Grape juice joins blueberries as possible anti-aging ’brain food’

Consuming Concord grape juice significantly improved laboratory animals’ short-term memory in a water maze test as well as their neuro-motor skills in certain of the coordination, balance and strength tests, according to preliminary research presented at the 1st International Conference on Polyphenols and Health recently held in Vichy, France.

“In the study we subjected 45 senescent rats-meaning

Researchers report that children who spent more time in sports activities and had higher aerobic fitness reported fewer “sick” days; children with more than 25% body fat had significantly more

How best to keep school aged children from getting sick? Some invoke the most famous parental warning of all: “Don’t go outside with your hair wet or you’ll catch pneumonia.” Now, a new study offers additional strategies for combating the number of cold and flu symptom days among youngsters.

Despite gains brought about by the women’s movement, young adults are far less likely than their middle-aged counterparts to call themselves feminists, according to a study conducted in part by the University of Pennsylvania.

Researchers examining the link between age and social attitudes about feminism found that support for abortion rights and gender equality in the workplace — a strong part of the feminist tradition — is virtually unrelated to whether young adults as well as senior ci

Scientists have developed biodegradable polymers that can mimic the ability of white blood cells to target inflamed blood vessel walls, according to a new study led by Ohio University researchers. The finding could be the first step in developing drugs that suppress specific sites of inflammation in medical conditions such as arthritis, heart disease and inflammatory bowel disease.

Researchers found that biodegradable beads coated with targeting molecules can travel through the bloodstream

Doctors regularly inject stem cells into patients whose bone marrow has been destroyed by chemotherapy or radiation, but they haven’t known where these cells go after being injected. Research at the Stanford University School of Medicine has yielded an unexpected answer: when injected into mice, these cells may set up camp in one tissue early on but then move to another location or disappear entirely.

Published in the Dec. 15 online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academies

A study published in the December issue of Archives of Neurology and currently available online shows that levetiracetam reduced phasic spasticity, which is marked by spasms and painful muscle cramps, in 100 percent of patients in a small clinical study.

“It’s amazing how many MS patients can’t walk, can’t move, and you treat their spasticity and they’re fine,” said Dr. Kathleen Hawker, assistant professor of neurology at UT Southwestern and lead author of the study. “Wh

Men with high levels of cognitive and behavioral anger, and women with high levels of behavioral anger, are most at risk The association among anger, alcohol and aggression is not as clear as it may first seem.

New research examines the effects of three components of anger: affective, cognitive and behavioral.

Behavioral anger contributes most to alcohol-related aggression among both men and women. The association among anger, alcohol and aggression

Now that the human genome has been sequenced, sequencing know-how is turning to other organisms. A team of researchers, including some from the University of Iowa, has sequenced the genome of a highly versatile and potentially useful bacterium. The multidisciplinary effort determined the complete genetic sequence of Rhodopseudomonas palustris, a bacterium that could potentially be used for cleaning up toxic industrial waste and as a biocatalyst for producing hydrogen as a bio-fuel.

The rese

Efficacy and tolerability of borage oil in adults and children with atopic eczema: randomised double blind, placebo controlled, parallel group trial BMJ Vol 327 pp 1385-7. Editorial: Evening primrose oil for atopic dermatitis BMJ Volume 327 pp 1358-9

Borage oil (sold as starflower oil in chemists and health food shops) does not improve symptoms of eczema, despite some studies suggesting a dose related benefit, finds a study in this week’s BMJ.

Purified borage oil contai

Thirty-five years after biologist Garrett Hardin issued his prophetic essay, “The Tragedy of the Commons,” which warned that human beings would ultimately destroy commonly shared resources, a re-examination of the state of common pool resources by three researchers, including Indiana University Bloomington political scientist Elinor Ostrom, offers an urgent yet hopeful message.

The authors of a new report, “The Struggle to Govern the Commons,” which will appear in a special Dec. 12 issue of

A research team at the University of Chicago has discovered a crucial signaling pathway that controls the growth of nascent nerves within the spinal cord, guiding them toward the brain during development.

The study, published in the Dec. 12, 2003, issue of the journal Science, solves a long-standing scientific mystery. It may also help restore function to people with paralyzing spinal cord injuries.

“This is the first guidance mechanism that regulates growth of nerve cells up and

We’ve often heard that red wine and dark chocolate in moderation can be good for you. Now it appears that a little stress may be beneficial, too.

Northwestern University scientists have shown that elevated levels of special protective proteins that respond to stress in a cell (known as molecular chaperones) promote longevity. Acute stress triggers a cascading reaction inside cells that results in the repair or elimination of misfolded proteins, prolonging life by preventing or delaying cel

Mayo Clinic Proceedings study emphasizes blood sugar level management

A study in the December issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings on blood-sugar levels in 1,826 intensive care unit patients showed that hyperglycemia (high blood-sugar levels) increased the patient’s chance of death. The findings have important implications for the management of blood sugar in critically ill patients.

Even a modest degree of hyperglycemia was associated with a substantial increase in deaths

Exposure to endotoxin, a bacterial substance found commonly in outdoor and indoor air, makes mite-allergic asthmatics more sensitive to house dust and may place them at increased risk of asthma attack.

The new research findings from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine are consistent with previous UNC studies showing exposure to ozone to make asthmatics more sensitive to allergens, the environmental triggers of allergic reactions. Both ozone and endotoxin are n

Breakthrough treatment benefits patients and is less expensive than standard therapy

An inhaled treatment for critically ill newborns is less invasive, more effective and costs less than the treatment that has traditionally been used to treat a potentially fatal condition called hypoxic respiratory failure (HRF), according to a study published today in the journal Pediatrics.

The study focuses on the positive effects of inhaled nitric oxide for the treatment of HRF and revea

Review of scientific data may allay parental concerns on vaccine safety

After reviewing dozens of scientific studies, a leading vaccine expert concludes that preservatives, additives and other substances contained in vaccines pose very little risk to children receiving those vaccines.

In addition to the primary ingredient that stimulates a protective immune response, various vaccines may contain small amounts of metals, proteins, and other chemicals, some of which are residu