Breathing problems during sleep may affect mental development

Children who have problems breathing during sleep tend to score lower on tests of mental development and intelligence than do other children their age, according to two studies funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The first study found that at one year of age, infants who have multiple, brief breathing pauses (apnea) or slow heart rates during sleep scored lower on mental development tests than did other infants of the same age. The second study showed that 5-year-old children who had frequent snoring, loud or noisy breathing during sleep, or sleep apneas observed by parents scored lower on intelligence, memory, and other standard cognitive tests than other children their age. They were also more likely to have behavioral problems.

One in 6 chronically ill adults skip Rx drugs due to cost

A recent nationally representative survey of older adults finds that 18 percent of those with chronic conditions such as heart disease and depression skip some of their prescription medicines because of out-of-pocket cost pressures, and 14 percent do so at least every month. Based on the study’s findings, the authors estimate that every month, this cost-related medication skimping leads more than a million Americans with diabetes to use less medication for that illness than was prescribed to them, and causes more than 1.6 million people with asthma to miss some of their doses of medication.

Mild Exercise Protects Mature Mice From Flu Death

Researchers report that four consecutive days of moderate exercise in mice after they were infected with influenza protects them from dying, compared with mice that didn’t exercise. This protective effect was more evident in mice greater than 16 weeks of age, an age at which they are immunologically more mature. The takeaway message: exercise regularly because you never know when you’ll be exposed!

After Trio of Explosions, Scientists Say Supernova Is Imminent

Three powerful blasts from three wholly different regions in space have left scientists scrambling. The blasts, which lasted only a few seconds, might be early alert systems for star explosions called supernovae, which could start appearing any day now. The first two blasts, called X-ray flashes, occurred on September 12 and 16. These were followed by a more powerful burst on September 24 that seems to be on the cusp between an X-ray flash and a full-fledged gamma-ray burst, a discovery interesting in its own right. If these signals lead to supernovae, as expected, scientists would have a tool to predict star explosions and then watch them go off from start to finish.

Discovery of the oldest remains of a woman who died in childbirth

In ancient times, female death rates were particularly high and generally related to problems in maternity, such as complications during pregnancy, childbirth or the period of breast-feeding. However, in most cases this link has only been established from indirect data, such paleodemographic data and ethnographic references, or based on the poor health conditions normally attributed to ancient human groups. Spanish researchers have now found a clear example of an ancient burial of a pregnant woman whose death can be linked to difficult birth (dystocia). The archaeological team from the Universidad de Murcia, headed by Maria Manuela Ayala, found the remains in 1996 at the ”El cerro de las Vi?as” site in Murcia (Spain). Now, the UAB anthropologists, headed by Assumpci? Malgosa, have established that it is the oldest case so far described in the paleopathological literature.

Genesis samples looking ‘very, very good’

The Genesis team is preparing to ship its samples of the Sun from the mission’s temporary cleanroom at the U.S. Army Proving Ground, Dugway, Utah, to NASA’s Johnson Space Center, Houston. ”We have essentially completed the recovery and documentation process and now are in the business of preparing everything for transport,” said Eileen Stansbery, Johnson Space Center assistant director of astromaterials research and exploration science. ”We still have a way to go before we can quantify our recovery of the solar sample. I can tell you we have come a long way from September 8, and things are looking very, very good.”

Brain Circuit May Let Scientists Eavesdrop on Memory Formation

Researchers have identified a circuit in the brain that appears crucial in converting short-term memories into long-term memories. The circuit links the major learning-related area of the brain to another region that governs the brain’s higher functions. The studies may open the way for eavesdropping on one of the central processes in learning and memory.
According to the lead researcher, the finding sheds light on a central question in learning and memory research that concerns the roles of two brain structures, the hippocampus, which is involved in memory formation, and the neocortex, which is associated with higher brain functions.

Bugs in the gut key to understanding human disease, drug toxicity

Understanding how microbes in the gut interact with the body could lead scientists and doctors to new a understanding and novel treatments for diseases say scientist. In a review published today in Nature Biotechnology, researchers describe how microbes in the gut form the second largest metabolic ‘organ’ in the body and play a key role in disease processes alongside genetic and environmental factors.

Space Spuds to the Rescue

What could NASA, potatoes and China possibly have in common? The answer might be as close as your next order of fries. Using NASA technology and a Chinese technique for growing seed potatoes, Quantum Tubers are a Space Age answer to growing more and better potatoes worldwide. Since many countries depend heavily on potatoes for their basic dietary needs, they must have an adequate, dependable supply. That’s where the space spuds can help, since their high-tech growth methods overcome many of the normal limitations of seed potato production.

Men with advanced, incurable prostate cancer can benefit from docetaxel

An international study led by a Canadian researcher shows that men with advanced, incurable prostate cancer can survive an average of three months longer and face less symptoms when offered a new treatment for prostate cancer.
Published in tomorrow’s issue of The New England Journal of Medicine, the study involved 24 countries and over two years tracked more than 1,000 patients with advanced hormone-refractory prostate cancer. Researchers looked at several outcome measures — survival, pain relief, improved quality of life, and the amount of PSA in the patients’ blood, which indicates the amount of cancer present in the body. In all these measures, men who received docetaxel administered every three weeks did better than those who received mitoxantrone, and it improved survival by an average of three months.

Old bones unearth new date for giant deer’s last stand

A new investigation into extinctions caused by climate change has revealed that the giant deer, previously thought to have been wiped out by a cold spell 10,500 years ago, instead survived well into the modern era. British scientists scoured the continent to collect dozens of ancient bones and teeth which, when radiocarbon dated, revealed that the Eurasian giant deer survived to 7,000 years ago, much later than previously thought. Giant deer first appeared about 400,000 years and roamed much of the Eurasian continent alongside the woolly mammoth. The magnificent beasts — 2 metres in shoulder height with antlers spanning 3.5 metres – appear to have made their final stand in the Ural mountains on the boundary of Europe and Asia.

Obese women with breast cancer more likely to die than slim

Women who are obese when they are diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer are at a greater risk of dying of their disease than women of normal weight. A new study compared the outcome data of obese, overweight and normal-weight women with early-stage breast cancer treated with conservation surgery (lumpectomy) and radiation therapy. The influence of obesity on breast cancer outcome has been uncertain, especially in early-stage breast cancer patients. Previous studies show that obesity is a risk factor for the development of breast cancer, but these prior studies have reported contradictory results regarding the influence of obesity on outcome in breast cancer patients.

Next step to the quantum computer

Physicists from the University of Bonn have succeeded in taking a decisive step forward towards processing quantum information with neutral atoms: in the latest issue of the ‘Physical Review Letters’ vol. 93 (2004) they describe how they managed to set up a quantum register experimentally. Their next aim is to construct a quantum gate in which two or more atoms interact with each other in a controlled way. By combining the register and gate there would then be all the basic components available for developing a quantum computer with neutral atoms.

Dying cells encourage neighbors to grow

Researchers have uncovered specific mechanisms by which cells that are genetically programmed to commit suicide stimulate growth in surrounding cells. The research, published online in Developmental Cell, provides new information about how normal, healthy tissues are maintained and may shed some light on a pathway that may contribute to tumor growth.