Mayo Clinic researchers uncover toxic interaction in neurons that leads to dementia and ALS

ATLANTA – December 10, 2012—A new American Cancer Society study finds a strong inverse association between caffeinated coffee intake and oral/pharyngeal cancer mortality. The authors say people who drank more than four cups of caffeinated coffee per day were at about half the risk of death of these often fatal cancers compared to those who only occasionally or who never drank coffee. The study is published online in the American Journal of Epidemiology. The authors say more research is needed to elucidate the biologic mechanisms that could be at work. Previous epidemiologic ...

Afraid to commit to a relationship? According to new research from Tel Aviv University, it could be just one more thing to blame on your parents. A study of the romantic history of 58 adults aged 22-28 found that those who avoid committed romantic relationships are likely a product of unresponsive or over-intrusive parenting, says Dr. Sharon Dekel, a psychologist and researcher at the Bob Shappell School of Social Work. Dr. Dekel and her fellow researcher, Prof. Barry Farber of Columbia University, found that 22.4 percent of study participants could be categorized ...

A decade ago, a British philosopher put forth the notion that the universe we live in might in fact be a computer simulation run by our descendants. While that seems far-fetched, perhaps even incomprehensible, a team of physicists at the University of Washington has come up with a potential test to see if the idea holds water. The concept that current humanity could possibly be living in a computer simulation comes from a 2003 paper published in Philosophical Quarterly by Nick Bostrom, a philosophy professor at the University of Oxford. In the paper, he argued that ...

Liposarcoma, the most common type of sarcoma, is an often lethal form of cancer that develops in fat cells. It is particularly deadly, in part, because the tumors are not consistently visible with positron emission tomography (PET) scans that use a common probe called FDG and because they frequently do not respond to chemotherapy. Now, using a strategy that tracks cancer cells' consumption of nucleosides, a team of researchers at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Center has identified a group of liposarcoma tumors that can be imaged by PET scanning using a tracer substance ...

Rockville, MD — Better strategies are needed to help glaucoma patients cope with difficulty reading. According to a new scientific study published in Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, adults with glaucoma read slower when reading silently for long periods of time and are more likely to have their reading speed decrease over time, possibly a result of reading fatigue. Technological solutions such as e-readers – and the many apps being created for them – could help. "Right now, so many products are available for presenting reading material in a variety of formats," ...

WASHINGTON—In the summer of 1854 a doctor named John Snow tracked London's deadly outbreak of cholera to contaminated water coming from a public well—the now famous Broad Street pump. But Snow's observations had to wend their way through the annals of science and took years to make an impact on the public health. Now, more than a century later, ordinary people can go online and report observations about public health problems and disasters in real time. In a just-published study a researcher at the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services ...

A medication being tested to help smokers kick the habit also may help avoid the weight gain that is common after quitting but only in women, according to a study published in the December issue of Biological Psychiatry. This is the first medication shown to reduce weight gain for up to one year in women smokers who quit. Naltrexone — an opioid blocker that can dampen the desire for alcohol, heroin and nicotine, as well as the pleasures of eating — helped men quit smoking. It improved their quit rates after three months of treatment in a large controlled trial, from 17 ...

PASADENA, Calif.—A secret agent is racing against time. He knows a bomb is nearby. He rounds a corner, spots a pile of suspicious boxes in the alleyway, and pulls out his cell phone. As he scans it over the packages, their contents appear onscreen. In the nick of time, his handy smartphone application reveals an explosive device, and the agent saves the day. Sound far-fetched? In fact it is a real possibility, thanks to tiny inexpensive silicon microchips developed by a pair of electrical engineers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). The chips generate ...

ATLANTA – Auditory systems differ between sexes in sparrows depending on the season, a Georgia State University neuroscientist has found. The work adds to our knowledge of how the parts of the nervous system, including that of humans, are able to change. Megan Gall, a post-doctoral researcher with Georgia State's Neuroscience Institute, tested the peripheral auditory systems of male and female house sparrows, comparing the hearing of each gender during non-breeding seasons and breeding seasons. Gall measured frequency selectivity – the ability to tell sounds that are ...

KINGSTON, R.I.— December 10, 2012 – A University of Rhode Island researcher has discovered that the weight-loss drug orlistat, known by the brand names Xenical and Alli, inhibits a key enzyme that may lead to "severe toxicity of internal organs such as the liver and kidney." The inhibition is irreversible and can be caused by a low level of the drug. Professor Bingfang Yan's study funded by the National Institutes of Health, also found that the drug alters efficacy of medicines, and particularly limits the effectiveness of some anti-cancer drugs. Part of the research ...