Liar, Liar, Brain’s On Fire
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“Any fool can tell the truth,” wrote British author Samuel Butler, “but it requires a man of some sense to know how to lie well.”
Not so, according to a new study. All it takes to lie well—or at least consistently and deliberately—is a slightly abnormal brain, one with more white matter and less grey matter in the prefrontal cortex than the rest of us.
Anxiety in Decades Past Linked to Parkinson’s
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With the help of a decades old database, doctors have bridged past anxiety and negativism with the development of Parkinson’s disease and parkinsonism years later.
Researchers accessed the Mayo Clinic database looking for patients who had been treated between the years 1962 and 1965 and who had taken the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)—a standard instrument that captures personality characteristics such as anxiety, depression, sociability, and negativity or pessimism.
Got Pain? Play a Video Game
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Got pain? Try a video game. Sports and fighting video games produce a dramatic level of pain distraction than others, according to a new study by Dr. Bryan Raudenbush, associate professor of psychology at Wheeling Jesuit University in Wheeling, WV.
Raudenbush’s study, Effects of Video Game Play Types on Pain Threshold and Tolerance, was presented at the Society for Psychophysiological Research Conference, September 20-25, in Lisbon, Portugal.
MU Researchers Identify Key Factor in Onset of Heart Disease
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Each year about 950,000 Americans die of cardiovascular disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control, making it the leading cause of death in the United States. One symptom of heart disease is a thickening of artery walls, a condition known as atherosclerosis. New research conducted at the University of Missouri-Columbia has identified one of the causes of this condition and could lead to an effective treatment.
Cheikh Seye, MU assistant research professor in biochemistry, and a team of researchers from the “Inflammation Research Group,” led by professor Gary Weisman at MU’s Life Sciences Center, found that a particular nucleotide receptor, P2Y2, plays a significant role in abnormal cell growth that leads to atherosclerosis. Nucleotide receptors act as receiving antennae on a cell’s surface. When a nucleotide comes into contact with the receptor, it flips a switch that makes a cell perform a certain function. In this case, the nucleotides adenosine 5’-triphosphate (ATP) and uridine 5-triphosphate (UTP) encounter the receptor on endothelial cells that line the interior of arteries, and smooth muscle cells that make up the blood vessel wall. In turn, the receptor causes smooth muscle cells to multiply and blood monocytes, a type of white blood cell, to bind to endothelial cells.
Family Member Fighting Cancer?
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A new study by family therapists at Brigham Young University found steps family members of cancer patients can take to better cope with the impact of the disease on their lives.
Building on previous research that has shown family support is key to improving patients’ lives, the researchers worked with families throughout the therapy process to identify trends in the ways families react to a disease that afflicts more than 10 million Americans.
Children Whose Parents Smoke Twice As Likely to Begin Smoking
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Twelve-year-olds whose parents smoked were more than two times as likely to begin smoking cigarettes on a daily basis between the ages of 13 and 21 than were children whose parents didn’t use tobacco, according to a new study that looked at family influences on smoking habits.
The research indicated that parental behavior about smoking, not attitudes, is the key factor in delaying the onset of daily smoking, according to Karl Hill, director of the University of Washington’s Seattle Social Development Project and an associate research professor of social work.
Dark chocolate helps diarrhea
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By Children’s Hospital & Research Center at Oakland, A new study conducted by researchers at Children’s Hospital & Research Center Oakland is the first to discover that a chemical in cocoa beans can limit the development of fluids that cause diarrhea. Cocoa beans contain a large amount of chemicals called flavonoids. Scientists believe that these flavonoids can be used to create natural supplements to ease diarrhea symptoms. Dark chocolate contains high concentrations of cocoa and may offer mild relief.
The study, published in the October issue of The Journal of Nutrition, found that cocoa flavonoids can bind to and inhibit a protein in the intestines called CFTR, which regulates fluid secretion in the small intestines.
Early close of trial of treatment for peripheral arterial disease announced
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Vasogen Inc. (VSGN), focused on the development of immune modulation therapies for the treatment of cardiovascular disease, announced the early close out of the 550-patient, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase 3 SIMPADICO trial of its Celacade technology for the treatment of symptomatic peripheral arterial disease (PAD).
The decision to close out the trial at this time is based on a recommendation received from the SIMPADICO Steering Committee.
Importance of blood sugar control from onset of diabetes
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Mayo Clinic researchers have found that subtle change in nerve conduction is the first reliable sign of nerve complications from Diabetes and that this change can be measured long before other symptoms or signs of nerve damage develop.
“We’ve found what we believe is the earliest sign of nerve change due to diabetes,” says Peter J. Dyck, M.D., Mayo Clinic neurologist and lead researcher on the study. Results were published in the September issue of Diabetes Care. “Changes begin much earlier than previously demonstrated,” he says.
U.S. FDA approves NDA for type 2 diabetes drug
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Takeda Pharmaceuticals North America, Inc., (TPNA) announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the New Drug Application (NDA) for Actoplus met for the treatment of type 2 diabetes.
This is the second Takeda product approved in the U.S. this summer, following the approval of Rozerem (ramelteon) on July 22, 2005.
Actoplus met combines Actos (pioglitazone HCl) and metformin, two widely used diabetes medications, in a single tablet. Actos directly targets insulin resistance, a condition where the body does not efficiently use the insulin it produces, and metformin acts primarily by reducing the amount of glucose produced by the liver. These medications work in combination to help patients with type 2 diabetes manage their blood glucose levels.
Medical assistant charged with fraud, bilking boss’ practice
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A doctor’s medical assistant faces federal charges of fraudulently obtaining prescription drugs and bilking her boss’ practice of about $32,000 over the past two years.
An indictment accuses Tracy Florez, 40, of paying 74 personal debts using the doctor’s signature stamp on checks drawn on the medical practice’s bank accounts.
