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(HealthDay)—The first new tick species to appear in the United States in 50 years is spreading rapidly in the east and has been confirmed in seven states and the suburbs of New York City. In its home range, the Asian longhorned tick (Haemaphysalis longicornis) carries a virus that kills 15 percent of its victims, but is considered a greater threat […]
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Social behavior in mouse models of autism spectrum disorder normalized when investigators triggered the release of a specific signaling substance, serotonin, in a single part of the animals’ brains, according to a study from the Stanford University School of Medicine. “This points to a previously understudied brain mechanism that contributes to an inability to derive pleasure from social interactions,” said […]
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(HealthDay)—A responsive parenting intervention initiated in early infancy can reduce body mass index (BMI) z score; however, a 36-month multicomponent behavioral intervention does not change BMI trajectory, according to two studies published in the Aug. 7 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. Ian M. Paul, M.D., from the Penn State College of Medicine in Hershey, and colleagues […]
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A space-exploring robot crashes on a distant planet. In order to gather the pieces of its damaged spaceship, it needs to build emotional rapport with the local alien inhabitants. The aliens speak a different language but their facial expressions are remarkably humanlike. This fantastical scenario is the premise of a video game developed for middle schoolers by University of Wisconsin–Madison […]
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A new UC San Francisco study has discovered a key biological difference in how people of European and Chinese descent put on weight—a finding that could help explain why Asians often develop type 2 diabetes at a much lower body weight than Caucasians. The research, published online May 28, 2018 in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, could be […]
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(HealthDay)—At least 212 people in 44 states have been sickened in Salmonella outbreaks linked to contact with live poultry in backyard flocks, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Twenty-six percent of the patients are children younger than 5. Thirty-four people have been hospitalized. No deaths have been reported. People who became ill said they got live […]
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Alcohol increases the mortality of young but not old mice infected with the tuberculosis-causing bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), and this effect is mediated by the production of a protein called interferon-alpha (IFN-α). The study, led by Deepak Tripathi of the University of Texas Health Science Center, will be published August 2 in the open-access journal PLOS Pathogens. Chronic alcohol consumption […]
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Johns Hopkins Medicine scientists say they have found new evidence in lab-grown mouse brain cells, called astrocytes, that one root of Alzheimer’s disease may be a simple imbalance in acid-alkaline—or pH—chemistry inside endosomes, the nutrient and chemical cargo shuttles in cells. Astrocytes work to clear so-called amyloid beta proteins from the spaces between neurons, but decades of evidence has shown […]
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NIH-funded researchers delayed signs of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in rodents by injecting them with a second-generation drug designed to silence the gene, superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1). The results, published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, suggest the newer version of the drug may be effective at treating an inherited form of the disease caused by mutations in SOD1. Currently, […]
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Research conducted at the Wayne State University School of Medicine has helped confirm the effectiveness of a blood biomarker that can indicate if patients with a head injury can avoid a costly CT scan because the blood test results indicate no traumatic brain injury (TBI). The findings, published online in The Lancet Neurology on July 24, validated the use of […]
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