A study reported in the journal Science Translation Medicine proposes that preventative therapy with affordable and safe antibiotics in people living in areas with intense malaria transmission has the potential to act as a ‘needle-free’ natural vaccine against malaria and may likely provide an additional valuable tool for controlling and/or eliminating malaria in resource-poor settings……..

Lower outdoor temperatures are associated with an increase in the risk of heart attacks, as per a newly released study by researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). For the study (reported in the British Medical Journal and released online today at bmj.com), the researcher, led by Krishnan Bhaskaran of LSHTM observed that each 1 degree C reduction in temperature on a single day is linked to around 200 extra heart attacks……..

Researchers are reporting development of a substance to enhance the visibility of skin cancer cells during scans with an advanced medical imaging system that combines ultrasound and light. The hybrid scanner could enable doctors to detect melanoma, the most serious form of skin cancer, in its earliest and most curable stages, the report in the monthly journal ACS Nano indicates……..

Improved drug coverage under Medicare Part D has led to an increase in the use of antibiotics by seniors, especially of brand-name and more expensive drugs, as per a University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health study. Reported in the Aug. 23 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine and the first to explore spending on antibiotics under Medicare Part D, the study suggests recent changes in drug coverage improved the use of antibiotics for pneumonia, but could lead to unnecessary spending on expensive broad-spectrum antibiotics and the overuse of inappropriate antibiotics……..

Progestins are used in hormone replacement therapies to counteract the negative effects of estrogen on the uterus and reduce the risk of uterine cancer. However, evidence in recent studies and clinical trials has demonstrated that progestins increase the risk of breast cancer. Now, University of Missouri scientists have compared four types of progestins used in hormone replacement therapies and found significantly different outcomes on the progression of breast cancer in an animal model depending on the type of progestins used……..

Primary dysmenorrhea (PDM), or menstrual cramps, is the most common gynecological disorder in women of childbearing age. Lower abdominal pain starts with the onset of menstrual flow and this ongoing pain stimulus can cause alterations throughout the nervous system. In a study scheduled for publication in the recent issue of PAIN, scientists report abnormal changes in the structure of the brain in PDM patients, whether or not they are in fact experiencing pain……..

Everyone experiences social stress, whether it is nervousness over a job interview, difficulty meeting people at parties, or angst over giving a speech. In a new report, UCLA scientists have discovered that how your brain responds to social stressors can influence the body’s immune system in ways that may negatively affect health……..

The brain has been mapped to the smallest fold for at least a century, but still no one knows how all the parts talk to each other. A study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences answers that question for a small area of the rat brain and in so doing takes a big step toward revealing the brain’s wiring……..

These days people commonly don’t die from a heart attack. But the damage to heart muscle is irreversible, and most patients eventually succumb to congestive heart failure, the most common cause of death in developed countries. Stem cells now offer hope for achieving what the body can’t do: mending broken hearts. Engineers and physicians at the University of Washington have built a scaffold that supports the growth and integration of stem cell-derived cardiac muscle cells. A description of the scaffold, which supports the growth of cardiac cells in the lab and encourages blood vessel growth in living animals, is published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences……..

A newly released study reported in the August 2010 journal, Appetite, further demonstrates that people who consume low-calorie sweeteners are able to significantly reduce their caloric intake and do not overeat. In fact, study participants who received the sugar substitutes instead of sugar consumed significantly fewer calories and there was no difference in hunger levels despite having fewer calories overall……..