Health Research: Synthetic drugs that can cause cancer ♦ Exploring the ADHD-Autism link ♦ Protein that boosts immunity to viruses and cancer

Exploring the ADHD-Autism link A licensed clinical psychologist is focusing on the ADHD-autism link to better understand why people with ADHD and autism may be more prone to substance abuse and to develop more effective behavioral therapies

Scientists discover protein that boosts immunity to viruses and cancer Scientists have discovered a protein that plays a central role in promoting immunity to viruses and cancer, opening the door to new therapies. Experiments in mice and human cells have shown that the protein promotes the proliferation of cytotoxic T cells, which kill cancer cells and cells infected with viruses.

Difficult to break the soda habit? Sugar-sweetened beverages suppress body's stress response Drinking sugar-sweetened beverages can suppress the hormone cortisol and stress responses in the brain, but diet beverages aspartame do not have the same effect,.

Increasing evidence points to inflammation as source of nervous system manifestations of Lyme disease About 15 percent of patients with Lyme disease develop peripheral and central nervous system involvement, often accompanied by debilitating and painful symptoms. New research indicates that inflammation plays a causal role in the array of neurologic changes associated with Lyme disease. The investigators also showed that the drug dexamethasone prevents many of these reactions.

Synthetic drugs: evidence that they can cause cancer  Almost weekly, a new synthetic psychoactive drug comes onto the market that can be ordered legally and easily, for example as an incense blend, via the Internet. Synthetic cannabinoids are difficult to identify chemically and the possible unwanted toxic effects that can occur following their consumption have so far rarely been investigated. As part of the international EU project "SPICE II Plus", researchers have now also found evidence that synthetic substances damage the DNA of human cells and can therefore possibly have cancer-causing effects.

3 Young People Died From Lyme Disease

The sudden deaths of 3 young people in the Northeastern United States have been attributed to complications of Lyme disease, Boston.com reported.

Lyme disease is caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi and is transmitted to humans through the bite of infected blacklegged ticks. Typical symptoms include fever, headache, fatigue, and a characteristic skin rash called erythema migrans. If left untreated, infection can spread to joints, the heart, and the nervous system.

Most cases of Lyme disease can be treated successfully with a few weeks of antibiotics. Steps to prevent Lyme disease include using insect repellent, removing ticks promptly, applying pesticides, and reducing tick habitat. There were 30,000 over cases of lyme disease in 2012.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), each of the fatalities resulted from undetected heart inflammation -- also known as carditis -- caused by the tick-borne illness. About one percent of Lyme disease sufferers develop carditis, which is typically treatable with antibiotics or, in some cases, a pacemaker.

According to medical reports, only 4 other deaths can be attributed to heart inflammation caused by Lyme disease. While the illness is a growing problem in the Northeast, the CDC says that deaths related to the disease are still rare, Boston.com reported.

The victims in the CDC's report were not identified, but each of the deaths occurred between November 2012 and July 2013. The deceased were between 26 and 38 years old. None of the victims had been diagnosed with Lyme disease prior to their deaths.

One of the victims died in a car accident after his car veered off the road. The victim was an organ donor, and the inflammation around his heart was discovered during a pathology exam. It is believed he went into cardiac arrest while driving, Boston.com reported. The other 2 victims also died after seemingly unexplainable collapses.

Medical professionals say these deaths should bring new urgency to the search for a Lyme disease vaccine. "I think it is unconscionable and a discredit to all parties -- public health, manufacturers, Lyme activists -- that no Lyme vaccine is available to humans while there is one for dogs," Stanley Plotkin, emeritus professor of pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania and a vaccine expert, told Boston.com in an email.

Protect Yourself Against Tick-Borne Disease

Commonly called a "deer tick," this tick can transmit Lyme disease and a malaria-like disease called babesiosis. When in the larvae stage it is the size of a poppy seed, so checking your body for ticks requires close examination.

DIfferent kinds of ticks present in the U.S. may be infected with bacteria, viruses and parasites that can be transmitted to people and cause at least 10 diseases. While there are treatments approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), prevention is the easiest, cheapest and most effective approach to combat these serious, sometimes fatal diseases.

Some disease-bearing ticks are the size of a poppy seed. Steps to prevent infection include:

• When walking in grassy, wooded areas that are tick-prone, use an insecticide that is effective against ticks and cover up with long shirts and long pants tucked into socks.
• Ticks must stay attached for more than 36 hours to transmit the parasite, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), so a full body check soon after being outdoors in a tick-prone area, even a suburban lawn, is urged.
• Taking a shower within two hours of being in an area with ticks has been shown to be helpful and provides a good time to check for ticks on your body.
• When checking for ticks, include hard-to-see areas such as between toes, between legs and on the head.
• Remove any ticks with pointed tweezers, grabbing ticks by their mouth parts, close to your skin.

Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain spotted fever are the two best-known serious diseases transmitted through tick bites in the U.S. Each year since 2002, about 20,000-30,000 people in the U.S. have been diagnosed with Lyme disease. During that same time period, between 1,400 and 2,500 cases of Rocky Mountain spotted fever have been reported each year.

More recently, health officials have documented the emergence of babesiosis, a disease caused by single-cell parasites called Babesia. The parasites are carried by the same kind of ticks that carry Lyme disease.

Young, healthy adults infected with Babesia may have no symptoms, mild symptoms or flu or malaria-like symptoms. However, Babesiosis can be severe or even fatal among the elderly, newborns and those with weak immune systems. It is treated with a combination of FDA-approved antibiotics and anti-malaria medicines.