Sergio Canavero of the Turin Advanced Neuromodulation Group has made it known that he intends to announce at this summer's American Academy of Neurological and Orthopedic Surgeons meeting, that he believes he has put together a group of techniques that should make it possible to attach a human donor body to a head. As a preview, he has published his ideas in Surgical Neurology International.

(AP)—In the ever-complicated debate over labeling of genetically modified foods, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says he has an idea: use your smart phone.

Harry Potter, the hero of J. K. Rowling's seven fantasy novels, is a chip off the old wizarding block when it comes to quidditch, the fictional sport played by rival houses at Hogwarts, the school for wizards and witches. Like his father before him, Harry is a master of the game. Perhaps his skill is in his DNA.

Although natural selection is often thought of as a force that determines the adaptation of replicating organisms to their environment, Harvard researchers have found that selection also occurs at the level of neurons, which are post-mitotic cells, and plays a critical role in the emergence of Alzheimer's disease.

Bakers and beer brewers welcome the gentle, gradual bubbling that occurs when yeast is stirred into warm, sugary liquid. However, this soothing sign that all is well in the kitchen or brewery belies a pitched battle waged just under the murky surface.

A clinical trial due to begin later this year will see scientists observing close up, in real time – and in patients – how tumours respond to new drugs.

Researchers, including Dr Robert Coutts, Research Fellow from the School of Life and Medical Sciences, University of Hertfordshire, have cracked a code that governs infections caused by simple, single-stranded RNA viruses similar in many respects to viruses that cause the common cold, polio and the winter vomiting norovirus infections.

A three-character code brings relief to patients with psoriasis and sheds light on complex immunoregulation processes: IL-4, an abbreviation for the endogenous signaling molecule Interleukin 4. The substance's ability to inhibit inflammation is well known, but its mechanism of action was not fully understood. Scientists from the Technische Universität München (TUM) and the University of Tübingen have now shown in an animal model and in a study on patients exactly how IL-4 helps against psoriasis at the molecular level and the important role it plays in our immune system.

Reminders of God can make people more likely to seek out and take risks, according to research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. The findings suggest that people are willing to take these risks because they view God as providing security against potential negative outcomes.

Yale researchers developed a controlled-release oral therapy that reversed type 2 diabetes and fatty liver disease in rats, according to a study published on Feb. 26 by Science.

New research that focuses on the mechanism by which Ebola virus infects a cell and the discovery of a promising drug therapy candidate is being published February 27, 2015, in the journal Science. Dr. Robert Davey, scientist and Ewing Halsell Scholar in the Department of Immunology and Virology at Texas Biomedical Research Institute announced today that a small molecule called Tetrandrine derived from an Asian herb has shown to be a potent small molecule inhibiting infection of human white blood cells in vitro or petri dish experiments and prevented Ebola virus disease in mice.

Every day we make decisions based on predicting what someone else will do - from deciding whether the driver approaching an intersection will stop for the red light to determining whether a particular negotiation strategy will result in a desired outcome. Now a study by Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigators has discovered two groups of neurons that play key roles in social interactions between primates - one that is activated when deciding whether to cooperate with another individual and another group involved in predicting what the other will do. Their findings appear in the March 12 issue of Cell and have been published online.

Targeting mechanisms in the central nervous system that sense energy generated by nutrients might yield the beneficial effects of low-calorie diets on healthy aging without the need to alter food intake, suggests new research from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

A team of scientists has developed a method for identifying clusters of neurons that work in concert to guide the behavior. Their findings, which appear in the journal Neuron, address a long-standing mystery about the organization of the prefrontal cortex (PFC)—one of the most recently evolved parts of the primate brain that underlies complex cognitive functions.

Lord Ara Darzi and Oliver Keown at the Institute of Global Health Innovation want a ban to help smokers quit and to protect children from seeing people lighting up.

Inflammation - the body's response to damaging stimuli - may have a protective effect against cardiovascular disease, according to a study published today in the journal Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology.

Financial incentives could help one in five women quit smoking during pregnancy, according to new research published today in the journal Addiction. The study, led by researchers at the University of Cambridge and King's College London, found that only a small number of women 'gamed' the system to receive the incentives whilst continuing to smoke.

People with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD have a lower life expectancy and are more than twice as likely to die prematurely as those without the disorder, according to new research published in The Lancet. Accidents are the most common cause of death in people with ADHD, and the relative risk of dying is much higher for women than men with ADHD and individuals diagnosed in adulthood. The study is the first to shed light on the role of ADHD in premature death.

A new study demonstrates that sewage is an effective means to sample the fecal bacteria from millions of people. Researchers say the information gleaned from the work provides a unique opportunity to monitor, through gut microbes, the public health of a large population without compromising the privacy of individuals.

Children of undocumented Mexican immigrants have a significantly higher risk of behavior problems than their co-ethnic counterparts with documented or naturalized citizen mothers, according to a new study.

Competition among doctors' offices, urgent care centers and retail medical clinics in wealthy areas of the U.S. often leads to an increase in the number of antibiotic prescriptions written per person, a team led by Johns Hopkins researchers has found.

Everyday experience and psychological studies alike tell us that there are two different types of extroverts: The gregarious "people-persons" who find reward in sharing affection and affiliation with others, and the ambitious "go-getters" who flash those bright-white smiles in their pursuit of achievement and leadership agendas. A new study shows that these overlapping yet distinct personalities have commensurately overlapping yet distinct signatures in the anatomy of the brain.

(AP)—A doctor who contracted the deadly Ebola virus but rode the subway system and dined out before he recovered from it said the media and politicians could have done a better job by educating people on the science of it instead of focusing on their fears.

A golden age of British cycling appears to be coming to an end. In the recent World Championships in Paris, the country's cyclists performed below expectations, recording their poorest showing at that level since 2001.

Even seemingly intractable problems such as the antibiotic crisis and the obesity epidemic could be resolved by treating human health and society as an integral part of an ecosystem.

Using a portable, non-invasive imaging device, a team of Duke Medicine doctors have identified swelling in the back of the eyes of premature infants that correlates with poorer neurodevelopment as the babies grow.

The Department of Recreation, Park, and Tourism Management at Penn State has established the Social Science Acoustics Lab in Keller Building at the University Park campus. The lab is used in a variety of ways to investigate the impact natural sounds have on human health.

Veronica Romero was 21 years old and worried. Pregnant with her first child, she was putting on a lot of weight. Her obstetrician leveled with her: "You're gaining too much." But as she neared 50 pounds of weight gain near the end of her pregnancy, Romerfo felt helpless. "I tried to watch what I was eating, but it was so hard. Pregnant women get cravings, and my cravings were sugary," recalls Romero, who had fought her weight even before conceiving.

Arizona State University medical anthropologist and President's Professor Alexandra Brewis Slade says that even as more and more Americans find themselves carrying extra weight, the stigma attached to being overweight has grown.

A research group from Waseda University, Japan, has discovered that by controlling CRMP4, a protein that regulates the body's cytoskeleton, it is possible to prevent reactions that impede recovery.

Guided by the immune system, researchers have identified types of gut bacteria in young children in Malawi that are linked to nutritional health and that have diagnostic and therapeutic implications for childhood undernutrition.

Two identical cigarettes led to a discovery by scientists at the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute. Study participants inhaled nicotine, yet they showed significantly different brain activity. Why the difference? Some subjects were told their cigarettes were nicotine free.

Smokers may be more likely to successfully quit their habit if simple adjustments were made to how an existing anti-smoking medication is prescribed, according to a new study by a University at Buffalo research team.

University of New Mexico researchers are studying a newly discovered hormone that releases from muscle after exercise. Irisin, named for the Greek "messenger" goddess Iris, may prevent breast cancer and boost the effects of chemotherapy drugs used in breast cancer treatment.

Limiting saturated fat could help people whose genetic makeup increases their chance of being obese. Researchers the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts identified 63 gene variants related to obesity and used them to calculate an obesity risk score for more than 2,800 white American men and women enrolled in two large studies on preventing heart disease.

Technology is often maligned for having a negative influence on young people, particularly on their ability to develop healthy social relations and a sense of identity. But technology can also be a force for good.

Researchers have designed a molecule that, if developed into a drug, could slow the progression of Parkinson's Disease.

During Eating Disorder Awareness Week, Dr Ciara McCabe, neuroscientist at the University of Reading, says we need more understanding of the neurobiology of these disorders if we are to develop new, effective treatments.

Promising results for a new drug treatment for ischaemic stroke patients have been published today in the journal Lancet Neurology.

Ready to strike, the spear fisherman holds his spear above the water surface. He aims at the fish. But he is misled by the view: Due to the refraction of light on the surface, he does not see the actual location of the fish. How must his brain now plan the arm movement? Do the brain cells (neurons) reflect the position where the fish was spotted, in other words, the visual target? Or do they plan the physical target, which is the actual direction in which the arm and spear should move in order to hit the fish?

New research shows that it is possible to predict the development of type 1 diabetes. By measuring the presence of autoantibodies in the blood, it is possible to detect whether the immune system has begun to break down the body's own insulin cells.

Cancer researchers at Indiana University report that about 15 percent of people with pancreatic cancer may benefit from therapy targeting a newly identified gene signature.

A group of anesthesiologists and toxicologists today issued a caution to parents and health care professionals about the use of general anesthetics in children.

A new study by a University of Texas at Arlington physics team in collaboration with bioengineering and psychology researchers shows for the first time how a small area of the brain can be optically stimulated to control pain.

Genetic factors help to explain the commonly found association between low back pain and depression, suggests a large study of twins in the March issue of PAIN, the official publication of the International Association for the Study of Pain.

A connection between persistent insomnia and increased inflammation and mortality has been identified by a group of researchers from the University of Arizona. Their study, published in The American Journal of Medicine, found that people who suffer from persistent insomnia are at greater risk than those who experience intermittent insomnia.

Patients with largEr malignant tumors of the breast who undergo chemotherapy before a breast cancer operation are more likely to opt for a breast-preserving procedure and forgo a mastectomy (surgical removal of the breast), according to a new study published online as an "article in press" in the journal of the american college of surgeons. the study will appear in a print edition of the Journal this spring.

Ireland on Thursday became the first European Union member state to pass a law introducing mandatory plain packaging for tobacco products, prompting the tobacco industry to threaten legal action.

Glioblastomas are a highly aggressive type of brain tumor, with few effective treatment options. Moffitt Cancer Center researchers are one step closer to understanding glioblastoma development following the identification of a key protein signaling pathway involved in brain tumor stem cell growth and survival. Brain tumor stem cells are believed to play an important role in glioblastoma development and may be possible therapeutic targets.

About 10 percent of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) discontinued therapy with the Bruton tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor drug ibrutinib because of disease progression during clinical trials, according to a study published online by JAMA Oncology.

Cancer patients perceived a higher level of compassion and preferred physicians when they provided a more optimistic message in a clinical trial that used videos with doctors portrayed by actors, according to a study published online by JAMA Oncology.

Researchers at Vanderbilt University, the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston and The Scripps Research Institute for the first time have shown how human antibodies can neutralize the Marburg virus, a close cousin to Ebola.

Bioengineers from Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) with collaborators at the pharmaceutical company Sanofi have identified small molecules that can be used to program stem cells to home in on sites of damage, disease and inflammation. The techniques used to find and test these small molecules may represent important tools in advancing cell-based therapy, offering a new strategy for delivering cells to the right locations in the body. The results of their work appear online this week in Cell Reports.

Cranky knees and other joint pains are normal in the elderly and sometimes even in the young. While these pains are rarely life threatening, those who have them know the burden and effect on quality of life. In many cases, the cause is a loss of hyaline cartilage, which does not have the capacity to regenerate, meaning once gone it is gone forever. Hyaline cartilage is constituted of chondrocytes and its secretions, extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins, which includes collagens II and XI. They do not include collagen I, which is the primary collagen in fibrocartilage, or scar tissue. The key to a successful recovery then is to introduce into the deteriorated cartilage chondrocytes that secrete only hyaline cartilage ECM proteins.

It is almost inevitable that we will develop genetic mutations associated with leukaemia as we age, according to research published today in Cell Reports. Based on a study of 4219 people without any evidence of blood cancer, scientists estimate that up to 20 per cent of people aged 50-60 and more than 70 per cent of people over 90 have blood cells with the same gene changes as found in leukaemia.

A gene linked to a type of dwarfism has been identified, in a development that will help to provide better diagnoses for those families affected.

New research from the Gladstone Institutes for the first time provides strong evidence that HIV latency is controlled not by infected host cells, but by the virus itself. This fundamentally changes how scientists perceive latency, presenting it as an evolutionarily advantageous phenomenon rather than a biological accident.

GLP-1 is a hormone that regulates glucose levels in the body by stimulating the secretion of insulin, and GLP-1 also inhibits appetite. "We have found that GLP-1 is reduced by up to 25% among people with pre-diabetes and up to 20% among obese people compared to normal weight people. This indicates that the reduction in GLP-1 is not a consequence of type 2 diabetes, but appears much earlier in the disease development and may predispose people to type 2 diabetes," says one of the lead investigators Kristine Faerch, Senior Research Fellow at the Steno Diabetes Center in Gentofte, Denmark.

For more than 50 years, Dr. Bert O'Malley, chair of Baylor College of Medicine's department of molecular and cellular biology, has worked to understand the estrogen receptor, how it works and how it partners with other molecules in the cell.

In theory, a tumor is an army of clones, made up of many copies of the original cancerous cell. But tumor cells don't always act like duplicates, and their unpredictable behavior can create problems for treatment. For while some cells within a tumor succumb to anti-cancer drugs, others may survive to bring the cancer back to life once therapy has ended.

By measuring how vigorously tumor cells turn on "self-destruct" signals when exposed to different cancer drugs, a novel lab test can predict within less than 24 hours which agent is most likely to work against a particular tumor, say researchers from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

(HealthDay)—Almost half a million Americans were infected with the bacteria Clostridium difficile in 2011, and 29,000 died within a month of diagnosis, U.S. health officials say. The report is published in the Feb. 26 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

(HealthDay)—Health care workers who are involved in procedures utilizing radiation more often report experiencing work-related musculoskeletal pain, according to a study published in the March 3 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

(HealthDay)—For patients with diabetes and depression, improvements in depression are seen with cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) or sertraline, with a significant advantage for sertraline, but glycemic control remains unchanged with both treatments, according to a study published online Feb. 17 in Diabetes Care.

(HealthDay)—Given the increasing epidemic of obesity, epinephrine autoinjectors (EAIs) for anaphylaxis require longer needles to ensure intramuscular injection, according to a study published online Feb. 13 in Allergy.

(HealthDay)—The number of pedestrians killed on U.S. roads is expected to remain unchanged from 2013 to 2014, according to a report from the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA).

(HealthDay)—Your odds of suffering from high blood pressure may rise depending on the state you live in, a new study suggests.

A new drug that prompts cancer cells to self-destruct while sparing healthy cells is now entering phase I clinical trials in humans. The drug, called PAC-1, first showed promise in the treatment of pet dogs with spontaneously occurring cancers, and is still in clinical trials in dogs with osteosarcoma.

A study publishing February 26th, 2015 in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases describes a new, pragmatic, method for the production of immunoglobulin G (IgG) from human plasma in developing countries. IgG are therapeutic preparations on the WHO Medicine Essential List that are used to treat patients with primary immune immunodeficiency (PID) and to fight various infectious diseases. PID affects approximately 1 out of 5000 individuals. IgG are manufactured mostly in sophisticated facilities located in advanced economies and are produced from plasma collected in the USA or Europe. There are serious shortages of IgG worldwide, leaving PID patients in the developing world without treatment and therefore exposed to local viral and bacterial pathogens.

A novel phase 1 clinical trial that leverages T-cell immunotherapy is now under way at Karmanos Cancer Institute (KCI) in Detroit and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City; bringing new hope to children and young adults with osteosarcoma and neuroblastoma. This new clinical trial is being funded by charity partners Solving Kids' Cancer and Fishin' For The Cure.

If your "bad" cholesterol level stays the same or increases after you take statin drugs, you may have more blocked arteries than people whose levels drop, according to research in the American Heart Association journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology.

It is estimated that 8.1 million of the 29.1 million Americans living with diabetes are undiagnosed and many who have diabetes have poor glycemic control. Given that each year many Americans visit a dental provider but not a primary care provider, dental visits may be an opportune site for diabetes screening and monitoring glucose control for many at-risk patients.

Levels of a protein in the urine may help clinicians predict which patients with acute heart failure are at increased risk of developing kidney injury during hospitalization, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN).

Violence during the civil war in Guatemala from 1960 to 1996 resulted in the development of significant mental health problems and conditions for the county's people, according to a new multi-institution study from researchers under the Guatemala-Penn Partnership . People who experienced or witnessed violence were four times more likely to suffer from alcohol-related disorders and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) during the civil war, researchers from the University of San Carlos in Guatemala, the University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University, and Brown University report this week in the American Journal of Public Health.

It was the day after Mother's Day in 2012 when Faith Walker ran into her East Baltimore house unable to breathe.

Genomics researchers analyzing a rare, serious immunodeficiency disease in children have discovered links to a gene crucial to the body's defense against infections. The finding may represent an inviting target for drugs to treat common variable immunodeficiency (CVID).

The communication struggles of children with autism spectrum disorder can drive parents and educators to try anything to understand their thoughts, needs and wants. Unfortunately, specialists in psychology and communication disorders do not always communicate the latest science so well.

Millions of African Americans moved from the South in the early 20th century to seek better job opportunities and higher wages, but a new study on the historic Great Migration shows that with improved economic conditions came a greater risk of mortality.

Although essential marine omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin D have been shown to improve cognitive function and behavior in the context of certain brain disorders, the underlying mechanism has been unclear. In a new paper published in FASEB Journal by Rhonda Patrick, PhD and Bruce Ames, PhD of Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute (CHORI), serotonin is explained as the possible missing link tying together why vitamin D and marine omega-3 fatty acids might ameliorate the symptoms associated with a broad array of brain disorders.

Although levodopa remains the "gold standard" to effectively control motor deficits in the treatment of early stage Parkinson's disease (PD), it loses effectiveness as the disease progresses. After four to six years of treatment with oral medications for Parkinson's disease, about 40% of patients experience lack of muscle control (dyskinesias), end-of-dose wearing off, and fluctuations in "On/Off" states. By nine years of treatment, about 90% will suffer these effects.

People who drink four to six cups of coffee daily may be less likely to get multiple sclerosis, according to international research out Thursday.

(AP)—A U.S. panel on Thursday recommended that two new meningitis vaccines only be used for rare outbreaks, resisting tearful pleas to give it routinely to teens and college students.

(AP)—The makers of the nasal spray version of the flu vaccine say now they know why it has failed to protect young U.S. children against swine flu—fragile doses got too warm.

The use of electronic alerts by hospitals treating patients with acute kidney injury may increase interventions without improving care, a study by Yale researchers found.

One year after the first Ebola cases started to surface in Guinea, the latest findings from a Cochrane review show new ways of hydrating patients in critical care environments across the world.

Contrary to previous reports, a study led by Johns Hopkins researchers found that patients' satisfaction scores only modestly improved based on the newly remodeled design of a hospital.

As Liberia's president visits the US Senate on Thursday to thank Americans for their pivotal role in the Ebola recovery, she will reflect on a sometimes fractious relationship spanning two centuries.

(AP)—Attempts to quarantine health workers returning to the U.S. from Ebola-stricken West Africa were a mistake, the president's bioethics advisers said Thursday.

"Income inequality" has already become a buzz phrase for the campaigns leading up to the 2016 elections. Likely candidates and pundits on both ends of the political spectrum have begun to talk about how fairness, social justice and—even after the implementation of the Affordable Care Act—the cost of health care insurance are contributing to the large and growing gap between the rich and poor.

The University of the West of England (UWE Bristol) has been chosen as one of seven new sites to develop Patient Centred Outcome Measures (POCMs) by NHS England. The new centres will mean that children and young people will play a more active role in deciding which outcomes are important to them.

The review of the national welfare system released today has proposed reducing the number of basic payments and tightening eligibility for disability support. But a government move towards the latter is already risking the integrity of the welfare system, and the health of people with disability.

University of Adelaide researchers are working to solve one of the biggest problems of caring for critically ill burns victims – how to provide them with the nutrition they need to survive.

Today the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues (Bioethics Commission) reported that the federal government has both a prudential and a moral responsibility to actively participate in coordinated global responses to public health emergencies wherever they arise.

Emergency care providers vary in their understanding of a type of medical order intended to communicate seriously ill patients' choices for life-sustaining treatments, according to a pair of studies in the March Journal of Patient Safety.

(AP)—Two lawsuits target the maker of a medical scope linked to the outbreak of a superbug at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center.

A study examined the feasibility of using circulating free DNA (cfDNA) from blood samples of patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer as a surrogate for tumor biopsies to determine tumor-causing epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations and then correlate that with expected patient outcomes, according to a study published online by JAMA Oncology.

Cancer screening of women with dense breast tissue is a subject of great interest to both the medical community and the press. Dense parenchyma reduces the sensitivity of mammography to half that of fatty breasts. Approximately 40% of women 40 years of age or older have dense breast tissue, making supplemental breast cancer screening essential.

Locating full-service supermarkets within neighborhoods considered to be "food deserts" may not result in healthful dietary habits or reductions in childhood obesity—at least in the short term, according to a new study by NYU Langone Medical Center researchers in the February 26th online edition of the journal Public Health Nutrition.

The United States staged a military ceremony Thursday to end its five-month Ebola mission in Liberia, with the west African nation in recovery from the worst-ever outbreak of the virus.

(AP)—Mayor Bill de Blasio is defending New York City's tentative agreement with members of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community over a tradition known as oral suction circumcision.

(HealthDay)—Addicts' use of a powerful painkiller is driving a large HIV outbreak in Indiana, according to health officials.

(HealthDay)—The combination antibiotic Avycaz (ceftazidime-avibactam) has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat adults with complicated infections of the intra-abdominal area or urinary tract, including the kidneys.

(HealthDay)—The number of Americans struggling to pay medical bills has declined every year since 2011 and particularly since 2013, a new government report shows.

People with disabilities have unmet medical needs and poorer overall health throughout their lives, and as a result should be recognized as a health disparity group so more attention can be directed to improving their quality of life, a team of policy researchers has found.

Researchers at Boston Medical Center (BMC) have found that the expansion of insurance coverage in Massachusetts increased the number of elective knee and hip replacement procedures by 4.7 percent, with greater increases among black and Hispanic patients. The findings are published online in advance of print in the British Medical Journal.

A new Viewpoint article in The Journal of the American Medical Association questions whether the notion of the community hospital as a sanctuary from violence may have become too quaint. The fatal shooting death of a Boston surgeon Jan. 20, 2015, the authors note, was another in what appears to be an increasingly frequent series of "active shooter" incidents in U.S. health care facilities.

(AP)—Millions of Americans have a big personal stake in next Wednesday's Supreme Court challenge to the nation's health care law: Can they legally continue to get subsidies to help pay for their insurance? If the court says no, people across more than 30 states could lose federal subsidies for their premiums.

(AP)—Chile's government on Thursday rejected an ailing 14-year-old girl's plea to let her "sleep forever."

A new interactive online tool helps educate practicing oncologists worldwide with therapeutic decision-making for advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) based on a patient's molecular and clinical characteristics by providing feedback from an expert panel.

According to new research, adults in Ontario with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) are significantly less likely to be screened for colorectal cancer than the general population.