Children's Health: Childhood concussions impair brain function ♦ Why do chronically lonely teens stay lonely? ♦ Chewing slowly helps prevent excessive weight gain in children

Why do chronically lonely teens stay lonely? For chronically lonely adolescents, even the rare invitation to a social event is likely to be met with suspicion: 'It's not that I'm worthy, I just got lucky,' they'll tell themselves. And when not included in a gathering of peers, the chronically lonely teen will attribute it to some personal flaw. Chronically lonely individuals may respond to social situations in ways that perpetuate rather than reduce their loneliness.

Chewing slowly helps prevent excessive weight gain in children Waiting 30 seconds in between bites of food allows children to realize they're no longer hungry before they overeat -- preventing excessive weight gain.

Childhood concussions impair brain function Pre-adolescent children who have sustained sports-related concussions have impaired brain function two years following injury. Over a million brain injuries are treated annually in the U.S. While organized sports at all levels have implemented safety protocols for preventing and treating head injuries, most pediatric concussions still result from athletic activities.

Candy games stimulate appetite At least once a week, two thirds of all children of primary-school age will play an internet game that was created to draw attention to a brand. Most of these advertisements are for snacks and candy. Only 6% of these children are aware that such advergames are advertisements. In the meantime, such games do affect their behavior.

Brain Research:Clot-busting drug benefits stroke patients ♦ Can Arts, crafts and computer use preserve your memory? ♦ Protein deposits in brains of retired NFL players

Characteristic pattern of protein deposits in brains of retired NFL players who suffered concussions  A new study takes another step toward the early understanding of a degenerative brain condition called chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, which affects athletes in contact sports who are exposed to repetitive brain injuries. Using a new imaging tool, researchers found a strikingly similar pattern of abnormal protein deposits in the brains of retired NFL players

Can Arts, crafts and computer use preserve your memory? People who participate in arts and craft activities and who socialize in middle and old age may delay the development in very old age of the thinking and memory problems that often lead to dementia,

Signal variability, cognitive performance in the aging human brain  As we age, the physical makeup of our brains changes. This includes changes in neural processing in grey matter, but also in the deterioration of structural connections in the brain, which allow communication between distinct brain regions, so the brain is able to work as a well-wired network system. The moment-to-moment variability in brain activity has been studied by researchers, and more specifically, in the blood oxygenation level-dependent signal.

Clot-busting drug benefits stroke patients, brain scan study shows A drug that breaks up blood clots in the brains of stroke patients could be used more widely than at present without increased risk, a brain scan study suggests. It had previously been thought that giving the drug to people with signs of early damage in the brain caused by a stroke would increase the chances of them suffering a bleed on the brain -- which can be fatal. The study is the first to show that early tissue damage seen in brain scans does not necessarily indicate an increased risk of bleeding

11/27/14 Health News:Metals found in food ♦ Bean Sprouts Tainted With Banned Additive ♦ nanoparticles infiltrate and kill cancer cells ♦ Football players have brain damage

Metals in food a concern for WA children, study

Metals in food a concern for Western Australian children. Children in Western Australia are being exposed to potentially elevated levels of metals from their food, according to research from Edith Cowan University Continue Reading

Bean Sprouts Tainted With Banned Additive Are Again Found in China

Bean sprouts are back in the news for all the wrong reasons. Not for the first time, Chinese inspectors have found bean sprouts tainted with a banned food additive, in this instance in a production center on the southern outskirts of Beijing. The sprouts being produced at the site in Daxing district were treated with high levels of 6-benzyladenine, a plant hormone, to speed up the …Continue Reading

An inside job: Designer nanoparticles infiltrate, kill cancer cells from within

Nanoparticle designs target and treat early stage cancer cells by killing those cells with heat, delivered from inside the cell itself. Normal cells are thus left unaffected by the treatment regimen Continue Reading

Football players found to have brain damage from mild 'unreported' concussions

There wasn't a diagnostic capability to identify mild brain injury early after the trauma until recently. In the NFL, other professional sports and especially school sports, concern has grown about the long-term neuropsychiatric consequences of repeated mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI) and specifically sports-related concussive and sub-concussive head impacts. Continue Reading

1/23/14 Health News: Salmonella Biofilms Resists Disinfectants - Concussions Diagnosed on Sports Field - Toxin Kills of HIV- Mediterranean Diet Cuts Type 2 Diabetes

SALMONELLA BIOFILMS EXTREMELY RESISTANT TO DISINFECTANTS

Researchers have discovered that common disinfectants face an uphill battle killing Salmonella once it has had the time to form a biofilm – a community of cells that attach to each other and a surface, increasing the density of bacterial growth and providing support from harsh environments. Researchers at the National University of Ireland, Galway,... Continue Reading

A New Blood Test to Diagnose Concussions on the Sports Field

A protein could signal the first signs of brain changes due to a concussion.

With a finger-stick and a drop of blood, researchers from the University of Rochester say it may be possible to tell whether a player experienced a concussion. Levels of the brain protein S100B start to rise with intense exertion, but also after a major impact such as a blow to the head. So the scientists investigated whether it would be possible to distinguish the two circumstances in hopes of finding a way to detect the first signs of traumatic brain injury. Based on their findings, the researchers concluded that a rise in S100B of more than 45% is nearly equivalent to a concussion diagnosis, and easily distinguishable from physical exertion..continue reading

Toxin Shows Promise in Killing Off Lurking HIV

An antibody and toxin mix has successfully detected and killed HIV-infected cells lurking in the organs and bone marrow of mice that were altered to have a human immune system. The results, reported offer conceptual proof that a reservoir of HIV-infected cells in organs can sought out and destroyed, a scenario that would potentially end the stalemate between the virus and antiretroviral drug therapies. The altered mice, developed about eight years ago, can be infected by the human immunodeficiency virus in an identical manner to humans; they exhibit the same viremia and respond the same way to current antiretroviral drug therapy, but do not come down with AIDS, according to the study.Continue Reading

Mediterranean Diet Cuts Type 2 Diabetes Risk by a Third

A Mediterranean diet supplemented with extra-virgin olive oil cut the risk for developing type 2 diabetes by about a third among adults at high risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD) compared with a low-fat diet, a new analysis finds. The results, from the subgroup of subjects in the Spanish cardiovascular prevention study Prevencion con Dieta Mediterránea who did not have diabetes at baseline Source:.continue reading