Archive for April 12th, 2012
Key to New Antibiotics Could Be Deep Within Isolated Cave
April 12th, 2012 | 
Author: Antibiotic-resistant bacteria found in one of the deepest, most isolated caves in the world could mean good news in the battle against superbugs. Researchers from McMaster and the University of Akron have discovered a remarkable prevalence of such bacteria in New Mexico's Lechuguilla Cave, a place isolated from human contact until very recently.
The discovery that bacteria have developed defenses against antibiotics could indicate the presence of previously unknown, naturally occurring antibiotics that doctors could use to treat infections.
Posted in 
Trouble Coping With the Unfamiliar as You Age? Blame Your White Matter
If you are an aging baby boomer and you've noticed it's a bit harder to drive to unfamiliar locations or to pick a new brand of olive oil at the supermarket, you can blame it on the white matter in your brain.
A brain-mapping study, published in the Apr. 11 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience, has found that people's ability to make decisions in novel situations decreases with age and is associated with a reduction in the integrity of two specific white-matter pathways that connect an area in the cerebral cortex called the medial prefrontal cortex with two other areas deeper in the brain.
Kids’ Waistlines Still Expanding
If current trends continue, more than one in five American children will be obese in 2020, researchers reported.
U.S. Tightens Rules on Antibiotics Use for Livestock
The move by the agency is intended to slow the indiscriminate use of the drugs in agriculture, which has made them increasingly ineffective in humans.
Hard Arteries More Likely with Diabetes
Patients with metabolic syndrome and diabetes are more likely to develop detectable levels of coronary artery calcium and to have greater progression of calcification than other patients, researchers found.
Lack of Sleep May Raise Risk of Diabetes
Your mother was right: regular bedtimes and a good night’s sleep are good for you — or at least, researchers reported, irregular bedtimes and not enough sleep are bad for you.
Abbott’s Humira Set to Become World’s Top-Selling Drug
Abbott Laboratories' $9-billion arthritis drug Humira is set to take the crown as the world's top-selling medicine this year, highlighting the dominance of costly biotechnology products as revenues from old-style pills decline.