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Countering Brain Chemical Could Prevent Suicides

By Guest PostDecember 14, 2012Healthamino acid, anesthetic ketamine, anti glutamate drugs, anti inflammatory drugs, brain, causes of depression, chemical, glutamate, glutamate activity, glutamate signaling, grand rapids, immune response, inflammation, inhibit, lena brundin, mechanism of disease, michigan state university, nerve cells, neurotransmitter, preventing suicide, quinolinic acid, risk factor, serotonin, signals, spinal fluid, suicidal behavior

Researchers have found the first proof that a chemical in the brain called glutamate is linked to suicidal behavior, offering new hope for efforts to prevent people from taking their own lives.

Writing in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology, Michigan State University’s Lena Brundin and an international team of co-investigators present the first evidence that glutamate is more active in the brains of people who attempt suicide. Glutamate is an amino acid that sends signals between nerve cells and has long been a suspect in the search for chemical causes of depression. (more…)

Dark Ages Scourge Enlightens Modern Struggle between Man and Microbes

By Guest PostDecember 14, 2012Healthgerm destroying cells, host defense mechanism, plague causing bacteria, pyroptosis, self destruct mechanism, yersinia pestis, yersinia survival strategy

The plague-causing bacteria Yersinia pestis evades detection and establishes a stronghold without setting off the body’s early alarms. New discoveries reported today help explain how the stealthy agent of Black Death avoids tripping a self-destruct mechanism inside germ-destroying cells. (more…)

Protein Strongest Just Before Death

By Guest PostDecember 13, 2012Health, Sciencecell death, cell growth, david arnosti, degradation, destruction, drosophila, fruit fly, genetic similarity, grave, humans, liang zhang, lifecycle, mechanism, michigan state university, molecular details, nontraditional lifestyle, one foot, protein, proteins, retinoblastoma, retinoblastoma proteins, treat cancer, tumor suppressor, wings

Researchers at Michigan State University have discovered a protein that does its best work with one foot in the grave.

The study, which appears in the current issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, focuses on the nontraditional lifestyle of Retinoblastoma tumor suppressor proteins, which could lead to new ways to treat cancer.

“Retinoblastoma proteins are unique in that they use controlled destruction to do their jobs in a timely but restrained fashion,” said Liang Zhang, a lead author and MSU cell and molecular biology graduate student. “This is an unusual way for proteins to act.” (more…)

Capturing Circulating Cancer Cells Could Provide Insights into How Disease Spreads

By Guest PostDecember 13, 2012Healthaggressive cancer cells, cancer biology, cancer stem cells, circulating cancer cells, circulating tumor cells, normal blood cells, stealth cancer cells

ANN ARBOR — A glass plate with a nanoscale roughness could be a simple way for scientists to capture and study the circulating tumor cells that carry cancer around the body through the bloodstream. (more…)

My, What Big Teeth You Have! Threatening Objects Appear Closer

By Guest PostDecember 13, 2012Healthfeelings of aggression, island life, stress hormone, threatening objects, threatening video, visual perception

When we’re faced with things that seem threatening, whether it’s a hairy spider or an angry mob, our goal is usually to get as far away as we can. Now, new research suggests that our visual perception may actually be biased in ways that help motivate us to get out of harm’s way. (more…)

Commentary: Mary Flynn: Tips to Avoid Holiday Overeating

By Guest PostDecember 13, 2012Healthavoid, december, dessert, dietitian, eat more, exercise more, holiday overeating, license to eat, mary flynn, meal, miriam hospital, physical activity, social contexts, weight gain

The holidays thrust many people, often happily, into social contexts that encourage overeating. While people often survive the holidays with, on average, only a small weight gain, overeating in December is just as unhealthy as it is at less festive times of year when holiday “license to eat” isn’t in effect. To help guide people healthfully through holiday parties, family dinners, and snacking during downtime at home, Mary Flynn, a clinical associate professor of medicine in the Warren Alpert Medical School and a research dietitian at The Miriam Hospital, offers these tips. (more…)

Prostate Cancer Now Detectable Using Imaging-Guided Biopsy, UCLA Study Shows

By Guest PostDecember 12, 2012Healthblind biopsies, diagnosis, focal therapy, imaging guided biopsy, prostate biopsies, prostate cancer, tumor spots, ultrasound fusion biopsy

Groundbreaking research by a team of UCLA physicians and engineers demonstrates that prostate cancer — long identifiable only through painful, hit-or-miss biopsies — can be diagnosed far more easily and accurately using a new image-guided, targeted biopsy procedure. (more…)

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Proves Effective at Reducing Depression in People Who Have not Responded to Antidepressants

By Guest PostDecember 12, 2012Healthantidepressant medication, antidepressants, australia, bristol, cbt, chris williams, cobait team, cognitive behavioural therapy, controlled trial, depression, emer oneill, exeter, first line treatment, glasgow, john campbell, mood disorders centre, nicola wiles, patients, psychological treatments, symptoms, talking therapy, treatment, uk, universities, willem kuyken, World Health Organisation

Antidepressants are the most widely used treatment for people with moderate to severe depression.

However, up to two thirds of people with depression don’t respond fully to this type of treatment. New findings have shown cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), provided in addition to usual care, can reduce symptoms of depression and help improve patients’ quality of life.

This is the first large-scale trial to test the effectiveness of CBT – a type of talking psychotherapy- given in addition to usual care that includes antidepressants. The National Institute for Health Research Health Technology Assessment (NIHR HTA)-funded CoBalT study aimed to determine the best ‘next step’ treatment for people whose depression had not responded to medication alone. (more…)

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