Medicine

Malaria kills nearly twice as many people than previously thought, but deaths declining rapidly
Malaria is killing more people worldwide than previously thought, but the number of deaths has fallen rapidly as efforts to combat the disease have ramped up, according to new research from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.

Why the middle finger has such a slow connection
Each part of the body has its own nerve cell area in the brain -we therefore have a map of our bodies in our heads. The functional significance of these maps is largely unclear. What effects they can have is now shown by RUB neuroscientists through reaction time measurements combined with learning experiments and "computational modelling".

Warning! Collision imminent!
When you are about to collide into something and manage to swerve away just in the nick of time, what exactly is happening in your brain? A new study from the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital - The Neuro, McGill University shows how the brain processes visual information to figure out when something is moving towards you or when you are about to head into a collision. The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA (PNAS), provides vital insight into our sense of vision and a greater understanding of the brain.

Brainiac babies
A Northwestern University study has found that the evidence for intuitive physics occurs in infants as young as two months - the earliest age at which testing can occur.

Music training has biological impact on aging process
Age-related delays in neural timing are not inevitable and can be avoided or offset with musical training, according to a new study from Northwestern University. The study is the first to provide biological evidence that lifelong musical experience has an impact on the aging process.

Diabetes linked to higher rate of birth defects
Pregnant women with diabetes are almost four times more likely to have a baby with a birth defect than women without the condition and a new study reveals the link to the mother's glucose level.

Test and treat model offers new strategy for eliminating malaria
As researchers work to eliminate malaria worldwide, new strategies are needed to find and treat individuals who have malaria, but show no signs of the disease. The prevalence of asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic malaria can be as high as 35 percent in populations with malaria and these asymptomatic individuals can serve as a reservoir for spreading malaria even in areas where disease transmission has declined.

Arthritic knees, but not hips, have robust repair response
Researchers at Duke University Medical Center used new tools they developed to analyze knees and hips and discovered that osteoarthritic knee joints are in a constant state of repair, while hip joints are not.

Growing up on a farm directly affects regulation of the immune system
Immunological diseases, such as eczema and asthma, are on the increase in westernised society and represent a major challenge for 21st century medicine.

The beat goes on: the geometry that makes music pleasing
Whether it's Bach or Brubeck, a new study shows that composers repeat rhythmic patterns in their works in such a way that the part is a copy of the larger whole. A research team led by neuroscientists Drs. Daniel Levitin and Vinod Menon, from McGill and Stanford Universities, respectively, analyzed the scores of close to 2,000 musical compositions written by more than 40 composers over the last 400 years in a large variety of Western musical genres.

In the mouth, smoking zaps healthy bacteria, welcomes pathogens
According to a new study, smoking causes the body to turn against its own helpful bacteria, leaving smokers more vulnerable to disease.

Faulty fat sensor implicated in obesity and liver disease
Defects in a protein that functions as a dietary fat sensor may be a cause of obesity and liver disease, according to a study published in the journal Nature, led by researchers at Imperial College London. The findings highlight a promising target for new drugs to treat obesity and metabolic disorders.

The secret to forming memories
U of A researchers have established that the brain's ability to rehearse or repeat electrical impulses may be critical in making a newly acquired memory more permanent.

Nanoparticles in food, vitamins could harm human health
Billions of engineered nanoparticles in foods and pharmaceuticals are ingested by humans daily, and new Cornell research warns they may be more harmful to health than previously thought.

Rest versus exercise: equally effective on lower back pain
Lower back pain due to Modic changes can be hard to treat and the currently recommended therapy of exercise and staying active often does not help alleviate the pain. Results of a trial, published in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Medicine, comparing exercise therapy, and staying active, to daily rest and lumbar support, showed that both treatments resulted in the same small level of improvement in pain, disability, and general health.

New discoveries on depression
During depression, the brain becomes less plastic and adaptable, and thus less able to perform certain tasks, like storing memories. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have now traced the brain's lower plasticity to reduced functionality in its support cells, and believe that learning more about these cells can pave the way for radical new therapies for depression.

Could brain size determine whether you are good at maintaining friendships?
Researchers are suggesting that there is a link between the number of friends you have and the size of the region of the brain - known as the orbital prefrontal cortex - that is found just above the eyes.

Open your eyes and smell the roses
A new study reveals for the first time that activating the brain's visual cortex with a small amount of electrical stimulation actually improves our sense of smell. The finding published in the Journal of Neuroscience by researchers at the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital - The Neuro, McGill University and the Monell Chemical Senses Center, Philadelphia, revises our understanding of the complex biology of the senses in the brain.

Molecular duo dictate weight and energy levels
Yale University researchers have discovered a key cellular mechanism that may help the brain control how much we eat, what we weigh, and how much energy we have.

Teaching about hearing can save young people's ears
Many adolescents frequently expose their ears to loud sounds, for example from portable music players. Some of them may think that 'the doctor said that my hearing is good, so I guess I can handle the loud volume'. A new doctoral thesis from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, shows that research-based teaching in school can be used to positively change adolescents' awareness and behaviour.