EurekAlert! - National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 13-Jun-2012

Epilepsia
Epileptic seizures linked to common childhood viral infection
Investigators report that a common, treatable virus was found in a third of infants with prolonged seizures. Many of these infants develop repeat seizures, suffer cognitive declines and go on to develop full-blown epilepsy. An antiviral trial would determine if repeat seizures could be prevented.

NIH/National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

Public Release: 13-Jun-2012

American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
Folic acid intake during early pregnancy associated with reduced risk of autism in offspring
A new study by researchers at the UC Davis MIND Institute suggests that women who consume the recommended daily dosage of folic acid, the synthetic form of folate or vitamin B-9, during the first month of pregnancy may have a reduced risk of having a child with autism.

National Institutes of Health, US Environmental Protection Agency

Public Release: 13-Jun-2012

Nature
Key enzyme plays roles as both friend and foe to cancer
A molecule thought to limit cell proliferation also helps cancer cells survive during initial tumor formation and when the wayward cells spread to other organs in the body, researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine have found.

National Institutes of Health, Chicago Biomedical Consortium, Searle Funds at the Chicago Community Trust, Diabetes Research and Training Center at the University of Chicago

Public Release: 13-Jun-2012

Nature
Berkeley Lab scientists help define the healthy human microbiome
A National Institutes of Health (NIH)-organized consortium that includes Berkeley Lab scientists has for the first time mapped the normal microbial make-up of humans. Berkeley Lab's role in mapping the human microbiome revolves around big data, both analyzing it and making it available for scientists to use worldwide. The research will help scientists understand how our microbiome keeps us healthy. It'll also shed light on our microbiome's role in many diseases.

National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 13-Jun-2012

Neuron
Fruit flies reveal mechanism behind ALS-like disease
Studying how nerve cells send and receive messages, Johns Hopkins scientists have discovered new ways that genetic mutations can disrupt functions in neurons and lead to neurodegenerative disease, including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

Packard Center for ALS Research at Johns Hopkins, NIH/National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Public Release: 13-Jun-2012

Journal of Medicinal Chemistry
New drug-screening method yields long-sought anti-HIV compounds
Scientists at the Scripps Research Institute have used a powerful new chemical-screening method to find compounds that inhibit the activity of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the virus that causes AIDS.

NIH/National Institute of General Medical Sciences, NIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infection Diseases, California HIV/AIDS Research Program, others

Public Release: 13-Jun-2012

Journal of Vision
Increased use of hand held devices may call for new photo guidelines
Viewing Facebook and Flickr photos on a smart phone are becoming common practice. But according to a recently published Journal of Vision study, pictures on the small screen often appear distorted. Vision scientists found that perceptual distortions occur because picture takers do not take their viewing distance into account.

National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, others

Public Release: 13-Jun-2012

Nature
Normal bacterial makeup has huge implications for health, says CU professor
For the first time a consortium of researchers organized by the National Institutes of Health, including a University of Colorado Boulder professor, has mapped the normal microbial makeup of healthy humans.

National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 13-Jun-2012

PLOS Genetics
IU role in Human Microbiome Project exposes battle history between bacteria, viruses in human body
An Indiana University team of researchers has conducted the most in-depth and diverse genetic analysis of the defense systems that trillions of microorganisms in the human body use to fend off viruses.

National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 13-Jun-2012

Ethnicity & Disease
Study finds socioeconomic status linked to weight gain and risk of obesity in African-American women
Socioeconomic status across one's lifetime is related to weight gain and risk of obesity in African-American women, according to a new study led by researchers from the Slone Epidemiology Center at Boston University. These findings currently appear online in the journal Ethnicity & Disease.

NIH/National Cancer Institute

Public Release: 13-Jun-2012

Nature
More than 1 way to be healthy: Map of bacterial makeup of humans reveals microbial rare biosphere
Results of the NIH's Human Microbiome Project confirm concept of "rare biosphere" of microbial life, originally discovered in ocean samples by MBL scientists, and with many implications for human health.

National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 13-Jun-2012

Menopause
Hysterectomy may lead to arterial stiffening in postmenopausal women
Estrogen-deficient, postmenopausal women who have had their uterus removed appear to have stiffer arteries compared to women who have not had hysterectomies, according to the University of Colorado School of Medicine.

National Institutes of Health, NIH/National Institute on Aging, Center for Women's Health Research at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, University of Colorado Office of Interdisciplinary Research in Women's Health

Public Release: 13-Jun-2012

Medical Care
Study finds Massachusetts health reform leads to increased inpatient surgical procedures
Researchers from Boston University Schools of Medicine and Public Health (BUSM, BUSPH), along with the VA Boston Healthcare System and Harvard Medical School, have found inpatient medical procedures increased more among non-elderly, lower- and medium- income populations, Hispanics and whites, after health care reform went into effect in Massachusetts. The findings, which currently appear in Medical Care, suggest improved access to outpatient care for vulnerable subpopulations since health care reform took effect.

NIH/National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute

Public Release: 13-Jun-2012

Journal of Neuroscience
Researchers identify new group of proteins in the brains of Alzheimer's patients
Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine have identified a novel group of proteins that accumulate in the brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease. These findings, which appear online in the Journal of Neuroscience, may open up novel approaches to diagnose and stage the progression likelihood of the disease in Alzheimer's patients.

NIH/National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, NIH/National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, NIH/National Institute on Aging

Public Release: 13-Jun-2012

Development Psychology
Early learning about spatial relationships boosts understanding of numbers
Children who are skilled in understanding how shapes fit together to make recognizable objects also have an advantage when it comes to learning the number line and solving math problems. The work is further evidence of the value of providing young children with early opportunities in spatial learning, which contributes to their ability to mentally manipulate objects and understand spatial relationships.

NIH/National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Science Foundation, National Center for Education Research

Public Release: 13-Jun-2012

Nature
Advanced cancers destined to recur after treatment with single drugs that 'target' tumor cells
Targeted cancer cell therapies using man-made proteins dramatically shrink many tumors in the first few months of treatment, but new research from Johns Hopkins scientists finds why the cells all too often become resistant, the treatment stops working, and the disease returns.

Virginia and D.K. Ludwig Fund for Cancer Research, National Colorectal Cancer Research Alliance, Swim Across America, National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 13-Jun-2012

Science Translational Medicine
Clarity begins at exome
In the June 13 issue of Science Translational Medicine, an international team led by researchers from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine reports that the new technology of exome sequencing is not only a promising method for identifying disease-causing genes, but may also improve diagnoses and guide individual patient care.

Howard Hughes Medical Institute, NIH/National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, NIH/National Human Genome Research Institute

Public Release: 13-Jun-2012

Cell Host & Microbe
Scripps research scientists show lack of single protein results in persistent viral infection
Scientists from the Scripps Research Institute have shown a single protein can make the difference between an infection clearing out of the body or persisting for life.

National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 13-Jun-2012

Cell Host and Microbe
Bacterium signals plant to open up and let friends in
Researchers have identified the set of tools an infectious microbe uses to persuade a plant to open the windows and let the bug and all of its friends inside.

National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, US Department of Energy, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation

Public Release: 13-Jun-2012

Nature
Human Microbiome Project finds vast individuality in healthy human bacterial populations
In attempting to determine whether there were particular types of bacteria that were common, or "core", across all the human subjects in the HMP cohort, researchers found some bacteria that were common to 95 percent of all subjects at the sample sites. The largest number of core bacteria were found at the mouth sites, and the least in the vagina. Abundances of the core species, however, varied widely, indicating the strong individuality of each subject's microbiome.

National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 13-Jun-2012

Nature
Mapping the healthy human microbiome
Human beings are ecosystems on two legs, each of us carrying enough microbes to outnumber our human cells by 10 to 1 and our genes by even more. The Human Microbiome Project Consortium, a five-year collaboration including the Broad Institute, has for the first time answered two fundamental questions about the microbiota that healthy humans carry: Who's there and what are they doing?

National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, LANL Laboratory-Directed Research and Development grant, US Defense Threat Reduction Agency, Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation, Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of Canada Grant, others

Public Release: 13-Jun-2012

Genome Biology
Forsyth scientists define the bacteria that live in the mouth, throat and gut
For the first time, scientists have defined the bacteria that inhabit multiple sites along the healthy human digestive tract in a large number of individuals. As part of the Human Microbiome Project, the Forsyth Institute-led team examined bacteria found in adults at 10 sites along the digestive tract, including seven mouth surfaces, the tonsils, the throat and stool samples.

NIH/National Cancer Institute, NIH/National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research

Public Release: 13-Jun-2012

Nature
Human Microbiome Project outlines powerful new methods for cataloging and analyzing microbes
New studies led by Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) researchers have helped identify and analyze the vast human "microbiome"-- the more than five million microbial genes that exist inside the human body.

National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 13-Jun-2012

Science Translational Medicine
Researchers find new cause of cardiac damage after heart attack in type 1 diabetes
Scientists have been puzzled by the fact that after people with type 1 diabetes have a heart attack, their long-term chance of suffering even more heart damage skyrockets. Dr. Myra Lipes and team at Joslin Diabetes Center have identified the misstep that sparks this runaway chronic damage and a promising way to block it.

National Institutes of Health, Seaver Institute, Burroughs Welcome Fund, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation

Public Release: 13-Jun-2012

PLOS ONE
Caregiver's health is strong predictor of orphan's health
The health of a caregiver is the most important predictor of orphan health, according to a new Duke University study that spans five less-wealthy nations in Africa and Asia. More important than an orphan's geographic location, living conditions or past trauma, the Duke study finds that an unhealthy caregiver likely means an unhealthy child.

National Institutes of Health