Women's Health: Atomic force microscope advance leads to new breast cancer research ♦ Targeting mistreatment of women during childbirth ♦ Women's faces get redder at ovulation,

Targeting mistreatment of women during childbirth Scientists have synthesized qualitative and quantitative evidence to form a clearer picture of the extent and types of mistreatment that occurs during childbirth in health facilities. Such initiatives are key to developing policies to reduce and ultimately eliminate this inhumane and degrading phenomenon.

Women's faces get redder at ovulation, but human eyes can't pick up on it Past research shows men find female faces more attractive at peak fertility. A new study shows an increased redness of women's face skin at the most fertile point of ovulatory cycle, but just under the threshold for detectability, ruling out skin coloration as a driver of the attractiveness effect.

Osteopathic manipulative therapy significantly improves low back pain in postpartum women Osteopathic manipulative therapy decreased postpartum low back pain by over 70 percent in women who had given birth at least three months before beginning treatment.

Atomic force microscope advance leads to new breast cancer research Researchers who developed a high-speed form of atomic force microscopy have shown how to image the physical properties of live breast cancer cells, for the first time revealing details about how deactivation of a key protein may lead to metastasis.

Alcohol sensitizes brain response to food aromas, increases food intake in women The first study of its kind measuring the brain's role in mediating caloric intake following alcohol consumption among women shows that alcohol exposure sensitizes the brain's response to food aromas and increases caloric intake.

Brain Research: Microscope created allowing deep brain exploration ♦ How the brain balances hearing between our ears ♦ Nerve cells in the fast lane

Nerve cells in the fast lane Researchers have identified in what way a specific form of dopamine producing cells is generated and which networks it forms in the course of brain development. In the process, the researchers discovered a data highway of sorts: the nerve cells use not only dopamine for signal transmission, but also the much-faster glutamate.

How the brain balances hearing between our ears Researchers have answered the longstanding question of how the brain balances hearing between our ears, which is essential for localizing sound, hearing in noisy conditions and for protection from noise damage

Microscope created allowing deep brain exploration A team of neuroscientists and bioengineers has created a miniature, fiber-optic microscope designed to peer deeply inside a living brain. The laser-scanning microscope, a prototype which will be further refined, uses fiber-optics and a tiny electrowetting lens. Compared to other small, focusing lenses, it's fast and not sensitive to motion. This allows it to reliably focus on living tissue.

Nano memory cell can mimic the brain’s long-term memory Researchers have mimicked the way the human brain processes information with the development of an electronic long-term memory cell.

Health Research: Mobile phone video microscope detects parasites ♦ Targeted medicine in tiny Silicone spheres ♦ Survival rates in trauma patients

Mobile phone video microscope automates detection of parasites in blood A new mobile phone microscope that uses video to automatically detect and quantify infection by parasitic worms in a drop of blood has been developed by researchers. This next generation of CellScope technology could help revive efforts to eradicate debilitating diseases in Africa

Tiny Silicone spheres come out of the mist: Targeted medicine? Technology in common household humidifiers could enable the next wave of high-tech medical imaging and targeted medicine, thanks to a new method for making tiny silicone microspheres. The researchers made silicone microspheres with a variety of properties for different applications, including colored, fluorescent and magnetic spheres.

A better way to build DNA scaffolds: Long, custom-designed DNA strands Imagine taking strands of DNA - the material in our cells that determines how we look and function - and using it to build tiny structures that can deliver drugs to targets within the body or take electronic miniaturization to a whole new level. Scientists have moved the use of human-made DNA structures closer to a variety of real-world applications.

Carrot or stick? Punishments may guide behavior more effectively than rewards When it comes to rewards and punishments, which is more effective -- the carrot or the stick? A simple experiment suggests that punishments are more likely to influence behavior

Survival rates in trauma patients after Massachusetts health insurance reform

A study of survival rates in trauma patients following health insurance reform in Massachusetts found a increase in mortality rates, suggesting that simply providing insurance incentives and subsidies may not improve survival for trauma patients.

3/18/2014 Health News: Pepsi Allowed to use Sweetmyx Without FDA Approval - Breast Cancer Racial Gap - Take Blood Pressure in Both Arms - 50-Cent Paper Microscope

Pepsi Allowed to use Sweetmyx Without FDA Approval

Last Wednesday, Emily Main of Rodale Press sent me this question: “Have you ever heard of this new ‘sweetness enhancer’ that just got approved by the FDA? It’s called Sweetmyx and is made by a company called Senomyx, and is apparently licensed by Pepsi for exclusive use. All I can really find out about it is that it enhances... Continue Reading

The Breast Cancer Racial Gap -

A troubling racial divide in breast cancer mortality continues to widen in most major cities around the country, suggesting that advances in diagnosis and treatment continue to bypass African-American women, according to new research. An analysis of breast cancer mortality trends in 41 of the largest cities in the United States shows that the chance of surviving breast cancer correlates strongly with the color of a woman’s skin. Black women with breast cancer — whether they hail from Phoenix or Denver, Boston or Wichita, Kan. — are on average about 40 percent more likely to die of the disease than white women with breast cancer.  Continue  Reading

Take Blood Pressure in Both Arms

It may be a good idea to get a blood pressure reading in both arms rather than just one. A difference in those readings, a new study suggests, is an independent risk factor for heart disease. The study, in the March issue of The American Journal of Medicine, found that a difference of 10 or more between the two readings increased the risk for a cardiac event by about 38 percent. The increase was independent of age, cholesterol, body mass index, hypertension and other known cardiovascular risk factors.Continue Reading

Stanford Bioengineer Develops a 50-Cent Paper Microscope

When Manu Prakash, PhD, wants to impress lab visitors with the durability of his Origami-based paper microscope, he throws it off a three-story balcony, stomps on it with his foot and dunks it into a water-filled beaker. Miraculously, it still works. Even more amazing is that this microscope — a bookmark-sized piece of layered cardstock with a micro-lens — only costs about 50 cents in materials to make. In the video, you can see his “Foldscope” being built in just a few minutes, then used to project giant images of plant tissue on the wall of a dark room.

Prakash’s dream is that this ultra-low-cost microscope will someday be distributed widely to detect dangerous blood-borne diseases like malaria, African sleeping sickness, schistosomiasis and Chagas..Continue Reading