August 26, 2010 – 3:00 pm
Malignant melanoma is the third larger cancer killer. A drug aimed at a genetic mutation common with malignant melanoma reduces tumors in most patients who had the mutation. An experimental drug designed to block the effects of a genetic mutation often found in patients with malignant melanoma, a deadly cancer with few existing treatments, significantly shrank tumors in about 80 percent of those who carried the mutation. Click thru and read all the details. A small percentage of the patients experienced disappearance of tumours. But do not expect it at a doctor’s office any time soon. Further studies are needed before the drug can be approved by the FDA. I find this infuriating. Once you’ve been given a death sentence… (Source: FuturePundit)
August 11, 2010 – 3:00 pm
But does Tylenol cut emotional pain better or worse than Advil? A University of Florida researcher says acetaminophen, an ingredient in the popular over-the-counter pain reliever, may relieve social pain from hurt feelings. The findings suggest for the first time that emotional and physical pain are interrelated, said Gregory Webster, a UF psychologist who co-authored the study with a team of researchers. If you think you are about to get dumped then time for a pain killer drug. Of course the thoughtful dumper will offer a pill to the dumpee. There must be 50 drugs to leave your lover. ÂWe think that social pain piggybacks onto physical pain and the two systems sort of bleed into each other, so that… (Source: FuturePundit)
August 11, 2010 – 3:00 pm
But does Tylenol cut emotional pain better or worse than Advil? A University of Florida researcher says acetaminophen, an ingredient in the popular over-the-counter pain reliever, may relieve social pain from hurt feelings. The findings suggest for the first time that emotional and physical pain are interrelated, said Gregory Webster, a UF psychologist who co-authored the study with a team of researchers. If you think you are about to get dumped then time for a pain killer drug. Of course the thoughtful dumper will offer a pill to the dumpee. There must be 50 drugs to leave your lover. ÂWe think that social pain piggybacks onto physical pain and the two systems sort of bleed into each other, so that… (Source: FuturePundit)
Some day you’ll be able to get your immune cells reprogrammed to go on hunter killer attack missions against tumors. Researchers at UCLAÂs Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center created a large, well armed battalion of tumor-seeking immune system cells and watched, in real time using Positron Emission Tomography (PET), as the special forces traveled throughout the body to locate and attack dangerous melanomas. But for now this sort of thing only gets done for those tricky lab mice who have done such a great job of convincing researchers into developing medical treatments for them first. If I had terminal cancer and a large sum of money I’d hire medical researchers to do this to my own immune system. The gene therapy… (Source: FuturePundit)
Neurotic, less agreeable, and unconscientious kids are most likely to be made more violent from playing video games. WASHINGTON Â Playing violent video games can make some adolescents more hostile, particularly those who are less agreeable, less conscientious and easily angered. But for others, it may offer opportunities to learn new skills and improve social networking. In a special issue of the journal Review of General Psychology, published in June by the American Psychological Association, researchers looked at several studies that examined the potential uses of video games as a way to improve visual/spatial skills, as a health aid to help manage diabetes or pain and as a tool to complement psychotherapy. One study examined the negative effects of violent… (Source: FuturePundit)
morefish for dinner means fewer whales in the oceans. A one-of-a-kind killer whale population appears to be threatened by human appetites for Antarctic toothfish, better known to restaurant-goers as Chilean Sea Bass. As fishing fleets patrol their waters, catching what was their primary source of food, the whales are vanishing. Its not certain whether theyve only moved on, or are dying out, or both. But something is happening, with potentially dark implications for Earths last pristine ecosystem. Theres been a dramatic disappearance of the whales, said biologist David Ainley of ecological consulting firm H.T. Harvey and Associates, and co-author of a March Aquatic Mammals article on the whales disappearance. We think theyre having a harder time trying to find food…. (So…
Another reason to make sure you get enough vitamin D: the ability to respond to infections. Vitamin D plays a key role in activating killer T cells after those cells detect a viral or bacterial pathogen. Scientists at the University of Copenhagen have discovered that Vitamin D is crucial to activating our immune defenses and that without sufficient intake of the vitamin, the killer cells of the immune system T cells – will not be able to react to and fight off serious infections in the body. For T cells to detect and kill foreign pathogens such as clumps of bacteria or viruses, the cells must first be ‘triggered’ into action and ‘transform’ from inactive and harmless immune cells… (Source: FuturePundit)
February 28, 2010 – 4:00 pm
Regular pain killer use harms your hearing? Huh, regular rain thriller ewes arms your healing? New York, NY, March 1, 2010 In a study published in the March 2010 issue of The American Journal of Medicine, researchers determined that regular use of aspirin, acetaminophen and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) increases the risk of hearing loss in men, particularly in younger men, below age 60. A third of people in their 40s already suffer some hearing loss. But that rock and roll cranked up on headphones sure was good. I want periodic ear stem cell therapies so that I can listen to lots of loud music. Hearing loss is the most common sensory disorder in the US, afflicting over 36… (Source: FuturePundit)
November 23, 2009 – 4:00 pm
A person’s own purified adult stem cells can reduce pain from a form of heart disease. CHICAGO — The largest national stem cell study for heart disease showed the first evidence that transplanting a potent form of adult stem cells into the heart muscle of subjects with severe angina results in less pain and an improved ability to walk. The transplant subjects also experienced fewer deaths than those who didn’t receive stem cells. In the 12-month Phase II, double-blind trial, subjects’ own purified stem cells, called CD34+ cells, were injected into their hearts in an effort to spur the growth of small blood vessels that make up the microcirculation of the heart muscle. Researchers believe the loss of these blood… (Source: FuturePundit)
November 17, 2009 – 4:00 pm
Babies less prone to feel fear are more likely to commit crimes. Even at the tender age of 3, children who will go on to be convicted of a crime are less likely to learn to link fear with a certain noise than those who don’t. This may mean that an insensitivity to fear could be a driving force behind criminal behaviour. Adult criminals tend to be fearless, but whether this characteristic emerges before or after they commit a crime wasn’t clear, says Adrian Raine, a psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Will people choosing genetic alleles for their genetically engineered children make them more or less predisposed to feel pain than the average human today? The answer… (Source: FuturePundit)
