Health News:FDA orders Idaho juice company to shut down operations ♦ Nuclear membrane repairs the 'dark matter' of DNA ♦ What blocks pro-vaccine beliefs?

FDA orders idaho juice company to shut down operations The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has ordered Sun Valley Juice Company of Ketchum, ID, to stop receiving, processing, preparing, packing, holding, and distributing juice until the agency determines that the company is complying with applicable laws and regulations to make sure their products are safe.

Nuclear membrane repairs the 'dark matter' of DNA The nuclear membrane isn't just a protective case around the nucleus -- it actually repairs catastrophically broken DNA strands.

People with MS may be more physically fit than tests indicate Conventional methods of assessing cardiorespiratory fitness and muscular strength among people with multiple sclerosis may underestimate participants' capabilities, prompting clinicians to prescribe exercise therapies that are less effective than they could be.

What blocks pro-vaccine beliefs? Despite rhetoric that pits 'anti-vaxxers' versus 'pro-vaxxers,' most new parents probably qualify as vaccine-neutral--that is, they passively accept rather than actively demand vaccination. Even in these cases, some unease is natural, argue two psychologists. The act itself is counter-intuitive, and it requires trust in medicine and government. The authors consider what compels someone to vaccinate and the cognitive obstacles that cause pro-vaccine messaging to be rejected.

Health News: Surgical research stops suffering for millions ♦ Blood, teeth samples accurately predict a criminal's age ♦ Dermatologists share tips to stop nail biting

Dermatologists share tips to stop nail biting Breaking a nail is one thing. Breaking a nail-biting habit is another, say dermatologists. Nail biting typically begins in childhood and can continue through adulthood, and the side effects can be more than cosmetic.

Blood, teeth samples accurately predict a criminal's age Forensic biomedical scientists have developed a test to predict individual's' age on the basis of blood or teeth samples. This test may be particularly useful for the police, as it can help track down criminals or identify human remains.

Continued smoking after MS diagnosis associated with accelerated disease progression Continued smoking after a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS) appears to be associated with accelerated disease progression compared with those patients who quit smoking

Study finds high prevalence of diabetes, pre-diabetes in U.S. In 2011-2012, the estimated prevalence of diabetes among U.S. adults was 12 percent to 14 percent and the prevalence of prediabetes was 37 percent to 38 percent, indicating that about half of the U.S. adult population has either diabetes or prediabetes, according to a study. Though data from recent years suggests that the increasing prevalence of diabetes may be leveling off.

Surgical research stops suffering for millions of impoverished citizens Mosquito mesh cannot just prevent malaria, but can also be used to reduce the suffering caused by groin hernia. A surgical operation using mosquito mesh to repair the hernia can give millions of people a chance at a better life.

3/1/15 Health News: Statins reduced risk of liver cancer ♦ Can coffee reduce your risk of MS? ♦ Type 2 diabetes, fatty liver disease reversed in Rats ♦ Plus More

Statin use associated with reduced risk of liver cancer  In a nested-case control study of individuals living in the UK, a part of the world with a relatively low incidence of liver cancer, statin use is associated with a decreased risk of liver cancer Continue Reading

Can coffee reduce your risk of MS?   Drinking coffee may be associated with a lower risk of developing multiple sclerosis (MS), according to a new study  Continue Reading

Type 2 diabetes, fatty liver disease reversed in rats  A controlled-release oral therapy has been developed by scientists that reversed type 2 diabetes and fatty liver disease in rats, according to a study. "Given these promising results in animal models of  type 2 diabetes we are pursuing additional preclinical safety studies to take this mitochondrial protonophore approach to the clinic" said the researchers.Continue Reading

African Americans who fled the South during great migration led shorter lives  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 Continue Reading

GLP-1 secretion is reduced in overweight, pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes  The world's largest study looking at the secretion of the gut hormone GLP-1 has found that the secretion is reduced among overweight and obese people, people with pre-diabetes and newly diagnosed people with type 2 diabetes. Continue Reading

Early Signs of MS in Spinal Fluid

New research suggests it might be possible to spot early signs of multiple sclerosis in patients’ spinal fluid, findings that offer a new clue about how this mysterious disease forms.

The study released Tuesday was small and must be verified by additional research. But if it pans out, the finding suggests scientists should take a closer look at a different part of the brain than is usually linked to MS. The study suggests that MS may be affecting more parts of the brain earlier than was previously thought.

Multiple sclerosis is a neurological disease that causes varying symptoms — numbness and tingling in one person, impaired walking and vision loss in another — that often wax and wane. There are treatments but no cure. Doctors don’t know what causes MS, just that it occurs when the protective insulation, called myelin, that coats nerve fibers is gradually destroyed, leaving behind tough scar tissue. That short-circuits messages from the brain and spinal cord to the rest of the body.

But because brain scans can have trouble spotting early damage, it’s hard to tell whether someone experiencing initial symptoms really is developing MS and thus should start treatment.

The new study used spinal fluid as an alternative window into the brain to examine those first attacks.

Dr. Steven Schutzer of Rutgers New Jersey Medical School analyzed spinal fluid stored from nine patients who had experienced early symptoms that turned out to be MS. Using a special high-powered technology, he uncovered a small cluster of proteins that was unique to those first attacks. Compared with spinal fluid from healthy people and from a dozen MS patients who’ve had the disease longer, that signature distinguished the early patients, Schutzer reported in the journal PLoS One.

If larger studies prove the value of these potential markers, doctors one day might do a quick spinal tap to test for them in people with early symptoms, said Dr. Patricia Coyle of Stony Brook University in New York, an MS specialist who co-authored the study. Today, doctors occasionally do spinal taps on possible MS patients, but they’re looking for different substances that can signal an autoimmune disease, not specifically MS.

But the new study contained a big surprise: The myelin damage that is MS’ trademark occurs in what’s called the brain’s white matter, the fibers that act like a telephone network for brain cells to communicate. The proteins that Schutzer found suggest there’s also damage to the gray matter, a different tissue that contains the nerve cells themselves. Scientists have known that gray matter plays some role in MS, but not what.