifying several new genes frequently mutated in bile duct cancers, researchers are paving the way for better understanding of how bile duct can...

May 15, 2012 08:58 AM EDT

Novel Drug Candidates Offer New Route to Controlling Inflammation

Pursuing a relatively untapped route for regulating the immune system, an international team of researchers has designed and conducted initial tests on molecules that have the potential to treat diseases involving inflammation, such as asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, stroke and sepsis.

May 14, 2012 03:40 PM EDT

Blood Pressure Drugs don't Protect Against Colorectal Cancer

A new study has found that, contrary to current thinking, taking beta blockers that treat high blood pressure does not decrease a person's risk of developing colorectal cancer. Published early online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, the study also revealed that even...

May 14, 2012 01:11 PM EDT

Drug Kills Cancer Cells by Restoring Faulty Tumor Suppressor

A new study describes a compound that selectively kills cancer cells by restoring the structure and function of one of the most commonly mutated proteins in human cancer, the "tumor suppressor" p53.

May 14, 2012 10:35 AM EDT

Scientists Make Droundbreaking Discovery of Mutation-causing Genetic Disorder in Humans

Scientists at A*STAR's Institute of Medical Biology (IMB), in collaboration with doctors and scientists in Jordan, Turkey, Switzerland and USA, have identified the genetic cause of a birth defect known as Hamamy syndrome . Their groundbreaking findings were published on May 13th in the prestigious j...