ScienceDaily: Top Health News

The tool being used to diagnose concussions might be overestimating the condition and wrongly identifying symptoms like fatigue and neck pain caused from intense exercise and not a brain injury, according to researchers. This new research raises new questions about the Sport Concussion Assessment Tool (SCAT), a questionnaire widely used along with other methods to diagnose concussions sustained during sports.

Researchers have discovered 15 'hotspots' in the genome that either speed up brain aging or slow it down -- a finding that could provide new drug targets to resist Alzheimer's disease and other degenerative brain disorders, as well as developmental delays.

Certain small RNAs called tDRs can be found inside and outside cells during stress responses to different diseases. Researchers have created an atlas of the stress signatures for tDRs that might be used as markers of disease and identify new disease-causing pathways.

They are part of the brain of almost every animal species, yet they remain usually invisible even under the electron microscope.

Scientists have developed a treatment for pulmonary fibrosis by using nanoparticles coated in mannose -- a type of sugar -- to stop a population of lung cells called macrophages that contribute to lung tissue scarring. The cell-targeting method holds promise for preventing this severe lung scarring disease, which can result in life-threatening complications like shortness of breath.

Faces and voices are more likely to be judged as male when they are angry, and as female when they are happy, new research has revealed. The study found that how we understand the emotional expression of a face or voice is heavily influenced by perceived sex, and vice versa. He said: "This study shows how important it is not to rely too much on your first impressions, as they can easily be wrong. "Next time you find yourself attributing happiness or sadness to a woman be aware of your bias and possible misinterpretation."

Physically fit primary school pupils feel better and can concentrate better. They are more likely to make it to higher-level secondary grammar schools than children with less sporting ability.

Clinical awareness of connection between alcohol and dementia is paramount to providing the best patient care management.

Many cancers exhibit high levels of the reverse transcriptase enzyme. Single-agent lamivudine, a reverse transcriptase inhibitor, stopped disease progression in over 25% of patients with fourth-line refractory metastatic colorectal cancer. These results provide evidence for the evaluation of reverse transcriptase inhibitors as a new class of anti-cancer drugs.

Biomedical engineers believe they have discovered the physical mechanism that causes high doses of antibiotics to promote the spread of antibiotic resistance between bacteria. The culprit, they say, is an overabundance of 'jumping genes,' called transposons, that carry the genetic instructions for resistance from the cell's source code to plasmids that shuttle between cells.

New research on postmenopausal women identifies associations between commonly eaten foods and the diversity and composition of oral bacteria.

Although clinical labs have known for almost a century that a oddly shaped nucleus resembling pince-nez glasses in blood cells could indicate leukemia, the cause of this anomaly remained unknown. Scientists have now discovered that loss of nuclear Lamin B1 induces defects in the nuclear morphology and in human hematopoietic [blood-forming] stem cells associated with malignancy. The scientists went on to detail that lamin B1 deficiency alters genome organization. This in turn causes expansion of blood-forming stem cells, a bias towards their becoming myeloids, genome instability due to defective DNA damage repair and other problems that set the stage for cancer.

Researchers have revealed how an 'accordion effect' is critical to switching off genes, in a study that transforms the fundamentals of what we know about gene silencing. The finding expands our understanding of how we switch genes on and off to make the different cell types in our bodies, as we develop in the womb.

For severely immunocompromised patients, a bone marrow transplant restores immune defenses and allows them to resume normal life. But after observing the nasopharyngeal system, where the body's first line of immune defense is deployed, scientists have found a failure in the immune mechanisms of some of these patients.

Physicians may be able to determine if menopause-related bone loss is already in progress or about to begin by measuring the level of a hormone called anti-Mullerian hormone that declines as women approach their final menstrual period. The findings could help physicians determine when, and how, to treat bone loss in women as they age before that bone loss causes significant health issues.

The largest randomized clinical trial to look at sodium reduction and heart failure has found that reducing salt intake does not lead to fewer emergency visits, hospitalizations or deaths for patients with heart failure. Researchers did find an improvement in symptoms such as swelling, fatigue and coughing, as well as better overall quality of life.